Latest / Uncluttered and Unfiltered: The Podcast For Women Over 50 / STRESS FREE PLANNING FOR A LAID BACK MIDLIFE HOLIDAY SEASON

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STRESS FREE PLANNING FOR A LAID BACK MIDLIFE HOLIDAY SEASON · Uncluttered and Unfiltered: The Podcast For Women Over 50

• 1:06
  I'm Carolyn. I'm Kristen.
• 1:08
  And I'm Michelle, and we are your pop culture
• 1:11
  preservationists. Try to take some things off of
• 1:23
  your plate and don't try to do everything on your own.
• 1:27
  It will backfire and then it'll lead to frustration and then
• 1:32
  guilt will set in and then you'll be like, I can't wait for
• 1:35
  the holidays to be over. Welcome to Uncluttered and
• 1:38
  Unfiltered, the podcast urging you to let it go and don't look
• 1:42
  back, with nationally acclaimed professional organizer Christine
• 1:46
  Stone and self-proclaimed Hot Damn Mess and TV personality
• 1:52
  Eden Kendall. Welcome everybody to UNCLUTTERED
• 1:55
  and UNFILTERED. Today's episode we are leaning
• 1:58
  into Christine's profession, which is professional organizer.
• 2:02
  My name is Eden Kendall, and I am so not a professional
• 2:05
  organizer that I hang on to all of these Nuggets and I tried
• 2:08
  them out too. So if you're listening and
• 2:10
  you're like, I knew to do all of these things, I'm a Christine,
• 2:13
  good for you. And if you're more like an Eden
• 2:16
  and you're just like, please help me.
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  The holiday stress me out. This is your episode.
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  So our topic today is approaching the holidays in a
• 2:24
  stress freeway from the perspective of a organized yes.
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  So here you are, organized person, very high attention to
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  detail, yes. It's.
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  Very important to you to have things buttoned up in an
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  advanced timeframe so that nobody has to be stressed out.
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  Well, I'm a big believer when you wait till the last minute
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  and I don't care if it's the holidays, you're throwing a
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  party at anything related to your kids.
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  If you wait till the last minute, just throw stress in
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  that. That is definitely they go hand
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  in hand stress. That could be avoided.
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  That could totally be avoided if you just put an organized spin
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  from the very beginning that would be start making lists
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  really early. So for instance, I have an app
• 3:11
  that I use and it has separate lists for separate things.
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  So I have a Christmas list, actually it's from last year.
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  So I either add or subtract from it and I just keep it going
• 3:24
  throughout the year. And that way, when it comes to
• 3:27
  this time of year, I already have everyone in the app, what
• 3:30
  I'm getting them, who I need to shop for.
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  So that's the very, very first thing I do is make a list.
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  You can do it handwritten or an app.
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  I prefer the app just because it can be on my phone and I can go
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  around different stores and look and see what I need.
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  Also, at our age, OK, we become the matriarchs of the family.
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  So everyone looks to us as examples.
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  So if everything is chaotic and a mess and blah, blah, blah, it,
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  it shows like, well, we may not be coming here next year because
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  it's so stressful. So you you want to avoid that
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  and you want to really have meals planned out.
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  And if you're having people stay with you, make sure the guest
• 4:16
  rooms are ready, the bathrooms are ready.
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  I always suggest, and you can find inexpensive housekeeping,
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  just you don't have to do it every week or even every month,
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  but before you're going to have the holidays, have a cleaning
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  company come in and do that for you.
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  Try to take some things off of your plate and don't try to do
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  everything on your own. It will backfire and then it'll
• 4:42
  lead to frustration and then guilt will set in and then
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  you'll be like, I can't wait for the holidays to be over.
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  Then you're in that mode. I like that.
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  I like that premise of having a housekeeping service come in.
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  A lot of people think either you have a housekeeper or you don't.
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  They, they don't think about the fact that you could hire
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  somebody just once or twice, maybe even once in beginning of
• 5:03
  N1 and the beginning of December, just so in the holiday
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  time you don't have that stress of, you know, me, I worry about
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  every detail, every smudge, not because I'm this totally clean
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  person, but because I'm so not that way that I feel like if
• 5:15
  somebody comes into my home, I don't want them to see I, that's
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  just a hang up of mine and it prevents me from having people
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  over. So if I think if I were to bring
• 5:24
  in somebody to clean, I would know someone else's eyes.
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  Were right Exactly. And it leaves time for you to do
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  other things. So if you're having people over
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  or you're hosting Christmas dinner or whatever, it leaves
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  you time to do the things that you really do need to be doing
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  prior to everyone arriving. I also think part of the
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  holidays and stress is you get invited to all these holiday
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  parties and if you don't say no, go to some things, that leads to
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  stress as well because you're going to all these parties, but
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  yet you're not getting anything done in your own life.
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  And then you're exhausted and then you get sick and it's just
• 6:08
  a whole set. So pick and choose what you
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  really, really want to go to and don't go to something out of
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  guilt. Go because you really, really
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  want to go, because when you go out of guilt it, it just never
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  works out. So you're like, why did I go to
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  that? I could have been home doing
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  such and such. So really pick and choose the
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  holiday parties or things that you want to go to during the
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  holidays. Here's your permission.
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  Here's your permission. Right exactly.
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  Another thing as an organizer I have learned to do is I have a
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  drawer in my kitchen, but you can use a shelf in your pantry
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  or whatever you have in your pantry slash kitchen or even a
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  closet if it's outside of the kitchen or pantry.
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  And I keep all paper products, use paper products during the
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  holidays. They have nice paper products
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  now heavy duty. They won't break, they won't
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  like the old days. They even have heavy duty
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  plastic wear for silverware. The reason why I'm saying this
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  because part of holiday stress is everyone's having a great
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  time in the living room after everyone's eaten and you're in
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  there doing the dishes, That's just not fun for the host.
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  You want to go in and enjoy what everybody else is doing.
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  So I have a separate area that has napkins, paper plates,
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  disposable silverware, and also you, it's recyclable.
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  You can just throw it all in the recyclable and that way you're
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  not feeling guilty about using paper.
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  I know you're saying it from this perspective of the host,
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  but your guests will appreciate that too, because there's
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  nothing that makes you feel worse than when you're hovering
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  around the kitchen saying how can I help?
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  And they're like, no, go in there, sit down and be like, I
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  see you in here with your gloves up to your head.
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  Right let. Me help.
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  Exactly. So it makes your your company
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  feel more comfortable. Yeah.
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  So that's a big thing I do and I'm known for that every year.
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  My kids know OK, where's everything?
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  We set everything up and it's worked great.
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  I've done it for a few years now and I know everyone says well,
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  what about the good China? I'm not using the good China
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  only because you can't put it in the dishwasher.
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  And I want to enjoy myself. When my grandson's there, when
• 8:20
  my daughter's in town, I want to enjoy myself.
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  I don't want to be a slave to doing dishes.
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  So I will use those for breakfast, for lunch, for you
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  name it. And then it's hassle free.
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  You don't have to worry about cleaning up and I think that's a
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  big thing when you have a lot of people coming in and out of your
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  house during the holidays. Try to make it easy on yourself,
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  and if you're having a dinner, have everyone bring something
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  you can make the Turkey and everybody else can bring aside.
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  Divide it out so you're not sitting there slaving in the
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  kitchen. And by the time dinner comes,
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  you're like, I need a nap, I'm tired, I've been cooking all
• 8:58
  day. Yeah.
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  I just think make it easy on yourself.
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  Don't. Nobody notices when you're
• 9:03
  younger. You think everyone notices
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  everything? Nobody notices.
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  They have their couple glasses of wine and that's all they're
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  noticing. So make try to make it easier by
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  having everyone bring something so it's easier on you.
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  OK, now we're going to get into holiday gift giving, which is my
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  let. Me roll up my sleeves, that gets
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  really stressful. OK, well, this is my jam.
• 9:26
  OK, I'm just going to tell you. She loves a gift.
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  Well, only because as an organizer, I go in after the
• 9:33
  holidays, January's good organized month, and I see all
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  the all the tchotchke gifts people have given that people
• 9:42
  don't want. And I say, well then let's
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  donate it. Oh, no, no, no, no.
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  You know, if so and so comes over and it's not sitting on
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  that shelf, what do I say? What do I do?
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  So it's anxiety and stress for the person you have given the
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  gift to. You're now like, here's your
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  stress and anxiety. So I am a huge, huge proponent
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  of gift cards. People used to say back in the
• 10:06
  day, well, it's selling personal ball.
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  Bowl, bowl, bowl. I think it's so personal when I
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  really know somebody like you're a runner, you're an athlete, you
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  do something nice for the person that you know, like maybe to a
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  sports store or running store me with the hair, someone would
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  give you a blowout or hair care products, something that relates
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  to the person you're giving it to.
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  Then you don't feel like you're just giving a gift card or
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  giving an Amazon gift card with something that you really think
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  they'll like with it. You can combine the two.
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  The key though, yesterday I bought a whole bunch of gift
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  cards because you always get shut out when you wait until the
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  last minute. Always.
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  You think, OK, well, I'll just run up to Walgreens.
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  Sorry, out of gift cards. I've seen it happen every single
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  year. Publix, Walgreens, CVS.
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  Unless you want like a Mobil Exxon gift card that's like what
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  seems to always be left Cracker Barrel.
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  Cracker Barrel. Oh, I love Cracker Barrel.
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  But I'm just saying it's not. It's one I always see.
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  And I'm like, yes, so that's what's left the week of
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  Christmas. So don't wait, is what I'm
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  hearing you. Say don't wait and then in your
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  house have an area starting now. Mine's been set up up for where
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  you're keeping the gifts ahead of time so that all you have to
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  do is go in there and pull from them.
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  So I have AI have one long shelf that I've kept everyone's gift
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  cards and things I've already bought stocking stuffers.
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  These are things you just pick up as you go and don't wait.
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  If you see something that you think someone will really love,
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  get it because by the time you go back, it's gone.
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  So do it. Now you can always return things
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  you can. Always grab it and if you want
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  to return it because you find something else, but now is the
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  time to get organized and get everyone on your list and pair a
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  gift card with maybe chocolate chip cookies.
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  You know what I mean? Pair it with something.
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  It doesn't have to be expensive. People think things have to be
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  expensive to be enjoyed. A $25 Amazon gift card and some
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  chocolate chips cookies would be heaven for your pool guy.
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  Whoever the people that work around you, people at the office
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  or when you go to someone's house.
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  The tiniest. I have found the tiniest little
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  piece of it that has a little bit of meaning.
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  If you can just find a way to incorporate just something,
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  whether the meaning is that the gift card is to a salon they
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  love or it's an Amazon gift card, but I've added to it maybe
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  just your favorite cookie like you just said.
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  Then there's something that says, I see you, I know who you
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  are, and I know what you like. But I also know that you're not
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  going to save this big candle for a special occasion.
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  You're going to regift it. So it's just.
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  Well, and that's another thing. I can spot a regifting gift a
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  mile away. I've become a pro at it.
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  And I just think that in the time we're living right now with
• 15:02
  the economy, I really think giving gift cards is not only
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  practical, but it gives the person the option to go buy what
• 15:12
  they really need, use and want. In that way, after the holidays
• 15:16
  are over, I'm not going in and seeing a bunch of candles and
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  different items like figurines. And unless they're really,
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  really into that. Other than that, it just becomes
• 15:28
  more clutter. So I definitely look at gift
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  giving in a different way than other people do because I see
• 15:34
  it. Yeah.
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  So that's one. See the Graveyard of Gift
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  Giving. Yes I do.
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  It's a graveyard. It's a graveyard.
• 15:41
  Yeah, and that goes with storage containers, OK, when you're a
• 15:47
  Target, when you're at Lowe's, when you're at Home Depot or
• 15:49
  whatever, buy them now because if you wait till the week of
• 15:53
  Christmas, there's nothing left. There won't be any holiday
• 15:57
  storage containers left. And when you're unloading your
• 16:00
  containers for the holidays, that is the best time to purge.
• 16:06
  If you're like, I didn't use these these ornaments last year
• 16:09
  either they're going if it's something either it's broken or
• 16:13
  you just year after year you have not used sit, donate it,
• 16:18
  let it go. So many people would love things
• 16:21
  that you no longer want anymore. This is making me laugh because
• 16:26
  I can picture our bins in the garage.
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  We're all decked, decked out for Christmas, all our lights are
• 16:33
  up, our tree is up, our Garland is up, and they're still bins
• 16:35
  half full of stuff. And now we're going to, after
• 16:38
  Christmas, take everything back and put it on top of all the
• 16:41
  stuff. When in fact, if your house is
• 16:43
  done, maybe everything that's still in the bins needs to go is
• 16:46
  what you're. Saying yes, I am saying that if
• 16:49
  you have not used something, let it go because hey, after 50, I
• 16:55
  mean once you start having grandkids, you may not even be
• 16:59
  the one hosting anything. You know, things change as you
• 17:02
  get older and how much holiday stuff over when you're over 50,
• 17:07
  do you really, really, really need and think about that when
• 17:11
  you're unloading because it I know it's sad and I know people
• 17:15
  get very nostalgic, but life changes and you have to roll
• 17:19
  with it. And I just when you downsize,
• 17:22
  how much holiday stuff do you really need?
• 17:26
  You really, you really don't. And another thing I like to do
• 17:31
  is gift bags, tags, anything that you use, put them in
• 17:37
  containers and label them. Like I keep all my red and green
• 17:42
  pens with tags and anything to do with gift wrap in tags so
• 17:48
  that everything's separated. So all I have to do is grab the
• 17:51
  box with all the bags, grab the box with all the tags.
• 17:55
  The kids do the same thing. They grab them.
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  Where's the tag bin? Keeping them organized and using
• 18:00
  stackable bins that can and stack one on top.
• 18:03
  That way you're using the vertical space on a shelf and
• 18:07
  you're keeping all of your gift wrap organized.
• 18:11
  It's so important. And purge the old gift wrap.
• 18:14
  I see so much old gift wrap I cannot even tell you.
• 18:19
  It's time to let go of the crumpled tissue paper.
• 18:24
  The gift wrap rolls that have seen better days.
• 18:27
  Now is the time. You have plenty of time and now
• 18:31
  is also the time time to take one area.
• 18:34
  And I always say the kitchen because that's where everybody
• 18:37
  hangs out is in the kitchen and really do a thorough purge and
• 18:42
  organize in the kitchen before you even get to Thanksgiving.
• 18:47
  It's so important to have everything ready.
• 18:50
  And also I have a whole bunch of easy, easy gifts.
• 18:55
  And I think that just making gift giving simple, don't
• 19:01
  overthink it. And so if you're interested in
• 19:04
  any of our gifts, you can find them all on our Patreon with
• 19:08
  links. I can link everything.
• 19:10
  But these are simple, easy gifts that I think any woman or or
• 19:16
  daughter, any sister, aunt would really, really.
• 19:19
  Enjoy. So in other words, we're going
• 19:21
  to create a separate video right now Yes.
• 19:24
  And we're going to talk about those gifts and then in the
• 19:25
  notes for that, we'll put put all the links and that's going
• 19:28
  to be on our Patreon page. And if you would like to be a
• 19:32
  member of that, our bonus club on Patreon, The way to do that
• 19:35
  is what you're really do. What we're really asking of you
• 19:38
  is for you to help us support this show and help us grow it.
• 19:41
  And so for $5.00 a month, what you get is every episode moving
• 19:45
  forward without commercials, most mostly video, mostly with
• 19:49
  video. So you would see us here chit
• 19:50
  chatting and and that's that's really huge help to us because
• 19:56
  it helps us. We have this room, this
• 19:58
  beautiful studio, we have a wonderful producer and it's just
• 20:01
  all of these fantastic things that.
• 20:03
  Cost money, cost money. Frankly, like the rest of the
• 20:05
  world. So anyway, getting stressed.
• 20:07
  So check us out over on Patreon. As always, please share us with
• 20:10
  at least a friend and subscribe so you can be reminded of these
• 20:12
  episodes. And we want to remind you that
• 20:16
  the holidays, yes, we know that they automatically come with
• 20:20
  some level of stress, but the stress that comes with waiting
• 20:22
  until the last minute, you can let that go.
• 20:25
  And don't look back.