Juggle all the way

Careful planning can help you avoid any holiday panic

By Devin Rose
Tribune staff reporter

November 16, 2003

CHRISTMAS WILL BE HERE BEFORE YOU KNOW IT!!!

Enough with the panic. Sit back, inhale deeply and let someone with a gift for planning take you by the hand.

Q put out the call to professional organizers, and Debby Brauer of Orderly Conduct in Palatine got back to us in a flash. Clearly, she's a woman who knows how to get things done. Try her tips now and you could have most of your Christmas chores done before Thanksgiving--or at least have enough done to chill and enjoy the season:

Break it down. "If you think, 'I have 10 million things to do,' it's overwhelming," Brauer said. "Instead, break your planning into four or five manageable categories."

The way she sees it, "there's the greeting category, which is sending cards and photos. Then there's baking and cooking; decorating; and gifts."

Once you have your categories, start putting dates on the calendar. "You could say, 'On Sunday afternoon from 1 to 3, I'm going to shop,' or 'On Thursday evening from 7 to 8, I'm going to send out cards,' " Brauer said.

Keep a master contact list on your computer. Brauer uses a shareware program that lets her keep holiday, birthday party and barbecue lists and generates address labels for them. "I print out clear labels for the holidays, because it's prettier," she said.

Know when to cross someone off a list. It's not a matter of naughty or nice but practicality. "I cut off anyone I haven't communicated with for two years," Brauer said, and she still sends out 100 personal cards.

Lower your standards! "If you're not Martha Stewart, don't try to be her at this time of year," Brauer said. "You're not going to have any fun at your own party if you think you have to decorate in a whole new scheme every year."

Those lovely lowered standards also mean you can get other family members to pitch in. "Why not have all of you bake or decorate together?" Brauer suggested. "Put on some music and work on it together."

Keep a notebook. There's something low-tech and comforting about this, and Brauer has had the same notebook for years. "I keep track of gifts I've given each year as well as menus and party-guest lists." She also writes down cool stuff she sees throughout the year that she might want to buy later. "I keep in mind what hobbies or interests people have; then I can put together a gift basket and put in a bunch of things related to that theme."

With mail-order catalogs rolling in, let go before you're drowning in paper. "Rip out just the pages that include something you want to order and staple them to the order form for that catalog," Brauer said. "Recycle the rest of the catalog."

Order online. "I'm not keen on crowds, which is also why I shop throughout the year," Brauer said. "With online shopping, I'm so willing to pay $5 or $10 extra to have something come to my door. And I can order at 2 a.m. in my pj's."

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If you're still not ready to go it alone, try the Web site of the National Association of Professional Organizers, www.napo.net, for a list of area professionals.

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