Organized Home Christmas Prep

[bandthenjust]

Does anyone else do it? does it work for you?

No but I've just googled and it looks like a fantastic idea!

Lol it is! Most of it is VERY American (prep for thanksgiving, making frozen meals to stock up your five freezers etc), but its so good!
And it also starts in August so its a christmas crackheads dream.

I dont know this but it sounds right up my street.I normally go by my own spreadsheet/timetable but more inspiration kick up the arse is always good!!

Its the on ly time o f the year when i clean

I may need a bit of a support thread with this bandthenjust! But I'm so up for this we're at MIL's this year, but will still be entertaining over the holidays, so it'd be helpful if the house looked decent.

I'm back to work September 3rd, so I'll need the motivation to crack on!

And if I had five freezers, I think of actually wet myself with excitement

Never heard of this but sounds like I would love it!! Is there a link for it anywhere or is it easy to find on google please

Christmas.organizedhome.com ! Dont know how to link im a luddite.
Omg on my lifes wish-list I want a chest-freezer, as well as a normal fridge-freezer, pinstripeelephant!

christmas.organizedhome.com/

Thank you

I fantasise about what is put in one you aren't alone OP!

I also am deeply resentful of people that don't use theirs properly in my opinion. My parents waste the siege in there's. It's full of bread and jacket potatoes.

*waste the space in THEIRS.

Bloody auto correct.

I have 2 freezers one in the kitchen (fridge /freezer) one in the garage (chest freezer)

The Plan starts to take hold 101 Days before which is two months more-or-less.

I usually start buying stocking gifts in late Sept/early Oct
Costco starts to get their Christmas stock in Sept , once the schools go back.

I think I need to empty/eat the contents of our chest freezer then plan what's going in there.
Usually: bags of ice, a few lasagnes I've bulk cooked , GoodFella pizzas for DS, Yorkshire Puddings (Aunt Bessie and some home-made one baked then put in freezer bags), some tubs of ice-cream.

Need to think of more

We bought a chest freezer last year as our fridge freezer just wasn't adequate at Christmas! It's brilliant. We've just started Operation Eat Everything in the Freezer in preparation for Christmas!

I've not done the organised thing yet. I thought about it last year, but failed.

Alright 70 and noword, you can stop showing off no w lol. pinstripeelephant, dont you just feel so deprived?

Yeah, think the plan starts end of august with the task being LIST MAKING (exciting)

though In My Defence the chest freezer is in the garage at the end of the garden (long garden) which means a walk for whoever goes to it in the pissing rain most likeley .........

I need to do a proper list of what's in there once we've sorted it out .It's really nice on the days between to know there's a huge lasagne or chilli in there , just needs defrosting (vegetatian of course!)

Mine is in the utility room! It's only a small one, but it's amazing having the extra space. The 3 drawers in the fridge freezer just isn't enough!

Ahh man... The things you get excited about as an adu lt lol.
I'm actively trying to get through the 'stuff' in mine too, but dh keeps stocking up on random bags of frozen whatever that he has no intention of eating. noword, yeah, my fridge freezer is small too, and dh broke the drawers in the freezer so we just have a 'space' now where everything is chucked in before door is swift ly shut.

I'm suffering from major freezer envy now! In theory, I COULD run an extension lead to the outhouse and have a couple there. But it's full of spiders and terrifies me so for now, I'll make so with ziplock bags as flat as they can be to maximise the space. Mmmmm festive batch cooking...

I'm so up for this though. The house is full of crap, needs a clean, and I could really use some guidance with Christmas prep this year. I really want to do more crafty/DIY stuff this year. And if we don't move before the holidays I'd also like to get the house painted and decorated.

I really want to go put the tree up now I used to be a retail manager and Christmas planning/hoarding always started in June. I'm already really excited to see everyone's plans in August.

Bandthenjust ugh. DH did similar to our old freezer. I managed to get some super narrow storage boxes which prevented the inevitable avalanche of frozen peas as you opened the door

I want to do this this year!! Feels like only yesterday that I heard of it too late last year! Yay!

Lol yeah, I'm a former retail person too. Christmas was twelve months of the year back then.
Is anyone bothering to sign up for the emails to organized home? Or checki ng back weekly?

It was Easter then Christmas where I was not that I care about Easter much!

I'm undecided. I think if I sign up to the emails, they'll go into the abyss and I'll never read them!

I've got a small chest freezer in my garage. It's empty apart from some crusts and I plan to get it filled with festive stuff - starting with stuffing made from the crusts.

I printed off the checklists from one of the Christmas organising sites last year. They were very useful although I ended up ahead of schedule once I took out all the tasks that weren't relevant so that was a bonus.

I'm a somewhat fan of the Holiday Grand Plan on organized Christmas (not so much of the Holiday House Plan - or whatever the second 14 week version is - it just doesn't sit so well with my manic lifestyle).

Yes, it's very Americanised (it usually reminds me to organize a small turkey dinner after work on Thanksgiving at least - being born there I feel like I should, although I was only 8 months old when I left so I don't really remember it!!).

It's also very focused for those who have time to deep clean every room in the house (not necessarily a SAHM but someone who has plenty of hours at home in the week).

But it does help to give some focus on each room, and to do some deep cleaning and more household maintenance chores (like check smoke alarm batteries, and cleaning chimneys) that are useful for the WINTER season as opposed to just Christmas.

The way I do it is to print off every week's sheet, and decide what is feasible that week. Garden is a good week, as DCs go back to school. Master bedroom is nicely timed for a summer to winter clothes changeover. I don't do attic as my storage space there doesn't need it, and I don't do garage/shed as it's too late in the year to tackle those by the right week (I keep saying I will do it one summer weekend).

I also use the sheets to put back on the important jobs that I didn't get to last week, to make sure they get done. Or to swop weeks if that suits me better - some years I might leave living room until later and do study then to get it organized if DH and I have a lot on and need the desk space cleared again after summer, for example.

I do like the reminders to empty out freezer and cupboard spaces, and to start building stocks of family meals (not just festive meals - but regular meals for when December/Christmas is so busy and short of time that doing healthy family dinners is a big chore!), as well as the actual festive prep.

But I do find myself having to give myself little reminders some years that it is not the end of the world if I don't finish it all off - it's only a helping hand to get things done, and there are always things that don't get done.