The holidays can be a hectic season, whether you and your family are traveling, hosting guests, or just trying to deal with all of the seasonal commotion. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed with seemingly never-ending task lists coupled with the feeling that your home just can’t get clean or organized enough. To keep your home in tip-top shape and gain some peace of mind, take a look at some top tips.

Choose Decorations Carefully

There’s no better way to make a house feel stuffy and cluttered than to over-fill it with holiday decorations. Don’t get us wrong – if you’re a lover of all things holidays, deck our house to full glory! But for those of us who may get a bit anxious of too many things, it’s a good idea to choose decorations wisely. Minimalist lights, trinkets, and hangings can help to keep your home feeling open and clear.

Prioritize Your Efforts

If you’re entertaining guests, it may be helpful to prioritize your cleaning and organization efforts. For example, you’ll benefit by paying more attention to trying to handle areas where you’ll be hosting guests, like living rooms and dining rooms. Making sure these spaces are always tidy and sharply decorated will help your home look nice to guests while relieving a bit of the urge you may have to clean everything inside and out.

Donate and De-Clutter

For those with kids, it’s easy for old toys and other items to quickly pile up over time. Do you have last year’s toys that your kids have already outgrown? Don’t leave them in your home to take up valuable space while their only purpose seems to be collecting dust. Try donating them to charity if they’re still in working order (it’s not surprising for some of them to be barely used!). On top of a tidier home, you’ll also be helping out families in need. That’s what we like to call a win-win.

Keep Track of Your Stock

Sometimes, we’ll feel like we could use a thing or two to spruce up the home. However, it’s easy to forget what we already have. Don’t do out buying the same decorations, dishware, and supplies as you already have. Before you go out shopping, conduct a thorough “inventory” of what you have versus what you need. This way, you won’t accidentally double-up on anything, which ends up as wasted space.