Welcome to Calendar and Creativity Week!

This week, the Houseworks Holiday Plan lays down the bones for efficient holiday planning: calendars. We'll focus on time management and scheduling this week, as we put holiday prep chores on the fast track.

Our Houseworks focus: creative spaces. 'Deck the halls' is easier when you have an efficient work area for crafts and creativity. What's the state of your creative space?

Whether a sewing corner or a quilting room, a rolling crafts cart or dedicated arts-and-crafts closet, spend this week decluttering, organizing and cleaning out the creative spaces in your home.

This Week's Focus: Calendars and Creative Spaces

Reading Assignments from Houseworks:

• Housekeeping Skill Set: Organize - pages 37-48
  How does your house work? Learn the basics of efficient home organization.
• Declutter Crafts and Hobbies - page 220
  Crafters know the problem: they can drown in a sea of inspiration--and yarn, fabric, paper and supplies. Get tips for decluttering and organizing the creative space in your home.

Inspiration from the Web:

• Declutter and Organize Sewing, Hobby and Craft Spaces
• Secret for Stress-Free Holidays: Create A Holiday Calendar
• Planning Tips for Holiday Season Travel
• Smart Scheduling for Stress-Free Holidays
• Christmas Organizing Secret: Try A Tear File!
• No More UFOs! Get-Em-Done Strategies for Homemade Gifts

This Week's Houseworks Checklist

• Declutter and clean creative spaces. Whether it's a corner of the kitchen table or a dedicated crafts room, what's the state of your creative space? Is it efficient and easy to use, or bulging and bloated? This week, take the STOP clutter method to areas where you wrap gifts, sew, work on scrapbooks or make crafts. When the clutter's conquered, clean your space for happy seasonal crafting.
• Assess stored crafts materials. Time to head to the stash--fabric, paper or crafts--to take a look at household supplies. Will you need to replace crafts basics like tape, glue, paper or scissors? This week's school supply sales are a great time to stock up in the crafts closet.

This Week's Holiday Prep Checklist

• Create a seasonal calendar. Take control of your time with a simple family calendar for the holiday months ... or beyond!
• Plan holiday travel.
• Hold a scheduling session. Little things mean a lot--and never more than during the holidays--so schedule furnace checks, carpet cleaning, a family photo session and chimney inspection now.
• Start a set of tear files. As you read holiday magazines or browse gift catalogs, tear our articles with recipes, decor ideas, gift suggestions or holiday traditions. Staple article pages together and place in labeled file folders ("Decor", "Holiday Recipes", "Gift Ideas") or page protectors in the Christmas planner.
• Start--and use--a shopping list. Tracking "to-buy" items in one place saves time all year, but is crucial during the busy run-up to the holidays. Get the list habit now!
• Inventory unfinished crafts projects. Remember the Rule of Four: if you have more than four unfinished crafts projects, or if any single project is more than four years old, don't schedule any new crafts! Finish the old ones this year--you've already got a head start on the process. Rout out projects you've begun, and take advantage of the time already invested in them for happy crafting.
• Begin a "Gifts to Make" list. Christmas crafters benefit by starting early. Begin working on holiday gifts, decor items and crafts now, for a stress-free season.

This Week's Christmas Planner Pages to Print:

Weekly Plan Checklist Weekly Planner 1 Weekly Planner 2

Monthly Calendar Shopping List Gifts To Make