Looking forward to the New Year!

Did you have a good holiday? I hope so. Ours was great! It was wonderful to get to see our friends and family. We still technically have one more “Christmas” with family but that will be more of a vacation. (Umm yes, I should have been thinking about the fact that I am supposed to be in a swimsuit this weekend when I ate everything that I ate this past week!) So, now I have a house full of boxes, gifts, and leftover Christmas wrappings and trimmings and less than 4 days before we take off globe trotting again. And I can feel it… that insane nagging voice in the back of my head that is starting to get louder … pointing out the mess and the clutter and the overall disarray of my home. (Strangely, this voice sounds exactly like my mother … shudder!)

Next to the stress of preparing for the actual holiday, the stress of getting everything put back in place is the third highest for me. (Dealing with the family ranks second in case you were wondering.) I think part of the reason is that you do get that day of release where you are confident in your achievements and then the haze of accomplishment and holiday cheer wears off to reveal what you are left with – more stuff to find a place for! I also think that the impending New Year makes us all feel like we need to get our collective houses in order.

My main goal over the next 4 days is to get my house semi-put-together and get packed up one last time. Normally, I don’t take the tree down until New Years Day, but given that we will be traveling that day, I think I am going to go ahead and take it down now. I am going to do some light cleaning and organizing, but save the “heavy” clearing out until after we get back.

In tune with the straightening-up-of-it-all, over the next month I will share my favorite tips for making dead space work, clearing out, cleaning out and all other organizing fabulousness that I can find! (Is it freakish that I am excited about this? I think it is… oh well, that is what having my mom’s voice in your head will do to you!)

Do you normally get into a cleaning and organization mojo during this time of the year?