Organize + Energize: 5 Ways to Survive the Holidays
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Are you planning on having a stressful, chaotic, and unprepared holiday season this year or are you going to coast through well organized, with your sanity intact? It’s a choice you can make and believe it or not, you can have control over your stress during the holidays. Granted, there are situations that will arise that you can’t control, but wouldn’t it be great to control what you can?
Here are 5 things you can do now to reduce holiday stress:
Clear the mental clutter. Grab a pen and paper. Think about all of the different categories you need to focus on during the holidays. You may have menus, gifts, home décor, cleaning, and any other categories. Dedicate a piece of paper to each and it’s time to dump your brain and clear the mental clutter. Take it one category at a time and just start writing things you need to get done in each category. Don’t worry about putting it in any time/date order; just release the mental clutter and jot things down. Once you get everything written down, then you can go back and give things a timeline.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTUse a calendar. Check the lists you’ve created and now it’s time to plug items into your calendar. Create timelines so everything flows. Start delegating and transferring responsibility to other family members where you see fit. Don’t forget to add the little things like cleaning the house, exercise, food shopping, and regular day to day activities into your calendar.
Start creating to-do lists. Once you’re finished filling in your calendar, now it’s time to create daily to-do lists from the categories you’ve created. Every Friday, take a look at your calendar for the week ahead and create a daily to-do list. You’ll be able to see your entire week in front of you. Plan your errands around where you’ll be that week so you’re as efficient as possible. Plug your tasks into your week and get stuff done!
It’s never too soon to plan. You may be thinking that you have plenty of time to get stuff done. Don’t procrastinate and wait until the last minute. The last minute will arrive and there will be other things to do. Start planning now and you’ll be way ahead of the game, which will alleviate much of your stress.
Simplify. Don’t make the holidays more complicated than they need to be. Take a look at what you’ve done in the past. Can you simplify anything that you’ve done in previous years? Keep things simple.
You may be saying, “I’m so busy. When will I find the time to do this?” If you make it a priority, you’ll find the time to do this. Put this on your to-do list for this week and tackle it. Think about the end result. You’ll have a stress-free holiday season and will actually get to enjoy the holidays with your sanity intact!
Kristin Carcieri-MacRae, is an organizing & efficiency expert and owner of Organizing in RI. Kristin teaches her clients that living an organized lifestyle will save them time and money, decrease their stress levels and help them become more efficient and productive. Her articles have been published in local and national magazines. Kristin's CD, Organizing Basics, is a 1-hour guide for the person who wants to get organized but doesn't know where to begin. She is also available for organizing workshops.
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