Most of us are already in full holiday mode – attending parties and entertaining, going to concerts and school events, baking and cooking, shopping and wrapping, decorating, mailing… and it goes on.

If you don’t have a plan for the next three weeks – from today right on through New Year’s Day – then sit down and make one today. Use your family calendar as the starting point. Include all the tasks you need to get done, and your deadline for them. Remember to get to the post office or package shipping place at least a week before you want things to arrive. Get your online shopping finished in the next few days. Get going on that baking, especially if you’re giving baked goods as gifts.

The key to happy holidays is organization and planning.

If you’re entertaining this week or weekend, don’t waste another minute of preparation time. Knowing what you have to do and doing a little bit each day will make the whole weekend more relaxing for everyone.

• If you’re having overnight guests (or the kids are coming ‘home’), then clean the bedrooms and bathrooms they’ll be using. Change the bed linens if necessary. Put a couple of extra blankets on the bed, along with a set of clean towels for each guest. Put a basket of sample-sized bath gel, shampoo, moisturizer, toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc. in the bathroom, in case anyone has forgotten anything. Make sure you have laundry detergent, too – in case anyone needs to do laundry while they’re home.
• Get your dining table ready. Put in the extra leaves if you’ll need them. Collect the chairs from around the house (or the closet, or wherever you keep the extra chairs!) – they may need to be dusted or wiped clean. Put the table linens on the table, and get the candles or centerpiece together. Use cloth napkins and labeled napkin rings (or assigned seats) if your guests will be present for several meals.
• Make your menu plans now. Stock up on pantry items at the grocery store early in the week, and go back later for produce (after you’ve cleaned out the fridge).
• Twice a day, spend 15 minutes decluttering a room (two rooms a day). In a few days, you’ll be able to dust and vacuum with ease and efficiency.

It’s time to turn up the heat. Let’s make sure you are prepared for the cold winter ahead.

• Stay on top of all the things your house needs to keep you warm efficiently. Change your furnace filter. Get your boiler inspected every 5 years. Maybe even have your heating ducts cleaned – you can at least remove the grate and stick the vacuum hose in there. Check your water heater.
• Check your windows and doors for leaks (hold a lit candle around the edges; if the flame bends or goes out (!) you need to do some caulking!). You may want to think about window shrink-wrap, too.
• Make sure the damper in your fireplace is closed (until you’re ready to build a fire).
• Use an area rug or a “door snake” against the bottom of an exterior door to cut the draft across the floor.
• Get on the budget saver plan with your utility company! Level out those payments, so you aren’t afraid to use the heat!
• Now that it’s getting cooler and heaters are blowing, check your indoor plants and move them if they’re too close to heat ducts or radiators. You can also add decorations for the holidays by wrapping a ribbon around pots.

Pretend you’re going to move to the other side of town. Go through your living space and throw out everything that is not worth bringing with you – or not worth packing, even. It makes us feel secure to carry a lot of the old with us until we set up in the new, but there’s nothing like packing and moving into a new space to remind you of what’s important in your life.

We tend to keep certain sentimental artifacts because we’re afraid we’ll forget the memories attached to them without being able to hold onto or see something tangible. Eventually, however, these items take up space and become clutter.

In keeping with today’s theme of clutter control (“Say NO to Clutter!”), try this tip * Photograph everything you shouldn’t keep but don’t want to forget. This works especially well for your kids’ three-dimensional projects (science fair, dioramas, models of anything, etc.) from school or Scouts or camp. It’s so much easier to store a photo album.

Think of your clutter like an old ex-boyfriend – a photo or two is all you really need.

The first two letters of November are NO.

That means this is the month to say “No” to everything that holds you back – bad food, bad habits, bad advice … and bad invitations!

Check your vices.
Know your limits.
Get your priorities straight.

And learn to say “NO.”

As we head into colder weather, it’s the perfect time to take a good hard look at your coat closet.

• What are you hiding in there? Could you play “one of things is not like the others; one of these things doesn’t belong” in your coat closet? Find the right home for things that have migrated into the closet over the last year.
• Sometimes the coat closet is the logical place for things that seem not to belong – a card table or vacuum cleaner or luggage or sports equipment. It depends on your home, the available closet and storage space, and the way you live. Make sure you have space for the oddball things you’ve designated for your coat closet.
• Warm weather coats can be moved to the less accessible areas of the closet, or to storage. Be sure to wash everything, or have cleaned, before storing it during its off-season.
• Cold weather outerwear includes a lot of extras – mittens, gloves, hats, scarves, shawls, boots, umbrellas. Our favorite storage system for the mittens, gloves, scarves, hats and shawls is one of those hanging shelf organizers, sold for shoes (narrow) and sweaters (wider). They hang from the rod, but give you shelving almost to the floor. Assign a shelf per person, or store all like things on a shelf (mittens on one, gloves on another, etc.).
• Add hooks for umbrellas – on the door or on the side wall of the closet.
• Our favorite place for boots is on a boot tray – a rubber tray with raised edges, so the wet mess boots leave behind is always contained. We like the boot tray by the door, but it works just as well inside the closet.
• Make sure the cold weather coats are clean, in good repair and ready for use.
• Add extra hangars for guests’ coats. Get nice sturdy hangars for the coat closet – we like wooden ones – to take the weight of heavy coats and to help hold the shape of the coats.
• Tote bags seem to procreate in closets. Check yours. Do they need to be laundered or wiped clean? Is the coat closet the best place for your grocery bags (or do they belong in your car, where you’ll remember to use them)? If you have too many bags in good condition, check around for organizations that could use them. We’ve heard of libraries, schools, churches, and charity groups reusing donated bags.
• Clean the closet while you’re decluttering it. Vacuum the floor, baseboard, and shelves. Dust the walls and ceiling. Wipe down the door. If you’re really ambitious, give the closet a fresh coat of paint inside. (Remember, there’s no rule about what color it has to be – if you want it a fun, bright color, now’s the time!)

Do not flush old medications down the toilet. Our water treatment facilities aren’t equipped to handle the volume or variety of drugs that need to be disposed of.

Your community may have a prescription drug collection – if so, take advantage of it. Clean out your medicine cabinet, and drop off the old drugs. You’ll want to remove your name and the prescription number from the container (remove the label or use a permanent black marker to mark it out).

If you need to dispose of old medications at home:

1. Keep the medication in its original container. Again, remove the label, or black out the patient name and prescription number.
2. Modify the medication to discourage consumption. For pills or capsules, add some water to partially dissolve them. For liquids, add something like salt, flour, charcoal, turmeric, or dried mustard to make a pungent unsightly mixture that discourages anyone from eating it. For blister packs, wrap in several layers of duct tape.
3. Seal the container with duct tape, then place it in an opaque bag or empty margarine tub (or other opaque container) so the contents cannot be seen.
4. Discard the container in the trash. Do not recycle it.

There’s nothing worse than a long weekend (or even a short weekend) of resentful faces because it’s time to clean the house or yard. So make it fun for everyone, and remember to plan lots of free time and play time, too.

Here are some ideas to make cleaning into a game.

How many minutes? * Whether you’re alone or working as a team, take a look around the designated room and decide how fast you can clean it. State it as a challenge: “I/We can clean this room in 10 minutes!” Then set a timer and try to beat the clock. (This is one of Marilu’s favorites.)

Theme cleaning * Assign each person one particular task to be done throughout the house – gathering all the garbage and recycling; cleaning mirrors and switchplates; collecting and sorting laundry; cleaning sinks and toilets; collecting dishes and washing or loading them in the dishwasher. Then set a timer for 15 minutes and get busy. Meet when time is up for round two. After two rounds, take a game break. Bigger tasks can be split by rooms or floors of the house.

Color cleaning * Write down all the tasks that need to be done on three different colored index cards – red for adult chores, blue for kids’ chores, and white for chores that require teamwork. Draw cards and race to see who can finish first (and still do a good job). First place gets a prize (such as choosing the dinner menu or the movie to watch later).

Divide and conquer * This requires a little planning by the adult in charge of cleaning. Write all the tasks that need to be done, dividing them into the same number of groups as you have family members (four family members means four lists; seven family members means seven lists). The lists should be balanced by the approximate amount of time and effort required. Post the lists on the fridge at night. First person up in the morning gets first choice of lists. Second person gets second choice. Last person up gets the last list. Family members are free to go about their own plans after their list is completed. This is particularly good if you have teens in the house.

Don’t take housecleaning too seriously. You’ll be doing it all again in a day or a week – so just do what you can, and enjoy the day.

What’s your plan for Labor Day weekend? If you’re in the US, the traditional marker of the End of Summer is coming up with this three-day weekend.

What will you be doing?

• Taking a short vacation! Three-day weekends are the perfect opportunity to vacation in your home town (see what draws in the tourists!), or go a short distance to another tourist area. Quick getaways can be refreshing, since there’s not too much packing or traveling required. Don’t forget your sunscreen and water bottles!
• Doing home improvements! For some reason, Labor Day is a huge home improvement weekend. If you have projects to complete (or start), check local stores for sale prices on materials. You can easily repaint a room or two, or replace the fixture on your kitchen sink on a long weekend.
• Digging the garden! Get started on next year’s garden by digging it up now. It’s a great time of year to do the soil preparation and to plant bulbs, shrubs and trees. While you’re outside, clean up the rest of the yard, too.
• Catching up on life! This is the “yay, I have another day!” catch-up program. It’s doing the laundry, buying the groceries, running errands, making some extra meals for the freezer, and paying the bills. If this is your plan, try to limit it to one of the three days – then plan something fun and different for one of the other days. It’s good to have a break.
• Catching up on reading! Get in your comfy chair and read the magazines that have accumulated over the summer – then toss them into the recycling bin. Or read a library book that you’ve put off because you’ve been too busy.
• Seeing a state or national park! Take a full day and pack a picnic lunch and the sunscreen. Fill up the water bottles, grab some blankets for the grass, and a backpack to carry it in. Then enjoy the hiking trails and the picnic area for a whole day. Don’t forget to stop by the visitor center to learn more about the location.
• Dealing with the hurricanes! Okay, this doesn’t affect everyone, but if you’re in a hurricane zone this week, you may be doing emergency preparation or clean up over the weekend. Take care.

It’s time to talk about Bringing Your Own Bag again.

Don’t leave the house without your reusable shopping bags. If you always put them on the doorknob of the door you leave from, you’ll always remember to take them along. We drive to the grocery store, so our bags hang on the door leading to the garage. And then they’re on the front seat of the car – because if we toss them in the back seat, we seem to forget them there.

If you have a bunch of extra plastic or paper shopping bags, fold them up – it only takes a few seconds – and donate them to your favorite vendor at the farmer’s market. There’s no reason for someone to be buying bags when we all have them to spare.

Keep your reusable bags clean. Seriously. Who wants groceries from a gunky, sticky, moldy bag? No one. In fact, the cashiers and baggers don’t want to touch dirty bags either. Member Summer reminded us once to clean our bags, and it made so much sense we want to repeat the message for you here.

• If you have wet or leaky grocery items, put them in plastic (hey, that’s one way to get an extra use from the plastic bag you took last week…if you were smart enough to stash it with your other bags after unloading it).
• If your canvas bags are stained, toss them in the wash with a load of kitchen towels.
• If you use plastic-coated tote bags, wipe them with a damp dishcloth and let them air dry.
• If you use a basket, scrub it out with an old toothbrush (dry) and then wipe it with a damp cloth.