Start the New Year off with a new routine. You’ve been busy as a little beaver getting everything ready for the holidays and guests. Now it’s time for you to get everything ready for you and the year you want to have. Get the year off on the right track with this article.

January Home Improvement – Get Back on Track After the Holidays

As the holidays reach an end, you might find yourself letting out a giant sight of relief. The holidays are busy, the holidays are hectic, and the holidays are often a time when we neglect our homes in an attempt to concentrate on things like shopping, cooking, and keeping the liquor key cabinet away from Grandpa Sal. To put it simply, the holidays and home maintenance don’t mesh.

But, now that the holidays are over, January is a time many home owners find themselves picking up the pieces, and getting back on the home improvement track. To get started right, consider the following tips:

Take down those Christmas Lights: We know, we know: it’s only January. Usually you don’t take your Christmas lights down until the summer solstice nears, but this year, do it early. As nice as you may think your Christmas Lights look hanging from the eves of your roof in spring, take it from us – and your neighbors – an undecorated house is better. There is a time for holiday decorations, and months after the holidays have passed isn’t it.

Return the items you got for the holidays: Whenever you open a present and utter the words, “Oh, you shouldn’t have” you might be overwhelmed by kindness or you might be being literal: the holidays are filled with presents we love and presents we hate. Instead of keeping the ones you hate for a long period of time, eventually going to return them only to realize that it’s too late, return your items now. Not only will this free your house from the space they are taking up, but it will also give you a chance to get something you really want instead of something you’ll never use.

Take any lessons you learned from house guests: As the holidays wind up, you might find yourself a little bit happy to see your house guests head home. After all, in-laws, cousins, and grandchildren can all wreck havoc on your everyday life. While it might not be so hard to see them go, you can use their departure to apply what you learned to home improvement. Did your Aunt Sally continually complain about a leaky window in the guest room? If so, get it fixed.

Chip away: There’s no way around it: if you live in cold weather, you’re bound to find snow during the wintertime. Some of this snow stays for a short while, quickly melting before you can shovel, but other storms leave snow and ice stuck on your driveway for three or four months. This not only is inconvenient, but it’s also dangerous. If you are unfortunate to live on the shady side of the street, and find that your walkway is a lawsuit waiting to happen, get out a shovel and start chipping away. Laying down salt and sand can help the process.

Get a jump on Spring cleaning: You just survived the holidays; the last thing you want to think about is spring cleaning. This may be the case, but while you’re already in “clean-up” mode, why not just go all out and give your house a good scrubbing. Clean out the garage, fix up the basement, remove debris from window wells. Whatever your spring cleaning entails, starting now will leave you thanking yourself come April.

Jennifer Jordan is the senior editor for http://www.etodoors.com. Someone who changes her mind every five minutes, her house is in a perpetual state of home improvement.

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The holidays are coming – the holidays are coming! Yes, no amount of head-in-the-sand mentality is going to keep them at bay. You might as well suck it up and get ready for those pesky houseguests. Whether they be family or friends they bring with them stress. Which is the last thing you need more of around the holidays. That’s why early preparations are a must!

Read this article for some tips on helping with holiday guests.

Strategically Preparing For Holiday Houseguests

Whether it is family or friends that are visiting, it is important to make them feel at home and not like they are in your way. There are challenges and rewards to hosting a guest during what is the most strenuous time of the year. However, with a few early preparations, you can create an enjoyable guest experience as well as enjoy the holidays.

First of all, if you are not feeling ok, then before beginning any type of preparation, take care of yourself. You could be suffering from a back ache or migraine headaches that, if left unchecked, could wreak havoc on the entire holiday season. Holiday entertaining is serious business. One year, my back went out due to a stressful time at work, and it was no small picnic to get everything done in time.

The next thing to do is to thoroughly clean your house, especially the areas that get frequent traffic, such as the kitchen, bathroom, and living room; and of course, the guest bedroom. If the intended guest bedroom is in somewhat disarray and disrepair and cannot be remedied in time, then consider offering your bedroom to the guest while you stay in the other room. Sometimes simply decluttering a space makes a huge difference. It is about the guest feeling welcome, after all. It is also about keeping you sane. You do not want to spend a lot of time renovating a guest room that will not be used for another year.

While you are cleaning the house (and hopefully delegating some of the chores), get someone in your family to start hanging decorations on the exterior of the house. Although the outside patio will be too cold to hang out on, it might be a good idea to get any clutter out of the way in case your guest wants to indulge in a cigarette on the back porch. Creating an inviting guest experience is about not overlooking any details, however minor. Plus, with a porch (especially a covered one), you can store wine, beer and other items that are needed during the holidays. Food storage solutions are also a key factor.

At this time in the planning and preparation stages, draw up a list of non-perishable grocery and other entertaining supplies you will need and note some recipes you want to make. You will also be shopping for Thanksgiving at this time as well. There are many good sales during these holidays. Peruse the online store circulars and make your list detailed enough to show where else you can find a particular item should the item be out of stock in your usual store. Another alternative is to jot down a substitute for that item.

Once you have the necessary grocery items, start decorating as soon as you can. The day or the weekend after Thanksgiving would be optimal. Enlist the aid of family members. Do not go overboard if it makes you feel overwhelmed. A few smart holiday touches here and there, along with the Christmas tree, will make the statement. Take the opportunity to inexpensively put some understated holiday trimmings in the bathroom and guest’s bedroom. Little soaps and candles with holiday scents of cinnamon, clove and evergreen are classic accents. Placing a poinsettia plant or other winter flower in the guest’s bedroom will further add to the element of your holiday retreat for your guest.

Aside from a few other things to cross off on the list, the majority of the work is done. And hopefully, you have completed it by the first week in December!

Helpful resources to carry out the above steps can be found here. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Stefanie_Enza

By Glenda Sparling

It seems like even those of you who generally sleep well most nights can often experience occasional, transient insomnia during the holiday season. As we move into Thanksgiving and Christmas, there is all the stress, strain and tension surrounding getting it all done. Gifts to buy, extra food preparation, making that special dessert, having company, throwing a part, attending parties and that’s on top of all the regular activities of job and family responsibilities. All add up and can often wreak havoc with your circadian rhythms. We’re burdened with thinking it all needs to be perfect and you try to make it all happen. Your system gets overloaded with stress, not to mention extra food and beverages.

The following 10 tips are offered to help you maintain your sanity:
1. Normal Routine. Try to keep to your normal routine as much as possible. That means going to bed as close to your regular time and rising at around the same time each day. Of course, this will be challenging on party nights, but try to keep these to a minimum.

2. Plan Ahead. If you’ve got company coming, try to alleviate some of your ‘ last-minute stress’ by purchasing groceries, gifts or even doing advanced food preparation ahead of time. Get the gifts wrapped. That was always my job and mom loved it that it was one less thing she needed to do.

3. Regular Exercise. Exercise is one of the precursors to achieving good sleep. Besides, it’s just simply healthy for you. Try to maintain your regular routine. Hit the gym or at least get out for a walk. You mind will be refreshed and your body thankful, and you will sleep better.

4. Ask for Help. The holiday festivities don’t need to be your total responsibility. Ask family members to assist in the preparations. If you don’t ask, they may not know how stressed and burdened you feel. And, there is a very good chance they will be very receptive to pitching in to make this a joyous time for all. Enlist your family to clean and decorate the house, wrap the gifts and prepare the meals.

5. Reduce Caffeine. Keep your caffeine intake to a bare minimum or not at all. Caffeine can have a very long half-life, particularly in those who sleep lightly to begin with. Adding caffeine to increased stress levels is a sure-fire way to disrupt your sleep even more.

6. Watch your Alcohol Intake. Alcohol, even in small quantities, can induce a false sense of sleepiness. But falling into an alcohol-induced sleep state will be anything but satisfying. Your slumber will be restless and it is doubtful you will enter deep delta sleep, which is needed for that energized feeling the next day.

7. Water – Drink Lots. Dehydration can be your worst enemy, particularly if you are having more than your usual amount of alcohol. Make sure your body is well hydrated with at least 8 – 10 8-oz. cups per day. Water makes up 85% of your blood, 80% of your muscles, and 75% of your brain. Make sure you don’t dry out.

8. Be kind to Yourself. Before your shoulders end up bunched up into your ears, seeming never to get unstuck, reward yourself and take a break. Plan a relaxing massage, facial or manicure. A massage is great for you guys too.

9. Breathe Deeply. Diaphragmatic breathing is an excellent way to induce relaxation throughout your entire body. Test whether you are a chest or belly breather by putting one hand on your chest and one on your belly. Look down as you breathe (normally). Whichever hand rises first indicates your normal breathing pattern. Most people are ‘chest’ breathers by habit. Just for 5 minutes focus breathing letting your diaphragm rise first. Your breathing will be slow and deeper. Even 5 minutes of deep belly breathing will induce relaxation. Plus it simply relaxes you and feels good.

10. Talk to your Brain. After you’ve done some deep diaphragmatic breathing ( this really helps to relax you), then have a chat with your brain. Tell it you will sleep soundly tonight. Tell it you deserve a restful peaceful night.

The mind-body connection is really significant. Make use of this amazingly powerful tool.

Practice these behaviors and you will sleep soundly and have pleasant dreams of sugarplums and Christmas Kringle making everything just right and come visit http://thespiritofsleep.com for more useful information on sleep.

Author and Sleep Coach, Glenda Sparling, can help you address and overcome the challenges you face around sleep issues and insomnia. Glenda has authored the e-book, The Spirit of Sleep which offers effective natural tools, techniques and behaviors for eliminating sleep anxiety and insomnia. Read the book’s Introduction: The Spirit of Sleep – Introduction Additional information is offered at The Spirit of Sleep.

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