Thank you Cottonelle® for sponsoring this post. Stay tuned to the Cottonelle Facebook page for more great tips and tricks.
Are you already making lists? Are you checking them twice?
The holiday season can be crazy. There is so much to do and so little time to get it done. As it stands there is only six weeks until Christmas morning (as it stands at the time I am writing this). Six weeks! We haven’t even started shopping for gifts yet or whipped up our holiday card list.
The trick to getting things done is to streamline everything and get yourself organized.
I’m going to share with you some of my favorite tips and tricks that will carry you through the holiday season, and beyond.
First and foremost – de-stress! Go grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea, find a good book to read or a fun movie, and just “chill out” for a bit. It’s important to take time for yourself to unwind and gather your thoughts. It’s important to do that every day (give yourself some “me time”). Even 5 or 10 minutes here or there would help. During the holidays I think you should allow yourself more “me time.”
Once you feel a bit more relaxed and you cleared your head, I would suggest you get a pen and paper and start making lists – your “to do” list/lists. If you need to make a list for everything (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years…) go right away.
Mark down everything you need to accomplish, things you need to purchase and so forth.
Once you have your lists – aka “game plan” – handy, figure out a way you can delegate the responsibilities so that it doesn’t all fall on your shoulders. Enlist your spouse/significant other and children to help you. For example, our daughter works at a grocery store. She can easily pick up things we need from the store after her shift is up. My husband also has extra days off (vacation days he had to use up). I have plenty of things on my list for him to do too so that it’s less stuff I need to worry about.
Younger children can help with cleaning (taking out the garbage, putting dishes away…).
Try to get ahead of things. If possible, get things done ahead of time so that you are not rushing around at the last minute to accomplish things. For example – when you are watching television at night (after the kids go to bed), start wrapping holiday gifts. Don’t wait until the last minute (Christmas Eve) to wrap. If you wrap a little bit each night you’ll be done before Christmas Eve and you’ll be able to enjoy yourself.
Here is another good tip – when gifting children toys that require batteries, or toys that are held in the box with many ties, open up the toy and remove all the ties and add batteries BEFORE you wrap it. That way, come Christmas morning, the kids can simply unwrap the toy, open the box and enjoy the toy right away. We’ve been doing it this way since our kids were little and it works like a charm. That way you can enjoy watching your children opening up their presents instead of hunting for the scissors, screwdriver and assorted batteries.
My mom used to buy toys year round. She would wrap them and keep them under her bed. That way if I was invited to a birthday party she already had a gift I could give the birthday boy/girl. I have since adopted that idea and I pick up gifts when I come across something great. I don’t necessarily wrap them, but I do keep them in my closet. That way I have last minute gifts or hostess gifts on hand.
Stock up and take advantage of sales. If you find a great sale on cranberry sauce (for example), pick up a few cans. That way you won’t have to worry about running out during dinner. Any left overs you can use for another time or donate to a local food bank.
I have had that happen to me in the past. I have run out of things like butter, rolls and juice during a family get together. Now I make it a point of having a little extra of certain thing just to be on the safe side.
If you are planning on having a lot of guests over for the holidays, stock up on the #1 essential – toilet paper! The last thing you want to happen during the holidays, or if you have guests over, is run out of toilet paper.
I remember one winter night we ran out and I had to race to the grocery store in the cold of winter to get there before they closed. I got there about 11:50 PM and they closed at midnight. I would have been mortified if we had no toilet paper for the night – and it was just me and my family, let alone guests. We didn’t even have paper towels we could have used and none of our neighbors had any extra they could spare.
One recommendation would be to pick up a package of Cottonelle® Mega Rolls with CleanRipple Texture. Each Cottonelle® Mega Roll is like having four rolls in one. That means just one† will last as long as if you had four rolls. (†comparing number of sheets to leading Ultra 77-ct. roll)
The more sheets in each Cottonelle® Mega Roll also means you have to replace the toilet paper roll less often. That means less hassle and more convenience. With the CleanRipple texture a little bit goes a long way. You don’t need as much to get “clean” like you would with other toilet paper.
Imagine how embarrassing it would be to run out of toilet paper when you are hosting a dinner or holiday party. That is my #1 worry whenever I have people over. It’s especially embarrassing for your guest if they are using the facility and run out of toilet paper. I would never want to subject a guest to that kind of situation.
Offering your house guests Cottonelle® Mega Rolls with CleanRipple Texture also leaves your guests feeling cleaner. Plus the toilet paper is soft to the touch for pleasant experience.
Using Cottonelle® Mega Rolls is great for year round too. The last thing you want to do is run out of toilet paper. I’d even suggest keeping one roll hidden, just in case. That way when you see you are running low you know to purchase more – but – just in case it’s 11:50 at night (LOL) you know that you have at least one more available.
Speaking of Cottonelle® , the brand has teamed up with lifestyle expert Brit Morin to provide families with even more ways to save time and space.
Check out some of Brit’s amazing tips. My favorite is the pegboards. I’d love to do something like that.
Check out the Cottonelle® Facebook page, YouTube channel for more great tips and tricks.
You can check out what others have to say using the hashtag #OnAMegaRoll.
You can also visit Cottenelle.com online as well as check out this money saving Cottonelle® Mega Roll coupon too.
These are just some tips/tricks I have to help make the holidays (and beyond) more organized and less stressful.
I would love to hear from readers. Do you have any tips or tricks to help make the holidays (or year round) less stressful and more organized?
What is your #1 best tip?
Feel free to share your thoughts. I always love to hear from readers.
Kimberly
*I was selected for this opportunity and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
Janet W. says
These are all such great tips! It’s important to remember to delegate tasks so that all tasks don’t fall on your shoulders.
Cynthia R says
I’ve been thinking about the holidays and have already started pre-stressing, just goes against ip 1 to destress. Oh my, not doing good so far…