I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! It has been nice to unexpectedly have a couple of days to just relax and enjoy my family. We have had a few rather unplanned sick days for everyone here at Casa de TDC. But, I am chomping at the bit to de-holiday this place and tackle the excess once and for all. I am one of those neurotic organizing freaks when I get my hands on a space and so I thought I would share a few of my post holiday backlash beating tools.

1 // $15 Indoor / Outdoor Shelving – Yep you heard me correctly… $15 folks and the max weight per shelf is 55 pounds which is almost the same (and in some cases better) as the max load for the much more expensive shelving units. The only drawback to these inexpensive variety is they aren’t very deep, in which case a second unit to attach to the first will fix that problem right up. Wouldn’t these look fabulous in brass?

2 // Baskets – Goodlooking oversized baskets, like this one, this one and this one, in a variety of patterns and shapes is one of my absolute favorite clutter busters. This is especially true where toys are concerned… and pillows, I seem to be drowning in both at any moment of the day and in particular after Santa has paid a visit to these kiddos.

3 // Vacuum + Steam Mop Combo – With virtually an entire first floor filled with ceramic tile, kids and dogs, and nothing short of a revolving door during the holidays (and most of the time) the amount of debris and subsequent cleanup is constant. This is a a major time saver.

4 // Ziploc Bags + Space Bags – From freezer bags to suction powered space bags, these convenient items save me a ton of space and are my easy solution for storing away bedding, seasonal clothing, ornaments, garlands, and other holiday ephemera once the holidays and winter months are behind us. The large ornament boxes would work well for those special breakable decorations, but with kids and dogs I have none of that. All of my shatterproof, snowflake and paper ornaments get divided up by type and put into Ziploc bags and then placed in plastic bins till the next time I am ready to decorate the tree.

5 // Plastic Bins with Latch – Perfect for storing your holiday decor (all those organized bags of ornaments we talked about) and still letting you see what is inside so that next year you don’t have to open every bin to find what you need. The latch mechanism on these seems to be essential for long term use and helps for those of you who like to overfill (like me). The long low bins are perfect for storing giftwrap you don’t use year round and if you are clever with your packing, will typically house gift bags, boxes and ribbon rolls too.

6 // Upright Deep Cleaning Machine with Scotchguard Protector – I have mentioned the children, the dogs, and many holiday visitors in addition to a pretty decent amount of rain this year and so this is an absolute must. I can only keep up with the spot cleaning for so long before it is simply a much better use of my time to pull out the carpet cleaner. Because let’s be real, with the type of messes that happen with young boys and dogs, spot cleaning is relatively useless and frustrating. I am always so happy with how the carpeting looks after it’s professionally cleaned but regular cleanings by professionals are simply not cost effective so having a personal unit to clean with when I need to is critical for my sanity. With scotchguard protector it will last longer than 5 minutes before someone spills wine, tracks mud, or one of the dogs throws up. That makes me a much less frantic mom and one who isn’t cringing at every potential mess one million times a day.