December Declutter Strategy, 2024
Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2024 11:59 am
Deep in December, it's nice to remember... (smile)
Here is the Focus December tips and ideas post Indiana wrote for "Maintenance" part of Focus Cleaning forum, with lots of reminders that decluttering can still help even this late in the year. Perhaps it might jog some thoughts for us now, on what could benefit us leading up to holiday events or end of year. Also help to keep our minds from feeling cluttered with "to dos".
Now that all our rooms are deep cleaned we can enjoy the holidays by just doing maintenance and holiday preparation as our focus.
Maintenance:
dusting
floors
tidying
erasing footprints
cleaning bathrooms
cleaning kitchen
touch up where we see it is needed
give your plants some TLC.
Divide and Conquer:
Divide your home into 3 sections. Freshen the non-public areas the first week of December. Plan to give attention to the other areas over the next two weeks.
Declutter:
Declutter Thanksgiving decorations as you put them away.
Declutter Christmas or Hannukah and winter seasonal decorations as you bring them out.
Calendar:
Make a calendar for the month of December that includes the last few days of November.
Mark the holidays and celebration days that will affect your household, including New Year’s Day.
Mark all holiday activities.
Mark days that cards and packages must be mailed to assure delivery by Christmas or Hannukah.
Mark days for baking.
Mark days for shopping.
Mark on the calendar the day a project (if you are making one or some) must be done. Count back the number of days it will take to make it and mark it. Mark benchmarks for how much should be done. Be realistic on the time it will take – add a cushion.
Activities:
Begin thinking about menus.
Buy stamps, cards, and wrapping supplies.
Sign, address, and send holiday cards.
Spend a few hours shopping on weekdays or after work, when stores are calmer than they are on weekends.
Write out gift lists, write down clothing sizes, and organize addresses, preferably on a computer or a PDA to help with neatness and efficiency. Carry them with you for easy reference. If the store offers free shipping, you will be ready.
When shopping on the internet don’t forget to Google the store name followed by the word coupons for any discounts available.
Here is the Focus December tips and ideas post Indiana wrote for "Maintenance" part of Focus Cleaning forum, with lots of reminders that decluttering can still help even this late in the year. Perhaps it might jog some thoughts for us now, on what could benefit us leading up to holiday events or end of year. Also help to keep our minds from feeling cluttered with "to dos".
Now that all our rooms are deep cleaned we can enjoy the holidays by just doing maintenance and holiday preparation as our focus.
Maintenance:
dusting
floors
tidying
erasing footprints
cleaning bathrooms
cleaning kitchen
touch up where we see it is needed
give your plants some TLC.
Divide and Conquer:
Divide your home into 3 sections. Freshen the non-public areas the first week of December. Plan to give attention to the other areas over the next two weeks.
Declutter:
Declutter Thanksgiving decorations as you put them away.
Declutter Christmas or Hannukah and winter seasonal decorations as you bring them out.
Calendar:
Make a calendar for the month of December that includes the last few days of November.
Mark the holidays and celebration days that will affect your household, including New Year’s Day.
Mark all holiday activities.
Mark days that cards and packages must be mailed to assure delivery by Christmas or Hannukah.
Mark days for baking.
Mark days for shopping.
Mark on the calendar the day a project (if you are making one or some) must be done. Count back the number of days it will take to make it and mark it. Mark benchmarks for how much should be done. Be realistic on the time it will take – add a cushion.
Activities:
Begin thinking about menus.
Buy stamps, cards, and wrapping supplies.
Sign, address, and send holiday cards.
Spend a few hours shopping on weekdays or after work, when stores are calmer than they are on weekends.
Write out gift lists, write down clothing sizes, and organize addresses, preferably on a computer or a PDA to help with neatness and efficiency. Carry them with you for easy reference. If the store offers free shipping, you will be ready.
When shopping on the internet don’t forget to Google the store name followed by the word coupons for any discounts available.
that are bagged up yea! 
They have a van they use to go to adoption events or pick items up. HRH says there's another older, smaller cage he will offer them, too. I don't want to donate unusable things, so I will watch that carefully to make sure it seems to be wanted. Strangely, a WMart order we had made arrived with an extra bag containing 2 different "Resolve" brand carpet spray products specifically for cleaning after pet urine, and the delivery people wouldn't come back for them because it wasn't worth it. They told us to keep them, but Tobias never has a urine accident. So those are more brand-new things they can have.
moment!