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Declutter and Donate Ahead of the Holidays
The holiday season is upon us, and every day, retailers provide us with new incentives to spend: Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday. But those thoughtful gifts and doorbuster deals can take up lots of space in an already-cluttered home. That’s why you should do a pre-Christmas decluttering, knowing that new stuff is on […]
TALES FROM THE CLOSET
Tales from the Closet brings you all the reading material you need to become and expert at organizing.
ORGANIZING WEBSITES
Use the list of resources below when its time to organize your things. No matter how big or small the job is, you’ll find any one of these websites helpful.
Hoarders Help
It's time to remove the emotional value from the items you never use and the ones that clutter up your home. Remove the clutter and get organizational advice.
Quick Tips
Decorate on the Cheap With Homemade Ornaments
Crafting Christmas Cards for a Personal Touch
Print Your Own Holiday Greetings at Home
Craft Your Own Holiday Cards and Save
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Decorate on the Cheap With Homemade Ornaments
Decorating a large tree for the first time? You may not have enough ornaments to really fill it out. To bring it a distinctive, homey look without spending a lot of money, make your own ornaments. Try making some of the creative ornament suggestions from Woman’s Day such as mini snowglobes, glittery jingle bells or yarn-covered Christmas stars. You can also use “found” twigs to form ornaments or print whimsical family photos to hang on the tree. And you live near the ocean, all you need is a drill and some string to hang oyster or beachcombed shells on your tree.
Crafting Christmas Cards for a Personal Touch
Southern Living says you can make Christmas cards every bit as clever and stylish as those you’d find in a store, and “be able to add personal touches to each and every card.” Make French knots on a card to illustrate a string of Christmas lights or a red-nosed reindeer, for example, or use decorative holiday ribbons to form the shape of a tree. Use buttons and bows to sew a wreath onto cardstock, or use glue and felt to create a holiday scene. Now get those cards in the mail — your addressees will appreciate the thought and creativity you put in!
Print Your Own Holiday Greetings at Home
Fancy greeting cards can cost up to $5 each. If you want to save money during the holiday season, try printing your own. Simply add a greeting to ready-made kraft paper greeting cards using a computer printer, Earnest Home says, and use a hot glue gun to affix a miniature wreath of boxwood to it. Total cost? 35 cents per card. You can try sprigs of rosemary, pine needles or holly instead of boxwood sprigs to suggest the holiday season, too; just use your creativity to get into the holiday spirit.
Craft Your Own Holiday Cards and Save
The Organizing Blog always advises using creativity to save money on things you ordinarily might buy. This year, try making your own holiday cards! Not only will you save money, you’ll create distinctive-looking greetings the recipients will love. Use felt, glitter, string and construction paper to craft your own cards. HGTV has 14 do-it-yourself ideas that will wow your friends and family, including a whimsical Santa-with-cotton-ball-beard idea that will help get the kids involved in making one-of-a-kind cards for everyone on your mailing list.