This has been a very busy month for me.  We moved house just before Christmas, so there’s a big test of my organizational skills. 

I’m happy to announce we are all in one piece and most things have found a new home in the new home. 

It’s always a great opportunity to let go of a good lot of junk as it’s uncovered in the packing and unpacking, and invariably some furniture needs changing. 

I worked my way through my change of address checklist, making a couple of phone calls each day.  There’s only so much waiting on the phone pressing 1 for this and 2 for that I can take in one hit.  I’d love to be able to say I multi task and do other things while I’m on hold, but I tend to need all my concentration to listen to the recorded messages over the sound of my little ones playing.

How are you feeling at the moment about your home?  Are you feeling prepared for extra visitors or does the thought of people dropping in stress you out? 

Here's an idea for a quick fix I call the Mother In Law method.  Just imagine your Mother In Law (or subsitute appropriate person, say Vogue Living coming over to do a photo feature) is on her way over and will be here in 20 minutes. 

Tidy up or do what needs doing quickly just for that amount of time. Repeat daily, or twice daily until you are ready for the actual Mother In Law.  If that doesn't work to motivate you, you could try inviting your actual Mother In Law over for real.

Being ready for visitors doesn't mean you need to repaint the house and have the garden landscaped.  Start with what really matters.

Read more: Expecting Visitors

You might be thinking of getting a head start on next Christmas by planning a January shopping trip during the sales.  I have a lot of my gifts this year already by doing this. 

This doesn't work with consumable gifts of course, and be careful of getting caught with something which your intended recipient may buy themselves during the year.  Also, it's can be very hard to wait a whole year. 

So choose carefully in the sales, and don't even step out the door without a well prepared list. 

Gift wrap, cards and decorations are good things to pick up, and if you can put some money aside for yourself and your family for clothing and household items to spend in the sales, that's great. 

If it's all going on credit though, you're better off doing without unless you can pay it off before it attracts any interest.  Don't be a credit card victim.