Sundays with Santa's Little Helpers: Week 5- CLEAN it UP!

I'm back with my last installment of Santa's Little Helpers. Now that the holidays have come to a close, it is probably obvious as to what this step will be. It's time to pack it up folks! I'm here to share with you the process we go through to put all our goods back into storage until it's time to make their debut again next year!

My first step is to bring up all the empty totes (various sizes) out of the basement. Then I gather some other tools- plastic grocery bags and bubble wrap (I always save it throughout the year just for this reason) for packaging and my notepad to keep track of what is going in each bin.


Then I go throughout the house and bring all the decor into one room so I can see everything that needs to be put away. It helps so I can group things with like items and know how much space I need in the totes.

From there, I start with the breakable items. I like to get them packaged away first so their is less chance of them breaking as I move about the room. I just package like items with each other- entertaining items go in one tote, decor items go in another, etc. As I fill the totes, I jot down what is in each one so I can do my standard inventory list like I talked about here. It makes finding things a breeze if I need to, plus it reminds me of what I have if I do any shopping while the holiday items are still put away.

Next, I put everything away, and here is your first glimpse at that basement project I talked about awhile back. Carl and his dad built some open shelving for our storage area of the basement for all our totes. The Christmas items go in one section of them.
Since the rooms are fairly empty, my last step is to give the shelves a good cleaning, vacuum and dust all my regular season decor before putting it back out. For me, it's a must do in this process as it feels sooooo good to kick back and enjoy the clean. :) Because, as much as I LOVE Christmas and all the comes with it, especially the decor, there isn't much that excites me more than a freshly cleaned, simplified house. Sigh....is it spring yet?

So, if it wasn't obvious already- your challenge is to put all your holiday decor away. But not just away- organized and away! And don't forget to clean before you put your everyday stuff back out! And of course check out my fellow helpers, Working Woman's Guide to Domestic Success & A Life In Progress, to see what tips they have! Thanks to everyone who participated in this holiday challenge. It's time to gear up for the New Year Challenge! I hope you are ready for it :)

Sundays with Santa's Little Helpers: Hosting a Holiday Get Together

It seems as though the holidays get busier each year, but for me, that's a good thing! I love getting to see all the people I love at this time. It's as though everyone makes more of an effort to see one another around Christmas. So, for this week, we want to challenge you to make that effort! Host any type of holiday get together this year. Some quick ideas are:

• Cookie Exchange
• Cookie Bake & Decorate Party
• Strolling Cocktails and Hors D'Oeuvres Party
• Formal Sit Down Dinner
• Open House Style Party for a Large Group
• Holiday Brunch

The open house style parties are definitely taken care of for us. Between our moms and siblings, we have about 5 family parties that we attend. Then on top of that, we have a Christmas Morning Breakfast at Carl's sister's house. When it came time for me to decide what sort of holiday functions we would host here, I had to think of those already in place. This year, I have a handful I'd like to tackle. I'm just hoping I can get everyone's schedules to align! Here are the events I'm hoping to give you tips, tricks, pics and recaps on:

• Formal Holiday Dinner: Mid-December (Some close friends)
• Cookie Bake & Decorate Party: Mid-December (My nieces and nephews)
• New Year's Eve Open House Style: NYE (friends and family)
• Strolling Cocktails & Hors D'Oeurves: Mid-January (friends)

I'm planning to take on quite a bit over the next two months, so wish me luck! We'll be taking a break for our 5th week as that won't happen until all the festivities are over. So my next few weeks of the Holiday Challenge will be focusing on all those events up there!

So...are you in? Are you willing to host an event? If so, tell me your plans! Whether you invite your favorite couple over for a nice dinner or are planning on hosting your entire family for Christmas Day, tell me about it! What's on your agenda? And don't be nervous if you are tackling something new. Santa's Little Helpers will be here to help guide you along the way. Keep an eye on So Not Martha's and Gia's blogs for more hints, tips and tricks!

Sundays with Santa's Little Helpers :Week 3 Deck the Halls!

Alright, so I still owe you all some posts regarding last week's challenge about the gift baskets, but, surprisingly, the world doesn't stop turning for lil ol me, and Sunday is here yet again! So don't worry, I'll keep working on the baskets, but we're adding another task to the list. This week's challenge is one of my faaaaaaaaaaaavorites!

Cleaning & Decorating for the Holidays

No one likes a messy house for Christmas, and well its just hard to get in the mood without some festive decor! So, this week is all about trimming the tree, decking the halls, and stringing up those lights!




Photo credit to BHG & Martha Stewart

Not sure what the heck I'm talking about? Go here and here to see the first two weeks of the challenge. Haven't joined yet? That's ok, just start now! I promise it'll make the hectic holidays much more relaxing :)

For us, decorating is all about the WISH. (no, I do not simply close my eyes and wish that all the cleaning and decorating is done)

Wash. Clean up all the areas you will be decorating. This includes moving the furniture for the tree, dusting all the shelves, mantles, etc. Don't focus so much on the floor, as you will have to clean that once everything is up. Those pesky needles don't seem to want to stay on the tree and garland!

Inventory. Bring up all your decor, and take a look over everything you have. If you keep an inventory sheet, all the better! Decide where everything is going to go. Place it in the room you plan on putting it.

Simplicity. Remember that less is more. As you are putting everything in it's place, take a step back. Try sitting on the furniture. You will see spots that are lacking and areas that are too busy. If you can, take a photo as well. Sometimes looking at it on your computer can help see missing spots.

Hide. The evidence that is. Pack up all the storage materials and put them back whence they came! Now it's time to kick back and enjoy your newly decorated home!

So stick around this week as I'll be giving you little tips and tricks on how to make cleaning and decorating bearable, including how to make your own fresh greenery wreath- I promise it's easy peasy! We worked on ours a bit tonight, and now we are just going to enjoy a little dinner by the fire wrapped up in our favorite holiday throws!



Want more Santa's Little Helpers Fun? Be sure to check out Working Woman's Guide to Domestic Success & A Life In Progress for more ideas!

Sundays with Santa's Little Helpers: Week 2 Christmas Lists & Budgets

For us, Christmas isn't a huge stress when it comes to shopping. With my siblings, we pool the money we would normally spend on each other, including gifts for our parents, and adopt a family, or give to an especially needy cause during this time of year. We've been doing this for close to 10 years. However, we still buy for our godsons that are on my side. And then we have a decently sized group on Carl's side that we buy for, so planning is still in order.

For me, it starts with a spreadsheet of those we are going to buy presents for. The next column is for how much we'd like to spend on them. And then in the following columns are different gift ideas. I usually like to start the list in early November to give me ample time to come up with ideas. However, if I spot something earlier than that for someone, I am not opposed to just picking it up!

Now let's talk about staying on budget, since I know many people, including ourselves, are cutting back. Keeping with the spreadsheet that you created for the gift list, next to the gift idea column, you can start filling in the actual gifts as you buy them.

As you buy gifts for people, track it in a spreadsheet. I've included the template for one which will help keep you on budget. The formulas are already included. Just edit the sample information with your own!

Click here for the sample Christmas Shopping List

So on top of that, here are a few other tips for holiday shopping:

• Before you go shopping, make a list of the stores you'll be shopping at. Google search the store name + coupon and see if there are any deals.
• Check online to see if they are having free shipping events. You'll save time AND money.
  
• Handmade gifts are perfectly acceptable, just be creative with it- I'll be making up my Christmas gift baskets this week (hopefully) so I'll share them with you! My goal is to keep them under $5 a piece!
• Magazine subscriptions are a great present. Not only are they inexpensive, but they last throughout the year.
• Can't think of what to get the person that has everything? Invite them over for a really nice dinner. Or better yet, suggest not doing gifts and donate time or money to a charity you both love.

So your challenge this week? Write out your gift list. Include the names of the recipients, how much you'd like to spend and at least one gift idea for each person. And I challenge you to avoid gift cards this year! (Yeah...I'm just throwing that one in there!) Once you get that far, shopping this season will be a breeze! Plus- don't forget to tell me how your Thanksgiving menu and grocery list planning went from last week. Don't know what I'm talking about? Read about it here! Stay tuned the rest of the week for more shopping and budgeting tips as well!

Be sure to check out Working Woman's Guide to Domestic Success & A Life In Progress for more ideas!

Sundays With Santa's Little Helpers

Do the holidays make you light up with excitement? Do you burst at the seams just waiting for their arrival? Are you just nuts about decorating, baking and family parties? Well, if you answered yes, stick around! You are about to be bombarded with holiday goodness! But wait! If you said no, don’t go anywhere either! Why you ask? Because there is a good chance I know why you aren’t excited. Does the thought of the holidays make your skin crawl? Are you nervous and anxious at the same time? Does the chaos, entertaining, decorating, baking and cleaning make you want to hibernate with the bears? Well then you should stick around too! Sit back, grab a cup of spiced cider, hot cocoa, hot toddy or whatever else you like, for we are about to embark on a holiday challenge like never before!

I’ve teamed up with Kristen at The Working Woman’s Guide for Domestic Success and Gia at A Life in Progress to bring you this series of posts in order to make your holidays painless. Starting next Sunday, we’ll each do a weekly post with the same theme and pump you full of knowledge while challenging you to do some of the same things we’re doing!

Are you as excited as we are? If so, post in the comments and tell me you are committed! We are going to conquer the holidays one week at a time, and it’ll be enjoyable- I PROMISE! And make sure to stop in every Sunday (well…you can stop in every day if you’d like…I’d like it…) and join Santa’s Little Helpers during the most wonderful time of the year!