Content Summary : Welcome to How to Decorate Like a Pro, for Christmas! You will be learning how to decorate your home for the holidays with “Creativity, Not Cash!”TM Your course will include step by step instructions, photos, and printables to help you on your way to a Christmas Wonderland, on a budget. So join me in your first lesson, and thank you for joining The Budget Decorator on your creative journey! Lesson One: The first step in designing any room, whether it be for holiday decorating or any other purpose, is to get organized. Getting a plan together drastically reduces the amount of wasted money from unplanned and unnecessary purchases. Most of us have boxes marked Xmas Decorations, but that’s about as far as we go in our effort to keep track of all of our holiday trimmings. However, when the holiday sales come around, you would be surprised how little you will remember from last year. As a result, much money is wasted on buying items you don’t really need, that don’t fit into your scheme, or that you have already purchased! Don’t laugh, I can’t tell y o u h o w many times I have bought the “perfect” item in the early sales, only to find out I had already found that “perfect” item at last years clearance! Included with this course is a printable inventory sheet for your holiday storage boxes. I highly recommend before you decorate this year, print out and tape a copy of this inventory sheet to each box. You also may want to consider keeping a copy in your decorating notebook. When you unpack this year, and when you repack after the holiday, make sure you take a complete inventory of all you own, and write it in on the sheets. This will make a quick reference for you when you shop clearance sales, make projects, or make a wish list for next year. When you pack your boxes, you can either pack by room or by type of item in order to make decorating more of a joy and less of a chore. If each room in your house is a different theme, I would suggest boxing by room. Other wise putting ornaments together, mantel décor in one box, lights in another, will help speed your decorating, leaving time to make that batch of cookies to share with the neighbors! It will also make checking your inventory easier therefore saving you money…if you see lights on sale, you can check the lights box inventory sheet to see if you are in need, or if it would be wasted money spent. Also, it’s a good idea while you pack and unpack to maintain a clearance sale list…things you would like, or need more of, that you can get for 75% off just after Christmas.