Saturday 19 October 2013

Getting Organised for Christmas... Yes, already!

Hi all,

 Yes it really is that time of year! Already!

 Time for us Mums and hosts to start thinking about presents, food and the general planning of Christmas!

 I am a firm believer that the more organised you are the more you will enjoy something. 

 Everything will be just the way you want it and it will be stress free as you will have allowed plenty of time to get everything done.

 I have done a video about this on my YouTube channel, you may want to check that out:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcIhNOZPM3Q

 I have my own Christmas and Birthdays folder that I use throughout the year... but it seems to be permanently out or in my hand from about October onwards!
THE Folder
I organise everything to do with Birthdays and Christmas in here.

File dividers, you can organise and divide as you see fit.
I have (to name but a few) Birthday presents, Birthday Cards, Christmas presents, Christmas Cards, Food, Party, and so on!

My Best purchase!
These plastic wallets are thick and sturdy, they clip closed with a fold over top so nothing can fall out. When I see a birthday card I like I buy it and keep it in my Birthdays Folder ready for the right person's birthday. I have two more of these wallets in the folder - one for receipts and one for Christmas cards (you know the special ones you send to close family only)

I use this folder to record everything I need for the festive season and I thought I would share it with you. At the bottom of this post you will find some blank printable documents that you can use as they are or tweak them to suit your planning styles and methods.

 Main Tips and Tricks for a stress free Christmas:
  • Save throughout the year - I have a separate bank account and I have a standing order going into it every month. (you are going to spend the money anyway, may as well save in advance! Even just £10 a month will help take the sting out of this expensive time of year)
  • Buy non-perishable items in the sales directly after Christmas (e.g. wrapping paper, Christmas cards, decorations, etc)
  • Buy some presents in the Summer Sales
  • Write out/use check lists for presents, cards, etc.
  • If you are making presents start making them sooner rather than later so you can spread out 'production' over a number of weeks instead of being a last minute stress!
  • Write 8-10 cards a night during the final week(s) of November so all your cards are written out gradually and ready to send in early December.
  • Know what you need to get, for who and when it needs to be ready and wrapped by... then make sure you stick to it! You cannot buy/organise things too early, but you can be too late!
I hope you found this useful, here are my documents for you to make use of if you would like:
(you may want to use these as a starter/guide and then go from there - adding your own requirements and flair as you want)


and for the rest of the year:

(FYI - saving them onto Google docs messed up the format and font a bit so they look quite plain and boring compared to the ones I actually use... but I am not technologically blessed so its a miracle I even worked out how to share them in the first place!!)

Thanks,
Rach xx


 Check out my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/RachelReviewsAndMuse
Follow me on twitter? Come say 'hi!' to @rachmarshall
Or check out my pictures on Instagram :-) AllNaturalAspirations
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)