Tips for Saving Time & Sanity During the Holidays

Master Your Schedule: Create a Realistic Holiday Timeline

Time is always at a premium during the Christmas and Holiday seasons. People are rushing to and fro looking for the latest hot gift, wrapping up presents and generally chasing their own tails. Wouldn’t it be nice to simply kick back and have some time to smell the mistletoe once in a great while? Here are some tips to help you do just that:

Time Saving

How to Save Time during Holiday Season?

1. Pay a teenager in the neighborhood to wrap gifts or find a local charity that gift wraps for donations

There is an off chance that your gifts will come out looking like they went through a wind tunnel, but the job will be done. Allow your free spirit to take over and let go of your obsessive compulsive need to have perfectly wrapped presents. Why not have gifts that are covered in newspaper and crooked bows? It is a fun way to laugh at the season’s stress.

2. Use gift bags

Whoever created the Holy gift bag has to be an angel on earth. Gift bags are the ultimate time saver when you are trying to put together a last minute gift and have no time to wrap it. Gift bags should be bought in all shapes and sizes for just such occasions.

3. Keep plenty of deli meat and bread on hand

When an unexpected Christmas guest shows up on the front porch, having a nice, quick sandwich to put together can be a huge time saver. Last minute and unexpected are two ways to describe the majority of your Christmas guests during the holiday season. Be prepared with some nice lunch meats and bread. Salads do the trick nicely too.

4. Pay someone to run errands

Most parents will spend approximately 20,000,000 minutes running errands throughout the holiday season… Okay, that is not a scientific certainty. The point is, errands are going to eat into your holiday fun no matter what you do. You may as well minimize the damage if you can afford it by paying someone to do it for you. Most teenagers in your church or neighborhood would gladly do this for some Christmas funds. Spend a little bit of money to make things a bit easier on you. It’s Christmas after all!

5. Say no sometimes

Although the holiday season encourages us to be welcoming and available, this does not mean that you have to say yes to every party, gathering and request. Contrary to popular opinion, saying no to be rather liberating around the holiday season. How many Christmas parties are you going to attend in one season anyway? Pick out the ones that mean the most and politely decline any others that may come up. Most people worth your time will understand the difficulties of the holiday season and Christmas in particular.

Maintain Self-Care: Schedule Time for Relaxation