From gift shopping to cleaning to cooking, here are some tips for avoiding Christmas stress.
It’s a tradition in my family to deep clean the entire house for Christmas. I can’t say it’s the most fun tradition ever but I always like when the cleaning is all done. The house has a fresh, airy feeling that I love.
In addition to Christmas cleaning, there’s the shopping, holiday parties and cooking all that food. Yup, the holidays can actually be pretty stressful.
A little bit of planning and preparation goes a long way. So today, I’m going to share my best tips so you can avoid Christmas stress.
How To Avoid Christmas Stress
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Shopping for Christmas Gifts
While I love the joy giving gifts can bring, buying presents is probably my least favorite thing to do for the holiday season. I never know what to get for people. I have to battle my way through crowded stores and, let’s not forget how easy it is to spend a ton of money on gifts.
Here are some ways to make Christmas shopping easier:
- Write a shopping list. Think of all the people you want to buy presents for and write them all down. This way you won’t forget anyone. As you shop, cross names off the list so you know exactly who you’ve already bought gifts for.
- Create a budget and stick to it. Decide how much money you can afford to spend on gifts. You can even go so far as to allocate a specific amount to spend on each person on your list. Can’t get gifts for everyone? Cross people off. I tend to shop for children first and everyone else afterwards.
- Instead of buying presents for every single person in your family. Have a gift exchange. Write names down, throw them in a container and then, let everyone draw a name. You’ll only have to buy a present for one person. If you have a close group of friends, you can do this with them too.
- Shop online. Forget about crowded stores with packed parking lots. Use your fingers to do your shopping. Plus with services like Amazon Prime, you’ll get free, unlimited 2-day shipping. That’s a great way to ensure you receive gifts in time. Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial.
- Take advantage of sales. One way to get great gifts at a fraction of their regular cost is to wait for sales. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are great times to pick up some amazing gifts.
- Use Ebates. If you prefer to shop earlier, which I highly recommend, try signing up for a free Ebates account. You’ll get cash back on purchases with popular retailers without having to wait and see if items you want will go on sale. Sign up for your free Ebates account and start earning cash back while you shop.
Cooking Christmas Meals
Food is a huge part of the holiday. It’s what I personally looked forward to until I became the person who had to cook lunch. Then suddenly, it didn’t seem so great. Funny how that works, isn’t it?
Being organized really helps lessen the stress of cooking Christmas lunch or dinner. Here are some tips for you:
- Plan your holiday menu. Find out if guests have any food allergies you should be aware of beforehand.
- Write a grocery shopping list including quantities required so you know exactly how much to purchase. Divide the list into items that you can buy way in advance and items that are highly perishable and need to be picked up close to Christmas day.
- Place all the recipes you’re using in one easy to find place. Print them out and add them to your Recipe binder.
- Use tried and true recipes so you know just what to expect. If trying new recipes, make them before Christmas so you’re comfortable with the instructions and you know how the food will taste. Christmas lunch or dinner is not the time you want to be trying something new.
- If you’re cooking fresh turkey, order it a few weeks before Christmas.
- Make sure you’ll have enough chairs or tables for your guests. If not, plan to rent or borrow what you need.
Christmas Cleaning
Start deep cleaning a few weeks before Christmas so you can tackle one area at a time. This way, you’ll avoid burning yourself out and your home will look great when the big day comes.
Don’t think you need to do it all yourself either. Hire help, if you can or assign chores to your family.
Use this Christmas Cleaning Checklist to make this process even easier.
These tips will definitely help to reduce Christmas stress and make the holiday season a whole lot more enjoyable.