In this episode, we tackle the stress that comes with the holiday season and explore proactive strategies to manage overwhelm. Instead of waiting for the inevitable meltdown, we’ll discuss how to build a plan that simplifies your responsibilities while ensuring your home stays functional and festive. From revisiting your personal holiday values to crafting a Minimum Upkeep Plan (MUP), you’ll walk away with practical tools to navigate the season with more joy and less chaos.

If you have the Holiday Headstart Playbook, grab it now to follow along. Don’t have it yet? Download it here.

Highlights from the episode:

[01:00] - Tradition Spotlight on Grinch Dinner

[09:43] - What a Minimum Upkeep Plan (MUP) is and why it’s essential during December

[13:54] - Cleaning styles: Beat-the-Buzzer, One-and-Done, and Bespoke Cleaning 

[14:57] - Tools and pages in the Holiday Headstart Playbook to streamline your routines

[16:31] - This week’s Get A Headstart Tip for planning for Winter Break

[17:37] - What’s on our to-do lists this week

[18:49] - Our Nice Lists

Resources:

• Muslim man celebrates first Christmas
• Grinch Playlist
• Book Club Hotel
• MDesign Shower Caddy
• Grab The Holiday Headstart Playbook
• Take the Holiday Profile quiz
• Follow on Instagram @theholidayheadstart 
• Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts! 

If you enjoyed this episode, you'll love these too:

• Episode 4 - How to Craft Your Holiday Values For A More Meaningful Christmas Season
• Episode 7 - Unlock the Power of the 3 Cs: Your Ultimate Guide to Holiday Planning

Show Notes: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/hh-podcast/holiday-housekeeping-december-upkeep-plan/

Hey there, friends. Welcome back to the Holiday

Headstart Podcast. Today, we are talking about how to manage real

life in the middle of holiday life, and sharing a get ahead

tip for handling winter break.

Traditions are an important tool in building a

healthy, happy, connected life. This week, we're sharing one of

our favorite December traditions, our Grinch dinner.

So Heidi, tell us about the Grinch dinner, especially

because this was all your idea and you do all the work, so...

Yes, well, I basically started hosting this because I

wanted us to have a fun activity to do mid-December. But I

wouldn't say that we're like super Grinch fans.

No, that's the funny thing. There's like Dr. Seuss

people. That's not us.

No, but I really just picked it because it was low

hanging fruit. There's so much Grinch stuff available.

So much Grinch stuff!

It was just easy. It was just easy to plan a fun night

without having to make it too exhausting to come up with

stuff. So we keep the meal really kid friendly, we do

breakfast for dinner, because who doesn't like breakfast for

dinner, and also because I can make most of it in advance. If

you recall all of my woes over my Grinch pancakes.

But they're done now! Good job.

We're all ready to go. And then we do just bacon, make

a green punch, and then those Grinch fruit picks, maybe you've

seen that are like a green grape, a slice of banana, a

strawberry, and then a little marshmallow on top. So it kind

of looks like a Grinch head and a Christmas hat. And now that

the kids are old enough, they can, like, help assemble all of

that. So that's really nice.

They're more interested in the assembling of them than

the eating of them.

Baby steps, I guess we'll take what we can get. And then I

get a Grinch themed craft kit from Oriental Trading to kind of

fill the time when we finish preparing. Because, you know,

kids that are waiting around are kids that are causing problems.

We set the table with a lime green tablecloth, and I got a

bunch of cute Grinch dishes, which may or may not have been

the impetus for having this meal in the first place. And then

after we eat, we play Grinch bingo, and we use those Hershey

Kisses that are grinchy as markers. And then we just watch

the old Grinch cartoon, because that's the shortest option. And

then we're done!

And that's the true and original version of the Grinch.

Like, any other version is meh.

That's so, so true.

I saw somebody do a poll on their stories the day, the

other day, asking, like, what the best version of the Grinch

was. And I can't believe how many people said the newest

cartoon, the Benedict Cumberbatch version? Like, it's

fine, but no, the original version is the only true

version.

It is so true. I didn't, yes, we have deep feelings about

this.

Yes.

So it's fun, it's short. That's what you want on a crazy

December night, and when we got a fun Grinch Operation Game. So

we'll have to add that in this year.

We'll see how it goes.

And then I made a Grinch playlist that I'm very proud of.

So we can play that while we prepare and eat and play our

games. It's really fun. I will put a link to the playlist in

the show notes, if you also need a Grinch themed playlist. It's

not just straight Grinch music, although I did incorporate, here

we go, songs from every Grinch version of the movie and the

musical. So there's at least one song from each of those.

Everybody's represented here.

Yes. And then, if you listen, it kind of follows the

plot of like starting with the Who's and the more fun music,

and it gets a little darker and weirder, and then the happy

resolution at the end. I put a lot of thought into it.

Heidi is serious about her playlists.

I am. Nobody would notice or care, but it makes me really

happy.

We'd love to hear about your favorite traditions. Come

join us on Instagram @theholidayheadstart.

Hey, look at us. We've made it to December. I'd say we're on

the downhill slide, but as you know, we've still got a lot of

hill to climb ahead of us.

This time of year, I always think of a story that

went viral in 2020 and it just cracked me up. So three young

adult roommates in Canada weren't traveling home, so they

decided to have their own Christmas celebration. Two of

the roommates had grown up with Christmas, but everything was

new to their third roommate, Mohammed, and so he tweeted,

"Growing up my Muslim family never celebrated Christmas. This

year, with the ongoing pandemic, I had to make the tough decision

not to go home for the holidays, because it simply isn't safe.

The silver lining is that my roommates are teaching me how to

have my first proper Christmas. I am approaching this with

anthropological precision, and I would like to share my

observations. Observation one, Christmas is a part time job

that you have from mid November to the end of December. It is an

entire production."

It's true.

"From the outside looking in. Christmas always seemed

pretty simple. I always thought you put up a tree and then gave

gifts to family. This is a lie. Do you want to sleep in on a

Saturday? Too bad. Go put up some lights inside the house.

Oh, you want to sleep in on a Sunday? Too bad. Go put up some

lights outside the house. Next weekend? Nope. Every free moment

you have will be spent agonizing over the gifts you must buy."

And then he goes on to share nine more insightful

observations about the quirks of planning for Christmas. I

especially like his breakdown of keeper ornaments versus filler

ornaments. And he gets his first ornament and won't spoil what it

is. It's very fun. There's a link to the full list in the

show notes if you want a sweet, funny read.

I love it. Well, all of that is to say, welcome to your

part time job that you didn't apply for. You're seasonal help,

it turns out.

And some of us might even be putting in full time hours

this time of year.

Which leads to the question, how do you get it all

done?

And the answer, of course, is...you can't. Holiday

life on top of regular life is too much. You would have to defy

the laws of physics to get it all done.

So if you can't, or don't want to, defy the laws of

physics, but you'd still like to have some time and energy left

to enjoy the holidays you've been working so hard for, you're

going to have to drop some things from your list.

If you're like me, what typically happens is that I

reach a point where the overwhelm is running the show,

and I just throw up my hands and drop everything that isn't

absolutely essential and maybe a few things that are, because I

just figure it's easier to deal with a down-the-road-fallout

than an in-the-moment-meltdown.

Sometimes that is all you can do. But since we know this

moment is coming, what if we address it proactively, instead

of having a big reaction in a stressful moment?

And that is what we're going to talk about today. To

start with, let's revisit our red noses, or the personal

foundations that we are using to guide us forward.

If you have the Holiday Headstart Playbook, take a few

minutes to look over those pages. What are your holiday

values? What is your purpose statement. And if you don't have

the Holiday Headstart Playbook, make sure to grab it from the

link in the show notes.

If you wrote some permission slips for yourself,

you might want to read over those as well. One of my

permission slips that I come back to a lot as things around

the holidays get hectic is my permission slip number six (out

of 12): It is not about getting everything done perfectly. I do

what I can and release any guilt over not achieving my ideals or

Yeah, there are no prizes for completing everything on our

completing every task.

list, so it's not worth it to wear ourselves out trying to get

it all done. In Section 10 of the playbook, which is full of

all the To Do lists, there's also a Let It Go list. This is

your To Don't list. What just isn't worth your time and energy

right now? Let loose your inner Elsa and just let it go.

The first column in this list is for you to write down

everything that you are letting go of, and then the second

column is to record what you are gaining by not doing that task.

If the benefits of skipping something outweigh the

benefits of doing it, it's definitely not something you

should put any effort into.

This is true for things like dusting the bathroom light

fixtures or having a family camp out under the Christmas tree, as

well as comparing my holiday decorations to my cousins.

Some things like comparison, we want to let go of

forever. Some things, like maybe a family living room camp out,

we might just want to let go of for this year, but some things

like those dusty bathroom lights, may just need a little

pause, like a leave of absence.

So let's talk about how we can figure out which of our

tasks get a holiday leave of absence and which ones are

actually essential. Real life doesn't stop just because there

are gifts to wrap, so let's be strategic about what we are

committing to.

In section nine of the Holiday Headstart Playbook,

there are a whole bunch of pages for drafting your minimum upkeep

plan.

I like to call this a MUP.

Oh, yeah. I mean, why not?

I picture, okay, this is a deep cut, but I picture Carol

Burnett's Char Woman character, if you're old enough to know

what I'm even talking about.

I am old enough, but I'm not sure I do know what you're

talking about. I'm gonna have to Google.

You will! She's a cutie, but she seems like she could be

called MUP, and she's here to make sure all of your essential

responsibilities are managed so you have time for that part time

holiday-maker job you seem to have landed.

Your minimum upkeep plan is a list of the bare bones,

basic tasks needed to keep your house running, and a simple

system for getting those tasks done. In December, no one has

the time or energy to devote to a whole house, deep clean.

So our goal is to craft a plan to make sure the minimum

chores are covered. That way you can enjoy your holiday without

losing your mind over the mess or having to spend all of your

time cleaning.

The first thing we need to figure out is, what is your

definition of a clean home?

Just a word of warning. Don't get into a perfection

spiral on this. Consider if you walked into someone else's house

and thought, hey, this is clean, what would that be like? And now

just apply that same filter to your own house.

For me, it's the floors and bathrooms are grime free,

and most importantly, the clutter is put away. But you may

have a totally different standard.

The next question to figure out is, what level of

clean is feasible, given the realities of your life at this

time of year. Maybe you are able to do a whole house deep clean

before Christmas, or maybe a bathroom wipe down and a quick

vacuum are all you can manage.

As nice as it would be to have white glove level

cleanliness every day, for people with kids or pets or jobs

or health concerns or a general dislike of cleaning, that is

just not practical. So figure out what is manageable given

everything else that you're managing this month.

Next, let's take a look at your household upkeep tasks.

Mentally go room by room in your house and list what is needed in

each room to maintain that comfort level of clean.

Once you've written all the household tasks, we're going

to rank them as a one, two or three. One tasks are non

negotiable. They absolutely have to be done regularly. That's

your dishes, laundry, taking out the trash, pet care and anything

else to make your house livable are all non negotiable. Two

tasks are things that would ideally be done, but there

aren't huge negative consequences if you skip them

for a bit.

Think of these as tasks like dusting the living room.

Sure, it would be nice to have it done, but it most likely

won't ruin anyone's holiday if your TV is a little dusty.

And that brings us to our Three tasks. These are tasks

that are okay to skip for now. We're giving them a leave of

absence for the holidays. You can get away with not wiping

down the fridge shelves or vacuuming your lampshades for a

while.

There is a handy feature in the playbook that I am proud

of. If you are using the digital version and you add tasks to

your minimum upkeep plan, once you've numbered them, any tasks

that are numbered one automatically turn red, and this

is to help you be able to quickly identify which of your

tasks are most important

Once you've ranked all your tasks. The next question

is, how can you maintain your routines for laundry, dishes,

pets or other responsibilities that don't take a break for the

holidays?

To help with that, consider which tasks need to be

done in the evening to keep the household running, and which

tasks need to be done in the morning. So for example, maybe

you need to run the dishwasher before bed each night and then

unload it in the morning. Or maybe you need to pack the kids

lunches after dinner and start a load of laundry after breakfast.

Some of your One and Two tasks, your essential and ideal

tasks, have to be done daily, or almost every day. But a lot of

them are likely done once or twice a week. To make sure we're

managing those tasks as well, you'll likely need some

dedicated cleaning time during the week.

There are a lot of different cleaning schedules out

there, but the right one to use is whichever one works for you.

Also consider what works best for the people you live

with. You shouldn't be the only person managing the upkeep of a

home that you share with others.

Yeah, that's probably a whole other episode, though.

Maybe what works best in your house is to do a beat the buzzer

clean. You could start a timer every night for 15 minutes, and

then everyone cleans and tidies as much as they can in that

time. Or maybe a one and done clean works best for you, and

you have a set time to take care of all of the upkeep that needs

doing.

You could also be a bespoke cleaner and have a

custom cleaning schedule for each day. Or maybe you prefer to

go room by room and tackle a room at a time.

Or maybe you are a hybrid of those models, or maybe none

of them match your style at all. But however you choose to work

on your household tasks, it's a good idea to make sure that the

things that need to happen are actually happening.

look at that and get overwhelmed, because there's so

many. You just need the ones that fit your cleaning style. So

if you are a beat the buzzer cleaner or a one and done

cleaner, there's a sheet for you to list all of your One and Two

tasks so that you can make sure that you're taking care of

what's important. There's a page to list tasks by room if you are

room by room cleaner, and there's a week's worth of pages

to list tasks by day if you are a bespoke cleaner and want a

whole week routine.

But that's not all. There's also a list for each day

of the week that allows you to add the daily routine tasks like

dishes to the list, as well as any special tasks for that day.

And there's still more. There's a week at a glance page for each

week in December, if you need to have all your holiday tasks in

one place. And then there are four December weekend planners,

because, as you know, weekends in December are busy, busy,

busy. You've got to get the indoor and the outdoor lights

up. This way you can keep track of all the places you need to be

and things that need to get done during your weekends.

So as we are headed into this craziest of months, take a

few minutes to reflect on what a clean house means to you, list

the tasks needed to keep your household running, and make a

simple plan for how to get it all done.

And think how nice it would be to not have Clean the

House on your to do list right before 20 people are coming over

for your holiday party.

Do you have any tips for managing household tasks during

the holidays? We would absolutely love to hear them.

Please come share with us on Instagram @theholidayheadstart.

Now it's time for a Get a Headstart Tip. Each week we

leave you with a small actionable tip to help you get a

head start on your holiday plan. This week's Get a Headstart Tip

is, figure out how to handle winter break. Tell us more about

it, Heidi.

Well, if you've got school aged kids who have a

break in a few weeks...

I do!

This is for you! Well take a few minutes now to figure

out what you want to have happen during that break. In the

Holiday Headstart Playbook, there is a page for your school

break, and this is in the calendar and coordinating

section. This will help you figure out if you need to

arrange childcare, maybe any activities you want to plan

while the kids are home, and what meals and snacks you need

to consider. The goal isn't to turn you into a cruise director

making every minute of the break nonstop fun, but it's likely

that you also don't want kids to spend the next two weeks on

their devices. So this can be a way to help you proactively

decide what that break should look like.

Oh, I love that. I need to get on this part of my

planner that I haven't done yet.

Now it's time for what we're working on this week as a way to

keep ourselves accountable and give you some ideas of what you

can do in advance for your own celebrations, we're sharing what

we're working on this week. Heidi, what's on your to do

list?

I need to get my tree decorated. I hate the process,

but I love the result.

Well, and your tree is gorgeous, but it has a lot of

layers of beautiful ornaments, so it's a lot of work.

I do, I'm my own worst enemy, but I love it so much

when it's done. It's just the doing that's so tedious. Okay,

Emily, what's on your to do list?

Well, I also need to get my tree decorated. It is up, but

it is not decorated because I hate the decorating part. So

that is, for sure, my big task for this week, and I'm also

trying to sort out some of the non Christmas Day gifts that I

need to do, like for Sinterklaas, which is coming up

for us soon, and the book flood lunch that we do. I'm just

trying to make sure I've got all of those bases covered.

Yeah, we really do have a lot of non Christmas Day gifts

that we do in December.

Listen, this is our Super Bowl. We go hard in December,

okay?

Yep, yes, we do, yes, we do. Take no prisoners.

To wrap up the show, we are sharing our nice lists. Emily,

what made it on your nice list this week?

I'm putting the Book Club Hotel by Sara Morgan on my nice

list. I was looking for a new holiday rom com book to read,

and I started this one, and it turns out that is, that is not

what this is. This is not a rom com, but what it is, is a sweet

story about female friendships for a trio of old college

roommates who are now turning 40. And I was like, Oh, that's

funny, because I have a trio of college roommates that have just

turned 40 that I talk to every day. So it's a really fun read.

I probably wouldn't have set out to read this, but now that I

have read it, I was like, Oh, well, that was lovely, and it's

a nice, easy read for December.

I read two of Sara Morgan's last December, and I

just thought the same thing. They're very lovely. There's

romance in the book, but it's, but I wouldn't say that they're

romances. It's more about like, building connections and

relationships.

That's a good description.

I'll have to check this one out. I've loved the other

ones I've read of hers, so, good to know.

What's on your nice list, Heidi?

Well, I am putting the M Design shower caddy on my nice list.

Oh!

I think calling this a shower caddy is generous,

because it's not that big. I don't know that you could fit

shampoo bottles in there, but I did not buy it as a shower

caddy. So that worked out. I bought it to use as my little

portable Christmas card station. It's got just a central divider

with a handle and then two storage kind of buckets on

either side. I was looking for something red for Christmas, but

the closest they had was pink. So I got the pink Caddy with a

rose gold handle.

Ooh.

If you have used M Design products before, you know that

they are really well made. And I picked that on purpose because I

wanted something that felt special, and it would also let

me kind of just pack it around the house as I worked on my

cards. So I put my cards and envelopes on one side, and then

I have stamps and pens and anything else on the other side.

I know really any container would work for this task, but it

genuinely makes me happy to have something so pretty for my

Christmas cards. So that's on my nice list, and I will put a link

to it in the show notes.

Sometimes just having a special tool makes a task so

much more fun. And I've been meaning to do this, so I'm gonna

have to grab one of these too.

Yes, do that. That's it for today's episode. Make your

minimum upkeep plan now, so taking care of your house during

the holidays doesn't detract you from your more important

activities. And don't forget, this week's Get a Headstart Tip

to figure out your winter break child care.

Thank you so much for joining us, and we hope to see

you here again next week. If you enjoyed this episode, it would

be so very helpful if you give us a five star rating and review

on Apple podcasts as a new podcast, we really need all of

the positive promo that we can get.