Stress-Free Holidays

Every year we make an effort to keep the holidays merry and stress-free. We make lists, shop early in the season, and promise ourselves that we won’t overspend. Then, somehow throughout the season, most of us find ourselves scrambling to get things done. Why, because as diligent as we are at making lists (and checking them twice), we never seem to stick to them. This year will be different. Here’s how:

Gifts and Budget
It’s always a good idea to set a spending limit for each person on your list before you begin brainstorming for the perfect gift. This will give you a starting point for gift ideas, and help you stay within your overall holiday budget. If you are having trouble making up your mind for a gift, try coming up with creative solutions, like putting together themed gift baskets or buying tickets to a favorite sporting event. If you have a large group of friends to buy for, find out if they would be interested in having a girls/guys night out in lieu of exchanging gifts. This way you get to have fun and spend time together without worrying about coming up with a separate gift for each friend. There are almost always creative ways to solve the gift-giving dilemma; it’s just a matter of deciding what solution will work best for you.

Holiday Cards
Holiday cards can take a lot of time to write. It’s true that most of the cards you send out probably go to friends and family you see fairly frequently and don’t require long messages. But what about the others? We all have friends we only contact during the holiday season, and in these cases a short message just won’t due. This is when writing holiday cards can become time consuming.

There is certainly nothing wrong with taking extra time to write long messages in your holiday cards, but if you find that it is taking more time than you can afford, keep the message short and make an effort to contact these friends after the holiday rush. This way you can save time during the holidays, but still keep in contact with the people you care about.

Holiday Cooking
Once you’ve decided on the dishes you plan to prepare for your holiday party, schedule a day to cook anything you can get away with cooking in advance of the event. Most pies, casseroles, soups and desserts freeze really well. By getting some of your meals made in advance you can free up valuable time the day of the event, which inevitably means less stress for the holiday season.

Schedule Make-Up Days
There are so many things going on during this time of year that something always seems to pop up and knock us off schedule. After years of frustration I realized that since things will inevitably come up, I should plan for them too. It sounds silly, but it works. When I’m creating my holiday schedule I make a point to schedule "make-up days" for myself. Whether it’s wrapping presents, writing holiday cards, or baking pies, whatever I haven’t finished becomes my first priority on my make-up day. And, even better, if I’m caught up by the time these days arrive I simply use the day to either get ahead or to take time for myself. Either way, whether I need them or not, I have these days available to do what I need in order to keep the season as stress-free as possible.

Don’t Over Schedule
It is easy for us to overbook our schedules at any time during the year; the holidays are no different. The problem is, if you’re stressed out from an overbooked schedule you’re probably not going to enjoy any of the events you have planned. So before the holiday season arrives, take a few minutes to decide how much time you feel you can reasonably commit per week to holiday festivities. Whether it’s one or two days per week, or none at all, if you have an idea of roughly how much time you have available you can take this into consideration when making plans.

Take Time Out
It’s easy to get caught up in the holiday rush and forget to take time out for us. In reality, however, if we don’t schedule time to regroup and put things back into perspective we can easily become counterproductive. So even though taking time out for yourself may make you feel like you’re not getting anything done, it will likely benefit you in the long run.

The holidays always seem to sneak up on us fast. We would love the opportunity to enjoy them, and this year we can. By planning ahead, we can come up with all kinds of cost and time saving ideas to keep this holiday season fun and stress-free.