Are you ready to make a plan ... to simplify your holidays?

This week, we kick off the Houseworks Holiday Plan. Part book group, part get-organized club, we'll travel together toward a calm and stress-free holiday season.

As we begin our journey to a clean and organized holiday house, one job comes first:  organizing planning and paperwork.  Where do you go to pay bills, keep a calendar, or handle the mail?

Whether it's a dedicated home office or a rolling file cart under the dining table, it's time to declutter, organize and clean the planning area.  A holiday prep bonus:  we'll set up a Christmas organizing planning center this week, so we can move ahead with holiday season preparations.

This Week's Focus: Planning and Paperwork

Reading Assignments from Houseworks:

• Housekeeping Skill Set:  Declutter - pages 19-35
  Come up to speed in the war against household clutter.  Learn the STOP clutter method, analyze your clutter personality, and find tips for keeping clutter from coming back.
• Paper Handling - page 226-237
  Declutter and organize Information Central:  your household's paperwork center.

Inspiration from the Web:

• Declutter 101: Cut Clutter At Home
• ABCs of Household Paper Management
• Simplify Your Holidays: Make A Christmas Planner Notebook
• Before the Season:  Family Values Check-Up
• Create a Christmas Holiday Planning Center
• Make A Master Gift List

This Week's Houseworks Checklist:

• Declutter the home office. We'll be making our lists and checking them twice in the weeks to come, so why not create an organized oasis for handling household paperwork? Declutter the home office or household paperhandling areas this week.
• Set up a basic household filing system. A decluttered paperhandling space is half the battle; next up in the war on paper clutter? An efficient household filing system. Get up to speed on the ABCs of household paper management in your organized home.

This Week's Holiday Prep Checklist:

• Make the promise! From now until the holidays, spend a little time each day preparing for the season. Whether you follow our plan to the letter, or adapt it to your own circumstances, use the plan calendar to organize the weeks ahead.
• Set up a Christmas notebook.  Whether it's a simple three-ring binder, a section in a paper planner, or a database on computer or PDA, make a Christmas planner to hold holiday calendars, checklists and planner pages.
• Focus family values.  Get grounded before you begin:  complete the family values check-up to focus the celebration around what you truly value.
• Create a Christmas planning activity center.  Planning is more pleasant when you have a comfortable space, good lighting and resources at hand.  Designate a holiday planning center, an area of your home for set aside for holiday planning.
• Establish a holiday budget.  Debt is nobody's holiday friend.  This year, set financial limits before you plan the celebration.  Tool of choice:  a holiday budget. 
• Consider a Christmas savings plan. Whether you open a dedicated bank Christmas Club account, set aside cash or add to a gift card balance, begin to accumulate funds for holiday spending now.  Your wallet will thank you, come January!
• Begin a Master Gift List.  Make a master gift list now, and check it a lot more than twice to organize holiday gift-giving.

This Week's Christmas Planner Pages to Print:

Christmas Planner Cover Christmas Planner Spine 2008 Plan Calendar

Values Worksheet Christmas Budget Form Master Gift List