You have lots to do and not enough time, lots to buy and not enough money. Company’s coming, so there’s extra baking, extra shopping, extra cleaning. The kids have been watching TV and browsing the toy catalogs, so their wish list is as long as your arm. Your social calendar is crowded with parties, concerts and plays. It’s the “most wonderful time of the year,” and you can’t slow down enough to enjoy it.Nothing will alleviate all the stress involved in the holidays, but perhaps a few tips will lessen it a bit.
- Begin in November to use up what’s in the freezer, fridge and pantry. Put the saved grocery money into Christmas presents. You’re going to need the freezer space for the turkey and cookies anyway.
- Plan ahead. If you’re baking muffins for Sunday morning, use a holiday recipe. Double the recipe and make a loaf with the extra batter; wrap it in foil and freeze it. You can pull it out later and serve with breakfast to overnight guests or put a bow on it and give it to that neighbor you forgot to put on your gift list.
- Eliminate non-essential activities. If a group you meet with doesn’t suspend meetings for the holidays, excuse yourself from it for the weeks of December. Don’t make routine doctor or dentist appointments during these busy months. Definitely don’t start any big household projects in November or December. No one will notice you didn’t get your new shelf paper down.
- Redeem what would otherwise be wasted time. Carry a small notebook with you so if you’re sitting in the school gymnasium with a thousand other parents waiting for the curtain to go up, you can pull out your notebook and finish your shopping list or the menu plan for those days you’ll have company.
- Prioritize your activities. Talk it over with your family. If the only reason you go to that particular concert every year is because you have always done it and you find it gives no one joy, skip it. Use the evening to relax with the family, make cocoa and finish decorating the tree.
- Remember all those gift cards you were given last year? If they’re still lurking in your wallet, use them to buy Christmas gifts this year.
- Put all your unnecessary clutter and unfinished business in a box to sort in January. Pack away knick-knacks that aren’t seasonal. Your house will be easier to maintain and will look less crowded.
- Need a radical stress reducer? Consider postponing your own family’s Christmas celebration until New Year’s Day or later. It will allow you to focus on other activities in December and give you the added savings of after-Christmas sales.
- Use the Internet and telephone to shop for presents.
- Before you begin shopping, write the names of people you need to buy for, their sizes, special interests and any ideas for what you might want to buy on an index card and carry it in your purse or wallet. When you’re in a store to buy a gift, look at your card and see if you can fulfill someone else’s wish while you’re there.
