Weekend Home Projects for Cold Winter Days

It’s time to have some fun with indoor projects you have been putting off throughout the year. Here are some simple ideas to help you de-clutter, get organized and start your new year refreshed and ready for anything.

Clean up your digital life. The end of the year is a good time to edit digital photo files — you get to reminisce over the past year and create room on your hard drive for the year to come. Delete the fuzzy, out-of-focus and unflattering shots right away, then narrow your collection further by keeping only the best image when you come across a bunch of similar shots. Once that’s done, order yourself a book of your favorite snapshots from 2013.

While you’re at your computer, be sure to back up data using a cloud service or an external hard drive (or both) if you haven’t already done so. Collect all of your passwords in one secure place and clean up your virtual desktop.

Organize you winter wear. Rotate coats of the season. Do you have the tools you need to properly store your jackets and coats? Balancing five coats on a two coat hanging peg can be tricky, if not downright frustrating. Having the right hardware to store outerwear makes a big difference. Take stock of the storage options in your home. Do you need to purchase more hangers for the hall closet, finally fix a hanging rod, buy a coat rack or upgrade to more coat hooks?

Build a healthy pantry. Is one of your new year’s resolutions to eat more healthfully? If so, take this downtime as an opportunity to set the stage for healthier eating. Look at the raw ingredients you have and consider making some healthier swaps — whole wheat for white flour, quinoa or other grains for white rice, or maple or brown rice syrup for refined sugar. Make some healthy meal plans and shopping lists, and store them in your pantry where you can easily access them.

Make a scrapbook. Get creative and make a memory book using all the pictures you found in the clean up of your digital life. Use old ticket stubs, pictures, brochures, menus, programs. This is a fun project for the whole family on a cold and snowy day, and it gives you a chance to be creative and use those little treasures you don’t want to throw away.

Organize your greeting cards. Plan how you are going to display/organize all the cards of the season. Click here for some clever ways to be creative with your holiday card display.

The holidays and can be a hectic and often stressful time of the year. Being organized can help ease the stress and allow more time for joy and cheer