Tips to Simplify Your Holidays

Aside from the religious associations what is the goal of the holiday season?

Most people say it is about celebration, the spirit of giving and family and friends. With that in mind consider the following tips to help you reduce stress and enjoy your holidays more.

Finding More Time

• Send holiday postcards in lieu of regular cards that require more writing, postage and stuffing an envelope.
  
  
• Opt to NOT send holiday cards. Warn friends and family in advance that you are simplifying your life and not to expect holiday cards.
  
  
• Send your holiday greetings via E-mail or internet if you can. It saves addressing and stuffing envelopes, stamps and gets there quicker.
  
  
• Don't feel obligated to spend time with family and friends that really don't mean anything to you.
  
  
• Video record your favorite shows and view them at a more convenient time. Be sure to fast forward through the commercials. Some 1 hour shows can have almost 20 minutes of commercials!
  
  
• Hire someone to come in and clean up the previous day's effects on the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's etc. We use this time to spend time with family, going to movies, etc.
  
  
• Get a neighborhood teenager to help with housework, gift wrapping and other duties. They could probably use the money.
  
  
• Order your postage stamps though the mail.
  
  

Simplify Gift Giving

• Ask and get people what they really want. This not only helps them not have to return or figure out what to do with unwanted items but it also encourages them to do the same for you.
  
  
• Buy holiday and birthday gifts all year long. It saves time, energy, money and hassle. OK, storage can be an issue but this gives you incentive to purge stuff that you may be needlessly holding on to. ~~We started doing this a couple years ago when expecting our second child in late October. Additionally, our family has 5 birthdays in November and December. Wow! What a difference. And yes, we already have several gifts purchased.~~
  
  
• Buy a family gift, not each family member a gift. A nice holiday decoration if often well received.
  
  
• Shoot for Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday mornings, if you need to do shopping. It is less crowded.
  
  
• Do your shopping in one place. With list in hand go to your nearest mall and get it all at one time.
  
  

Heading It Off at the Pass

• Plan quiet time and activities for you and your family.
  
  
• Have your car serviced before the holidays to head off potential problems.
  
  
• Limit extracurricular activities.
  
  
• Avoid starting new projects.
  
  
• Keep healthy, easy to prepare snacks on hand.
  
  
• Don't skip meals. It can make you cranky and more likely to go for the fast food. And need we say the holidays are not the time to diet.
  
  
• Make holiday dinners a potluck. Everyone brings a dish and even their own take home containers.
  
  
• Use more larger decorations in place of a multitude of smaller ones.
  
  
• Pay bills ahead. Pay about 20% above your normal utility or other bills so when the holidays are here you will have less bills to deal with and seemingly more funds.
  
  
• Invite friends and family over for regular family dinners rather than having a dinner party. It is more intimate and less stressful.
  
  
• Let your answering machine serve you by collecting your calls. You can avoid running to the phone when it rings and you can sit down at a designated time to return calls. Solicitors will usually hang-up, if they do not get you live.
  
  
• Have a holiday un-trimming party. Invite friends and family over to finish off the baked goods, serve cider and/or chocolate and put up holiday decorations.
  
  

Hope this gives you some tips to create a more joyful and less stressful holidays season this year.

If you would like more tips to help you Simplifying Your Holidays you may be interested in our booklet *Tips to Simplify Your Holidays*. Tom tomgoodwin@juno.com is a freelance writer that enjoys working with groups and individuals by writing press releases, tip booklets and more. Kimberly Kimberly@4achievement.com is a self-marketing consultant, speaker and author. She helps people Find Their Niche In Life & market their talents. You are invited to subscribe to Kimberly's FREE monthly personal success eNewsletter, MOMENTUM. Simply send e-mail to the autoresponder at momentumonline@infofree.com,SUBJECT=GDS.

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