12 Weeks of Christmas {Week 12}

It's down to the LAST week!

I am so excited, our kids will be home!

 

I am pretty much done with everything! Couple things to grab when we are out, but nothing I have to have. Going to decorate cookies with the kids and enjoy the time they are home!

Soaking in this time with my little muffins

Hope your week before Christmas is stress free and full of fun 

Continue Reading ...

12 Weeks of Christmas {Week 11}

In the 11th week of planning, and this week is the LAST week before our kids will be home from school!!!!

Sooo for me that means a whole lot of wrapping. I don't want to attempt it while they are home.

I have a big list for this week because I don't want anything but FUN next week when the kids are home!

~Deep Clean 

Especially if you are having guests. I use my Fall Cleaning list as a guide.

~Finish Food Prep

Freeze what you can, mix your dry ingredients for other stuff.

~Finish Gifts for Hosts and Teachers

~Mail Cards

If you haven't already

~Wrap Up Decorating

I got a good start but I have been watching for sale items so it's pretty bare here still!

Hope you are all enjoying the season and leaving the stress part out of it!

Continue Reading ...

12 Weeks of Christmas {Week 10}

That 10 up there means that after this week, Christmas will be here in 2 short weeks!

What is left on your Have to do list?

Want to do list?

This weekend we are getting our tree and have a movie night planned. 

While the kids are at school I am going to prep Christmas treats, and make Christmas cookies that are easy to freeze. Finding a time to make, cool and decorate in 1 day becomes increasingly harder as we get closer.  I will have them all ready to decorate for the kids. Makes it a little easier on me too, cleaning up the baking 1 day, and the decorating mess another.

If you have been watching the sales like I talked about in week 3 then you probably have a good portion, if not all of the things you need to prep Christmas goodies!

What is your must have Christmas treat?

I am also going to say Decorate this week too! Decorating for me isn't a 1 day thing. Especially in our new place. I feel like all our stuff from our old house just isn't right in this one. I am slowly getting stuff out and set where I like it.

I have a few things I have made for our new place. I feel like I share those more on Instagram though! Find me @OregonHousewife

Warning though, I have been posting a whole lot of chicken pictures lately hehe

Continue Reading ...

12 Weeks of Christmas {Week 9}

Since yesterday was Thanksgiving, I am just going to go with the obvious for this week! Take advantage of all those sales and see if you an get the majority of your shopping done!

Some ways we do it to save money?

Amazon Prime! Cyber Monday will be full of awesome deals, the fast free shipping means I don't have to leave home!

Ebates! If I am shopping online, I want to get the cash back too!

Black Friday (today) typically has some great deals, and it appears that all weekend will have sales on some stuff, according to the 200+ emails I have had in the last few days anyway!

Continue Reading ...

12 Weeks of Christmas {Week 8}

Thanksgiving is NEXT week?! How that happened so fast, I don't know.

This week is a whole lot of Thanksgiving prep for me. Chances are it is for you too, 

some things to do while you are taking care of Thanksgiving business.

~At The Grocery Store

 Buy what is on sale for Christmas too! Think cookies, and treats!

~Big Box Stores

Get your wrapping paper now if you prefer a certain look over getting $1 off a roll. As soon as Thanksgiving is over the good ones go fast!

~At Home

Double batch those pie crusts, cookies and anything else you can freeze for the next month!

Compare your gift list to the Black Friday/Cyber Monday ads. They are pretty much all online, and a lot of the deals are available online, so no going out with the crazies (like me) required!

If you are having guests for the holidays, add deep cleaning/guest prep days to your calendar, the days can get away SO fast.

Continue Reading ...

12 Weeks of Christmas {Week 7}

November is speeding right along!

How are you doing with your prepping? 

I've just been focusing on the important FUN stuff and trying to let the things that make it stressful take a backseat, but dealing with them early has really helped! A PEACEFUL holiday season is what we are going for.

Just a quick recap of what I have been working on.

~Plan, calendar filling in
~Budgeting
~Meal Planning
~Christmas Card Prep
~Hostess/Teacher Gift ideas
~Craft Supply Planning/Shopping


And that all leads us to this week! Next week will be full of Thanksgiving Prep for most of us, so this week is the perfect week to catch up.

Order Christmas cards
Wrap any gifts you have already
 Work on crafts!

Continue Reading ...

12 Weeks of Christmas {Week 6}

If you are a mama that makes gifts, this week is for you!  If you have supplies to get for pajamas, or blankets, or sewing projects, don't wait.  Those stores get INSANE the days before Thanksgiving and everyday after.

Watch for those coupons and get first pick on the fleece before the crazy hour long lines for fabric cutting start!  

Not doing any DIY, or sewing projects? 

If you are as nutty as I am, now is the time to check out the wrapping paper and supplies!

I am a big fan of coordinating paper, no haphazard wrapping here.

If you are particular, now is the time to scoop it up before the good ones are gone!

Last year (and this year) we did buffalo check, wood grain and brown craft paper.

 source

Continue Reading ...

12 Weeks of Christmas {Week 4}

Last week I tried to decide what recipes I would be attempting, and I have my list of ingredients to watch for in the ads! I only did Thanksgiving for now, once we get set with that I will do Christmas too!

This week is an easy (ish) week, I don't want to add too much to our plate while we are wrapping up Halloween prep and a few sports seasons.

I'm prepping for Christmas Cards and all that goes with it!

Just a few easy steps!

1~Email, Call, text your friends and family to see if they have had an address change since last year.

2~Schedule a photo shoot if that is your thing, or plan a day to do them yourself. The sooner the better. You don't want to run out of time to mail them.

3~Plan outfits for photos. Pinterest is full of great ideas for coordinating!

4~Start addressing labels, even if you just stick to return addresses, that is a big chunk out of the way!
Keep a package of envelopes and pen in your car, have 5 minutes to spare, get some done!

5~Decide on the cards you want to order so all you have to do is add your picture!

Nothing too time consuming or really difficult, just tedious and a lot of time.
Check out these super printables and adorable take home stickers too!!

Click to Download, from Yellow Bliss Road. SO cute! Get the kids to help color them in :)

Continue Reading ...

12 Weeks of Christmas {Week 3}

Week 3 I am focusing on MEAL PLANNING AND RECIPES!

It might seem a little crazy to start that 2 months ahead of time, trust me, you don't want to be doing huge grocery trips when everyone else is, missing out on Elf! 

So start now, take a few minutes and save hours later!

1.  Write down, or pin or save on your phone, ALL the recipes you know you will use!

this is adorable!

2. Break down those recipes so you know how much butter, flour, seasoning, chicken stock, etc. That you need.

3. Check the ads and sales flyers for the place you are going anyway.  When something on your list is on SALE, get it now!  

4.  I keep a brown bag in the bottom of our pantry for non perishable items I need for the Holidays, that way they don't get used.

5.  As you get a collection of stuff going it can be easy to lose track of what you need for which recipe. If you have the space, try something like this! Even on a smaller scale would be helpful.

If they are small, you can rubber band them together, or separate into smaller bags.

You will have 8 weeks to prep before the insane crowds for Christmas and 5 weeks for Thanksgiving!

Let's not make grocery shopping something we are dreading!

 

Continue Reading ...

12 Weeks of Christmas {Week 2}

Alright, now that I have my list of things we want to do and things we will need to do all done I am moving on to week 2. I am keeping my lists of things to do on my phone, so much easier, no chance of losing it. I always have it, etc. 

 I also wrote some down though, things we need to decide on as a family.

Week 2 for me is about budgeting, and scheduling! Now that we have some ideas of what we want to do, we can narrow the budget down and start getting things on the schedule (flexible) before things get crazy!

There are a lot of methods to budgeting, or saving year round for Christmas.

$5 Method

Weekly Savings

Monthly Savings

Whichever way you do your budgeting, having it in place is kind of freeing and a great guideline to get started!

And if you are like me and don't like to cross stuff off in your planner, you can print off blank calendar pages and use them until things are more set in stone. We have to wait for basketball schedules, family parties we aren't hosting, etc.

 

Continue Reading ...