Three Things To Organize Before The Holiday Season
I am the first to admit that when November comes around, with thoughts of holiday travel and house quests, my nesting instinct kicks in. Anything that can be done to organize and make things less stressful for the next two months is very appealing.
Organizing Has To Be Realistic
Did you see that quote we lead with in today’s post? “If it doesn’t nourish your soul don’t keep it.” Really? Obviously whomever “unknown” is does not live in the world of baskets of laundry, kids who won’t nap and the very turkey roaster this whole post is leading up to. Looking around our home, I admit that art feeds our soul, but many other things fall into the category of necessities that need to be kept in line.
Organize The Luggage
Hardside suitcases, softside roller bags, duffles, hanging bags, shoe bags, and all the small misc totes that go with us when we travel fall in love and reproduce when left alone in a dark place. Regardless if you are laughing, or crying right now, chances are a quick luggage organization session will make your holiday season better.
Drag everything out, inspect each piece for wear and broken pieces and toss what has not been used for _____ years. (you fill in the blank). Clean up the favorites and then nest them into each other. Think like the airlines do now. Two pieces of luggage per person is what most of us need. Do this now, before the last minute, and see if the busiest travel days of the year don’t run more smoothly. Not to mention the space you will gain!
Sidenote: Need a good hiding place for those special gifts? Luggage is full of hidden pockets and cavities!
Holiday Socks
This one is so simple, yet overlooked all the time. Cooler weather means sock time. We are all going to be sitting around, getting cozy and our socks will be on parade. Why not go organize everyone’s sock drawer now? Toss the single, and ones with holes or just plain yucky ones. Life is too short to wear ugly socks….unless part of the festivities is a bad sock contest! (pretty cool idea, huh?)
Tidbit Time
Every so often the charming IT team we gainfully employ, gives us a thumbs up when a post is doing well. More often they send less than gentle reminders of what we need to improve upon. We always get urged to “share more about ourselves”. Frankly, the whole darn blog is nothing but our opinions which seems very personal to us. But to keep those 12 year old genius kids happy, we will start to insert little tidbits about us.
Neither Kristen or I have ever seen a Harry Potter movie.
We discovered this about each other as she attended her first HP Costume Party this weekend. Now back to another fantastic Motivational Monday!
Pantry Organization
Here’s another personal tidbit about yours truly. We do not have a food pantry. Wait, are we not kitchen designers and isn’t that a must have? Yes,q for many a food pantry is an asset. For me, even tho I cook often, I seem to have too many odds and ends of food we do not eat when we have a designated food pantry.
We’ve read articles about “eating from our pantry” in weeks prior to heavy food holidays. I can relate to these articles and agree whole heartedly an organized pantry, one with some free space, is a plus all year round.
It’s no secret that our feelings about minimalism are mixed. We strongly believe that for our home’s furnishings, there is a Perfect LBD for everyone. We’ve even been a little snarky about the sparks of joy thing. However, when it comes to food storage, we can all do better. The number one way to reduce the need to keep our pantries organized is to get skinny about how much, and how often we bring food into our homes.
Are You Following LBD on Instagram?
Please do…sign up here!
Great tips! My husband travels frequently and he loves bags/luggage so in addition to having a lot of bags he likes to buy new ones as well. We have an entire closet dedicated to bags/travel. I am a baker and my side of the pantry is out of control. I need my own pantry just for baking stuff. I think I will dedicate an hour to that today!
We love it when a reader gets inspired from a post!
That pantry and its layout is just dreamy and I completely agree with your take on the pantry and that a truly well organised one will have some free space as well, Lxx
Negative space is glorious!
We did get rid of a couple of pieces of luggage when we downsized, yet we kept a ton of duffel bags. Hmmm…I think they will be getting donated now!
XOXO
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
Yep…keep it going! If it can’t fit in the nest rethink it!
I recently did this, and it totally changed my life!
Oh, please share more!
I read the life changing Magic of Tidying up and I got rid of so much stuff. It has made my home feel clean, safe and cozy again 🙂 I wrote a post about it here https://everydaymagicwithjubilee.com/2018/07/16/declutter-your-home/
very, cute! i liked this alot. keep sharing!!
Thanks. It’s so nice when our homes make life easier!
Thanks!
Hiding place for Christmas gifts? We always have an artificial tree and I found using the empty tree box would hold “tons” of gifts and no one thinks about looking in there.
Wonderful tip!