The holidays will soon be here!  If you are like most people, you become very stressed about what needs to be done the next two months.  Professional organizer, Dawn McCloskey, recommends the following strategies to avoid holiday stress:

Step 1:  Create a Holiday Planning Notebook

Using a three-ring binder, create reference pages for annual tasks.  These pages might include gift-giving lists, greeting card lists, recipes and ingredients, and chores that need to be done, just to name a few.  Pre-printed forms can be obtained from organizedhome.com or other sites.  Similar lists can be created electronically on the computer so you can update the information annually and review previous years’ notations.

Step 2:  Create a Budget

Review your mandatory monthly expenses and determine a budget.  Create a list of people you will purchase gifts for and the number of gifts you will buy.  Avoid last-minute shopping.  Look for bargains – sales and discounts.  You may even consider saving money next year by making purchases AFTER December 25^th of this year.  Track your purchases by saving receipts and tallying the money spent.  This can be tracked electronically, or on paper in the planning notebook.  Consider eliminating the practice of exchanging gifts this year and, instead, agree on spending more time together by creating a new tradition.
 

Step 3:  Prioritize Your Activities

Evaluate everything that you would like to accomplish the next two months and create a “to do list.”  Prioritize the list – eliminating any activity that does not bring you enjoyment.  If you find this elimination of activities difficult, get feedback from family members – asking each member to choose one activity that is important to him/her.  Check off each item as it’s accomplished.  If there are still items left by a certain date, relieve yourself of the anxiety by giving yourself permission NOT to do those items.   

Having a plan and keeping within a budget will greatly reduce stress during and after the holiday season.

Additional suggestions for becoming organized and reducing clutter can be obtained by contacting Dawn McCloskey at 770-844-1049 or dawn@ultraorganized.com.   

Dawn McCloskey is a residential professional organizer and founder of Ultra Organized, LLC in Cumming, Georgia.  The mission of Ultra Organized is to create order from chaos by creating customized solutions in people’s homes.  Ultra Organized helps people get control of clutter in their existing homes or before listing a house with a realtor, and provides unpacking and organizing services to new home owners.  McCloskey is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers.  For more information, call 770-844-1049, email dawn@ultraorganized.com or visit www.ultraorganized.com.

Tags: organization