Why You Should Get Ready For Thanksgiving
You might think I am mad suggesting that you should start your preparations for Thanksgiving but by starting early, you will be better prepared and it can mean a less stressful time with more time to enjoy the festivities. I am not suggesting you must get everything ready, but by starting the preparation and the planning now, will put you in a better position as the festivities come closer. I am suggesting that with a little bit of planning you might actually get time for yourself in the run up to Thanksgiving and the day itself because you have pre-planned for all eventualities.
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Things To Do To Get Ready For Thanksgiving
To plan for any event you have to know what you are doing as there are different requirements depending on what you are doing. If you are hosting dinner then you are going to have more to do than if you are traveling to friends and family to celebrate.
The sooner you can make these arrangements the better, it gives you time to plan.
Planning is the key to a successful Thanksgiving, the more you are able to plan and act on these plans, the easy it will be to get ready for the big day. I don’t mean a couple of lines on the back of an envelope, but a detailed plan of where you will be, if you need to cook, who will be there, how much money you need, what clothes you will wear and if you need to purchase anything new.
The more detail you can put into the plan the easier it is to break these down into manageable chunks so you are ready for the day.
Related article: How To Organize Those Last-Minute Thanksgiving Items
Budget Planning For Thanksgiving
To prepare for anything, you must work out your budget, without this, there is little hope that you will know what you have and how much you will need for the event.
It is, therefore, important that you work out the money that you will need and plan a way to provide this money within your monthly budgets.
You will need to consider money for these categories:
- New clothes
- Food and drink
- Presents for hosts
- Traveling
- Cleaning your home and getting it ready for guests
- The extra expenses if you are having guests stay
- Any accommodation you need if you are going away
- Entertainment costs, if you are planning any outings over the time period
- Extra plates, glasses and cutlery you might need
- New decorations
The better you plan your budget, the more likely you will be able to put money aside for the different categories and not have to worry about where to get the money from when the time comes to start shopping.
Thanksgiving Shopping
I am not suggesting that you go out shopping just yet, but it is an ideal time to start a shopping list for all the things that you need. If you jot down any item that you think of before you go shopping and you have organized your budget, you can go through the list and see what you need and what you might need to delete, depending on your budget and what you actually need versus what you think you might need.
The more that you are able to plan, schedule in activities up to event, that way you are not rushing round trying to get everything done in one go.
If you are looking for a timeline of events that might help you plan then you should check out this list from Better Homes And Garden, I am not saying follow it precisely, but by using it as a guide it might help you set up your own timeline of events. I certainly wouldn’t lay the table two days in advance, I would worry about dust gathering, but by using this guide it can help you plan your own timeline of events that meets your needs.
Don’t leave shopping to the last-minute, it is better to plan shopping trips in advance, it allows you to make other plans if you fail to get everything that you need on the first trip.
Get Your House Ready For Thanksgiving
If you are hosting Thanksgiving then you will need to consider getting your house ready. You might need extra chairs or spare bedding; if you are planning to ask to borrow any items or you need guests to bring something, the sooner you ask to borrow an item or two, the easier it is to plan or to make other arrangements if necessary.
Plan your cleaning over a few days; you can tackle some of the organizing projects that you might need to do well in advance. However, the bulk of your cleaning will need to happen right before Thanksgiving, the same time that you will have so many other things to do.
The more you are able to plan and to do in advance will mean that it isn’t as hectic as it could be.
Therefore, the best advice for a stress-free Thanksgiving is to plan all the things that you need to do in advance, it will take the pressure off and it will allow you to enjoy the time too.
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