 Holiday travel can be an enjoyable or miserable experience, depending on how prepared you are. It requires careful planning and organization to ensure everything goes off without a hitch. From managing your packing to coordinating with family, getting organized is key to a stress-free journey.
Here are eight tips to help you get everything in order: Plan Ahead. Holiday travel can be expensive, so book your flights, trains, or rental cars as early as possible. Prices often go up as the holiday approaches, and availability can become scarce. If you’re flexible, consider traveling on the less busy days around the holidays. Flying or driving on the actual holiday or the days immediately before and after can sometimes offer a break from the busiest travel days. Have everything packed and ready to go the evening before to avoid any unnecessary stress on your travel day. Confirm transportation reservations a few days before departure. Prepare Your Documents. Be sure you have all your necessary IDs. For international travel, double-check visa requirements and passports. Keep digital and physical copies of your travel tickets and booking confirmations. A well-organized folder or a travel app can help manage these documents. I love these travel organizers to contain your passport and other documents. Pack Efficiently. Create a packing list to be sure you don’t forget anything. Create lists for clothing, chargers, toiletries, medications, and special items needed for the holiday. Pack your suitcase strategically so everything fits snug. Keep essential items and valuables in your carry-on. If you travel often, keep a standard list of everything you bring on vacations, laminate this list and refer to it every time you travel. This will save you time and will release your stress around packing. If you're going to a warm weather climate, here is my packing process guide and worksheet for a warm weather climate. Prepare for Security and Check-in. If you’re flying, familiarize yourself with TSA regulations. Be sure that your carry-on items comply with liquid restrictions and that your electronics are easily accessible for inspection. I can’t tell you how many people have been in front of me at TSA and their liquids get thrown out because they weren’t the required size. Once you have your trip scheduled, purchase your travel size toiletries or travel size containers and quart size bag to store them in. Plan Your Route. If you’re driving, monitor traffic reports. Remember to reverse engineer your trip and think about what time you want to arrive and base that around how long it will take you to get there, allow for traffic and that will give you a good idea of what time you need to leave your home. Manage Expectations. Travel plans can change due to weather, delays, or other issues. Stay positive and be flexible with your plans. Keep your family and friends informed about your travel itinerary and any changes. This is important if you’re coordinating arrival times for a family gathering. While you’re away. Arrange for someone to check on your home if you’ll be gone for an extended period. Set up timers for lights. Hold your mail or ask a neighbor to collect it for you. Pause any regular deliveries, newspaper subscriptions and try not to purchase anything around a week before, to prevent a buildup of items at your doorstep. Enjoy the Journey. Use your travel time to relax and reflect. Listen to a favorite podcast, enjoy a good book, or simply take in the journey. I know travel can be stressful, but try to enjoy the process of getting there. Once you arrive, focus on making the most of your time with loved ones. The effort you put into preparing for the trip will pay off when you’re able to fully enjoy the holiday. By using these quick organizing travel tips, you can minimize stress and maximize enjoyment during your holiday travel. A little preparation goes a long way, and you’ll find your journey will be stress-free. Safe travels and happy holidays! For monthly tips, videos, giveaways, and more - subscribe to my free award-winning monthly newsletter here.  I’m challenging you to organize your computer desktop. If you don’t have your paper filing systems under control, you may find that your computer desktop is following the same pattern. It might look like a cluttered mess.
Before there were computers, we had paper filing systems and if you had a good system, you would receive a paper and file it away in a categorized, labeled folder and be able to put your hands on it when you needed to locate it. You would also purge these files once a year to make room for new files. Computers came along and some people who never maintained their paper files now had another area where they could store files, but this ended up being disorganized also, because they had no systems in place to maintain the files. If you have a working filing system, you’re going to mirror that system on your computer desktop. Let’s dig into getting your computer desktop organized. Delete. Delete. Delete. Delete any file that is no longer useful to you. As you’re coming across files that you’ll be keeping, move to the next step. Create categories and labeled folders. Just as you have your categories in your filing cabinet, you’ll create categories and label folders according to the information you have on your desktop. You can create subcategories within categories. Declutter existing folders. Go through your existing folders and declutter information that is no longer relevant. You may find that you might be deleting the entire folder. Save important files on a USB. If you have files that are important and maybe you don’t want them taking up space on your desktop, save them to a USB. You may have files in your paper filing system that are archived in a seal tight bin in your home. For instance, you may have all your prior year’s tax returns in an archived file bin. Follow the same process with any files you want to archive on your desktop. Save them to a USB so they don’t clog up your active desktop. Maintain. Once you’re organized, now it’s time to maintain this space. When you have a document, you’ll be making the following decision: file it in a labeled folder, delete it, create a new folder, or send it to the archives on a USB. Maintaining this space will keep the desktop looking clutter free and you’ll be able to immediately find a file when you need it. You don’t have to tackle this all-in-one day. Block time on your calendar to tackle a little bit at a time. It could be 15 minutes, 30 minutes to an hour. The choice is yours. Set a goal for yourself of when you would like this project completed and work towards that goal each week. Don’t make the process more complicated than it needs to be. The process will initially feel overwhelming, but when you break the process into small steps, you’ll find that it’s manageable and wish you had tackled this years ago. Follow the same process on your computer desktop as you do with your paper files. Once this project is complete, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment and every time you turn on your computer, you’ll feel a sense of calm looking at your organized screen.  Fall will soon be here and it's a perfect time to refresh and organize your kitchen! The kitchen tends to be the hub of the home and can sometimes be a breeding ground for clutter. Create a purpose for your kitchen and you'll find that clutter will no longer be an issue in this space.
This season, you don't have to tear apart your entire kitchen. Start small and tackle a few areas. Once you've completed these areas, you'll find you're motivated and energized to move onto other areas in the kitchen! Here are 4 quick tips to get your kitchen organized and energized: Refresh your spice rack. If you feel like you might get overwhelmed with organizing your kitchen, start small. Let's tackle your spices! Has it been awhile since you took inventory, looked at expiration dates and organized? Empty all your spices out of the cabinet. Be sure to check expiration dates or smell for potency. Have a shopping list handy and write down the spices you need to replenish. Are you using a spice rack? There thousands of spice racks out there. Choose the spice rack that fits your needs and the space. Be sure to measure your space height x width x length. Here is one of my favorite spice racks, but again, it may not be right for you. Decide how you want to function with your spices. Do you want to organize them by frequency of use or alphabetical. Everyone functions differently so again, do what works for you and your family. Refresh your food pantry. You'll see me write this throughout - if you're getting organized, you must empty the entire area. You won't be able to see what you have and by shifting items around, you won't be able to maximize your space. Throw away expired items, categorize what you're keeping. Give your empty pantry a nice cleaning and then if you'd like, you can line the shelves with shelf liner. My favorite shelf liner is Duck Brand Smooth Top Easy Liner. In every kitchen I organize, my clients will throw away 3-4 trash bags of expired food! As you know, food prices are inflated and if you have an organized food pantry, you'll find that you can see everything and you'll have an easier time making your food shopping list and you'll never have to throw away expired food again, wasting money. If you need to purchase storage containers, choose ones that are transparent so you are able to see everything you're storing. Keep in mind, you don't need to contain everything. To avoid getting bugs, be sure to put any open food, baking goods, cereals, pastas in seal tight containers. I love OXO Containers Refresh Your Refrigerator and Freezer. What's hiding in the depths of your refrigerator and freeze? When was the last time you emptied everything out of this space? Most will say when then moved into their home. Follow the same process above to declutter and get organized. Be sure to have that garbage bag handy! Streamline Your Cooking Utensils and Tools. If you cook often, you know that you want to be as efficient and productive as you can in your kitchen. Take everything out of the drawers in your kitchen and also incorporate into this process the bin of utensils you store next to the stove. Categorize all of the utensils and get rid of anything that is worn or broken. Now that the drawers are empty you can see what you have and you can create a vision of how you want to function. Stand at the stove and look at the drawers to the right and left and look at your utensils - think about functionality and how you'd like to grab those items when you're cooking. Here is a video of my favorite drawer organizers Get excited to feel the energy shift in the kitchen once you've tackled the spaces above. You'll feel lighter, have more energy, save money and be more efficient and productive in your kitchen! Kristin MacRae is an Award-Winning Organizing and Efficiency Expert. She founded her business in 2012 in Rhode Island. She is a full-time resident of Bonita Springs and works with clients in their homes and businesses helping them get organized, saving them time, money, decreasing their stress levels and helping them live a more efficient and productive life. She is also a speaker, author of “Living an Organized Energized Life!” and is also a columnist for the Coastal Breeze News. For more information, www.kristinmacrae.com Check out my YouTube channel for more fun tips! The file folder hack that keeps your linen closet closet organized and more brilliant tips
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