7 Tips To Make Your Life Easier This Holiday Season

Staying Sane and Enjoying The Holiday Season

The stress of the impending holiday season is enough to take an experienced host out of their Thanksgiving turkey, tryptophan-induced coma and turn them into a Christmas-crazed, Black Friday maniac.

Use these seven helpful tips to avoid the fervor of the masses and retain your sanity.

1. Delegate!

Although hosting the perfect holiday celebration may feed your ego, it may also provide you with sleepless nights before the big event.

Don’t be afraid to delegate tasks. Send your spouse to the store with a list of last-minute items; have your kids vacuum and clean up around the house.

When guests ask what they can help with or bring, don’t look for a gift horse in their courtesy offer.

2. Watch the clock

If you know the post office or the grocery store becomes chaotic at 4:30 p.m. every afternoon, plan your trips accordingly. Avoiding long lines, impossible parking, and crazed consumers will help you keep your cool. If you cannot fit these tasks into your schedule at any other time, see tip number one!

3. Check vacation balances at work

Don’t be afraid to ask a management or Human Resources member to check your vacation and floating holiday balances. Many companies do not roll vacation balances to the next year; it is lost if this time is not taken.

Use this forgotten vacation time to finish last-minute details and errands.

4. Give your hand a break!

When contemplating all the Christmas cards, holiday invitations, and thank-you notes to be written, you may already have a hand cramp.

Buy an address stamp for those envelopes or a “Season’s Greetings” stamp for your correspondence.

5. Stay healthy

Get eight hours of sleep each night, drink enough fluids, and take your vitamins. While you’re busy taking care of guests, family, and friends, don’t forget to take care of yourself.

6. Shop online

Although there’s something immediately gratifying about leaving the store with a fistful of shopping bags, shopping online can eliminate the insanity of the in-store experience.

Many online stores offer free shipping, “receive by Christmas” guarantee dates, and a huge variety of gift ideas. I subscribe to a program that gives me cash back into the boys’ college fund for all my online shopping. What’s better than that?

Shop online and avoid the mob flocking to the local mall.

7. Remember the “reason for the season.”

Instead of allowing the stress and circumstances to overwhelm you, take a moment to reflect on why your family and friends are gathering.

Follow these seven tips this holiday season and watch your tension levels melt away. Don’t traumatize yourself by obsessing over unfinished tasks. That’s what family is for.