Table of Contents

-Introduction
-Did you know?
-Monthly Mission – Holiday Planning
-Check Out These Pages! – Relevant pages and new site additions
-Declutter and Organize Your Food Before the Holidays

Introduction

Over the weekend we received both the Toys-R-Us and Target holiday toy catalogs. You know that means only one thing, the holidays are right around the corner. Time to get started planning so you don’t get overwhelmed. I have already printed out my holiday preparation check-list and even have a couple gifts hidden away. But if I don’t keep track of what I’ve bought and intend to buy, it just becomes stressful trying to remember. This includes buying gifts for people as well as buying food for holiday meals.

I don’t want to be burned out on the holidays before December even rolls around, but I’ve found that planning ahead and not waiting to the last minute to do things leaves much more fun time with the whole family. Isn’t that what we really want during the holidays anyway? So, you don’t have to sing holiday tunes if you’re not ready, but you really should do some planning.

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Did you know…

“A simple life is not seeing how little we can get by with—that’s poverty—but how efficiently we can put first things first. . . . When you’re clear about your purpose and your priorities, you can painlessly discard whatever does not support these, whether it’s clutter in your cabinets or commitments on your calendar. (148)”

--Victoria Moran from Lit From Within: Tending Your Soul For Lifelong Beauty

Whether you do the holidays big, or do them more laid back, it doesn’t hurt to plan ahead. Know what you want to do, know what you need to buy, and know your deadlines for things such as shipping gifts. To read more about the monthly mission for November, Click here.

If you’re in a hurry to put some order back into your home, perhaps Mimi Tanner's unique method will give you that jumpstart. Check out her method at Declutter Fast: How To Get Your Home In Order Almost Immediately.

Here are some pertinent pages on the website you may have missed along with any new pages.

Home Filing System - Keep all your paperwork in order so you can find what you need at a moments notice, and learn what to keep and what to toss.

Holiday Organizing Checklist - Print out this simple checklist to use for food planning, gift buying and holiday to do's.

Travel Planning Tips - Are you planning a trip over the summer break? Here are some tips to make your planning and packing go a lot smoother.

Holiday Gift Shopping - Get an early start with some guidance on how to easily get your holiday gift shopping done.

Organize Recipes - Read up on how to organize your recipes so you can access them more easily.

Christmas Organizing - Before you even pull out your holiday decorations, read what to declutter and how to neatly store it away after the holidays.

As you’re preparing for the upcoming holidays, this is the perfect time to take inventory of the food you have on hand, purge expired food and organize items in such a way to know what you have on hand and be able to find it easily. It’ll also help you know what you need to shop for before the big Thanksgiving dinner and other holiday cooking.

Whether you have a nice pantry (wish I had one) or just your kitchen cabinets, fridge and freezer, we should go through all of them and see what’s there.

Toss Expired Food Go through your cabinets and/or pantry, shelf by shelf, and toss anything that’s expired or that you know you will never use. You may be surprised what you find in your cabinets. This is the perfect time to wipe down each shelf real quick with a damp sponge before you put everything back in.

Don’t forget to go through any other food storage areas in your home. For example, since I don’t have a pantry, but I do like to buy some things in bulk, I use a small portion of my linen closet for food storage, as well as a shelf unit in my garage.

Group Foods Together When putting the food back into storage, put similar items together in your cabinets. For example, if you love to bake, you may want to put all your baking ingredients together in one area. Cereals all go together on one shelf. Snacks like crackers and cookies might all go together in one area. You will need to decide what works best for your life style. For my kids, who make their own lunches, I have a basket for each of them to fill with lunch items they can grab easily, saving time.

Storage Containers Sometimes foods don’t seem to stack easily, or are not accessible. Select baskets or containers that help hold various food groups together. In my fridge, I have a pull out basket that I keep our yogurt cups and juice boxes in so the kids aren’t knocking them over all the place. For small items such as bags of dried fruit or snack bars, those are also corralled together in a basket in the cabinet that can be pulled out easily. Spices are on a spice rack. Again, you will need to ask yourself what your needs are and find storage items that help solve your problems. Here are some ideas of kitchen organizing products.

Clear Out Your Refrigerator and Freezer Go through your refrigerator and freezer. You want to make sure you have plenty of room for the food you need to keep fresh for preparing your meals, as well as space for leftovers! Purge anything that is spoiled, expired or you know you will never use. Do this before you go grocery shopping when your fridge is most empty. It will also allow you to do a quick wipe down of your shelves before you fill it up again.

Keep an Inventory List Keeping a list of what you have on hand may be helpful in some situations. In my experience, it can definitely be helpful, if it’s maintained, especially for those excess storage areas, or the freezer when you want to know what you have without digging through the ice cold. A small dry erase board would work, or just a paper list that you update often.

I hope this organizing task helps you get your food sorted and ready before the holidays. Hopefully now, you will know what you need to buy so you don’t come home with duplicate items.

Until next time, happy organizing!

Tracy Greene
Plan-and-Organize-Life.com

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