Stress-less Ways to Get Your Home Ready for the Holidays

‘Tis the season—for frantic shopping, shipping, cooking, cleaning, and the home repair that you’ve put off most of the year. Your home might feel more like a battle zone than a festive place. But you can change all that. There are stress-less ways to get your home ready for the holidays. Take it one step at a time with these suggestions from Baker Residential.

Make a list (and check it twice).

There’s a lot to do in the weeks ahead. Rather than have all the details rattling in your head, write them down. Grocery shopping for the holiday meal, shipping packages, and getting the gifts for the teacher, mail carrier, babysitter, hairdresser, etc.—Write it all down. Include the various steps for the big items, like the family gathering:

Send invitations (call, text, email)

Follow up on invitations

Confirm guests (and what they’re bringing) two days before

Create the menu and make a shopping list

Shop for the groceries

Decide on the gift list

Buy the gifts

Wrap the gifts

You get the picture. Break it down to smaller tasks, because each will be done separately. You also get the pleasure of checking more things off your list!

Organize your list by timeline. One long list seems overwhelming. Remember, it doesn’t all have to be done this weekend. Assign the tasks to different people in the household and give them a due date. Even the little ones can help. Ask them to take out all the things on the lower shelves of the pantry and put them on the kitchen counter so you can sort through it all, discard the expired items, and see what needs to be replaced.

Prioritize your time.

Decide what really matters to you at this busy time of year. If you give yourself a mountain of projects, you set yourself up for exhaustion, failure, or both. Look at the list you made in step one. Is it doable? Ask yourself, “Will anyone really notice if I don’t do this?” When all is said and done, some things honestly aren’t worth the time and effort.

As part of your holiday planning, schedule in some fun and/or relaxation. Spend an evening watching your favorite holiday movie with your best friend. Plan a lunch with someone you haven’t seen for far too long. Take a long soak in the bathtub. Be good to yourself! 

Inventory your holiday decor.

Haul out all the boxes of holiday stuff you’ve stashed away—all of it. Go through the contents to decide what you’re going to use this year and what has outlived its appeal. Pack up the latter and donate or discard it. I don’t mean the sentimental pieces, but the things that just aren’t your style any more. There’s no sense wasting storage space.

While you’re sifting through the decorations, make a list of things you need to repair or replace. Maybe it’s time for a new wreath, you need to mend the tree skirt or replace the garlands, or you’ve decided to change your holiday decorating scheme altogether. Write it down and keep the list with you when you’re shopping as a reminder (and to keep you on track).

Make room for holiday decorating.

Don’t add your decorations to what you already have. Layers will create clutter. Instead, remove some of the non-seasonal items to create space. Pack up the accents in the boxes that contained the holiday decor, so it’s easy to replace it when you’re ready to go back to your normal look.

Next, ask yourself, “Is this the right home for me?” As you’re going through all the holiday details, you might wish for more room to entertain, an updated kitchen, or to live closer to the people who matter. For whatever reason, if you’re thinking about a move, consider Baker Residential’s luxury homes or townhome communities, including Weddington, our newest community of single-family homes coming to Apex, NC, in January 2019. Maybe it’s time to add “Contact Baker Residential” to your list!