Preparations Are Under Way! Getting ready for the Holidays.

My previous attempts at creating memorable holidays have been haphazard at best. I get all sorts of wonderful ideas, but the 3 little monkeys I tend daily don't give me much time or energy by the end of the day so I would flip through magazines and peruse web pages and make lists of the things I wanted to make and do, but little would actually get done. A couple of years ago I joined the "Thrifty Under 50 Challenge" and I did manage to get a number of crafts made despite being pregnant and working full-time, but I left much more unfinished than finished and the timing of the challenge left me stressed and sleep deprived right through the holidays which was NOT a great plan. Last year - well, not sure what happened last year - it is a blur. Not much got done at all. I feel like I was lucky the tree made it up.

I am determined that this year will be different. I actually started to think about Christmas just before Labor Day and started my list of handmade gifts. I was online looking for ideas when I found this site to help me get my house clean and organized for the upcoming holidays. (the main site gets your whole house clean and organized, but for now I am mostly sticking to the holiday site) So far it has been working pretty well. The plan is to deep clean the house and organize yourself for the holidays starting now, so when the time comes you can stress less and enjoy the holidays more. I may not follow the plan exactly - most days I run out of time before everything gets accomplished - but it keeps me working toward a goal on a daily basis. I have printed out and started a binder and it also follows a book which has more detailed cleaning and organizing instructions, but I have yet to get out and purchase the book (though I plan too!). The site does a great job of just moving me from room to room and focusing on getting some of the crazy tasks, like making a holiday card list on the computer now, getting our Christmas budget set now and starting my handmade gifts. Hopefully it will help us all enjoy the holidays a little more! If only I can stick with it and don't get distracted... Ooh - look, a new craft blog...

Preparations Are Under Way! Getting ready for the Holidays.

My previous attempts at creating memorable holidays have been haphazard at best. I get all sorts of wonderful ideas, but the 3 little monkeys I tend daily don't give me much time or energy by the end of the day so I would flip through magazines and peruse web pages and make lists of the things I wanted to make and do, but little would actually get done. A couple of years ago I joined the "Thrifty Under 50 Challenge" and I did manage to get a number of crafts made despite being pregnant and working full-time, but I left much more unfinished than finished and the timing of the challenge left me stressed and sleep deprived right through the holidays which was NOT a great plan. Last year - well, not sure what happened last year - it is a blur. Not much got done at all. I feel like I was lucky the tree made it up.

I am determined that this year will be different. I actually started to think about Christmas just before Labor Day and started my list of handmade gifts. I was online looking for ideas when I found this site to help me get my house clean and organized for the upcoming holidays. (the main site gets your whole house clean and organized, but for now I am mostly sticking to the holiday site) So far it has been working pretty well. The plan is to deep clean the house and organize yourself for the holidays starting now, so when the time comes you can stress less and enjoy the holidays more. I may not follow the plan exactly - most days I run out of time before everything gets accomplished - but it keeps me working toward a goal on a daily basis. I have printed out and started a binder and it also follows a book which has more detailed cleaning and organizing instructions, but I have yet to get out and purchase the book (though I plan too!). The site does a great job of just moving me from room to room and focusing on getting some of the crazy tasks, like making a holiday card list on the computer now, getting our Christmas budget set now and starting my handmade gifts. Hopefully it will help us all enjoy the holidays a little more! If only I can stick with it and don't get distracted... Ooh - look, a new craft blog...

The Internet is an Evil Time Sucker!

It is evil, evil, evil, I say! I have plans to do this or that, but end up reading 10 articles on creating handmade whatnots - which I am determined to make myself - but then I don't have the time or energy to get working on my own whatnots. How does that happen? One minute I am putting my munchkins down for a nap. Finally all is quiet. I'll just check Facebook and glance at the blogs I follow. So I get on "for just a minute" and that minute grows exponentially. Before I know it the munchkins are awake and demanding food and entertainment and I have accomplished nada yet again, except that I have added to my ever growing list of "stuff I want to do" also known as "the black hole of ideas" since ideas go in, but nothing ever seems to come out. I have decided it is high time I curbed my crafty internet surfing. I spend way too much time looking through the plethora of darling hand crafted things posted online (how the heck do some of these people accomplish all of this? It is beyond me.) and not much time making my own darling handcrafted things. That and I need to make a consistent effort to clean the house, do laundry, feed my family and write this blog. So here it goes. I am going to limit my daily internet surfing to 30 minutes total and that will be AFTER I have worked on some of my own projects. I will list my project plans here and then check them off and post about them as I do them (hopefully) but definitely as I finish each one. Since I have big plans for Christmas and my house, this is a necessity! Please people help me! Cheer me on! Anything!

The Internet is an Evil Time Sucker!

It is evil, evil, evil, I say! I have plans to do this or that, but end up reading 10 articles on creating handmade whatnots - which I am determined to make myself - but then I don't have the time or energy to get working on my own whatnots. How does that happen? One minute I am putting my munchkins down for a nap. Finally all is quiet. I'll just check Facebook and glance at the blogs I follow. So I get on "for just a minute" and that minute grows exponentially. Before I know it the munchkins are awake and demanding food and entertainment and I have accomplished nada yet again, except that I have added to my ever growing list of "stuff I want to do" also known as "the black hole of ideas" since ideas go in, but nothing ever seems to come out. I have decided it is high time I curbed my crafty internet surfing. I spend way too much time looking through the plethora of darling hand crafted things posted online (how the heck do some of these people accomplish all of this? It is beyond me.) and not much time making my own darling handcrafted things. That and I need to make a consistent effort to clean the house, do laundry, feed my family and write this blog. So here it goes. I am going to limit my daily internet surfing to 30 minutes total and that will be AFTER I have worked on some of my own projects. I will list my project plans here and then check them off and post about them as I do them (hopefully) but definitely as I finish each one. Since I have big plans for Christmas and my house, this is a necessity! Please people help me! Cheer me on! Anything!