How to Get Your Home Ready for Winter and The Holidays

Winter is coming, and with it comes the need for a cozy, organized home that accommodates colder weather and holiday cheer. From bulky clothing to holiday china, preparing for the holidays can feel overwhelming—but with a bit of planning, it’s doable! Here’s how to streamline and organize your spaces as part of your holiday prep, ensuring you’re ready for everything winter and the festivities bring.

Winter clothes are bulkier and take up more space, so give them prime closet real estate as part of your holiday prep and seasonal organizing routine. By rotating summer and winter clothing, you’ll keep the closet functional without getting cluttered.

How to Organize Winter Clothes

• Sort your wardrobe, moving heavier sweaters, scarves, and coats to easy-to-access areas.
• Use vacuum-sealed bags for off-season clothes, freeing up space for what you’ll wear this season.
• Add extra hooks or over-the-door hanging racks to hang scarves, hats, or other accessories.

Products to Organize Winter Clothes

• Vacuum storage bags
• Shelf dividers for stacking sweaters
• Over-the-door hanging racks

Snow and rain can be harsh on shoes, so this is an excellent time to inspect and prep your boots and winter footwear. As part of your holiday routines, check that your soles are sturdy and your shoes are waterproofed. Plus, finding a good storage solution keeps these bulkier items from taking over your closet.

How to Organize Winter Shoes

• Take inventory of your winter shoes, checking if any need cleaning or repairs.
• Store frequently worn boots on a boot rack or tray by the door to remove dirt and moisture from the main areas.
• Use shoe organizers for pairs you use less frequently.

Products to Organize Winter Shoes

• Waterproof boot trays
• Boot racks or stands
• Shoe cleaner kits for winter maintenance

Winter Organizing Shoes

Winter gear like coats, gloves, and hats can overwhelm any entryway, especially if you have limited space. As part of your holiday prep routine, organize entry points such as the garage, mudroom, or front door to avoid clutter while ensuring that winter essentials are easy to grab on the way out.

How to Organize the entryway for winter weather

• Use wall-mounted racks or hooks for coats and jackets to maximize vertical space.
• Add bins or baskets for gloves, hats, and scarves, ideally labeled or divided by family members.
• A tray for wet boots keeps floors dry and makes cleanup a breeze.

Products to try

• Wall-mounted hooks or coat racks in enough numbers for all coats you use regularly
• Labeled bins for small winter accessories like beanies, gloves, and scarves.
• Draining boot tray for wet shoes
• High traffic or heavy-duty rug. Helps reduce water, salt, and mud

Holiday routines often mean festive decorations, which need their own space. Decluttering now makes it easier to prepare for the holidays and frees up room for seasonal items you’ll use daily. Aim to streamline areas like living rooms and entryways that get extra busy during the holidays.

How to Declutter

• Sort through decor items from previous years and donate or dispose of anything broken or unused.
• Pack away some everyday decor items to make room for holiday pieces without overcrowding surfaces.
• Designate a “holiday decor” space in a closet or storage room for easy access and organizing.

Helpful products when Decluttering

• Clear plastic storage bins for holiday decor
• Space-saving ornament containers
• Shelf organizers for any year-round items that need to be put away temporarily

If you entertain during the holidays, now is a great time to check that you have everything you need for festive meals. This holiday prep step ensures your china and holiday-specific glassware, silverware, and serving platters are in good shape and easy to access.

How to Organize Your Holiday Essentials

• Inspect each piece, checking for chips or cracks. If something is damaged or missing, now’s the time to replace it.
• Arrange the items you’ll use frequently at the front of your cabinets or on accessible shelves.
• Consider dividers for drawers if you need more space or want to separate silverware and specialty items.

Products to Organize Your China

• Protective storage cases for delicate china
• Drawer dividers for silverware and glassware
• Shelf risers to maximize cabinet space

New post Holiday Prep: Seasonal Organization for Winter & the Holidays on A Personal Organizer by Helena Alkhas

Use These 5 Tips To Get Ready For The Holiday

Here we are at the end of October. The holiday season is closer than we think and always seems to sneak up on us if we aren’t prepared. So let’s get prepped now before it’s mid-November, and we are scrambling to make the holidays happen.

First and foremost, take a deep breath! If you feel overwhelmed by thinking about the holidays early, take comfort in the fact that by preparing for the holiday season now, you will be way ahead of the game and much more present for the fun parts of the holidays when they arrive.

Here are our best tips to get ready for the holiday. You can download our free Holiday Planner, which has checklists and organizing pages to make this prep super simple right here.

1. Make a Gift List and Set a Budget

Make a list of everyone you will buying gifts for this season. Our planner has different pages for different ways of organizing your gift ideas. Here are some ways you can make and organize a list of gift ideas:

1. List the recipient, the gift idea, and then what you ended up buying
2. List the recipient, the amount you expect to spend, an idea for the gift, and the final gift
3. List each recipient and then break down ideas into categories, such as something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read. Finish by listing the ideas for each category and what you bought.

If you are making any gifts, make a list of what you are making, who you are making this for, the supplies you need, how much you need to spend, and when you need to start and finish the projects.

Set a budget for overall gift spending and break it down per person. When you are creating a gift spending budget, you will also want to make a budget for parties and dinners.

Food, drinks, and party needs can add up and dent your budget if you don’t plan for them.

2. Make a Christmas Card List

List all the friends, family, and coworkers you want to send cards to. You’ll also want to start keeping gathering the addresses of those you are sending cards.

You can also keep track of the cards you receive and add these people to your correspondence list.

If you are using photo cards, take your photo as soon as possible. This way, you will have your photo ready when it is time to order your cards.

3. Start Shopping Early

Start picking up things like stocking stuffers and hostess gifts now.

It’s also a good idea to grab wrapping paper and cards now so you aren’t looking for them at the last minute.

You can also wrap gifts as you buy them unless you prefer the holiday spirit in full swing when you wrap gifts and like to wait until closer to the holiday and do a marathon wrapping session.

4. Start Planning Your Menus

You can start by looking at the meals you will need to plan.

Gather together your favorite recipes and keep them all on the recipe page. Choose your favorite appetizers, main courses, side dishes, and desserts and add them to each meal planning sheet.

Having this part of your Christmas planning finished will save you so much time when it comes time to cook!

If you make cookies or treats for the holiday to share or to have in your home for your family and guests, you can make a list of what you plan to bake and keep track of that as well.

Having the items you need to bake these will make it easy for you to bake ahead when a recipe allows for that when you have time.

The party timeline page in the Christmas Planner is super helpful for mapping out what you will do and when on the day of your party. Being able to see your whole day of a party on paper makes preparation so much less overwhelming.

This is also a good way to be able to see which tasks can be delegated to anyone who is helping you.

5. Keep Track Of What You Loved This Season

The Christmas planner gives you a place to keep track of all the things that made your holiday special.

You can take note of traditions- old and new, food, movies, music, decorations, treats, and outings.

Keeping track of your favorite holiday moments and memories is a great way to create a reference for next year so you can see what you want to do again.

Conclusion

With these five holiday organizing tips, you will have smooth sailing toward the holidays.

Remember to download the planner and get all the checklists to organize and plan everything we discussed here, as well as a holiday prep master to-do list, recipe, menu, and party planning pages.

Want more ideas to get ready for the holidays? Check out our favorite holiday posts below, and have a great season!

New post The Ultimate Holiday Organizing Checklist on A Personal Organizer by Helena Alkhas

Use these tips to quickly and efficiently declutter your home, so you are always ready for last-minute holiday visitors.

Once the holiday season is in full swing, there is usually zero time to start large decluttering projects, deep clean your home, or undertake anything that eats up a lot of hours during your packed week. Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered.

Here is a simple decluttering plan to get ready for the holidays. You can run through this once a week or less, depending on what your home needs.

If you keep up with these simple decluttering habits, you will never fear the surprise holiday visitor- well, not because your house is messy anyway! 😉

1. Start In The Kitchen

Declutter

A kitchen is a natural place for items to gather that don’t belong there. Homework, unsorted mail, bags from errands that need to be put away in other rooms – a lot goes on in the kitchen!

Take time to rehome these items daily, and the kitchen won’t turn into a drop-off spot for every random item in your home.

Stock up and keep track.

Stock up on staples that you reach for when you have guests. Snacks, easy desserts, coffee, teas, drink mixers, and items that make for a quick throw together appetizer plate. When you make your grocery list for the week, take a quick scan of these items, and see what needs to be replenished. Write down any item you run out of on your running list, so you don’t forget to grab them at the store.

2. Bathrooms

Declutter- Remove or create a place for the things you leave out in your bathroom, but you don’t need to use every day. If you have multiple bathrooms, you can keep all of your toiletries in your master or family bathroom.

Make necessities easily accessible for guests- Keep backups of bathroom necessities in a place where guests can easily find them. Add some scent, bring out the festive hand towels, and put some nice toiletries out that guests will feel welcome to use.

3. Main Living Space

Declutter

Our living spaces can become quickly cluttered from, well, living. It can be hard to see where some of the clutter is because you are in the area daily. Take a picture with your phone to give yourself the right perspective on what guests will see when they enter your home. Put the items from these areas where they belong and create visually pleasing storage for things that need to stay put.

Make it cozy, but keep it simple.

Too many holiday decorations can create clutter all on its own. Keep the embellishments to a minimum for a cleaner look. You don’t want your living spaces to look sterile, or completely hide the fact that people do live there, but you also don’t want things everywhere, all the time. Find that happy middle of cozy and tidy by decluttering daily and making sure everything has a designated home.

4. Exterior And Entryways

Exterior and Porch

This is the first spot your guests see.

When the weather turns colder, you need to prep the porch and the exterior of your house for Fall and Winter weather.

Make sure your porch provides a clear path to your door for a quick declutter. Keep seating simple if you have a small space. Change bulbs and dust out light fixtures. Freshen your entryway rug. Remove any plants or greenery that have seen better days.

The entryway

Make sure guests have a place to put their coats and bags. You don’t want to have to put their coats and bags on top of your bed. Have a small entryway but need some organizing and storage ideas? Check out one of our most popular posts that is packed with ideas for Organizing narrow entryways.

Conclusion

This simple decluttering plan will help you quell the clutter in your home throughout the holidays- and beyond. Before you know it, decluttering will become a part of your days, and you will not even have to think about it. Remember, organizing is a process, not a project!

What are some of your biggest challenges when it comes to keeping your main living spaces clutter-free?

New post Simple (But Powerful!) Holiday Decluttering Plan on A Personal Organizer by Helena Alkhas