28 Day Challenge: Get Your Home Ready for the Holidays
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Last year in late October, Jen and I started a 28-day challenge to help us all get our homes ready for the holidays. The idea behind this challenge was to bite-size the process of getting our homes guest-ready before the season officially arrived.
Well, we had so much fun with it last year, and were so happy to have all that stuff out of the way before the holidays began, that we thought it would be fun to do it again. Listed below are the daily challenges along with links to the original blog post. Please note that we rearranged some of the challenges so that we weren't doing things like putting away Halloween decorations before Halloween. ;) So if you click on a link the day numbers don't correspond, that's what's going on.
We also put together a printable with all of the challenges listed on it. You can print that out and do the challenges in any order that suits you. Just think, with a little bit of effort every day for the next 28 days, we can get our homes ready ahead of time and enjoy the holidays even more.
Download 28 Day Challenge Printable You will need Adobe Reader to open this file.
So what do you say—are you in this year? Let us know in the comments, and then, be sure to check back throughout the challenge to keep us posted on your progress! Good luck!
Day 1: Decide to Join and Collect Your Supplies
Day 2: Create a List of Trouble Spots
Day 3: Focus on Surface Decluttering for At Least 15 Minutes Today
Day 4: Dust Cobwebs and Clean Cold Air Returns
Day 5: Declutter Magazines and Catalogs
Day 6: Clean the Oven and Cook Top
Day 7: Wash Light Fixtures and Lampshades
Day 8: Clean Behind Your Stove and Refrigerator
Day 9: Clean and Organize Your Fridge and Freezer
Day 10: Clean the Trash Cans and Recycling Containers
Day 11: Declutter Your Food Storage Containers
Day 12: Declutter Your Halloween or Other Holiday Decorations
Day 14: Dust Clocks, Smoke Detectors and Carbon Monoxide Detectors
Day 15: Declutter Disposable Party Supply Goods
Day 16: Declutter the Guest Room
Day 19: Declutter the Family Room
Day 20: Declutter and Organize Board Games
Day 22: Set Up a Holiday Card Mini Zone
Day 24: Set Up a Quick-Clean Mini Zone in the Guest Bathroom
Day 25: Declutter Kids’ Spaces (or Your Own “Fun” Space)
Day 26: Declutter the Coat Closet
Day 28: Declutter and Organize Your Reusable Shopping Bags
Happy Organizing!
I am in!! This is exactly what I need....
Posted by: Catherine | October 23, 2012 at 02:38 PM
Not sure I'll be able to keep up but looking forward to the challenge.
Posted by: Damian | October 23, 2012 at 03:19 PM
Interesting Idea. All of them may not be applicable to me in my situation... but I'll be interested in following along and seeing how things go.
Posted by: Shanon | October 24, 2012 at 01:30 AM
Oh, I am ininin - last year, I couldn't complete all the tasks and this year will be similar, but it's a great motivation and there are good ideas!
Posted by: evi | October 24, 2012 at 06:59 AM
I'm in - didn't do it last year, but am hopeful this one ;)
Posted by: SuzieQ | October 24, 2012 at 08:45 PM
I'm in. One of things that I love about late October - early November is the optimism that this is the year that I will get everything done in time for the holidays; that is until the reality of mid December hits with a limited number of days left to get it all done. Part of the challenge is to keep the inspiration, or is that distraction of Pinterest in check.
Posted by: Nancy | October 24, 2012 at 10:33 PM
Loved this last year and will definitely be doing it again this year. :)
Posted by: Mrs.McB | October 25, 2012 at 02:31 PM
I'm in! I left this unfinished last year but now I'm ready to take this 'challenge' again. I think our home needs this.
Posted by: Leena | October 29, 2012 at 05:33 AM
I loved this last year...and in fact I used part of the list again for spring cleaning in April this year. I'm in...especially as I may decide not to do holiday101 due to busy life right now
Posted by: hannahk | October 29, 2012 at 09:46 AM
Great to have you all on board with this challenge! How is it going for everyone?
Posted by: Jennifer | November 02, 2012 at 01:19 PM