The prospect of entertaining during the holidays can cause anyone to panic. Professional organizer, Dawn McCloskey, offers the following tips to being ready for someone to drop by at a moments notice...
The prospect of entertaining during the holidays can cause anyone to panic. Professional organizer, Dawn McCloskey, offers the following tips to being ready for someone to drop by at a moments notice:
Create Daily Habits
People sometimes drop by unannounced. Be ready by maintaining a clean foyer, guest bathroom and kitchen. Keep table and countertops clear of paper and other clutter. If items are returned to their proper place, your home will appear clean, even if you haven’t dusted or vacuumed in ages!
Have a Place to Entertain
Great rooms, living rooms, kitchen and dining rooms are welcoming when there isn’t clutter on the furniture or floor. Have a place for your guests to sit, relax, and enjoy your company.
Clean the Refrigerator and Freezer
Entertaining means more than usual food preparation and contributions from guests. Being prepared means tossing moldy or expired food products, giving the appliance a thorough cleaning, and sorting and returning the items but leaving open space for new food.
Create Shopping List
If you will be hosting a dinner or party, create a menu. Gather the recipes and create a shopping list. Don’t forget the beverages and ice, if needed! If you don’t bake often, replace baking powder and baking soda because they get old and fail to provide desired results. When you DO use these items, write the date on the product, so you will know how old it is.
Set Aside “Off Limits” Food
When unloading groceries, keep “off limits” food in labeled, plastic bags, in the rear of the refrigerator or freezer. For dry ingredients, sort by category and place in labeled, plastic bags. For example, keep all baking ingredients together in one bag, all appetizer ingredients along with chips and crackers they are served with in another bag. Place these bags in a storage container on the pantry floor, on a shelf elsewhere in the house, or even in the garage or basement. That way, when you are ready to bake or prepare that special meal, you will have all the ingredients at your fingertips.
Hire Someone Else to Do It
Relieve the stress of entertaining altogether by hiring a housekeeper to clean the house and a caterer to prepare and serve the food. This will enable you to spend more time with your guests and less time agonizing over whether everything is “going as planned.”
Additional suggestions for becoming organized and reducing clutter can be obtained by contacting Dawn McCloskey at 770-844-1049 or dawn@ultraorganized.com.
Dawn McCloskey is a residential professional organizer and founder of Ultra Organized, LLC in Cumming, Georgia. The mission of Ultra Organized is to create order from chaos by creating customized solutions in people’s homes. Ultra Organized helps people get control of clutter in their existing homes or before listing a house with a realtor, and provides unpacking and organizing services to new home owners. McCloskey is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers. For more information, call 770-844-1049, email dawn@ultraorganized.com or visit www.ultraorganized.com.
