If there is one month of the year that you are likely to feel that you are sinking under an avalanche of things which need to be done it really is December.
There is fine balance to be trod if you don’t like to be doing your Christmas shopping in October to suddenly realising that you have not done anything towards Christmas and now it suddenly is December- and with all the families extra activities you are going to be hard pushed to fit all this extra stuff in.
The first thing you need to do is rather than head to the shops or sit at you computer and order loads of stuff online, do a little bit of Christmas admin and planning.
- Update your diary. Make sure you have all the events you and your family are attending written in – along with any additional information, for example who is baby sitting. What time you will need to leave the house etc. Maybe what you are planning to wear.
- Make a special to do list of all the presents you need to buy and who they are for. Update this list as you buy things – and particularly once you have wrapped them. This may save any last-minute panics or attacks of amnesia when you are out shopping.
- Make another separate to do list of all the other stuff you need to do during December. You might want to highlight the things which are absolutely critical to have a good Christmas. e.g. ordering the Christmas Turkey, or things which ideally you would like to do before Christmas e.g. spring clean the house. The first if you are cooking Christmas dinner maybe essential but if you are running out of time then you may have to cut back on the amount of housework you do before Christmas – and do what just really needs to be done.
- Now the next point may sound a little over organised – but just stick with me on this. If you are one of these people (like me), who shop till they drop and then leave all the wrapping up until I have some free time, energy and are in the mood for a mamoth present wrapping session – then I would suggest you consult your diary again – and mark out an entry for wrapping up presents. Don’t wait for the mood to take you otherwise it might be Christmas Eve that you are still frantically wrapping presents rather than enjoying yourself. Then make an evening of it. Get the kids to bed, turn the music or TV on to something you enjoy and wrap away.
- Same goes any other Christmas admin activities. Add all these admin activities as dated and timed entries in your diary. for example writing Christmas Cards, posting overseas cards or presents, buying and decorating the Christmas tree..
Really the key to keeping on tops of things at Christmas is to plan, plan and plan. Although it might seem like your wasting precious time doing nothing but writing lists you will in fact save yourself time. You will be able to combine errands and perhaps instead of making two trips to the post office it will be just one. Also – just one last thing make sure the lists are in a book or diary or in a word document. What you don’t really need at this time of the year is to lose the to do list.
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