Week Four of the Holiday Grand Plan sees us move into the master bedroom to deep-clean and cut clutter, creating a serene and peaceful refuge for the busy days ahead.
As the season changes, we rout out the closet and organize clothing.
Our holiday prep tasks center on home-made gifts, and we’ll begin budgeting “to-buy” items week-by-week.
Ready? Let’s get organized with the Holiday Grand Plan!
Holiday Prep
- Make one batch of Holiday Goodies.
- Make one extra meal for freezer again labeled HOLIDAY MEAL.
- Buy two canned food items from menus (get 2 of each item, one to use and one to donate to food drive).
- Buy 1/8th of TO BUY gifts. Save all receipts, note return policy before buying. Ask for gift boxes
- Wrap and label packages. If needing to ship, get some shipping boxes now and store packages in them.
- Work at least 1 hour a day on homemade gifts.
- Make list of any table and bathroom linens that need replacing before the holidays, and pick up a few each week.
Cleaning/Organizing Area: Master Bedroom
First. let’s do what we did in the living room. All draperies or curtains taken down and washed or dry cleaned (or at least vacuumed). Do the same with your bedspread. While windows are bare, clean blinds and glass.
Clear off those stacks and piles on and around your dresser/chest of drawers. Now, dump each drawer, one at a time, or all at the same time into a central location. Vacuum the drawers if necessary.
Go through and sort items. Decide what you want to have in the dresser drawers and put only those items back. use the 4 box method to ort the remaining items. If you haven’t worn an item in a year, ask yourself if you will wear it within the next year. if no then get rid of it! (Garage sale, donate to the needy or someone you know will wear it, or THROW IT OUT!)
Do similar with items other than clothing that you find along the way. How about those worn undergarments?? Get rid of them and treat yourself to new! You may want to invest in, or make dividers for some of these types of articles.
How about the jewelry box? Time to go through & inventory. Might want to give some that you don’t wear to your kids to play, and leave room for your better items.
Have you checked under the bed yet? Better do so! There could be shoes, books, and other items that have long since been forgotten. You might want to consider getting storage containers for use under there for your off-season clothing.
Now you’re ready for the closet! Use the same technique as for drawers: take everything out of the closet and pile in a central location. Decide what you what to store where in the closet! Then use the 4 box method as you consider each thing you removed from the closet before you put items into the closet!
For shoes, try on all pairs if you can’t wear them now, chances are you never will. Get rid of them! And if you never really felt comfortable in a certain pair, find a friend who would. Come on now, do you really need to keep the old maternity clothes?? Would anyone else want them? If so, give them away, if not throw them away! Okay now, get ready to fill the closet with things you need and love.
Have you changed the linens on the bed? Turn the mattress first, so you won’t “wear” a valley in it! Throw the pillows into the dryer to fluff, and pull out all the dust they collect also.
Time to dust and clean off all the furniture with your favorite product. Don’t forget the TV screen & any mirrors you may have. Everyone has different things in their bedrooms which are individual to your household. Take a good look around and see if there is anything we left out.
Vacuum the floor of the room and the closet!
List time: do you need new hangers? Have you replaced winter clothes for summer clothes? Have you found that necklace that fell behind the dresser last year? Did you check the ceiling fan, light fixtures & air vents? Do you need a new mattress pad? or mattress cover?
We should be finished! What an adventure!