How P&G is helping me prepare for the holidays #spon #choosesmart #cbias

Smart and Final has a great promotion happening in their stores right now.  If you buy 30 dollars worth of  P&G in their stores you will receive a 10 dollar coupon in which you can use on your next shopping trip!

For me, I use P&G products all the time.  Think Cascade, Downey, Tide, Dawn, Febreeze, Bounty and Charmin.  All big names, and all brands I trust when it comes to keeping my house clean.

Around my house, I have been in holiday mode since the beginning of November.  How do I prepare for the holidays?  It’s quite simple, and this method has WORKED tremendously in keeping my holidays stress free.

1) Holiday Shopping

Believe it or not my holiday shopping does not begin until Black Friday.  However, by the first full weekend in December my holiday shopping is usually done!  Yes, I said it, it’s done by the first weekend in December!

I spend that first weekend shopping for gifts online, then the first weekend in December I will head out to any stores ahead of time.  Before I even go out I have a general idea of what I want to get each person on my list.  It has simplified by my life by doing it this way.

2) Decorations

It was always my mother’s rule not to decorate for the holidays until after Thanksgiving.  This is one rule I have truly stuck too.  However, this YEAR was really hard because I was really into the season.  But, the TREE did not go up until Thanksgiving night.

It may be small, but it suites us for this holiday season.  We live in a small studio apartment so keeping it small is a GOOD thing.

3) Holiday Baking

I admit, I’ve gone nuts on baking this year.  The past few years I was kind of in a holiday funk, and didn’t do too much baking.  However, my passion for baking came back again this year, and I have kept at it.  The holiday baking has been happening a lot.  But, if you take one weekend day or week day night out of your calendar, and do your baking, it makes things easier for the rest of the month.

This is usually where I find my baking inspiration.  Just want to share some creations I’ve made this holiday season:

(Holiday Pretzels dipped in Chocolate, Gingerbread Cake, and Salted Nut Rolls!)

4) Wrapping

The wrapping of gifts is always a tough one.  I usually make a day of it to make sure it’s done all at once.  If I buy online I opt for the “gifting option” to save me a step in the wrapping process.

And I have found I love “gift bags” and pretty boxes to put my gifts in.  It just means putting the present in there, and voila, the wrapping is done.  Easy and Efficient is my motto!

5) Cleaning!

This is where P&G comes in to save me.  When I think of the holidays, I always like having a clean apartment.  It’s also good motivation for cleaning if you have friends and family coming over.

This year will be the first year out in California where we are not traveling.  It is our first Christmas together without the chaos of families around.  I’m really looking forward to it with my Significant Other.

But one of my Christmas wishes this year is to have a clean house on Christmas morning.

That means:

Doing the dishes… and this is why I’m thankful for this HUGE bottle of Dawn I found at Smart & Final

And also, that means taking care of this giant pile of laundry:

Tide has been my friend for years!!

Vacuuming the floors:

And Cleaning the bathroom.

6) The Christmas Meal

This year I have no idea what we’re going to make for Christmas.  Growing up it was always my mom’s tradition to make a big batch of spaghetti.  It was easy, and it was also one of the only things my brother and I would eat.

However, over the years I have become pretty partial to ham, and having that apart of the meal.

Usually I will go shopping a few days before to pick up all the ingredients then make the big meal on Christmas Day.  But, needless to say, the meal still isn’t planned out.

Just so everyone knows, Smart and Final has also a GREAT promotion happening right now where if you buy 2 baking ingredients from First Street, you will receive a coupon for a 13 dollar movie voucher to go see the movie Parental Guidance.  I saw a sneak peek of it this past week and it is ADORABLE.

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Smart and Final also has a pretty amazing circular with great articles, recipes, and featured promotions.

Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and Sears Style  #CBias #SocialFabric