7 UHeart Organizing: Five Tips for a Smooth Holiday Season

Happy day! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend and that your turkey hangovers are wearing off. We hosted a slew of people on and off for the last four days and then dove back into some laundry room projecting so it was definitely a good mixture of fun, relaxation and a little work tossed in there too.

But now it is time to really start thinking about Christmas and the New Year! Time to pull out the Christmas Tree, count down the days, drink endless cups of cocoa, decorate, shop, give, party, cook and bake... sigh... Just typing it all makes me a little exhausted.

In the past I would try and be an over-achiever and "do it all", but I really wasn't enjoying the season and just found myself stressing and by Christmas morning I was almost too tired to see straight. It completely took away from the whole point of this time of year and after a few years in a row of over-committing, I had a reality check. Especially being so deep in the world of blogging with Pinterest-pretty decor around every corner, it is easy to fall down that "be all the things" trap.

With that in mind, Megan's tips today are spot on! I love her perspective for heading into the season with priorities in check. I would really love for you to chime in at the end and share how you be sure to really soak in these final days of the year as well.

Hi lovelies! I hope your holidays are off to a wonderful start! We have extra reason to celebrate this year with the addition of our adorable nine month-old daughter, Jordan. Especially since I had her later in life, it makes me all the more thankful for her and our son. I'm sure the holidays will be extra special with her, even though we might have to keep the lower half of our Christmas tree ornament-free from little hands!  

I've also found going from one kid to two seems to make it harder for me to get things done around the house, so holiday planning early is a must! For my sanity, and maybe yours, I put together a list of 5 Ways to Make the Holidays Run Smoother.  This post could also be titled, "How to Not Lose Your Mind During the Holidays" because, let's face it, it's easy to go nuts this time of year!

Of course, planning in advance is really key to keeping things in control, but you already knew that. In an ideal world, our gorgeous family Christmas photos would have been taken in September, our cards ordered in October, and our presents already chosen by Thanksgiving.  All that would be left to do is put up the tree and sit back and relax and enjoy the season!

In real life, at least mine, it's not like that! We still haven't taken Christmas photos, let alone chosen a card, and I still need to make our gift list. But, we do have one room fully decorated, so that makes me feel ahead of the game! 

But where do you start if you're starting now?  How can you truly enjoy the holidays and make the most of this time of year without stressing?  Below, I offer 5 Tips to help!

PRIORITIZE HOW YOU WANT TO ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS

Of course, we want to "enjoy" the holidays, but only you can decide what that means for you and your family. For me, it certainly means being together, doing a few 'special' things throughout the month of December, attending parties and mingling with friends, hosting Christmas dinner, giving gifts to family and friends with a heartfelt note attached, decorating our home, and giving to families in need. But that's a lot right there, so I also need some days where we don't have anything planned, 'bed days' as my 6 year-old calls them. A day where we stay in pajamas and get in bed with books, toys, magazines and hot cocoa and just chill.

If you don't stop to consider what's important or the most "enjoyable" for you and your family, you might spend your time being busy with lots of things that don't really give you much joy.

festive red holiday decor

BE REALISTIC ABOUT HOLIDAY EXPECTATIONS

After you've decided what's really important to you, it will be easier to say no or limit the rest. Every year, I either create or use a pre-made advent calendar to count down to the big day. In the past, I've filled each day with an activity for the family to do even if it is just "watch a Christmas movie".

But, over the years, I've found that an activity a day, as simple as it might be, it still too much to accomplish each day. Inevitably, I realize I forgot a day or two or three and I'd worry we were "missing" it. Instead of savoring just a few things to do, it could easily become just another thing on the never-ending "to do" list.

diy advent calendar

This year, I'm taking just a few of our very favorite things to do and sprinkling them throughout the month, leaving the rest of the days with just a small gift/toy/ornament, etc. 

dining room

Likewise, our "Elf" doesn't come out every night, but will make only a select few appearances before Christmas.


START HOLIDAY DECORATING BEFORE THANKSGIVING

I realize this tip may be taboo or controversial to some people who feel like Thanksgiving doesn't get it's full appreciation if we start decorating for Christmas too early. I was a strict "no Christmas decor until the day after Thanksgiving" until recently. It was our family tradition to always put the Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving, but I've found getting it up early does no harm to our Thanksgiving at all. We still spend that day eating our eyes out and being thankful for all our many blessings.

Going back to one of those things on my "enjoy" list is decorating our home and, realistically, to do it justice and create something new each year, takes a long time. And I like to savor it for as long as possible. 

I chose to decorate our master bedroom in early November this year and turned it into our version of a mini Winter Wonderland. I have absolutely loved it! It's so nice to walk into that room in the evening and see it all lit up with holiday magic.  

UTILIZE LISTS & YOUR CALENDAR FOR HOLIDAY PLANNING

In order to fit all of your "enjoy" moments into the holiday season, it's important to write them down and then plan them into your calendar. If you don't, I'm sure you know it's easy to over commit and then you realize you don't actually have time for everything.  

Jen makes the most useful and pretty (free) printables to help you keep everything holiday-related in order. The gift planning guide is especially useful because you can see on paper all the gifts you plan on giving and the budget for everything.  

free printables

START WRAPPING RIGHT AWAY

As soon as you start buying gifts, get down to business wrapping them! Don't let them pile up until the mountain feels overwhelming! I'm the designated gift wrapper in our family because my husband might actually resort to tin foil if left to his own devices! #notkidding 

If you've taken the time and energy and spent the money to lovingly choose a gift for your loved one, take the extra time to wrap it up in a pretty package and ideally, prepare a nice note!  

Wrapping gifts takes a lot of time so wrap as you go! Part of my "enjoying" the holidays is turning the lights down in the living room in the evening, lighting candles, and sipping hot cocoa while I wrap gifts. My family might be watching TV, but we're all together in the same room and it feels nice to have this slow time at the end of a hectic day.  

GIVE TO OTHERS

Number 6 is my bonus tip for you that helps put everything else into perspective. At Christmas-time especially, we want to keep in mind the 'reason for the season' and one way to do that is to give to others, beyond your family and friends. If you have children, it's great to get them involved too, whether it be volunteering, giving toys to those less fortunate, or donating to an organization you feel passionate about. In my town, we like to support our local preschool-aged children with Kids' Meals and in the broader part of the world, World Vision is an organization we also believe in.  

When you kick off your holidays by doing some small part to help others, you realize just how blessed we all are and the stress of the season seems to take a backseat. 

From our family to yours, we're wishing you all the love and joy you can possibly stand!  

_______________

My name is Megan and I am a lawyer by day, design and decor lover by night, and Mama to the sweetest two children. I'm passionate about fitness (and chocolate!) and could not live without my relationships, girl talk, and my morning coffee. I've been blogging for years over at Honey We're Home, sharing my love of keeping things organized and beautiful at our house. My efforts to live in the moment and cook more are an adventure in progress.

13 UHeart Organizing: A Colorful Family Calendar

When it comes to work, nothing fills my heart more than seeing my printables being scribbled on or tips found on this blog being utilized. Many of you share those photos with me on a daily basis through Instagram, and I save each of those images and love looking back and re-reading your stories and excitement. So to those of you that have done that, thank you! It means more to me than I could possibly put into words. (shop here, loads of freebies here)

Megan recently added one of my monthly calendar printables to her home, and I couldn't be more honored and smitten that she decided to share how they worked for her and her family.  Her photos and easy planning process are an organizer's dream; especially when she starts talking about color coding and stress melting away.

Hi friends!  Are y'all back to school yet or getting ready? My 1st grader went back so early, August 10th, but this summer with him and a baby at home, along with our two cousins, created a very full house.  I was actually ready to give them the boot and take control back of our home!  Last year, when he was still in Kindergarten, we set up a system so that he could get ready in the mornings by himself (without me nagging!) and it's still working! #praiseGod! 

But now, back at home, I was the one starting to go crazy with all those little reminders about school functions coming up, holidays, birthday parties, doctor's visits, and we haven't even gotten the sports schedules yet!  I'm good about keeping everything in the calendar on my phone, but sometimes you just need to see everything at a glance so you (and your family) all knows what's on the daily agenda. 

How perfect is it that Jen makes the most delightfully pretty and useful printable calendars?!  I chose one that I knew I would love to see everyday and printed it out through the end of the year.  I love how I didn't have to leave the house to start this project; just print right to the printer in our home and my calendar instantly arrived! Adore these colors in her non-traditional rainbow. 

Then, I assembled all my calendaring essentials: the calendar on my phone, the school schedule with all important dates, holidays, and conferences, thin colorful washi tape (similar) and pens.  

You could get really specific and use one color pen or washi tape to color code each type of event, I loosely did that here. I used yellow tape for birthday parties, aqua for school vacations, pink for my hair appointments, etc...  

You could also color code by child if you have more than one.  I didn't want to make myself stress more about the coding system than just getting the information translated onto the calendar, so I wasn't too strict with this.  

Those colored pens in the photo are awesome because they are actually erasable with the eraser on the end of the pen, but I ended up using my trusty thin point sharpie and writing directly onto the thin washi tape.  

The things I wanted to make sure to keep track of in this calendar are: school holidays, in-service days, conference days, project days, birthdays and parties, doctor and dentist appointments, my hair appointments that are booked through the end of the year because my stylist lives out of town (#priorities), and sports (although we don't have those schedules yet).

It feels so good to start getting everything out of my head and onto one calendar I can see!  I could feel my stress level decreasing as I recorded all these events onto the pretty calendar. 

I used to just keep one month at a time hung on the fridge, but I found I much prefer being able to see several months in advance. It's also easier to jot future appointments down as they come up when you have many calendar pages showing. 

To keep from damaging the wall, I attached the calendar to the wall with washi tape.  It's a cute, aqua gingham pattern, but of course the options are endless!

Ah!  I feel so much better and more prepared for the rest of the year now! Wishing y'all a wonderful school year!

_______________

My name is Megan and I am a lawyer by day, design and decor lover by night, and Mama to the sweetest 2-year old boy you've ever seen. I'm passionate about fitness (and chocolate!) and could not live without my relationships, girl talk, and my morning coffee. I've been blogging for two years over at Honey We're Home, sharing my love of keeping things organized and beautiful at our house. My efforts to live in the moment and cook more are an adventure in progress.

11 UHeart Organizing: Sanity Saving Home Stations

There are definitely some organizational systems that create a positive impact on daily life, while others are a nice touch, convenient and helpful at times.  It is always important to first focus on your daily routine, and put together stations or systems that fit that routine and phase of life.  From there, slowly chip away at those random bins in the garage and boxes in the attic.

Today, Megan is stopping in from Honey We're Home to share four systems she uses on a daily basis that ultimately streamlines her routine.  Just putting in 15 minutes here or there to create simple stations can truly reduce stress instantaneously.  I really hope that seeing her simple stations will make you stop and think about your day, and consider areas of your home that can be set up for smoother mornings, afternoons and evenings.  It really got me thinking about what solutions in our own home have helped us more than any others, and what hot spots we still need to tackle.  And while Megan and I have you thinking about your daily stations, I will also be back tomorrow to chat more about specific actions and steps that can be taken on the weekends to combat a busy week.

Hi friends! It's so good to be back here sharing a few organization tidbits from my life lately.  Things have been extra busy around here with the addition of our sweet baby girl, Jordan Nicole.  It's hard to believe she's almost three months old, but my body believes it.  The round-the-clock feedings are definitely wearing on me, so hopefully she cuts out one of the middle of the night feedings soon! We're also busy with our six year-old son, James, so it's a bit like living in two worlds with their days and needs being so very different at this point.  At least we have a good routine for getting him to school on time.  I'm definitely not able to do as much as I used to with the differing demands, but I've sort of made peace with it and now just try to accomplish the most important thing each day.

Today, I'm sharing 4 ways we've organized things in our home to help make the days run smoother. These little organizational processes add up to a more sane mama and every little bit of organization helps!


COFFEE/TEA STATION 

Can I just get an Amen for coffee?!  I always begin my mornings with a fresh cup of hot coffee and my doctor approved two cups a day while pregnant and breastfeeding. I would be a whole lot crankier without that cup of Joe.  I created a coffee station on our kitchen counter and it's a great way to start the day.  We keep our whole beans decanted in a big glass jar right by the coffee maker, since our coffee maker grinds automatically.  I typically empty two bags of beans into it at at time and the jar has a seal to keep the beans fresh, which means I don't have to refill it as often.

I sometimes opt for tea, so I keep those tea bags handy in a small decorative bowl, along with some sweetener. Since my hubby uses sugar in his coffee, we keep that decanted nearby also, along with the to-go cups he likes to use on some mornings. The little fox spoon rest is a cute decorative (and functional) touch that keeps the coffee drippings contained after a good stir.


DIAPER ORGANIZATION

Of course, with a baby on board we've got to keep plenty of diapers on standby.  I may have baby amnesia because I don't remember changing that many diapers with my son! When we built our home about six years ago, we had this media center built-in and it definitely comes in handy for extra storage.

We dedicated one drawer to diapers, wipes and burp cloths and now we can easily access them when needed, but they are out of site.

STAIR BUCKETS

Our home is a two-story and there are always things that need to go back upstairs to their proper places. I used to just pile things on the steps, and was forever carrying piles of things upstairs.  And it seemed like I was the only one.  Are the piles invisible to everyone else?!  Tell me I'm not alone on this one ladies.  I finally got smarter and added stair buckets from Target and labeled them with a Sharpie.

Each person in our house has a bucket (I share with my husband since he doesn't seem to accumulate much) and there's an extra one specifically for laundry.  It's handy because we know where to deliver each bucket when it gets full (and you'd be surprised at how often they get full)!  The goal is to empty them each night, but I have to admit, these have sat full for about a week! Ugh! At least the piles are contained now.

BATTERY STORAGE

With an active household and toys and electronics that are forever requiring battery changes, we store them in a wooden silverware divider in our media cabinet.  The dividers on the wooden tray make perfect battery organization and we can see how many we have.  I think we were buying duplicates before which is how we ended up with so many.

Even while I was typing this post from my newly redecorated home office, I had to change the batteries on both my mouse and the computer keyboard! 

I hope these little organizational tips help you in your own home.  Are there stations set up in your home that keep your sanity in check each day?

_______________

My name is Megan and I am a lawyer by day, design and decor lover by night, and Mama to the sweetest 2-year old boy you've ever seen. I'm passionate about fitness (and chocolate!) and could not live without my relationships, girl talk, and my morning coffee. I've been blogging for two years over at Honey We're Home, sharing my love of keeping things organized and beautiful at our house. My efforts to live in the moment and cook more are an adventure in progress.

33 UHeart Organizing: Nesting in the Nursery

I am finally coming out of hiding after locking myself up in our home for the past two days with friends and family, doing nothing but spending time together, eating turkey, playing games and watching movies.  I hope you all had a Thanksgiving to remember as well.

Although I may appear to be carrying a turkey baby today, I am not actually with child (or turkey).  However, my beautiful friend Megan is expecting her second baby; a little lady is about to be welcomed into the Honey We're Home household.  And now that the stunning nursery is complete, Megan has begun the organizing process that comes with those final pregnancy weeks of nesting. 

Hi friends, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Are you loving this time of year?!  We are super excited for the holidays and have already started decking our halls for Christmas!  Things are taking longer and I'm moving slower now that I'm 25 weeks pregnant!  I've already had to stop and start many times! We couldn't be happier that we are expecting a little girl in March!  

It definitely feels different being pregnant this time; we have experience on our side since we already have a 5-year old son.  He has been such a joy and delight and we can't wait to add a baby sister to the family.  And with this pregnancy, I'm not consumed with all the things we'll need once the baby comes.  In fact, I don't even want too much stuff, because I know it ends up overflowing and being too much.  We recently pulled out of the attic the bins and bins of baby stuff we thought was worth saving (much of the boy clothes have been donated) and we are left with most of the things we probably need.  

Although we don't have many baby girl clothes (I've bought a few things!), my sister-in-law is kind enough to be throwing us a sprinkle in January, and I know women love baby girl clothes! 

Today, I'm sharing with you how we've organized the nursery dresser, so come on in to our newly designed lavender nursery! 

I will warn you this dresser (Delta Children's Epic 3-Drawer Dresser, Gray) is not huge on storage space, but it fits our needs.  It measures (on the outside) 36.5" (L) x 18.75" (W) x 33.0" (H).  We lost some of the square footage in this room when we had a custom bookshelf and bench seat installed, so a small dresser is what best fit this space.  Luckily, we have deep drawers in the attached bathroom that we can use as extra drawer space, and the built-in also has drawers and extra storage.

Inside the three drawers, each measures 4" high, 13.5" from front to back, and 30" across.  It wasn't difficult to assemble either (says my hubby).

I also changed out the standard black, round knobs the dresser came with for these shiny, gold pulls from Bering's Hardware.  I couldn't find them on the website, but they were about $3 each.  I could have also sprayed the black knobs with gold spray paint, but with so much wear of opening the drawers, I figured we'd go with new.

The drawers are a light wood color and I wanted to line them with pretty paper, so I just used what gift wrap I had on hand.  For the top drawer, I had just enough Rifle Paper gift wrap.  I measured and cut it to fit the drawer and attached it at the corners with a square of double-sided tape.

To organize the baby supplies, I used a clear drawer divider from The Container Store.  I use these all over the house and find them particularly helpful in my desk and kitchen drawers.  They also clean up amazingly well with soap and water.

With my son, we liked Huggies diapers, but I couldn't resist these Honest Company diapers when I saw them at Target.  The designs are so cute (they have so many, even holiday designs right now) and they're eco-friendly.  I'll give them a try and see how we like them when she comes. We also found our Diaper Genie to be very useful and I saved it all these years.  It's sitting to the right of the dresser, so extra bags are also stored in the top drawer.

The dresser will double as a changing table (still have our old pad), but need a new cover, that we'll put on top of the dresser.  We did that with our son and it worked great. We've also got our wipes in here so they're handy.

Again, not wanting to buy new drawer dividers, I had two boxes from Target that fit perfectly inside the second drawer to hold cotton tops (previously worn by my son) and a few swaddlers that were gifted to me.

This roll of gift wrap was exactly the right size so I only had to cut the length to fit inside.  You can see in the very back that I wasn't very exact with my scissors!

Most of our burp cloths ended up in the trash with my son (they get so gross!), but we still had a few white ones to salvage.  New baby socks fit perfectly inside the box they came in and the lid for some new ones from Target. 

I'm currently storing a couple plastic bibs here too, but once we need them, I'll move them to the kitchen. I found I preferred the plastic much better than the cloth because they washed better. 

I have to admit I'm already smitten with the adorably tiny baby girl clothes!  They are just too cute!

We have just a handful of baby clothes right now and they are folded neatly in the bottom drawer along with two pair of shoes. A few things are hanging in the closet. 

And there you have it!  We aren't going bonkers buying new stuff for the baby- we still have bottles (I just need to make sure they're still good) and other things like a Bumbo chair and Boppy from our firstborn.  After spending so much time decluttering and trying to make our home a simple sanctuary, the last thing we need is more unnecessary stuff.  I'll keep you posted on how we do with that!

If you want to see more of our nursery, you can take the room tour (with sources) here.  

______________________ 

"My name is Megan and I am a lawyer by day, design and decor lover by night, and Mama to the sweetest 5-year old boy you've ever seen.  I'm passionate about fitness (and chocolate!) and could not live without my relationships, girl talk, and my morning coffee.  I've been blogging for four years over at Honey We're Home, sharing my love of keeping things organized and beautiful at our house.  My efforts to live in the moment and cook more are an adventure in progress."

19 UHeart Organizing: Heart Eyes for this High/Low Dresser

I always love a good high/low challenge.  In fact, some of my favorite pages in HGTV's magazine are the High/Low picks.  Whenever I am sourcing items for our home, my first step is to think big and seek out exactly what I want without even looking at price tags.  Once I have my heart set on something, then I start playing the budget game.  What is the cost of the original?  Can I find something similar in style for less?  Can I modify an item to achieve a comparable look?  Can we build something from scratch, and if so, what is the cost of materials and our time?  So many questions, but typically those questions save us money in the long run and allow us to keep a good balance of high and low pieces throughout our home. 

Megan blogs over at Honey We're Home and she has also become a very dear friend of mine.  She recently found out she is expecting her second child, and I couldn't be more excited for their growing (and glowing) family.  When they found out the news, it created a ripple effect of exciting changes to their home.   I am honored to have her here today to share a fabulous dresser combination that will hopefully inspire all of you to play the high/low game as well.

Hello IHeart friends!  It's good to be back and it's an especially exciting time for our family as we are currently expecting baby #2!  These new family changes have prompted some changes in our home as well.  Our 5-year old son, James, recently moved from his former colorful room into the guest room and we've been working on transforming it into a room fit for a fast growing little boy!

The dresser that was previously in the room was mine from collage and had definitely seen better days, so we decided to upgrade. I wanted a wooden piece that would add some rustic charm to the room.  I found a great style for a boy's room at Restoration Hardware, but I didn't want to spend that much money.  

Restoration Hardware Printmaker's 6-Drawer Dresser $1795

I kept searching and found something similar at Overstock (the Melrose Pine Dresser) that I felt could be made to look like the RH version if I added bronzed cup pulls.  And it was $1200 less!  The Overstock version is slightly smaller (2 inches shorter and 7 inches less wide), but that worked better for our space anyway.

The pulls at my local hardware store were twice as expensive as the ones I found online at Amazon, so I went with the Amazon version.  They look fantastic and are good quality, however, the screws that came with the pulls were too short (1 inch) for our dresser, so we had to buy a pack of 1 3/4 inch wood screws to fit the drawers properly.  A 50 pack was only $5. 

I had to enlist my hubby to help make sure I got the measurements exactly right so the pulls would line up straight.  He's so good at stuff like this but hates doing it, so I owe him!

He made a template that we used on each drawer to mark where the drill holes needed to be.

Then got to drilling!

It didn't take long to drill all the holes and we only had trouble with one area where the wood was naturally distressed, but it ended up being fine.  (You can see that spot in the second picture below).

In the end, when we went to screw in the pulls, a few drill holes needed to be expanded just a hair.  

And then a quick vacuum of all the wood dust before putting in the drawer liners and clothes. 

I think it came out great and looks very similar to the RH version (for about $1200 less)! 

Above the dresser I added the mirror I spray painted red and the red lamps I found on Joss & Main (yes, James "decorated" one with Paw Patrol stickers).  Last summer, when I first saw the stickers on the lamp I found him downstairs in the kitchen and asked, "Who put the stickers on your lamp?"  Without batting an eye he replied, "An invisible man.  You'll never see him." Still cracks me up when I think about it. 

Inside the drawers I added red and white fabric drawer liners.  To make the liners, I simply measured the drawers and cut to the appropriate size.  Then, I saturated the fabric in liquid starch to make the fabric stiff. Once the fabric dries, it will become harder like flexible poster board.  Then you just iron them to get the wrinkles out. 

And to keep the shorts and pants nice and organized, I learned a trick to fold and lay them on their sides so you can see each item at a glance.  I like this so much better than my old way of stacking the shorts and pants.  Now, I can quickly find exactly what I'm looking for and the previously bottom layers don't get as wrinkled from being weighed down. 

I still keep the shirts laying flat since they are pretty flimsy and don't stack as well as the pants do. 

We are so overjoyed and excited to be welcoming a new addition to our family!  In the meantime, we still have a lot of home projects to keep us busy and James' new room is on it's way to being complete.  I must be already in nesting mode because I've been on a major cleaning and organizing kick lately.  I recently redid our linen closet (it's so lovely now!) and found a great solution for organizing all my purses and tote bags.  Only 6 months to go! 

______________________ 

"My name is Megan and I am a lawyer by day, design and decor lover by night, and Mama to the sweetest 5-year old boy you've ever seen.  I'm passionate about fitness (and chocolate!) and could not live without my relationships, girl talk, and my morning coffee.  I've been blogging for four years over at Honey We're Home, sharing my love of keeping things organized and beautiful at our house.  My efforts to live in the moment and cook more are an adventure in progress."