Having an Organized and Stress Free Holiday Season

With the year and a half everyone has had, many are looking forward to spending time with their families this year. You can have a stress-free holiday by following a few simple tips. I have split the holiday into parts that usually cause the most stress. Shopping, cleaning, and guests, wrapping, baking, and decorating. 

Shopping is stressful for many because you have so much to buy, or you spend hours trying to buy the right gift. Shop early this year because many items, especially toys, will be low on stock. The biggest key to shopping is to have a list and any coupons you may use with you each time you shop. Make sure you have more than one choice for each person on your list just in case one of their choices is unavailable. This is especially important this year because many items will only arrive in stores once. Make sure you have sizes and even the store if it is a specialty item. 

The next key is to plan your shopping. You can still have a great shopping trip with friends. If you work 40 plus hours a week and must on the weekends, go early. Make sure you check store hours, but you should find many open additional hours during the month of December. 9:00 a.m. to noon is the best time to sop because the crowds are lighter. If you need to go in the evening, try 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Avoid Friday as this is a popular day to take off during December. 

Another tip is to give yourself permission to buy gift cards for some of your gift recipients. We sometimes feel guilty because it is so simple, and we feel it is impersonal. Relax and give yourself permission. 

Cleaning and guests are together because many times that is why you are cleaning. For overnight guests, plan to clean 2 days prior to their arrival. Again, schedule it like an appointment. Break your cleaning down into floors or sections. Clean the bedroom they will stay in a couple of days prior to their arrival. If they are taking over someone else's room, move that person to the room they will sleep in to keep the room clean. Clean the main living room and kitchen last since they are the rooms where families spend most of their time. 

Guests are stressful if you must work so let them help. Guests love to feel needed. Give them small errands to run or a few gifts to wrap. If you are lucky to have someone who likes to bake, let them bake some cookies or something you do not have time to do. Do not feel you must do everything. 

Plan your meals in advance to eliminate the stress of deciding on a meal each evening and day. If you have guests for an extended period, do not be afraid to plan an evening out. 

When do you wrap? Many of us wait until the last minute and it is so overwhelming. To make it easier and less stressful and wrap as you buy. Schedule an hour or two after each shopping trip. Watch a Christmas movie or listen to music to make it enjoyable. Involve the children in the wrapping. Grandparents love when the grandchildren wrap their presents. Use gift bags for odd shaped gifts and extra-large items. If you have the money, pay someone to wrap your presents. 

Baking is the next item to cover. If you make multiple types of cookies, you can schedule 2 or 3 days and do it all at once, but I have not found this to work into most schedules. Instead, start baking early in December with cookies you can freeze such as roll out cookies. They can be done in three steps if needed. One day could be for making the dough, the next rolling them out and cooking and then decorating them on the last day. Relieve the stress of trying to get it all done in one evening or afternoon. 

If you decorate inside and outside and have a tree, the decorating can seem overwhelming. How are you going to get it all done? It seems like it only takes one day to take everything down, but weeks to get it all up. To make it simple, break the decorating down. Put up your outside lights first and then the decorations. Break down the inside by rooms or floors. Break down the tree by lights first and then decorations another day.

Most of all, enjoy your holidays with family and friends this year and do not stress the little stuff.