Get your Christmas decorating organized by gathering supplies into one place, like a French market basket.
Every little bit of organization in the busy, busy, busy, busiest season of the year helps your day go well and helps you get more done just when you need more time.
The number one organization tip that helps me the most, at any time of the year, is to gather supplies I will be using for a project into one spot where I can find everything quickly.
C H R I S T M A S F R E N C H
M A R K E T B A S K E T
the single best tip for getting organized for Christmas
Christmas time means shopping, cooking, decorating, wrapping, and most important of all, spending time with family and friends.
Time is precious everyday, and nothing can frazzle your nerves more than the feeling of running out of time when you have a deadline. Is there any more of a firm deadline, with no possible extension, than December 25?
Expectations run high you will be on time for Christmas.
Here's how to take some of the frazzle out of getting everything done . . . and for having more time with family and friends.
Place a container of some kind, like this French market basket, in a spot handy in your house. Your container can be a big wooden box, a plastic bin, a large metal bucket, or a gigantic basket.
Choose something that makes your heart happy to see it. This is not the time to use a raggedy torn cardboard box. Because, you see, your container to gather your decorating supplies will become part of your Christmas decorations itself!
A brilliant idea!
Decorate with your decorating materials as you get ready to create a Christmas mantel, table centerpiece, coffee table vignette, package gift wrapping . . . You get the idea.
But, you are not going to spend time just to gather your supplies together so you can put them in your pretty 'gathering container.'
No, you are going to start with an EMPTY pretty container located in a spot easy for you to reach as you go about your normal daily routines. The French market basket is sitting in a corner of my kitchen/breakfast room. A room centrally located between my bedroom, the living room, the front entry . . . A room I go through on my way to other places hundreds of times a day . . .
The gift wrap MERRY CHRISTMAS paper was the first thing that went into my empty French market basket. I found it while shopping at Target. When I got home, I dropped the new wrapping paper in the market basket instead of putting it in a closet where I would have to dig it out when it comes time to use it.
A few days later I ran across the angel gift wrap paper leftover from last year. I immediately took it to the 'gathering container.' Then I went back to what I was doing when I stumbled across the wrapping paper. No digressions, no getting side-tracked, no looking for other things to go in the 'gathering container.'
When I found the faux gold holly stem at a different time, I put it in the French market basket knowing I would use the holly later for decorating in the house. I did not want to have to search for the holly sprig when it comes time to do that decorating project.
Searching for items is time wasted, time lost, and a nerve frazzler!
The faux magnolia stems went into the market basket next. They are destined for this year's Christmas mantel along with a few other surprises. Dropped into the basket as I went from one room to the next in the house, they are handy days before I will put the mantel decorations together.
About now, you are thinking to yourself, "Why doesn't she have all her Christmas supplies already organized into colored-coded bins with neatly written labels?"
The answer, "Multiple reasons." My house has no attic except for one tiny area over my entry and laundry room which stores other things. No attic to store bins and boxes.
Once upon a time, I had my Christmas decorations stored in an extra bedroom's closet. Since my sister and brother-in-law now live with me, there are no extra bedrooms with extra closets to store Christmas decor. Christmas decor is now stored in multiple places throughout my house. Cubby-holes scattered in more than one room.
When big house projects occur, like all of the carpet was professionally cleaned this year, EVERYTHING has to be packed up, moved to the garage, and brought back in when the project is finished. A major job trying to put everything back into SOME place means some things end up in different places.
Then there are the new purchases made during the year.
The golden nubby star pillow with metallic threads came from a mega after-Christmas sale . . . in San Diego when I was traveling with my sister last January. When I ran across it in my master bathroom's closet this week, I placed it in the 'gathering French basket.'
For those of us without color-coded holiday bins with neatly written labels AND for those us buying new items for this year's projects, a gathering container is a great tip for organizing Christmas decorations.
I know where the supplies are that will be needed for projects in the upcoming busy days. As some of the decorations come out of the basket to be used, other items needed for later projects will take their place.
And . . . the French market basket adds
joie d vivre (joy of living), not frazzle,
to these December days leading to Christmas,
a magical time of the year.
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