3 Keys Thursday: 3 Keys for Pre-Preparing

Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

Thanksgiving is a week away. If you're having guests, you've probably already started your preparations. If you're not, perhaps you're heaving a sigh of relief, not just because you don't have to cook, but also because your house isn't ready.

I'm definitely in the second category. We're traveling for Thanksgiving, but the arrival of the holiday has put me on notice that there are small, medium and large preparations ahead, and starting small now can help things feel more manageable later.

The small stuff: Tidy up. Without the pressure of company arriving, you have the luxury of using strategies like Give it Five! and tackling those hot spots and dumping grounds one at a time. Start now, and you can avoid binge cleaning the day before you put up the Christmas tree.

Medium measures: Lists. Detail-oriented? Start jotting down the things that need to be done now, later and in preparation for the holidays. Create one big list or a series of small ones, depending upon what best motivates you.

Large logistics: Create a holiday plan. Go global and lay out a plan for all the things you want to do this holiday season. From cleaning the halls to decking them, create your master plan for all things holiday-oriented.

I've set my sights on a few spots that have lost their luster -- or whose luster is buried beneath a pile of papers. Where will you start?