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Holiday Organization: 8 Key Spaces To Organize Before The Holidays

Holiday Organization: 8 Key Spaces To Organize Before The Holidays

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Organize these 8 spaces in your home before the holidays for a stress-free season this year…


8 Spaces To Organize In Your Home Before The Holidays - SLAYathomemother.com

I shared in my last post that Chris and I are hosting Christmas this year for his family (my family lives out of state and can’t make it up here this year).

I’m super excited to host such a big holiday, but being a hostess kind of stresses me out.

Mostly because I’m a master planner of just about everything.

I like to be sure I’ve thought of everything to everyone has what they need and are comfortable in our home.

But this isn’t my first time hosting Christmas, or a big family holiday.

I’ve hosted holidays before, so I kind of know what to expect.

And being that I’ve hosted holidays before, I’ll also tell you that I’ve been pretty embarrassed before when family would come over and try to help cook or clean in the kitchen and go to open a drawer or cabinet door and see a huge mess before them.

I’m talking bowls, cups, and Tupperware raining down on their heads when they opened a cupboard.

The honest truth is that I wasn’t always tidy, clean, or organized.

My tidiness left a lot to be desired and it took me a very long time to develop habits that would help keep my house clean on a regular basis so I wasn’t always stuffing things in drawers and cupboards before guests arrived, praying they wouldn’t open them.

But, even if you aren’t the tidiest person around, there are a few areas in your home that guests frequent that you can focus your energy on this holiday season to get it ready (and avoid embarrassment).

Over the years, I’ve learned what areas to focus my energy on and will be sharing the areas to organize in your home so you can avoid the embarrassment I’ve endured in previous holiday hosting experiences ;).

Here are the eight places you need to deep clean and organize for the holidays before family and friends come over (with some neat vlogs for cleaning and organizational inspiration if you need it) for a beautiful home that’s ready for entertaining…

Holiday Organization – Key Places To Organize For Entertaining

EntryWay

Probably the first space guests and family will see when they arrive at your home is the entryway!

They’ll need to kick off their shoes, hang their coats, and probably need a place to rest their purses and diaper bags.

Clear out your entryway closet of extra coats, hoodies, shoes, bags, hats, and mittens to make room and free up some hangers for your guests’ belongings.

Also, if you live in a place with tons of snow (like we do here in Michigan), consider grabbing a special boot tray for guests to set their shoes in to help protect your floors, and invest in a mat both outside the front door and inside the door to help contain the snow/sludge/wetness from their boots and shoes.

Bathrooms

If there’s one space that’s going to be seeing a ton of action with a dozen (or more) people in your home, it’s your bathroom!

Take this time to organize your bathroom drawers, under the sink, the counters, and the shower.

Be sure to clean the vents in your bathrooms, faucets, mirrors, ceilings, walls, shower doors, as well as dust the top of the shower stalls.

If you need to purchase convenience items like cotton swabs, quality toilet paper, cotton balls, tissues, soap, hand towels, or floor mats, go ahead and stock up.

Linen Closet

Someone is bound to need an extra hand towel, toilet paper, or even a towel while staying in your home (especially if you have out-of-town guests that will be staying the night).

Be sure to organize your linen closet so that the towels are folded nicely and necessities can be easily grabbed when needed.

You May Also Like: 15 Super Fun Family Christmas Games To Entertain

Pantry

small pantry organization

My pantry used to be really embarrassing.

I’m pretty sure we had no system in place and kept things like laundry detergent and puppy pads alongside our cereal boxes and rice…

I refreshed our pantry space last year on a budget and now it’s gorgeous!

Check out that post HERE. 

When hosting a major holiday, you probably have tons of dishes you’ll be serving that require a number of different ingredients, or have guests bringing dishes that may need a sprinkle of this or a tablespoon of that.

Make sure that your pantry (or cabinet where you keep your pantry goods) is organized so guests and family can find what they need.

If you have enough time, you can even label your pantry containers and baskets with some printable labels to make them look extra organized ;).

Fridge

fridge organization

It’s no mystery that your guests are going to open your fridge a few dozen times while they’re there.

Whether they need to stash a bottle of wine they brought over, or a cute smiley face with giant eyes will want a juice box.

Take this time to organize your fridge before the holidays by removing everything, wiping down the walls and shelves, and organizing the items you’re storing.

In my fridge organization post, I labeled my fridge drawers and containers with clear sticker paper (you can download the labels HERE), and implemented containers that took up the depth of my fridge, which made storing food and drink items easier than ever because I was able to see everything and use up more of my fridge space.

Kitchen Cabinets

From your spices and your salt and pepper to your silverware and dishes, your kitchen cabinets are going to be seeing tons of action this holiday season.

Now’s the time to organize all of your cabinets, even the ones you don’t think people will open and look in.

Oh, and that kitchen junk drawer? Time to clear that out, too!

Under The Kitchen Sink

With so much traffic in your kitchen and ultimately your sink, your garbage disposal and sink drains will be seeing an influx of food and water.

You may even have an awesome relative or two that wants to help with dishes after everyone has eaten and takes it upon themselves to load your dishwasher for you!

Be sure that under your kitchen sink is decluttered and organized so guests can find your dishwasher pods/detergent or grab a cleaner and microfiber cloth to help wipe down counters with you!

Bedroom Closets

Don’t forget to declutter and organize your bedroom closets!

This is especially true for children’s closets, as kids mostly congregate in the room with the toys while in your home.

Organize toys, clothes, blankets, and hangers so everything is easily accessible and clean.

Also, if there are certain toys you’d rather the kids not pull out or get into (like the Nerf guns for the overly aggressive play shooter), pack those away months ahead of time ;).

This is also a great time to go through toys and clothing to donate and make room for holiday gifts.

But, master closets should also be organized as well in case guests accidentally wander into your bedroom and your husband leaves his closet door open on accident, revealing the huge mess you tried to cover up!


What are some spaces you try to organize in your home before guests come over for the holidays?

Let me know in the comments below, and be sure to pin this for later!

*Post originally published November 2019, last updated October 2021.

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