You may have encountered this already.

It’s a maybe possession.

Those maybe possessions can be like hitting a concrete wall in your clutter clearing process.

What are Maybe possessions?

Maybe’s can be things you have bought, inherited, been gifted or chosen. If you look a little closer you my find there is a lot of ambivalence, doubt and procrastination around this category of possessions. They are hard to declutter.

They take up too much space or don’t function as you want them to and are the things you really don’t like to look at or use.

Yet the idea of letting them go creates so much stressful emotion it feels impossible to let it go.

Some maybe possessions I’ve encountered in peoples homes are:

• Wedding gifts that have been stored in a garage for over ten years,
• Clothing that doesn’t fit and hasn’t been worn over five years
• Furniture that no one in the family likes but keeps because they have it
• Inherited furniture that is stored in a shed and none of the grandchildren want it
• Dusty damaged craft projects that haven’t been worked on for years
• Excess kitchen ware, books tools and building supplies

The common factor with all of these maybe’s is they take up space, they end up in storage. They are not used and no one really wants them.

Decluttering your home of the Maybe’s is difficult because they bring up fears and worries making it impossible to make a clear headed clutter free decision.

They get shoved into the backs of closets and cupboards, boxed and hidden in basements and garages. They Maybe’s can be things you have bought, inherited, been gifted or chosen. They are the things you are ambivalent about, take up too much space or don’t function as you want them to.

The problem with  Maybe Possessions

They don’t improve the quality of your life or home. They create more indecision. They are the deal breakers when you are decluttering any area in your home.

Once you start a maybe collection it can begin to take over all your space.

You start delaying making decisions

You keep things and make clutter excuses

The maybe’s won’t fit into your goals of decluttering or any version of creating more time, space and money.

Maybe Thinking

You’ll know you hit a maybe when you start thinking like this.

Maybe I’ll get rid of this, I never really liked it but.

Maybe I should give this away. Yes I should give it away, just a minute maybe not

Maybe I will use it but I haven’t in two, three, five years

Maybe I’ll keep this for my children; although they have all told me they don’t and will never want it.

Maybe it will fit one day

Maybe I can force myself to use this because I paid good money for it.

Maybe if I put it here or wear it with this it might look nice.

I might maybe let go of those gifts I’ve stored for over a decade

It was used once two years ago; maybe I should keep it in case they want to use it again.

Sometimes the guilt of wanting to get rid of a gift, the disappointment of wasting money, or the stress of letting go of something sentimental can make you hang on to things you don’t want.

How to Declutter your Maybe Possessions

There are a few ways to deal with these tricky maybe situations.

Maybe Box

The easiest solution is to create a Maybe Box. Put this box in your basement or garage and write maybe.

Put your maybe items in and make a promise to yourself. Give the item two weeks in the box, look at it again and ask yourself these questions.

Usually by this time the emotional connection has diminished a little and you can look at this item more logically than emotionally.

You may even find you wonder why you wanted to keep it in the first place.

This strategy is very good for those “I might need it one day items” we all hang on to but never use.

It works with any items you know you want to get rid of but have that nagging worry feeling if you let it go.

Principal of Keeping One

A second solution is practicing the Principal of Keeping One.

This is a great strategy when you are struggling with similar but multiple items and can instantly free up space create wherever you are decluttering.

It also reduces the stress of letting go because you are not getting rid of everything but keeping the one item from the group that you use the most or like the best.

If you are at the beginning of decluttering this strategy is very effective.

Put the group of similar items together and choose one.

So if you are looking at clothing you have never worn with price tags on them, keep the one you like the best and get rid of the other ten dresses with price tags you have never worn

If it is kitchen utensils put them in a group keep the one you use the most.

If it is sentimental items group them together  keep the item you love the most.

This can be used with tools, toys, dishes or china, unfinished craft projects and clothing.

Use the maybe possession

The third solution is to bring the maybe item out of hiding and use it. This is the real test as to whether this item adds value to your life.

Take your maybe and use it, wear it, hang it and see if you like it.

This can work with clothing, shoes, artwork, furniture, books just about everything.

If you love using it, looking at it, wearing it and showing it keep it.

But if you response is I don’t know it I like and you have the urge to put it back into storage change that urge to giving it away.

Decluttering your home is a lot easier when you have some specific strategies to deal with those maybe’s.

Copyright ©2012 Jane Alais

Most people don’t write down or even know their specific goals and if you don’t know what results you want how can you achieve them.

Wayne Gretsky once said “you can’t make a goal with a shot you haven’t taken” and that is what writing out your smart goals and objectives is like. Taking those shots so you can win.

So ask yourself:

Would you like to make procrastination a distant memory?

Would you like to consistently get those annoying messes out of your life and deal with what comes in a proactive way?

Would you like to clear out all the clutter and junk from your home so you live in a spacious attractive space.

Would you like to have all your paper clutter where it belongs wither in the recycle bin or organized in archives and files?

Would you like to feel you are moving forward in important areas of your life?

Goal setting sets up a consistent system of achievement which is a massive blow to the chaos of clutter. Remember the story of the turtle and the hare? In a race the turtle won by just being consistent.

So if you are in a decluttering mode and are looking to simplify your life or take a step to making those transformational shifts think about setting smart goals.

Take step to start to clear out your inner and outer clutter and create a focus that allows you to easily get things done.

What are Smart Goals

They give you a simple structure to clarify your ideas and desires while releasing the energy and clarity to take action.

They have five criteria that need to be met. Smart is an acronym for specific, measureable, attainable, and relevant to you and timely which means you set a deadline for getting them done.

Here are five tips to set your personal smart goals to clear that extra stubborn clutter and make inroads in what you want to do in life.

A Goal Needs to be Specific, very very specific

This sounds a lot easier than it is.

I’ve found most people feel more comfortable setting big general goals. They sound big and bold but are so vague that taking action to achieve them is impossible

Sometimes when your goal is simple and specific it feels too small and insignificant so it may feel counterintuitive to do this. Many big achievements are the outcome of taking consistent small action.

Saying I want to declutter my bedroom is too broad too vague.

Saying I want to declutter my closet is still just an idea.

Saying I want to give twenty clothing items to goodwill is much more specific.

Or saying I am going to let go of everything black, or anything a size 8.

Being this specific creates clarity. The more concrete and specific you can be the better chance you have of achieving it and moving on to a goal that is a little more challenging.

Your goal needs to be measureable

Your goal needs to be measurable. Stating the number of items or the items you want to declutter is a measurable action.

Goals such as I want to let go of one garbage bag of junk.

I want to let go of 20% of what I store which is five boxes.

I want to declutter my bookshelf and let go of thirty books.

Using a number, amount, size makes your goal measurable.

Make sure your Smart goal is attainable.

As you work through the process of identifying goals that are most important to you, you automatically begin to see the ways to make them happen.

That means you look at what you are willing to do and make a commitment to the goal. Decluttering your bedroom may feel exhausting but letting go of twenty clothing items isn’t.

Letting go of twenty clothing items often leads to letting go of more, organizing your closet, returning those shopping mistakes with the price tags on them that you haven’t touched and redefining what you love to wear.

Creating attainable goals that you can achieve boots your self confidence and self esteem.

Attainable goals aren’t less than those big dream goals. Smart goals are designed to let you take the steps you need to get results

Make your goal realistic. What are you willing to achieve. This may be your big question. What are you committed to doing to make a change. Making a goal realistic often means making it specific.  If it is a big goal what are the lead up steps to make it happen. List them out as Smart goals

Make your goals timely. Monthly goals are a good idea as they give you a time frame to meet objectives.  If there is a goal that you want to do frequently and life interferes you still have the time to meet your objective. This works well with small decluttering projects or any other activity you want to start doing regularly.

So saying I want to do this action ten times this month makes it achievable.

Don’t list everything for the end of the month. Use different dates in the month as target deadlines.

Use positive words. Focus on outcomes

Take a look at your goals a couple times a week and see if you are doing it.

Make it real. Visualize it, experience it.

Look to the reward of achieving the goal. Clearing your closet means you have more space, can see clothes can start a new style, have room for exercise clothes so you can go to the gym.

Smart Goal setting is a way to improve your habits and routines and slightly shift your direction so you can take those first steps to make a big difference in your life.  Use different dates in the month as target deadlines.

Writing down your Smart goals monthly can get you out of a rut, give you a little push to take you out of your comfort zone and give you the energy to make those changes that you want.

Copyright ©2011 Jane Alais

Do you find yourself with a million undone things to do and feel like there is no time to do it?

Are you in a panic? Christmas is a season to be enjoyed, being organized and having a plan can be the best way to take the stress out of this season.

Brian Tracy, a productivity and success expert, advises that for every minute of planning you save ten minutes in execution so sit down, get planning.

So how do you organize an unorganized Christmas?

Create your personal organized plan:

- Brainstorm

Sit down for ten to twenty minutes and brainstorm everything you need to do for this holiday on a page of paper. Purge your mind. Let everything out and get it written down. It doesn’t matter if it is messy, out of order or makes no sense.

The purpose is to declutter your mind of those repetitive thoughts that are just ideas at the moment.

- Make lists.

The three main Christmas categories are Gifts, Greetings and Food.

This can be done in front of the T.V. one evening. They can be messy. You can change them. But having a list as a reference takes so much stress out of what you have to do.

- Make a Gift List.

This will include family, friends and those small gifts you need for school and work.

Estimate the price of each gift and what store it will be purchased from so you can estimate a quick budget and organize purchases. This one tip alone will save tons of time.

- Make a Greetings List

This will include Christmas Cards, phone calls and e-mails. You may want to start a contact Christmas list that just needs to be modified every year.

Creating a master contact list for Christmas will make those Christmas cards quicker to do and makes keeping in touch with friends and family a lot easier, as well as giving you a jumpstart on Christmas planning.

- Organize Food-menu plan and grocery list

Make a menu plan and grocery list at the same time. Once you have your Xmas menu plan, check what you have in your kitchen.

You can even do a quick declutter and organize as you do this and then make your Christmas grocery list. Once you have your list you can delegate some of the shopping.

- Group Similar Tasks Together

This organizing tip alone can be your biggest time saver. Look at your lists and group purchases that are made in the same area together. Do your Christmas Cards, and e-mails in one evening and complete this task. Save errands until you have several things to do in the same area and then do them together.

Grouping tasks together means you save time by not making so many trips, get multiple tasks done with one effort and frees up your time.

- Schedule what you need to do

Once you have your lists and you have grouped similar things together, schedule your shopping, decluttering, organizing and cleaning.

The idea behind making a schedule is you are blocking out time to get specifics tasks done. This creates focus and energy and gets a lot more done in a lot less time.

Keep these four simple organizing tips in mind to put  the sanity back into your Christmas countdown. Make a plan by brainstorming everything you need to do, make three master lists for gifts, greeting and food, group similar tasks together and schedule what you need to do.

Copyright ©2011 Jane Alais

Getting into the goal setting fame of mind creates clarity around what you love, what you want to do, how you want to live and can be the beginning of transforming your mindset so you can take the action to get what you want in life.

On a more practical front setting small personal goals can be a huge motivator to clearing that longstanding clutter in your home, dealing with messes of all kinds and streamlining and decluttering your life.

Creating any goals can change non productive habits, get you thinking a little differently about what you own and being to engage your subconscious to move through blocks to make that mindset change in the right direction.

This year was the year I learned and set goals.

I wrote them down, reviewed them, and visualized them. I carried my most important goals in my wallet. I discovered that for me they were a fantastic way to clear out mental clutter, get focused and stop being pushed in a million different directions. Setting goals effortlessly made me more productive.

I found my day had an instant inner structure because I was aware of my priorities. Tasks got done quicker, there seemed to be more flow to my day. With the clarity of setting goals manifesting outcomes and finding solutions seemed easier.

This didn’t happen overnight but I had a commitment this year to set time aside to reassess and rewrite my goals on a monthly.

Personal goal setting helps you make new choices and different decisions. They help you create your own future and take charge of your life and take action in new directions.

So what does setting goals really do?

• They help you get focused which in turn creates motivation and energy.

• They motivate you and help you get out of a rut or that feeling of being stuck

• They declutter your mind. You focus on the solution not the problem and begin to clear one thing at a time

• They help clarify priorities. You begin to realize certain tasks are more important that others and focus on getting those done

• Goals help you clear mental and physical clutter because they give you a sense of direction and clarity.

• They are part of the psychology of success and let you take the action that can lead to really big results.

• They give you an opportunity to reassess what you are doing if you don’t get the results you want.

Organizing Your Goals

Being organized always helps you create a new focus, take action and begin making newer and better choices. So when you list your goals you may find they fall in these three categories.

Daily: These are those practical small single step goals. This may be your to do list, filling out your decluttering or organizing planner, or those housekeeping or work must do’s you keep in your head.

They may also include routines and habits you want to implement, change or improve. This can also include your daily habits for success.

Weekly Goals are for those bigger one off tasks. This may include cleaning out a cupboard, getting that longstanding junk out of the garage, setting some time aside to return those phone calls or e-mails that have been on your mind.

Visionary or Lifetime Goals can be put on a vision board or goals book and be used for inspiration.

Setting Goals and Planning

• Get into a goal setting process that is simple, consistent and easy to do.

• Set aside an hour once a month.

• Write your goals down. Put them in categories and choose your top five goals to achieve. Clarify what action you need to accomplish all or part of them.

• At the end of the month reassess what you have accomplished and what you can improve.

• Change or rework them on a monthly basis.

• Put your main goals in your wallet to remind you of your objectives.

• Take action.

• Be persistent.

Copyright ©2011 Jane Alais

Usually they take seconds, are easy to do and make a huge difference to creating a day that flows.

One simple way to streamline and organize your day is to clear out and re-organize your purse on a daily basis.

Handbag Problems

Some disorganized handbag problems you may have found in your life are:

Have lost the important coupon, receipt or document only to get home and realize it was in your purse the whole time

Carrying around a make-up bag that has enough stuff in it for a crowd of people

Needing glasses or sunglasses but forgot to pack them

Lugging around a purse so full of stuff you have a sore neck or shoulders

What it really boils down to is you don’t have what you need and that may mean losing money, having to do an errand again or simply being inconvenienced on a daily basis.

Organized or Chaotic

Organizing Guru Julie Morgenstern advises “Your purse is either a portable microcosm of you either feeling organized and light on your feet, or weighed down and chaotic. It’s like your springboard of confidence that you’re organized and ready to tackle the world.”

So if you are ready to dump some purse clutter and face the day with the confidence of a clutterfree organized handbag here is what to do.

Decluttering Your Handbag

Dump everything out of your purse every evening. Throw what needs to go in the trash.

File or organize any documents, receipts or information you have stuffed in your bag

Think about what you need for tomorrow and reorganize in categories.

Go through your wallet and empty it of receipts and small pieces of paper and reorganize your cards.

Things to Keep in Your Purse

Here are the core items to keep in you purse, anything else can be changed daily.

Wallet, phone and keys

Daily Organizer

Pencil case with pens and notepad

Small make-up bag, don’t bring your entire make-up bag with you, opt for a few items you will need the next day

And any specific items you may need for the day

Purse Accessories

Everyone needs a few pouches to contain similar type items.

Mini-Pouches for make-up are the way to go to contain make-up and personal items or any other small loose items.

Pencil case containing pens and paper. Small and lightweight this comes in handy.

Small pull out bag with items needed for baby or children.

Sunglass or glass case

Get into a good habit, organize your purse daily and you will experience the benefits every day.

Copyright ©2011 Jane Alais

Parents complain about doing it, kids complain about not finding it and most are reluctant to help out with it.

I’m not a big fan of doing laundry but I like nice clean unwrinkled clothes in an organized closet.

I’m a big fan of order.

Early on in my decluttering journey I realized life was simpler and more pleasant if everyone had clean clothes that could be found easily.

Laundry is something I prefer to pass on to my husband as often as I can. He’s Australian and when he hangs clothing on the line it is like a work of art and I admire this ability a lot. Although I help with laundry I love to cook so the kitchen is more my domain.

When I first moved to Australia we didn’t have a dryer. I would toss clothes in bunches on the line, it would rain for a week or two and the clothes would stay there until I finally took down a soggy mess and rewash it. I never got home in time to get the clothes off the line before it rained (a common problem here). Being Canadian and in love with dryers I thought this was an insane way to do things

Then my daughter was born and the laundry we needed to do seemed to quadruple. After months of having cloth nappies draped over every piece of furniture my husband buckled and admitted if we ever wanted to sit in a chair again we need a dryer. The dryer helped but I realized I needed to get the laundry organized.

Doing laundry and I mean sorting, washing, drying, sorting, folding and putting away becomes a big task once you’ve had a family. I think the fact that most families do around 400 washes a year proves my point that getting this under control is a big tick in the time saving basket.

Common problems with laundry

It needs to get out of a hamper or off the floor to the laundry room. This alone can cause a lot of hysteria with mothers.

It needs to be done regularly or you have nothing to wear.

It needs to be folded properly or hung up or you look silly dressed in a mass of wrinkles. Leaving laundry in piles can result in hours of ironing.

It needs to be put back or you run around looking for that blouse or the matching sock.

Laundry often likes to socialize in piles around the house, hide in strange places or just simply disappear.

Clothing clutter often complicates laundry and makes it an impossible chore so if you want to get the whole clothing thing under control declutter your closet

The more people in your family the more time consuming laundry is and the better it will be when you get organized.

So as a person who feels there are better things in life here are my laundry tips and tricks to tame the laundry monster.

Laundry Design Ideas

Good design combines function with style and the laundry room is an area that needs to be clean, uncluttered and very functional.

So to keep clutter at bay and what you need easily found and at your fingertips here are a few ideas.

Design in zones.

Think about having a sorting zone for colors, whites, wet clothes. If you have the space separate light from dark colors

The washing zone needs to have storage or shelves for washing products that are used daily, kept in easy reach and space for basket for the wet clothes that may get hung out on a line or transferred to a dryer.

The dryer and drying zone can have a folding table if you have the space and extra laundry baskets at hand.

Shelves at easy to reach level can be used for products you use daily and closed cupboards for storage.

Add good lighting and ventilation

Create space and order

The easiest way to make space is to have less in this room and create a good laundry routine that works for you. Often this room doubles as storage or clothing piles up in unmanageable amounts.

Get rid of any clutter such as cleaning products and supplies that you are never used, too old or any junk that has been dumped in this room.

Group similar items together so you can find what you need easily.

Use separate laundry bins/hampers for whites, colors and wet clothes. This seems to make getting the laundry done a lot less time consuming and easier

If you have small supplies store them in boxes or bins

Use your wall space to hang up brooms, dusters and any other cleaning supplies. Keep the floor clear.

Useful Laundry Organizers

Laundry Organizers are great for making your laundry room more efficient. They help keep clothes and products off the floor, keep surfaces clear and make zones even in the smallest laundry room.

Large bins to separate whites, colors will eliminate the need to spend time sorting

Putting small products in containers stops them creates a cleaner more organized look and makes products easier to locate.

Get a drying rack that can be put on a wall to hang those items that cannot go into the dryer

Use wall hanging units for your laundry board and cleaning products

Table or space for folding

Laundry Baskets for carrying clean clothes to rooms.

Good Laundry Habits

Laundry needs to be sorted, washed, dried, folded and sometimes ironed and if you have a family my most important laundry tip is you may find one of these needs to be done daily.

One way to organize laundry is to separate colors, whites, and wets in your laundry room with clearly marked hampers. People become color blind when it comes to laundry so clearly label them or use different colored bins.

Make it every one’s responsibility to get their clothes to the laundry room.

If you do a wash, get it dried and put away the same day if possible. So this may mean putting the wet wash in the dryer or line, emptying the line of dry clothes and folding and putting back where they belong.

Fold and put away every day even if it’s in front of the TV

Put a wash on first thing in the morning so it just has to be dried and put away after work or put a wash in overnight and dry and put away in the morning. Get into a routine.

Copyright ©2011 Jane Alais

My definition of a feng shui home are clean living spaces without clutter, a connection to nature, possessions you love to look at and use and no overcrowding anywhere as well as belongings that reflect what you love and who you are.

So here are my five most effective feng shui tips that you can use in every room in your home.

Let go of your clutter: Every Feng Shui consultant will advise you to get rid of clutter. Areas that are cluttered evoke feelings of frustration and overwhelm. Decluttering a space unblocks energy and often you can feel energized and clear headed. Start with items that are broken or things you know you don’t like.

Develop a spacious mindset: Reorganize so there is space around what you own. Overcrowding prevents the movement of energy, is visually unattractive and on a practical level can make possessions impossible to find. Start to clear flat surfaces, get things off the floor and declutter drawers and shelves for visual and energetic calm.

Create positive symbols: What possessions do you own that have a positive meaning for you. What items do you own that represent a feeling of success, happiness or support your wellbeing? Family photographs may evoke feelings of warmth; loved child hood possessions may create good memories and a vision board may represent all your goals and dreams.

Focus on what you love: This may be a new perspective which can speed up your clutter clearing, allow your creativity and sense of style to emerge and give you a sense of direction. This often means looking at your surrounding with new eyes, identifying your loved cherished possessions and letting go of anything that doesn’t fit into your, I love it category.

Bring nature inside: All things natural are uplifting and add instant beauty. Clean your windows to let the sunlight in, open your doors and let the wind blow through your home, add plants to purify air and remove toxins, use a beautiful rock as a paperweight or use your favorite nature scene as a screen saver.

Improving Feng Shui in your home is an achievable goal. Declutter the possessions you no longer love and use, create a spacious mindset, identify possessions that are positive symbols for you, identify and keep what you love and bring nature inside to begin to design your feng shui home.

Copyright ©2011 Jane Alais

 When it comes to home organizing it’s the small things that really add to the chaos. Small items scattered everywhere  means possessions don’t have a home and often quickly build up into serious disorganized piles of clutter making it impossible to find those little things when you really need them.

Two main keys to organizing small things is to choose designated places for small items and containerize like with like. With these two concepts in mind here are some proven tips and tricks to easily get those little items under control.

 Start to think about attractive containers that give clear visible cues to put away when you are organizing your home. Wicker baskets are great for holding magazines, newspapers and toys in your living room or bedroom areas. Smaller plastic containers in white or bright colors are great for grouping makeup and grooming items with most often used items in glass jars for instant visibility. Cupboards and drawer organizers can make a jumbled mess of clothing into a colourful work of art.

Get realistic about the items you use and need to find the most often. This is a priority for creating clear and defined designated places. You may need a key ring or bowl for keys near the door you use the most. Most people find one place to put mail is useful with a rubbish bin nearby for those extra envelopes and advertisements. An inbox for information that can be filed later in the week as well as a file/or inbox for bills, notices or documents that need immediate attention can immediately organize information clutter.

 Home organizing means looking at changing the way you arrange the small items to eliminate that clutter feeling and create a feeling of space. Containerizing and grouping similar items together lets you see what you own so you can get rid of multiples of the same thing. Creating designated places allow you to find and put back easily changing the small item chaos into spacious calm.

Copyright ©2011 Jane Alais

Organizing Tips

1. The first step in any decluttering plan is to get your thoughts onto paper. There is something magical about writing things down. Writing seems to do several things. It creates a focal point for your mind, sets an intention and increases the feeling that you are supposed to do it. It spurs you into action. Writing your plan down is a promise you make to your self.

2. Set simple clutter free goals in bite size pieces and write them down. If you want to declutter your clothing set your goals one drawer at a time or one section of your closet. Small goals make it easier to start and easier to declutter more than you expected.

3. Identify your personal obstacles.  An improtant organizing  tip is brainstorming what excuses may come up for keeping things you no longer love or use or saying, “I don’t have time or I don’t know how,”as a road block to getting organized. Acknowledging your obstacles and moving through them lets you take action.

4. Visualize the end result. Then make a list of what you want to let go of to make the picture in your mind a reality. This simple exercise allows you to identify clutter you may not of been aware of and to get rid of what you no longer like and create clarity around your clutter free goals.

5. Clarify how empty you want the area to be.  The Parato Principal states twenty percent of  what you own is used eighty percent of the time. What do you need to keep to have a great life?This is the time to have what you own fit into the space that is available.

6. A critical tip for organizing is to set new clutter free standards. This may mean starting out with the Clutter Free Decision Making Keys until you can get specific as to what you want to keep or let go of. Simple standards like I want to get rid of all my purple sweaters or I want a clean empty desk top add direction to your clutter clearing process.

7. Organize a tool kit for your specific decluttering task. Do you need garbage bags or boxes, large paper clips or folders? Do you need labels, markers or packing tape or help with heavy boxes? Gather the tools that will help you declutter before you start this task.

Creating a decluttering plan with these seven tips for organizing will help you reach your goal, get you motivated and keep you on task. Writing will let you gain clarity around what you want to keep and give you a structure you can follow to create an individualized step by step plan for yourself.

Copyright ©2010 Jane Alais

As I mentioned in the most recent newletter Christmas in Australia is rather complicated.  Maybe the Australians don’t think so but I  miss the simplicity of the Canadian Christmas  where the cold weather makes shopping a little easier and socializing in the isolation of the winter that much more special. Green and red look wonderful with the white snow but here in the hot weather it doesn’t have the same effect. The most beautiful christmas tree I have ever seen in Australia was completely decorated in hot pink which suited the sharp glare of the hot sun, sea breezes and the vivid blue of the sky.

Here in Australia the Christmas Season is co-joined with the end of school and summer holidays and it goes something like this:  Christmas (shopping, wrapping, baking, socializing, and Christmas carols all in the hot weather) happens at the end of the school year (parent teacher meetings, plays, music concerts, school get togethers and celebrations) plus it’s the beginning of the summer holidays.

As insane or brilliantly smart as it sounds I spend the week before Christmas every year holidaying  with my family at a beautiful beach. The week  for me is swimming in a turquoise ocean, lazing on the beach, reading a book a day and having my husband  barbeque every night. I do bring an advent calendar to keep the season in mind and light a beeswax candle in the shape of a Christmas tree every night at dinner.

The upside to Christmas in Australia is I have developed some no fuss ways to get organized for Christmas.  For me simplicity is key and the main guideline here is to leave nothing to the last moment.  I suggest you sit down with a pen and jot down a short and simple plan. Being prepared is essential and writing down the date for shopping, cleaning, organizing and baking will let you distribute your Chrismas workload a little more evenly. Here are my ten  short and simple tips to make your countdown to Christmas filled with a little more joy and pleasure.  I hope they work well for you.

1. The most effective thing I do is to complete one main Christmas task per week, leaving the week before Christmas with only menu planning and grocery shopping to do.  Work on any Christmas lists or organizing ideas in the evening. You can do them even while you watch TV.

2.  Create a master gift list starting with your family, then friends and colleagues and add people who help during the year. This may include teachers, babysitters, cleaners, and gardeners. Start your shopping early and add a few extra gifts for emergencies.

3.  Purchase your wrapping paper, ribbons, and name cards in November and make a gift wrapping box with scissors and tape so you can wrap gifts as you buy them. This way when Christmas Eve comes everything is wrapped and ready under the tree. No late nights frantically wrapping and putting Christmas together and on the 24th you just put them under the tree and enjoy the evening.

4 .Make a Christmas card list in November and add people you want to telephone and e-mail. Write down contact information and schedule when you will do it preferably the first week in December.

5. Start a major tidy up before December first and let go of one unnecessary item each day. You may want to wash walls, windows and skirting boards, get the garden and outside eating area ready if you are in Australia  and repair any items that need fixing. See if you can speed declutter clothing and donate to charity or do a clear out of toys before you need to find space for all the new gifts. Do this early in the season.

6 .Grab a garbage bag and do a fast declutter and reorganize your pantry, freezer and refrigerator. Get rid of  empty bottles, old food items, things you no longer want and clear out and re-organize  your freezer to make room for holiday supplies.  Give everything a good clean and make room for Christmas supplies long before you need them.

7. Use one calendar to write down all social activates and add on anything you need to prepare. For example my son is going to camp on the 22^nd of November and on the 21^st I have to bake two cakes. Both items get written down on the calendar as do any unusual or extra errands that have to be done at specific times.

8. Order hams, turkeys and specialty items in early December. Get your hair appointments booked and complete any outstanding items.

9. Plan your Christmas menu in early December and make a grocery list that includes what you need for the days the grocery stores are closed. Keep this list on hand so you can add to it when inspiration hits.

10 .Make sure you get enough sleep, keep up with your exercise and have time to relax. Make this a priority so you are filled with Christmas Cheer during the countdown to Christmas.

What are your favourite organizing tips for your Christmas countdown?  Share in the comments.

Copyright ©2010 Jane Alais