Guest Post - New Years Tips from Debbie Lillard - 2 Boys + 1 Girl = One Crazy Mom

Debbie Lillard’s New Year’s Tips:

Guest Post from Debbie Lillard’s owner of Space to Share

I love January. It’s a time of possibilities, a clean slate, a chance for a life-makeover that comes every 12 months. I see the time between Christmas & New Years as a bridge. Time to clean out and summarize last year and a time to plan out your dreams for the year to come.

1. Take some time for personal reflection: Sarah Ban Breathnach suggests in her book, Simple Abundance, to write next year’s family Christmas letter in a journal. What did you want to do last year that you never did? What went well this past year? Then repeat it. Set your goals for what you would like to accomplish or do as a family this year! I did this last year and I am amazed at how much of it came true even though I sort of forgot about the letter until this Christmas. These goals were in my subconscious but the tasks to achieve them were part of my every day routine.

2. To conquer the “post holiday blues” this is also a great time to plan vacations and trips with your whole family. Everyone needs something to look forward to! To ensure that you don’t reach a burn out point, space out your trips throughout the year. For instance, take a weekend in March, a full week in the summer, a weekend at the end of the summer and another weekend trip in the fall. If possible, plan a few nights for you and your spouse to get away too.

3. With your spouse or other members of your household, make a list of home improvement projects for the year. Prioritize and divide responsibilities. Planning together avoids surprises about what you both want done and when. By dividing responsibilities, larger projects don’t seem so overwhelming. If your whole house needs organizing and you don’t know where to start, use my “Top Down” approach. Start at the top floor of your home, make notes of all home improvements whether it’s to clear out, re-arrange, redecorate or have major renovations done – write down your plans for that room. Move down to the next floor and do the same for each room until you reach the basement. Keep all of this information in a notebook or a binder. Most likely you won’t be able to do everything in one year if you have major renovations, but you can definitely organize each room and be ready for future projects. Just take one room per month and by the end of the year, your house will be beautiful!

Time Management:

4. Pick out a beautiful calendar and hang it in a central location in your home. Write “where you need to be” on that calendar for everyone in the house. If you really want to be organized, have each person’s schedule written in a different color. Make sure the whole family knows what your system is.

5. If you have a daily planner, order refills. If you don’t have one – get one. A planner is where you right down “what you need to do” as well as appointments. I believe every mom needs one whether she works outside the home or not. It also serves as a great reference tool for “what you did” yesterday, last week, etc. I’ve often used it to avoid late fees on bills, to remember when was the last time my husband and I had a date, etc. If you start planning one day at a time, then you can plan your weeks and months.

Debbie Lillard is a Professional Organizer serving the Philadelphia area since 2003. Since starting her business, she has appeared on local and national television, including: HGTV’S Mission Organization, Hoarders on A&E, The 10!Show and Talk Philly in Philadelphia She is a published author and nationally recognized expert on organization in the home. She is also an active board member of the National Association of Professional Organizers Greater Philadelphia Chapter (NAPO-GPC).