Latest / JOY LOVING HOME - SAHM, Productivity, Home Organization, Declutter, ADHD Mom, ADHD SAHM, ADHD Brain / Holiday Bonus Episode 2: Gifts, Wraps, and Stocking Hacks

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Holiday Bonus Episode 2: Gifts, Wraps, and Stocking Hacks · JOY LOVING HOME - SAHM, Productivity, Home Organization, Declutter, ADHD Mom, ADHD SAHM, ADHD Brain

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Joy Loving Home podcast. We are in episode two of our holiday
• 0:05
  bonus episodes that I'm calling Five Golden Rings.
• 0:08
  This is a procrastinator's version of the essentials that you need to pull Christmas
• 0:14
  off this year and still feel like it was magical.
• 0:20
  Isn't that our goal at the end of the day? All right, stay tuned to the end
• 0:23
  because I'm going to give a bonus tip at the end. But today's ring is about gifts.
• 0:29
  So if you missed yesterday, yesterday was all about setting the overall plan.
• 0:34
  And now that we have our plan, I want to focus in on gifts.
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  The reason I'm focusing in on gifts second is because let's face it,
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  we would feel heartbroken if we got to Christmas morning and somebody's gift was forgotten.
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  So let's get it focused.
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  Let's get it on our radar and let's have enough time where while we're out and
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  about or while we can get things ordered still that they'll hopefully come in in time.
• 0:56
  So today, if you want to grab a paper and pencil and that overall planning folder
• 1:03
  that we did yesterday, get those in front of you and let's get going.
• 1:07
  This is work with me. If you need to pause along the way, go for it.
• 1:11
  So what I need you to do, any random notebook, this is nothing fancy or special,
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  just write the words gift list at the top or to break it into categories.
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  Start with your immediate family. So get down the name of your spouse,
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  drop a few lines, and then go kid one,
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  drop a few lines, kid two, drop a few lines till you get to the end of your
• 1:34
  immediate family, and then draw a line across.
• 1:38
  Next category, we're going to do extended family. Who do you gift to for your extended family?
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  If that's grandparents, if that's any aunt or uncle, if that's any cousins,
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  anybody in that extended family that you gift to, again, put their name, skip a line.
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  And keep going until you get to the end of this, that category, draw another line.
• 2:01
  Next grouping. These are friends and community people.
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  So write down any friends that you actually do gift exchange with.
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  Put out the teachers, any coaches or other community people that you tend to give to.
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  And then another line. and then
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  I want you to have a category that is all those
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  things you need to have on hand that you take so
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  whether it's secret santa parties other party gift things hostess gifts or if
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  you do charitable type gifts to like angel trees or toy drives or whatever anything
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  that is sort of that I have to have something with me when I go to these different
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  events category draw that line
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  All right, now that we've got the main categories on there, you can give it another pass through.
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  Is there anybody you're forgetting that, you know, maybe didn't fit into one
• 2:54
  of those categories? I'm hoping I got all of them. and now is probably the hardest part.
• 3:00
  Hopefully you've had a chance to chat with your family unit about budget and
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  I want you to pencil in your target budget for each person in those categories.
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  So I'm assuming it's the same basic price point in each separate category,
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  but if you get those down, that will hopefully keep you zeroed in.
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  Oh, another one that I didn't bring up because I'm not quite sure where it fits,
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  but a lot of times in years past, stocking stuffers became an afterthought and
• 3:37
  then I overspent on stocking stuffers and it can be complicated.
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  So wherever you wanna work stocking stuffers in, if that's a separate budget,
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  maybe you put it down in the where you need gifts to bring to places category
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  because maybe that's about the price point you would spend on stuffing stockings.
• 3:55
  That's when I'm not quite sure where it fits, but do what works for you and
• 3:58
  your family and how you handle that.
• 4:00
  Okay, now stop and think. Did you throughout the year at any point already grab
• 4:06
  something for these categories?
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  Did you receive a gift that you were like, oh, it's not for me,
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  but you know who would love this?
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  Maybe start finding wherever you stash those, gather them together,
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  especially if you're on a tight budget this year. it's really okay to re-gift
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  nice things as long as you're not giving them back to the person who gave them to you.
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  There's really no harm, no foul in that. So gather all those things together,
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  give the approximate price point of what you've already spent or paid for any of those things.
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  And if you had anybody draw up gift list ideas, or you'd already done big text
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  exchange in your families about,
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  I'd love ideas for Christmas guys, we're closing on a Christmas,
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  or maybe you're a family who just does surprises or homemade goods or any of
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  those things. They're still going to cost you money to create the homemade goods.
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  So get your thoughts together on the plan for what you were wanting to give
• 5:00
  each person, hopefully sticking in those budget parameters.
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  And if you have time right now, pause me, set yourself a 15-minute timer and
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  start ordering some things.
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  You want to get some things coming in the second you've actually placed the
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  order, write down next to that name, ordered,
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  write the item and the price so that you can keep track on this sheet of paper
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  that you are, some people are done, put a check next to them.
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  Some you still have to fill some holes and that's okay. It helps keep you close, top of mind.
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  If you want to write yourself a separate little list or if you want to take
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  photos of this sheet of paper so they're on your phone and they can be present if you're out and about,
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  it's not something that gets left behind and you can't trigger your brain in
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  the moment that you're out and about and you,
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  could be in a great place to purchase something. So very important,
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  keep a photo of this or a photo of a list or anything on your phone so you're ready to go.
• 6:02
  Okay, what were you sticking around for for a bonus tip? Let's chat.
• 6:07
  Let's chat gift wrap station. And I know that sounds like bougie and extra or
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  whatever, but let me tell you, in a pinch at 2am, you're going to be happy that
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  you gathered all the supplies already.
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  All I mean by a gift wrap station is for years, mine was in the back of my closet
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  where nobody was paying attention.
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  And I have the benefit of having a ridiculously large walk-in closet,
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  so I can put it in the back of my closet. You might not have that luxury.
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  It might be in the basement in a storage room where the kids are too scared to go in.
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  Or you might have it, I don't know, just in the corner of your bedroom because
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  the kids aren't in and out of there a hundred times. Whatever works best for you.
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  All you need is a flat surface. The floor does work in a pinch.
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  I just want to make sure you have boxes, bags, wrapping paper,
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  bows, tags, scissors, tape.
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  If all of those things are together, then anytime you have a few moments and
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  you want to walk by and sit down and wrap a gift, you can just make use of it.
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  Other sort of side suggestion is if grandma, grandpa,
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  aunt, uncle, anybody lives nearby that doesn't mind you having that station
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  at their house, and they have a random moment where they want to help you wrap
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  gifts, it's all there and ready, and you don't have to feel like you're putting them out.
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  It's just like, oh, hey, there's some gifts here, and all the supplies are here. I can help wrap.
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  It's just a nice thing to have. And then bonus, bonus tip that I got from an
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  old organizing friend from years back is to make sure you don't overbuy on stocking stuffers.
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  If you grab those wine bags and as you're finding things and buying things and
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  whether they're little games or trinkets or candies or whatever,
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  if you drop them down into wine bags labeled for each person,
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  you will not overfill your capacity because stockings aren't as big as you think.
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  And they're all together and super easy to carry down and drop in on a pinch
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  when it's time to fill them.
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  So hope those are helpful tips. And until tomorrow, when we talk about ring
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  three, I hope you continue to choose joy.