The Autumn and Winter holiday seasons are such a busy time that many of us forget what these special days are really all about. Hint: It’s not about the stress of getting it all perfect. The next few months will be a whirlwind of cooking, shopping, planning, hosting, traveling, and celebrating, all on top of your already bustling life. This should be a meaningful and joyful time of year, but with all that is on your to-do list, it can feel overwhelming. Instead of hiding under your covers until January, tackle the holidays with this three-prong strategy: Outsource, Delegate and Simplify.
You deserve help—who says you need to tackle the entire holiday season by yourself?
Consider outsourcing time-consuming pre-holiday tasks.
Are there time-consuming tasks on your pre-holiday to-do list which would be best done by professionals? Think along the lines of pre-made Thanksgiving side dishes, Christmas light installation, and winterizing your lawn. Or gutter cleaning, decluttering and organizing your kitchen, and setting up the new garage shelving. Maybe you’d like to have guests over but planning and organizing is not your strong suit. Your dining room has been decommissioned for a while now—your table is buried under craft projects, school work, and random boxes. A professional home organizer can help you declutter, organize, haul away donations, and make your space ready for the season. Additionally, I have it on good authority that organizers will happily assist clients with holiday decorating, creating shopping lists, and even wrapping gifts!
The holidays will be less stressful when you delegate tasks.
If everyone in your household will be taking part in all the fun, they should also take some part in all the work. Don’t make big events a one-person show. Enlist all members of your household—even the kiddos—with age- and skill-appropriate tasks. Younger kids can handle simple tasks such as setting the holiday table (do one setting as a visual guide) or figuring out which lights strings work and which don’t. Teens can do even more, such as going to the grocery store (with a detailed list from you, of course) or bringing in the holiday decor boxes from the garage. When everyone shares in the workload and has assigned tasks, it is less stress and work for you.
Streamline your to-do list and relax over the holidays.
Martha Stewart has huge team of professionals to make her home holiday ready. If she had to do it all on her own, she would certainly need to bring it down a notch or two. Sometimes we try to live up to an unreachable standard when it comes to the holidays. If you are hosting Thanksgiving, go with tried and true recipes, not an elaborate feast requiring specialized cooking equipment and new furniture. If you have guests, it is absolutely okay to ask them to bring the side dishes or desserts. Keep it simple and order a fully-cooked bird from the grocery store, and have a more enjoyable day! Although handmade holiday greeting cards are beautiful, consider how much time you’d save by ordering them from an online service—some will even pre-print the addresses and stamp them for you. If you like to make homemade gifts, keep in mind the big picture of to-dos, then set an amount of time you would like to work on each gift and stick to it.
Simplify gift-giving with these alternatives.
When it comes to gift giving, consider the following when you are out shopping: Most Americans are drowning in possessions and clutter. Storage companies can barely meet the demand for storage space. American children have more toys than other leading countries, and yet they are bored and overstimulated. What activities do your friends and family members enjoy? Ever consider that time itself is a gift? Then consider the gift of experience. It doesn’t have to be crazy expensive or elaborate. It could be as simple as theatre tickets or a cooking class, or even taking someone on a hike to a special spot. There are so many things you could give that would be meaningful and not clutter-making—here is our list.
Outsource, Delegate and Simplify to make your holidays meaningful, relaxing, and enjoyable.