Holiday grand plan 2010

[blessedw2]

all presents wrapped.

my plan for this week: get Christms tree this weekend
bring all the decorations up
drop off decorations that no longer work at donation place

[blessedw2]

from flylady:

HOLIDAY SUPER CRUISING MISSION #8

We are using the Super Holiday Cruising Missions to help us take care of other areas in our home other than the current zone, decorate and to remember to take time out for ourselves.

For today there are two missions to choose from:

If you are having guests coming to stay with you over the holidays, you need to prepare the guest room, or wherever they will be sleeping. Take 15 minutes to get your linens (sheets, towels etc) ready and if you know of certain needs that your guest will have prepare a list that will help you keep those in mind. Do you need to borrow a high chair or playpen? Do you need new sheets for your sofa bed? Take care of these things now so they will not be forgotten.

Take 15 minutes today to get your serving dishes, plates and silverware ready for your Holiday meal. Do you need to polish, scrub or shine anything? Take a look at what you have, what you want to use and try to get these items ready. What you can take care of in 15 minutes, schedule time for later this week.

[blessedw2]

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Home
Author, Houseworks: How to Live Clean, Green and Organized at Home

Is it time to clean? Not for today's busy families. Between work, children's activities, and vacation plans, even the most leisurely days don't seem long enough to get everything done at home.

There's a solution for busy times! Just as your body needs a "minimum daily allowance" of vitamins and minerals, an organized home needs a minimum of maintenance and attention to keep running smoothly.

Think of this as a Magic Minimum: a short list of essential household tasks. It's a bottom-line list of chores and activities necessary to keep things running at a basic level. With a working Magic Minimum plan, the household stays afloat, even when time is short.

What's on the list? Every family has slightly different needs, but most Magic Minimum checklists provide for these functions:

•basic accounting chores: bank deposits and bill-paying
•meals and menus: clean dishes, grocery shopping
•laundry: necessary clean clothing
•home management: once-a-day pick-up, weekly cleaning of bathrooms and kitchen
To make your own Magic Minimum plan, list the rock-bottom essential maintenance chores necessary to keep the household clean, fed and on time.

[blessedw2]

(from fly lady)

This week we are in Zone 2-The Kitchen. This is the "time of the year"
we start our Holiday baking and gift giving.

Let's work on retiring those unused, unloved kitchen appliances by
blessing others with those "smart" gadgets that we still have not figured out
how to use as well as decluttering our junk drawers. Spend 15 minutes doing
this.

If you have not used an item for over 6 months, chances are you will
not in the next 6 months.

You may even find that you "freed" up some space for the items you do
use. No more "mad searches" for that spatula in the middle of your
stirring!! LOL

[/HOLIDAY SUPER CRUISING MISSION #9

As we are cruising through the Holidays it is time to review our Holiday Control Journal. Your mission for today is to check your lists and then check it twice!!

Do you have a menu plan with grocery list for your Holiday meals?

Have you checked your gift list lately and crossed off as you have shopped and updated it?

Have you finished preparing your holiday cards and purchased stamps?

Are your packages ready to be mailed and have you scheduled time to take them to the post office?

Have you checked your calendar to make sure that you have planned accordingly for the Holiday that you will be celebrating?

Have you placed all of your online, catalog and mail orders for gifts?

Have you taken time out just for you? Maybe have a cup of tea and quietly sit and review your lists.

We are cruising through the holidays 15 minutes at a time!

[Harmony]

My Minimums are getting Minimum-er as the days go by. I am struggling at present.

Bought gifts that go into mail for N.C. I must get batteries to send with also, as I didn't notice that until I was checking out and none in the checkout line and I was hopelessly out of time.

Box of cards bought. Not my choice, but no time to go look elsewhere. Special card for a special person bought. Tissue paper and ribbon bought, getting in short supply here.

I have seperate wallet going for Christmas purchases and I organized that complete with some coupons I may use. That's my progress so far.

I love that my decorating is done. It's cheery in the family room.

[Harriet]

Today I happened upon a display of $2 "Watch Caps" (tobaggans?) for men that looked nice with flat cardboard circles inside to make them neat. There were black, grey and green and I grabbed a few of the last green ones left. I also picked up 4 boxes of assorted character band-aids, my traditional stocking-stuffer for my children. I was delighted to find the Penguins of Madagascar ones for dd12.

Online, I ordered 2 tee-shirts for dd12, that look long enough - hope so! Rabbit ("I'm late I'm late") was one.

In gift closet I discovered a pocketbook I'd bought for dd30 a month or more ago and forgotten!

I had found 2 more of the 5-drawer storage (Sterlite) minis, and my little collection of surprises for each drawer is growing. Stickers, fun pens, notepads, little dolls. These are for the youngest children at dfirstinlaws'. I feel good about it because it is not a space-stealer but ultimately storage for the children.

[blessedw2]

Fly lady's: HOLIDAY SUPER CRUISING MISSION #10

Your mission for today is to wrap and decorate!!! Set your timer for 15 minutes and see how many packages you can get wrapped! Have fun and enjoy this! Put on some Holiday music and get into the
spirit of the season. For an added bonus mission, set your timer for another 15 minutes and set out some of the Holiday decorations that you have not gotten up yet and/or set your holiday cards that you have received out for display. We are having fun this season by FLYing 15 minutes at a time!!!

[blessedw2]

I havent' started decorating yet as I wanted to get my Christmas shopping and cards done. but first to bless others with old christmas stuff and clean house. my presents that needed mailing are mailed.

I have a hair dye appointment the 21 and with waxing. dd15 had her hair cut already.
she has figured out what she wants to wear for christmas.
I brought my sweaters to the cleaners to pick up for next week.
I bought new make up for all of us... i just wear concealer and masscara at party time. I am not a makeup person.
dd15 wears mascara and dd21 wears a little liner, masscara and blush
I also have enough razors, tp, paper towels, soap, shampoo, etc. but need to get more dog food and cat food to cover us for the holidays.
meds looked at to make sure we don't run low.
I know what recipies I want to make

things I have to do: clean out my car, keep the gas filled, keep laundry up, make out tips and mail them.
need one Christmas card for neighbor.

[blessedw2]

great job on hats dharriet and cute idea about bandaids. both girls used to like to get a box of bandaids when they were little to "make their dolls/animals feel better". the gift for your dd has only sat there a month.. that's not bad at all... so turn that into ! It could be 10 years rather then 1 month.

dharmony good morning. sorry that you couldn't find the batteries right away when you wanted them. you should be very proud that your decorating is done! I think there really isn't a lot of time to do both at the same time unless like many places here that people hire others to decorate their homes. I haven't decorated at all yet. now you have time to shop and I'll have time to decorate. so it does balance! I think you should be really proud.

[Harmony]

Blessed, that was such a good reminder about the medicine. I counted mine and they are all used up the day before Christmas so I will call that in and pickup early. Wow, I wonder if I'd have forgotten them this time.

Pkg is on its way to NC. I wrote out all my Christmas cards (about 18) this morning, except one I'm adding a letter to. I just put a couple lines in most of the others. We dropped them off at post office on the way home today.

One more gift bought yesterday.