Do you dream of having family and friends gather at your home for the holidays? But maybe looking around your disorganized house makes you think this is an impossible dream.

Join me for 12 Days of Holiday Organizing and make your dream of hosting a reality!

Day 1: Plan Your Approach
As with any organizing project, you need to start with a clear vision and a plan. Make a list of the areas of your home that need attention before the holiday rush. Focus on the public areas: kitchen, living room, dining area, and bathroom. To make sure you follow through, schedule daily time for organizing.

Day 2: Declutter the Entryway
Make a welcoming impression. Exit your house and step up to the door, seeing it with the eyes of a visitor. Clear out shoes, coats, and unnecessary items that clutter your entrance. Use hooks and corral items in baskets or bins to pull together a tidy look.

Day 3: Simplify Kitchen Countertops
Holiday cooking will be so much more manageable once you’ve cleared your countertops. Only keep what you use daily out, and store holiday platters and tins until needed. Find extra storage space in high cupboards, the backs of lower cabinets, or even in a bin in the basement.

Day 4: Meal Prep Organization
Now that you’ve streamlined your kitchen, you can plan meals for the holiday period. Prep ingredients in advance (freezing works well), label containers, and ensure your pantry is stocked with essentials. This way, you won’t be stressed if someone happens to drop by for tea or even dinner.

Day 5: Organize the Living Room
Prepare for guests by creating a cozy space to hang out. Put away non-seasonal décor and consider where holiday decorations will go. Instead of decorating the whole room, choose a focal point (e.g. fireplace, bookcase, or one wall) and concentrate your decor there. This will look festive without turning your whole house into Santa's Village. Unless, of course, that's the look you were going for!

Day 6: Tackle the Bedroom
Even though guests won’t see it, a clear bedroom sets a calm tone for you. Sort through clothes, declutter nightstands, and cut back on stuff that's stored under the bed. Give yourself permission to let go of books you thought you’d read this year but now know you’ll never get to. Put together a couple of holiday outfits so you’ll be ready for a party at a moment’s notice.

Day 7: Manage Gift Wrapping Supplies
Set up a wrapping station with all your supplies in one place. Use the back of a door, a portable caddy, or a designated drawer to keep everything organized. You’ll need paper, tape, scissors, ribbon, gift bags, tissue paper, and gift tags. To save time, wrap gifts as you buy them.

Day 8: Sort Holiday Decorations
Take stock of your holiday decorations. Decide what to keep, repair or discard. Organize by type and/or by room for easier setup next year. Pro tip: Take photos of your displays so you remember how to set it up next year.

Day 9: Dining Room Declutter
Spend time going through your dining area, letting go of chipped dishes, getting out and cleaning holiday-only service pieces, and making sure you have the linens or paper goods you’ll need for holiday entertaining. Adorn your table with some candles and a festive bowl or platter as a centerpiece.

Day 10: Children’s Areas
If you have kids, organize their spaces. Make room for new toys and gifts by sorting through what they have, involving the kids in the process. Help your children get into the spirit of giving by having them come with you to donate the toys. If you don’t have kids, maybe your pets’ toys could use some organization.

Day 11: Guest Accommodations
If you’re like most people, you’re probably using your guest room for some extra storage space. Now’s the time to prepare for actual guests. Fresh linens, clear space, and amenities like soap and lotion make guests feel welcome. If you can’t clear a whole drawer or part of the closet, place some empty fabric or woven baskets in the room for them to use to organize their clothes and toiletries.

Day 12: Reflect and Celebrate
After the organizing spree, reflect on what worked well and what could be improved for next year. Celebrate your hard work by inviting a couple of friends over for a spontaneous gathering over cocktails or tea. Revel in the fact that you are now ready for guests whenever they show up!

Need help customizing this list for your home? Need a partner to coach you through the process? I help clients with this kind of thing all the time. You can schedule a consultation with me or, if you just have a few questions, let’s start a conversation over on my Instagram or Facebook pages. Feel free to ask away!

1. Invest in new hangers

2. Create Categories

Believe it or not, I’ve helped clients organize their cars. Yup, cars pile up with excess stuff just like our homes. In fact, it’s pretty easy to clutter up a car because it’s a small space and you’re always busy when you’re in it, so you don’t typically take the time to tidy up.

Now, after getting you safely through the slushy, muddy late-winter weather, doesn’t your car deserve some TLC? It’s time to give it a good spring cleaning!

I’ll show you how to organize your car using my same CALM method that I use for your home. CALM = Clear, Assess, Locate, Maintain & Modify

Looking anxious, Diane* brought me over to a hidden spot between her dining table and credenza and gestured to several large tote bags. They were packed full of mail, paperwork, and notes collected over several months, perhaps even years.

“I feel so ashamed that I’ve let it pile up this much,” she admitted. “Maybe I should just shred it all!”

“Sure,” I said encouragingly, “but I don’t think that’s what you want to do, is it?”

Diane admitted that, tempting as it sounded just to get rid of all the papers, that’s not the way she wanted to handle the backlog. It was too haphazard a solution and she knew there were things in there that she needed to deal with and possibly even important papers she needed to save, such as legal documents and tax records.

But the opposite approach — go through everything with a fine-toothed comb — seemed an insurmountable task.

When you’re facing a backlog — whether it’s papers, clothing, toys, mementos, or whatever — you need a framework to help you see past the mountain.

I had just come home with a bag full of new yarn, excited to start knitting the sweater my daughter had asked me to make for her. All I wanted to do was cast on and start knitting.

But — any knitters out there will know this — the skeins of yarn have to be wound into usable balls first. Otherwise, they’ll turn into tangled messes. I should have just paid the fee to have the store wind them for me! But, cheapskate that I am, I couldn’t do that after having spent oodles on the yarn itself.

If you’re not a knitter, let me enlighten you about the tedium of the winding process. For me, it entails sitting cross-legged with a loosely-bound hank of yarn stretched across my knees, going round and round, winding the strand into a neat ball, while trying to avoid hand cramps and yarn tangles. It probably takes 15-20 minutes per skein, meaning I was looking at a few hours of winding before I could even get to the fun knitting part!

Well, maybe I could just buy a winding machine. Down the rabbit hole of an online search I went. Of course, winding yarn involves not just one but two mechanisms: a yarn swift and a ball winder. The swift resembles a clothes drying rack and holds the yarn, while the winder — naturally — winds it.

I was looking at upwards of $50 just to be able to start my project. Nope. My inner tightwad had to find another way.

Lightbulb moment: Why not ask my online Buy Nothing group?!