Table of Contents

-Introduction
-Monthly Mission – Holiday Planning
-Check Out These Pages! – Relevant pages and new site additions
-5 Ways to Slim Down Holiday Stress

Introduction

Hello Everyone! We’re quickly nearing the end of the year. It seems that once Halloween comes, time speeds up, even more than usual, for a race to the end of the year. I have started some planning lists for Thanksgiving and Christmas for my household. This will be our first Thanksgiving in this house (we were out of town last year) and I would love for it to be relaxing and enjoyable. I am also planning for a great Christmas holiday as we were plagued with illness last year and it was a less than joyous season. So, time to make the lists, plan the calendar with fun activities and holiday movies to watch, as well as cookies to bake! Whatever holidays you celebrate this time of year, get started ASAP so that you can be ahead of the stress and have time to enjoy relaxing with your friends and family.

If you love to shop online and you're not using Ebates, you're leaving money on the table! Earn cash back for your online purchases you were already making! I have received several "Big Fat Checks" over the years! Check it about. Click on the Ebates logo.

My favorite part of the upcoming holidays is relaxing and visiting and playing with friends and family. It’s not about all the stress and long “to do” lists. That’s why I put together a holiday planning list that helps me get a little bit done at a time, ahead of time. To read more about the monthly mission for November, click here.

If you prefer to go digital, you might enjoy the Cozi Family Organizer. You can sync everyone's schedules together at no charge.

If you’re in a hurry to put some order back into your home, perhaps Mimi Tanner's unique method will give you that jumpstart. Check out her method at Declutter Fast: How To Get Your Home In Order Almost Immediately.

Here are some pertinent pages on the website you may have missed along with any new pages.

Holiday Organizing Checklist - Here is a basic list to get you started planning for a relaxing holiday season.

Grocery Shopping Tips - Do you need to streamline your shopping trips? Learn how to get in and out in less than an hour, once a week.

Organize your bathroom - How to keep your bathroom more tidy and clutter free.

Meal Planning - Plan ahead for meals to reduce trips to the grocery store and save time.

Time Savers - Here are a few quick time savers to make your day run more efficiently.

5 Ways to Slim Down Holiday Stress

Sometimes we just ask too much of ourselves. Remember, the whole idea of Plan and Organize Life is progress, not perfection. So, here are a few things we can do to still have an enjoyable holiday season, without over doing all the work portion of the holiday.

Decorations – Do you have to have the most decked out house on the street? Does every corner of your home have to have decorations displayed? As we pull out all those boxes of decorations I think to myself, “the more we take out, the more we need to put away”. There are a few items I really enjoy pulling out to enjoy and I’m happy with that. If the rest of the family wants more, then let them be responsible for them. Also, if there is anything you find in your decorations that you no longer love, it’s OK to pass it on to someone else and lighten your load.

Food – I have it easy in that it’s just my little family of four that I need to feed for the holidays. For Thanksgiving, I order the turkey dinner from the local grocery store and heat it up for dinner. If you’re hosting guests, can you have everyone bring a dish so that you only have to focus on the main item? Or how about going out to a restaurant for a Thanksgiving buffet? There is no right or wrong way to go about it. For Christmas, I cook a nice dinner on Christmas Eve, and then we eat leftovers for the next two days! That leaves us more pajama and play time!

Gifts – Shopping for gifts can be stressful if you’re trying to impress everyone and find the perfect gift. It’s not a competition. It’s the thought that counts. Gift cards to a person’s favorite store or restaurant are always appreciated. Shopping online is a great way to get things ordered quickly without battling crowds. Whether you shop online or in local stores, always make a list beforehand of who you need to shop for, a budget, and any ideas you might already have, along with things they like.

Cards – I have been very good with sending out cards over the years. Though I know there have been years I haven’t received some from various people because they were busy and didn’t get to them. I love them no less! I print out my standard list of people and keep my cards to no more than 25. I order mine in a few minutes from Shutterfly with a photo, because we live so far from friends and family and I like to keep people up to date. However, there is nothing wrong with picking up a box of cards next time you’re out. Maybe you can print address labels. Perhaps you only mail cards to those you receive cards from this year.

Delegate – What can you hand off to a spouse? What can you pass down to your kids to do? It doesn’t have to be perfect. Part of the fun is letting them learn to do things themselves and be part of learning the family traditions. (You may look back and laugh to remember that one year the kids decorated the yard and it looked like a tornado had just gone by?) Let them learn to wrap gifts, even if they’re a little messy, address envelopes, bake, etc. Soon enough, we can sit back and relax while they take over!

So, before you make a daunting “to do” list for the season, decide what’s most important to you first. If there are certain things you can scale down, do it, so that you have more time to enjoy the holidays.


Until next time, happy organizing!

Tracy Greene
Plan-and-Organize-Life.com