Unearth Your Dining Room Table Before the Holidays!

The holidays, in the various ways that we celebrate them, are coming quickly.  If you have company coming, you are likely feeling the stress of preparing to host in your dining room.  This is great timing since the dining room is the next stop on our organizing house tour. 

Typically, the dining room is relatively easy to organize because it houses table cloths, placemats, dishes, silverware, and serving bowls that usually fit into cabinets within the room.  The problem spot is that large, inviting workspace known as the dining room table that beckons items from all around the house with a hypnotizing force.  On my dining room table now are Christmas gifts to be wrapped, wrapping paper, my son’s homework, my purse and sunglass holder, Legos, papers to be sorted and books.  Confessions of a professional organizer?

There are three simple steps to finding your dining room table before the holidays. First, remove any items that do not belong there. Get a large tote bag and a small helper who owns part of the mess, load the bag up with items like the ones I mentioned above, and take them to the holiday-presents-to-be-wrapped closet, the school backpack, the bedroom, the playroom and the office.  Second, remove items from the cabinets to take stock of what is there.  You can polish and clean what you need for the holidays and evaluate whether you would like to keep all that is stored.  Ugly serving bowl that you have not used?  Wrap it up and donate it this week to get it out of the house.  Burned down candle stubs and ripped tablecloths can to be thrown out or you can recycle fabric in Bethlehem at the Theis Cornfeld Recycling Center on Ilicks Mill Road:   http://www.bethlehem-pa.gov/recycle/services/theis_cornfeld.htm.  Anything else that you do not love or use?  Pack it up.

The third and final step is to commit to getting the donated items out of the house this week.  The Salvation Army in Quakertown is wonderful.  You simply drive to the back of the building, drop your bags into the labeled bins for clothing, shoes and household items, and return to your less-cluttered home! 

You should now have plenty of room on the table for a centerpiece, candles and even a great dinner!  Enjoy the holidays and your decluttered space!