Tag Archive for: Janice Simon

Organizing the Holidays as a Singleton

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organizing holidays when you are single

Thanks to Janice Simon, owner of the Clutter Princess, for sharing her holiday tips as a singleton. 

 

Singletons can have their own challenges when it comes to managing the holiday season.  Organizing the holidays when you are single takes a on new twist.

When you’re single, you don’t have someone to delegate to so you have to do things yourself or hire out. Here are a few tips to organize your holiday – whether your single or not.

Use your resources. I have nieces, nephews and godchildren who live around the country, and I use the Post Office and other delivery companies frequently during the holidays. When it comes to presents, I order items online as much as I can and have them sent directly to their home. I send an email or text to the parents and let them know to expect a box.

If you hate shopping but have a friend who loves it, ask them for help and do a trade. Maybe they can shop for you, and you can do something for them. When I was a reporter in Galveston, I would go Christmas shopping for the guys who needed help getting presents for their wives, and they would buy me lunch.

Stockpile a few bottles of wine or boxes of chocolates to use as host and hostess gifts for any soirees you attend.

Hire out. The two teen-age daughters of a friend have been my holiday “staff” for several years. They have stuffed, labeled, and stamped Christmas cards and wrapped presents for me.  If you’re a perfectionist, this may be difficult for you, but I operate under Donna Smallin’s “Done is perfect” mantra. It doesn’t matter if the labels and stamps are crooked or if the presents aren’t perfectly wrapped. A majority of my presents are for my nieces and nephews, and their priorities aren’t examining the wrapping job. I’m just happy that the projects are done.

Don’t want to cook and don’t have a chef at your beck and call? No problem. Order a dish or holiday meals from restaurants. For holiday potluck gatherings, offer to bring pre-made dishes or utility items such as plasticware or plates.

Simplify your processes. In my apartment, holiday decorations were stashed on the top shelves of closets and were a pain to get into. When I purchased my house several years ago, I was excited to have a “holiday closet,” the place where I can store all of my holiday decorations and my artificial Christmas tree. A couple of years ago, I purchased a tree with the lights embedded in the branches so I wouldn’t have to wrestle lights onto the tree. Because the branches fold up, I don’t have to dismantle the tree and can keep it upright. I just cover the tree with a sheet in my holiday closet.

Take your time. When I put up Christmas decorations and decorate my tree, I take my time and break my decorating into smaller, more manageable tasks. For example, I may focus on decorating the tree one afternoon, and use another afternoon or evening to put up other decorations. There’s no law that says everything has to be done in one day.

To prepare for holiday cooking, I may gather up recipes and make a grocery list one night or chop vegetables to cook the next day.

Gather your friends. If you don’t want to decorate or bake by yourself, create your own traditions and invite some friends over for a decorating or baking party. It’s more fun to have your friends around while you all decorate, bake and chat. It’s a great way to get together before everyone goes their own way for the holidays.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a hard candy Christmas

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A guest post from Janice Simon, the Clutter Princess.  Find her at www.clutterprincess.com

It’s a hard candy Christmas.”

Dolly Parton, Singer
 
“One thing they never tell you about child raising is that for the rest of your life, at the drop of a hat, you are expected to know your child’s name and how old he or she is.”
Erma Bombeck, Humorist
 
If you wonder why your child’s bedroom is messy, here’s the answer. The average child has 150 toys, according to a Time.com article, and I’m certain you’ve tripped over all of them in the middle of the night.
 
Over Thanksgiving weekend, a friend told me how his cousin decided to take her two children to an amusement park instead of having a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. The cousin read somewhere that children between the ages of 8-10 didn’t remember what they got last year for Christmas, but they do remember trips. She and her husband decided to pare down the number of Christmas presents this year and took the kids on the outing.
 
To test this theory, I asked my 10-year-old niece what she got for Christmas last year. Of her entire haul last year, she only remembered two things. She remembered more only after Grandma reminded her. My teen-age niece and nephew remembered most of their gifts. I suspected that if half of the items disappeared from my young niece’s room, she wouldn’t notice.
 
I remember listening to my parents and grandparents talk about what their holidays were like growing up. Mom and her sister each would get one or two gifts from Santa, and their parents would give them nuts, hard candy and oranges in their stockings. Can you imagine a modern day kid getting excited about receiving oranges in their stockings? Instead parents are scrambling for the Zhu Zhu Hamster, which are sold out and selling on the web for upwards of $50 to $60. The actual robotic hamster itself costs around $8 or $9. I told my niece that she would have to wait until after Christmas for one, but I’m sure by then, she’ll be onto something else.
 
As I surveyed my niece’s bedroom filled to the brim, I thought about a Christmas morning long ago. When I was a little girl, my siblings and I got the talk about how tough it was that year for Santa and how he didn’t have that much money. We knew things were tight in our own household so why wouldn’t Santa have it tough too? We were told not to expect that much for Christmas, and we used our aluminum table top tree. We kids didn’t realize at the time that our parents had forgone the real tree to save money, and we loved the sparkly, shiny aluminum tree. On Christmas morning, we each had about five presents under the tree, and I remember my sister and I each got a doll. We were excited and thought we had plenty of presents, and we didn’t find anything missing.
 
Help your children pare down before the holidays (or right after). Try these tips to help: 
  • Take out broken toys or toys no longer loved or used. As your child pulls out toys they no longer want, don’t get emotional and ask “Are you sure? Are you really, really sure?” because you have memories of it. Keep your cool.
  • Stash a keepsake toy or two (not all of them are keepsakes) in a bin. When they’re older, they can decide for themselves what they want to keep.
  • Clear out clothes the children have outgrown. Toss clothes that are stained, ripped, or discolored. The rest can be donated, taken to consignment shops, or save for a younger sibling.
  • Wipe down toys with germ-fighting cleaners and donate. When donating toys to hospitals, check their requirements. For example, children at MD Anderson Cancer Center can only receive new, packaged toys that have never been used due to immunity issues.
  • Place toys in bins and boxes. If the child is young, place a picture of what goes in the box on the front. If they can read, use a label.
  • Pare down the number of gifts your children and family receives. You may have to talk to other relatives about how many gifts they give your child.
  • For adults, think about “clutter-free” gifts such as gift certificates and cards, consumable products, memberships to museums, or movie tickets.
 
Gifts You Can Make
The economy has thrown us all back to simpler holiday celebrations, and that can be a good thing. If you need some ideas, check out Get Rich Slowly’s website about gifts you can make all by yourself. One of the items on this list sends you to another interesting site called “Not Martha” and shows you how to make a variety of items, including cupcakes, magnets, and knit hats. Check out the link. People are so clever!
 
Gifts You Can Tote
If you are hauling presents with you to relative’s houses, here are some tips from Rubbermaid. Yes, one of the tips includes putting the gifts in a plastic tote. While you’re on the site, take a look at Rubbermaid’s nifty closet and garage organizers.