Yay! It's December! My favourite month. It's my birthday month (Dec 21st) and of course Christmas is coming. I am really looking forward to a lot of great times with family and friends this month.
Before we look at December though, let's reflect back on November. Here's a quick recap of the month on the blog.
Most Read Post:
The most read post in November was How To Feel Less Overwhelmed This Christmas. December can be such an overwhelming month with all the special events, gatherings and activities. Not to mention buying and wrapping gifts, sending cards, decorating, and baking. Being organized can really help reduce your stress and allow you to enjoy yourself more. I'm really discovering this season how much of a difference it makes and I hope the posts I share on this subject will help you too!
Most Commented On Post:
This title goes to A Simpler Season & My First Giveaway! This may have been because leaving a comment earned you an entry in the giveaway :) But I loved hearing your ideas on how to have a simpler season! It was a slower month for comments than usual but I know people are very busy with all the holiday preparations. I didn't reply back to comments as consistently as I have in the past either so maybe that had something to do with it too. Please know I read and love each and every comment though!
My Favourite Post:
Organizing Ideas for the Weekend #5 was my favourite post this month. I know...it's not a very catchy title! That post was about purging and decluttering to make space for decorations and gifts this Christmas. I spent a lot of time in November doing this and I really feel less overwhelmed already.
Other Posts From This Month:
Here are the other posts from this month in case you missed any of them.
1. Reflecting Back on 31 Days and a Big Thank You :) I loved writing this post because I think it's so important to reflect back on things we accomplish and thank those who made it possible. If you haven't checked out some of the posts or want to go back and refresh your memory as you're working on projects in your home, there's a tab at the top of the page with links to all the posts.
2. Organizing Ideas for the Weekend #3 This tip was also about decluttering. Do you sense a theme here? :) This post was about actually getting rid of the things after you purge).
3. Blog Awards - I Feel So Special! Thanks again to each of the bloggers who nominated me for these awards. It means so much to know people appreciate the organizing tips and ideas I share on this blog!
4. Organizing Ideas for the Weekend #4 This was on organizing puzzles. If you have broken puzzle boxes or your pieces get mixed together, check out this post for some tips to help you organize them.
5. Baskets, baskets and more baskets! A post in my I Love Freecycle series. Stay tuned to see how I use these baskets and for more posts in the series :)
6. Organizing Ideas for the Weekend #6 Just realized that this was the first month that I posted an idea every Friday. I hope these posts help you get organized on the weekends! In this post I shared some creative advent calendar ideas to help you organize all your activities for the month of December.
Previous Months' Posts That Were Popular This Month:
1. Gifts In A Jar was once again popular this month. These jars are great for Christmas gifts and I'm glad people are finding my post to get ideas on how to make them. I will be updating the post with pictures of our Christmas jars after we make them so you can see some seasonal ideas too.
2. 31 Days of Organizing Tips: Day 24 (Craft Supplies) was popular in November. There are a lot of crafters out there and many find it overwhelming to keep their craft area organized. This post has some tips to help you be able to spend more of your time crafting instead of searching for things you need.
3. Tips For Organizing Seasonal Items had a lot of views in the last few weeks. If you haven't checked it out yet, this is the perfect time of year to do it!
Highlights This Month:
1. I was delighted to host my first giveaway this month! And I followed up with a second giveaway last week. It's so fun to be able to thank each of you for reading and supporting this blog by giving away something that will help you get organized. Thanks again to Life As Mom and The Blog Guidebook for graciously giving me these gifts to offer you! And congratulations to Maria and Linda on winning :)
2. This month we hit over 50,000 pageviews on the blog! The growth in the last two months has been so exciting to see. Again, I'll say that it's not all about numbers. But, it is really encouraging to know there are people like you out there who read what I write. And I love knowing that I'm helping you get organized :) Thank you so much!
3. In November I conducted 4 workshops on organizing at a single mom's group and I was able to share some of the ideas from the blog to help them feel less overwhelmed. The response was encouraging and I hope to do more of that in the future.
Goals From Last Month:
1. Pin all the ideas that were part of the 31 Days series. {I had planned to do this as the series progressed, but I only pinned some and but didn't keep up on all of them}. Sadly, I did not do this in November. I spent time de-cluttering my house in preparation for Christmas instead. I hope you understand.
2. Contact all the bloggers whose pictures and ideas I shared in the 31 Days series to let them know (in case they didn't see the posts) and to thank them for being part of this series. {Again, I had intended on doing this as I wrote the series but I didn't keep up on this either.} Nope on this one too. Same reason.
3. Catch up on writing posts about organizing projects I've done in my house. Well, I'm 0 for 3 so far. Decluttering took over and it feels good to have a less cluttered house right now so I'm not going to feel bad about not meeting these goals. Realistically though, I'll probably wait until the new year to catch up on posting some of my organizing projects because I'm enjoying posting about ways I'm organizing for Christmas and I plan to do more of that in December.
4. Continue to spend time getting to know new people on Pinterest, Facebook, and Google+. Yes! I LOVE this part of blogging! And will continue to do this on an ongoing basis. If you aren't following the blog on these social media sites, there are links on the right side bar to connect. I share more organizing ideas and tips on these sites and I try to keep the content different so feel free to
Goals For Next Month:
1. Pin all the ideas that were part of the 31 Days series.
2. Contact all the bloggers whose pictures and ideas I shared in the 31 Days series to let them know (in case they didn't see the posts) and to thank them for being part of this series.
3. Write posts to share what I'm doing to organize for Christmas to reduce that overwhelming feeling I often experience in December. I hope these posts will help you enjoy your Christmas more too :)
4. Continue to spend time getting to know new people on Pinterest, Facebook, and Google+.
So that's my look back on the month of November. I certainly didn't post as often as in October (I needed a bit of a break to catch my breath!) but I averaged 2 1/2 posts per week which is pretty good for me. I find I'm always torn between wanting to share with you the things I'm doing to get organized and actually getting things organized around here. It's a balance I still need to find :)
I'm really looking forward to all that December holds and sharing more tips to help you feel less overwhelmed this month! This week I'm also going to be helping a friend de-clutter and I'm very excited about being able to apply what I've been doing in my home to someone else's and to help her feel less overwhelmed and more organized.
Once again, I am so grateful that you have taken the time to join me on this journey from overwhelmed to organized!
Happy organizing!
