Getting It On Paper

I am a paper and pen kind of gal. As I mentioned yesterday, if something doesn’t get written down on my calendar, the chances of my remembering it are slim.

While it is only the last week in October, I was already beginning to feel mentally overwhelmed with what is coming up in the next two months. While I do believe in keeping things as simple as possible for the holidays, when you throw in our daughters’ soccer season that runs from the first week in November to the second weekend in December, the fact that both of our girls have December birthdays, a piano recital, school Christmas concert and so on, I decided that it was time to start writing things down.

Yesterday afternoon I pulled out my pretty dollar store notebook and started organizing my thoughts.

First I created a page for my Christmas budget (more on that Friday). Then I started a gift page where I listed the name of each person for whom I want to purchase a gift. Over the next couple of days, I will write by each name what gift I plan to buy. Another page was devoted to writing down dates of activities that I already know are planned for November and December. I will add these to my calendar as well, but wanted to have them in an easy list format. Next came a page for non-Christmas related expenses that we’ll have in the next two months, such as snacks for the soccer teams, our yearly family picture, and birthday gifts for the girls. This will be helpful as we look at our monthly budget and make sure we have proper funds allocated to cover these expenses.Finally, I devoted a page to my Christmas cards list. Yes, I still enjoy sending out Christmas cards to friends and family every year! I actually made two lists, one for cards that will be mailed and another for cards that can be individually handed out.

I didn’t get all of this finished yesterday, but hope to have it completed by the end of the week. Just having all of the information in one place for me to refer to is already taking a load off my mind! Getting myself organized prior to the busyness of the holidays works for me! (Now I just have to make sure that I don’t misplace the notebook! 🙂 Do you have any tips to share when it comes to organizing for the holidays or do you prefer to go with the flow? Let us know what works for you in the comments section!

Find more ideas and tips at Works for Me Wednesday hosted by We Are THAT Family.