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How to get organised this Christmas: Week by week

Girl sitting on woman at Christmas

What do you need to do "before Christmas"?

We’re well into the Christmas season with only 23 days to go. The kids are excited but you find yourself constantly thinking about all the things you need to do “before Christmas”.

Well, there’s only so many hours in the day. The best way to get organised this Christmas is to get all those items out of your head and written down in an actionable format.

In this post I’m going to help you break down your to do list into small steps and give you some tools and tips on getting it all done.

Let’s get started so you can get on track to enjoying a stress-free Christmas.

Create your week by week action plan

If you read my previous post, you should now have a good overview of all the dates and activities happening over the next few weeks. If not, read it here:

Step 1: Write everything down

Grab some post-it notes and highlighters, or if you’re comfortable with digital tools I love using Trello. Trello is a free tool that allows you to create “cards” and group them into “lists” in a simple board format.

Any simple to do list creator will work. The main idea is that you should be able to move items around and categorise them.

Post-it notes on wall
Reclaim your space: Christmas Trello Board
Here’s one I prepared earlier to get you started.

I encourage you to do this as a family. It might take a bit more time, but it will help to ensure you are all on the same page and give everyone visibility of what needs to be done. Organising and time management are also important life skills that can be learned.

Use a separate post-it note or card for each item and write down everything you can think of that you need to get done before Christmas. It can be high-level, or very specific. Everyone’s brain works differently, so don’t overthink it. The idea is to get it out of your head to help calm your mind.

Step 2: Group and prioritise your Christmas tasks

Now that you have everything written down, start to group items together. Here are some high-level categories that I use:

  • Gifts
  • Food
  • Getting the house ready
  • Activities

You can colour-code or label if you want to, but it’s not absolutely necessary. 

Take a look at the categories you have come up with and if any other tasks pop into your head, add them in. 

Now that they are grouped, within each category, put them in order of priority or what logically makes sense.

An extra tip is to try and estimate how long you think each task will take. Estimating in minutes and hours can be difficult. If you’re struggling, try sizing the tasks into small (S), medium (M), large (L) and extra large (XL). Write either the time or the ‘sizing’ on the card.

Step 3: Organise tasks by week

Great, you have categorised and ordered your list. Now, I want you to distribute the tasks throughout the coming weeks. If there is a specific due date for a task, write it on the card. If you’re using physical post-it notes, find a wall or whiteboard and set up the following column headers:

TO DO
WEEK 1: 1st – 6th Dec
WEEK 2: 7th – 13th Dec
WEEK 3: 14th – 20th Dec
WEEK 4: 21st – 23rd Dec
Christmas Eve
Christmas Day
After Christmas
Anything that you’re not sure about, keep in the TO DO column in priority order.

Younger children can move the notes around for you if you’re using a physical board. This is a great way to get them involved in the process.

Step 4: Focus on this week

Your tasks should now be organised across the weeks to come. Now let’s focus on the current week.

Review your list for this week and check your calendar for anything you might have missed.

Now is the time to break larger tasks into smaller actionable tasks. For example, if you’ve got gift shopping, you could break down your gift list by particular stores.

You now need to decide who is doing each task and when they’re going to do it. If you’re doing this as a family, encourage others to put their hands up for tasks rather than having one person dictate who does what. If you’re using a physical board, get different coloured stickers for each person to stick on their claimed cards.

Take a step back and review your week. Is it doable? Is it overwhelming? Is there anything that you can remove or simplify? Is there anything that you can delegate? Has one person got far too many tasks and other people not enough?

If you use a personal calendar, it’s a good idea to add your tasks into it or block out time for ‘Christmas tasks’.

Step 5: Complete tasks and review

Ticking things off can be very satisfying and motivational. As you complete items, move them into a ‘DONE’ column or use some other visual indicator.

As a family, check in each day to see how everyone is doing with their tasks. This could be before dinner or first thing in the morning, whatever time works best for your family. It’s not a competition to see who can finish their tasks first, but more about working as a team to get everything done in the week. So if one person is stuck on something, encourage others to help, or switch tasks if it makes sense to.

If additional tasks pop up during the week and another card into your TO DO column. You can review this at the start of next week rather than getting distracted and trying to fit it in. If it’s an urgent task, then you can add it into your current week, but at the same time review your other tasks. Move something of similar size into the following week, or back into your TO DO column.

At the end of the week, take a look at everything you’ve ticked off and congratulate yourselves!

Did you get everything done? If not, talk about why you weren’t able to complete it. Did you take too much on? Were you unrealistic about how long it would take? What would have helped you to achieve it? Anything you haven’t completed, move over into the following week.

Keep it realistic

Each week set aside some time to plan for the upcoming week as per step 4. Try and keep it realistic and each week think about any tasks or activities you can drop or simplify. Remember, let go of perfection, the most important thing is to relax and have fun! 

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Get in touch

If it’s all too much and you’re struggling to get organised this Christmas, get in touch, I’m here to help. As a professional organiser, I can work with you to figure out a plan that fits in with your family and lifestyle.

Sarah Deitz - Professional Organiser

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