Keeping organized for the holidays. How do you do it?

[julifish]

It's that time of year when us moms are not only juggling the usual everyday mom thing, but we're also shopping and trying to make a magical holiday for our families.

I'm curious as to how all of you stay organized during this busy season? Do you make lists? Have a good ap on your phone? Use a calendar? I'm feeling very unorganized and crazy at the moment and I'm looking for a few good ways to keep everything in order during this all to crazy and fast moving season.

[carriesmom]

I usually run around like a crazy person. But this year, I am trying to use Evernote to keep all my lists in order. I have a list with Elf on a Shelf Ideas, Advent Calendar Ideas, General Activities for Christmas, Gift Lists (where I cross out after I have purchased), and then a Christmas Card List. I will be fleshing out some of these lists this week and then probably adding a Cooking and Baking List, and then a To-Do List.

I LOVE lists, can you tell?

[kristijoy]

I'm a big list type person. I make lists of gifts to buy, holiday items to bake, grocery shopping lists, meal plan for a couple weeks at a time, things to do lists, etc...

I'm also a big believer in doing anything ahead that you can. Today I finished making all the doughs for our baking marathon. They are in the freezer ready for our baking day in a couple weeks.

And...for me, the biggest thing was sitting down with my DH (and kids if they are old enough) and deciding what really makes this holiday special for each person and LET EVERYTHING ELSE GO. This holiday is magical in and of itself, I really don't think we need to go overboard with hyping it up.

[origami]

LOL!!!!!!! :D

[rach3975]

I'm a list maker too. I've tried a few gift organizer apps and to-do apps and didn't like them much. Believe it or not, my grocery shopping app (Out of Milk Pro) has become my go-to list making app.

I use its to-do list feature for holiday and regular tasks and program reminders as needed. Now I've started using its Shopping list feature to keep track of gift buying, too. I made a list for each person I'm buying for and have each list divided into Purchased and To Purchase. After purchasing I add a price to the item, and the app keeps a running total of how much I've spent on each person. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of some of the holiday-focused apps, but it's quick and simple to use and has some features that were lacking on the gift apps, like the ability to add things by speaking them and ease of moving things from one list to another.

[jacinda]

I don't. I rely mostly on my gmail calendar, and my memory, which lately has been terrible. I need a Personal Assistant..

[mariewilcox]

Our holiday season isn't too crazy really, and we are a small family (even extended). I've pared down over the years too. I don't send Christmas cards anymore, for one.

I am a list maker though. I have my shopping list on my phone. That way if Cheyanne mentions something she likes I just add it to the list before I forget (this has been great this year because I really have no ideas on what to get her for some reason!) Other than her, I really only buy gifts for my niece and nephew and my granddaughter.

I have a list in the kitchen of the baking I need to do and on my 2 days off each week through November and December I make 1 or 2 on the list. (I am known for the extensive amount of cookies I bake to give to teachers, friends, and for our family Christmas dinner).

I have a list on my desktop of things I need to make (for my son and daughter-in-law, parents, grandfather, and sisters I exclusively make hand crafted gifts). I also have a list on my phone of things I might need to pick up such as frames, bottles, etc.

Other than that we decorate this year on the weekend of Dec. 8/9 after we cut our tree. I have a harder time keeping track of Cheyanne's basketball schedule with the 2 teams she plays on - LOL, which have games right up to Christmas Eve weekend!

[julifish]

I usually run around like a crazy person. But this year, I am trying to use Evernote to keep all my lists in order. I have a list with Elf on a Shelf Ideas, Advent Calendar Ideas, General Activities for Christmas, Gift Lists (where I cross out after I have purchased), and then a Christmas Card List. I will be fleshing out some of these lists this week and then probably adding a Cooking and Baking List, and then a To-Do List.

I LOVE lists, can you tell?

Carrie - I'm a list maker too! I have started using Evernote on my phone but it's not a daily thing yet. Don't you find it hard to type everything in to your phone?

[julifish]

I don't. I rely mostly on my gmail calendar, and my memory, which lately has been terrible. I need a Personal Assistant..

Too bad you don't live closer Jacinda - we could split the cost of a personal assistant. :w00t:

[carriesmom]

Carrie - I'm a list maker too! I have started using Evernote on my phone but it's not a daily thing yet. Don't you find it hard to type everything in to your phone?

Sometimes, but I do most of my typing on my laptop.

[kelley]

I don't stay real organized LOL. I make list upon list, but then I just keep on making more lists and never really follow a single one. It always turns out okay in the end though :)

[Arual]

Too bad you don't live closer Jacinda - we could split the cost of a personal assistant. :w00t:

I don't either. I rely on memory and as I am getting older it's not such a great tool anymore. LOL!!

Maybe all of us unorganized peeps should move to the same city and share the cost of the assistant? While we are at it, can we make the assistant be our chef and laundry keeper as well please???

[julifish]

Sometimes, but I do most of my typing on my laptop.

I didn't realize I could use Evernote online and it would send to my phone. Does it do that????

[julifish]

I don't either. I rely on memory and as I am getting older it's not such a great tool anymore. LOL!!

Maybe all of us unorganized peeps should move to the same city and share the cost of the assistant? While we are at it, can we make the assistant be our chef and laundry keeper as well please???

No kidding Laura! If I could find someone to just clean my house every two weeks and not charge and arm and a leg it would be worth my sanity!

[Andrea Gourley]

I make lists, I have a new Christmas note book and have pages for different things - like presents to buy, presents to make (I'm trying to do an 'Andrea's Homemade Christmas' this year for my co-workers, friends children, the children I teach etc.), food items to make and bake, Christmas cards to write and special cards to make. Then I just cross off or add to as I go along.

[Andrea Gourley]

oh ... and I'm not a Mommy but with a full time job, a business to run and my magazine commisions there isn't a lot of spare time around these parts :)

[Nettio]

I didn't realize I could use Evernote online and it would send to my phone. Does it do that????

Yep, there's a web & a desktop version and it'll sync all your notes across the cloud for you. I use it a lot for vacations since it makes it easy to plan on my computer but take any addresses, itinerary, etc with me on my phone.

[anneofalamo]

No kidding Laura! If I could find someone to just clean my house every two weeks and not charge and arm and a leg it would be worth my sanity!
buying lower watt bulbs for my lamps helped my house seem cleaner!
This is our first Christmas with our new littles! 7, 5 and 4. We had beenonthe easy gravy ride of teens, gift cards and electronic gadgets and such...
back to being magical mom! eep, mom is relying on teens to help with the magic alot this year
and will do like normal, the weekend before Christmas buy everything, wrap and collapse in exhaustion but a smile and it will be so dim in the house, I will sleep well thinking my house is clean!

[carriesmom]

I didn't realize I could use Evernote online and it would send to my phone. Does it do that????

It totally syncs! It is awesome! There is a download for Mac or windows to install. It auto syncs. So this morning when I reinstalled my Evernote on my phone all my lists were there.