Time is precious and short, especially as the holidays approach. While it’s crucial to keep your place organized during these hectic times, a home organization can be a huge challenge.
Home organization isn't something you will do and hope it remains that way forever. Whether you are planning for a fruitful new year or preparing for holiday guests, this is a perfect opportunity for you to re-examine your organization strategy.
Here are home organization tips for the upcoming holidays:
1. Start with the Kitchen
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Create a flow. This works more effectively where a kitchen has two entries. The purpose of creating a flow in the kitchen is to avoid congestion. Come up with a system that allows people to drop food and go out as fast as possible. You certainly don’t want a scenario where guests mill out about in the kitchen fussing over dishes they brought. Make sure the food is served in logical progression especially if you are serving buffet.
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Have a crock-pot on hand. A crock-pot allows you to make everything whether it’s desserts or appetizers. Also, you can serve straight from it. They are designed to allow you cook slowly which allows to free up your time and start on a dish before guests arrive. Crock-pots also work well when you want to keep the food warm like gravy and beef.
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Keep drinks away from your fridge. Taking out drinks from your fridge can free up lots of space. Keep them away from the kitchen too, to avoid a jam in the kitchen.
2. Borrow, Create or Acquire Seats
You may not still secure a seat for each one of your guests even after scrounging all the folding chairs. Here are some tips for creating seating:
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Make seats from plastic cartons. Create or even flip a milk carton upside down and then put a pillow down.
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Ask guests to bring their own seats, if you are desperate for some extra seating.
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Staggered eating times. While it’s great for all your guests to eat at the same time, sometimes it just might not be possible. Consider having a “serving hour” where people eat at their leisure. This way, not everyone will require a seat at one go.
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Add cushions to raised surfaces. Places like deeper window sills or flat elevated surfaces can provide extra seating when added some cushions.
3. Free Up the Guest Room
Normally, the guest room might serve as a temporary storage for shoes, boxes, decorations or clothes, or can be used as your office. However, it can provide a good place for an out-of-town guest to crash. Keep these in mind:
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Use furniture for additional storage space. Want somewhere to toss purses, jackets and other kinds of stuff quickly becoming uncomfortable in a jammed house? Just use stools, benches and side tables to keep them!
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Have a blow-up mattress. If your guest bedroom was turned into an office, you will have to find an easy answer for guests. A blow-up mattress is a cheap alternative to guest beds and can be set in a matter of minutes. It can also occupy little space when not being used.
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Thoroughly Clean Your Guest Room. The guest room might easily be neglected because no one sleeps there most of the time. Hence, you need to ensure that it’s clean and ready to host anybody who might gatecrash in your place. There are great vacuums for laminate floors that you may want to use to make sure your room is spotlessly clean.
Organizing your home can be an intimidating task. We hope that some of the resources mentioned above can get you off to a great start. Just remember to have small goals, tweak what you do and try to change methods that failed to work in the past. Decluttering may take time, but it’s well worth the effort. It’s also a great way to prepare for the upcoming year. Get other family members to help when they can.
