Alicia64 Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Hi guys, I wrote an article on planning for Christmas 2019 by starting now. In other words, instead of letting all the expense and work bunch up into Nov. and Dec. -- we'd prep a little each month and December will be a breeze. And cheaper. (That's my hope.) My article is here: How I let December snowball into a stress-fest -- and how I'm reclaiming the holidays I'm going to do the whole thing starting in January and it would be fun to have TWTM group do it with me! First, our group needs a name. I'm not great at creating names. (The Snowball Club?) Alley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheReader Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Christmas is an area I have pretty well under control, but I did keep the stockings out and put on a hanger in my closet for year-round filling, thanks to your suggestion! And I'm going to log what I give teachers and such from now on, to refer back to so I don't duplicate. I liked that about your article -- helpful tidbits, whether you need the whole plan, or only parts of it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alicia64 Posted January 2, 2019 Author Share Posted January 2, 2019 2 minutes ago, TheReader said: Christmas is an area I have pretty well under control, but I did keep the stockings out and put on a hanger in my closet for year-round filling, thanks to your suggestion! And I'm going to log what I give teachers and such from now on, to refer back to so I don't duplicate. I liked that about your article -- helpful tidbits, whether you need the whole plan, or only parts of it! That's funny because those are the two things that I automatically do: keep their stockings in my closet and track my gifts for teachers. But, yeah, I'm doing the whole shebang. I'm hoping somebody will join me and keep me company! Alley 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaz Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Great article! I love having a list of what I've purchased and would like to do for next Christmas. Toys are on sale every January. I used to buy games then for Christmas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoeless Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 I am addressing next year's holiday cards NOW. Every year I say I am going to be more organized and get cards written, and every year it is a scramble to get them done. Once they are written and addressed, I will pack them away with the Christmas decorations. Next year, I will just need to stamp them and pop in an updated picture of the kiddo, and put them in the mail. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 2 hours ago, TheReader said: Christmas is an area I have pretty well under control, but I did keep the stockings out and put on a hanger in my closet for year-round filling, thanks to your suggestion! And I'm going to log what I give teachers and such from now on, to refer back to so I don't duplicate. I liked that about your article -- helpful tidbits, whether you need the whole plan, or only parts of it! That is so damn smart. Don't the kids peek though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Sorry, I’m no real help. I enjoyed your article, but I don’t find Christmas hard to manage. I did less this year from necessity and it didn’t even affect anything. The only two things I plan to change, one of which I should do this month, is set up a Christmas fund account, and later, order my cards from Costco instead of Shutterfly. The only gifts I organize in advance are homemade/handmade things. Anything purchased will be purchased in the Black Friday-Cyber Week time frame with rare exception. I start wrapping those items in evenings as soon as I have them. Mercifully, we don’t have much obligation for gift-giving beyond that to our kids. My extended families don’t exchange gifts; we play games and eat/share food. 🙂 So, it’s not that much gift buying and wrapping anyway. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherry in OH Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 4 hours ago, TheReader said: Christmas is an area I have pretty well under control, but I did keep the stockings out and put on a hanger in my closet for year-round filling, thanks to your suggestion! And I'm going to log what I give teachers and such from now on, to refer back to so I don't duplicate. I liked that about your article -- helpful tidbits, whether you need the whole plan, or only parts of it! How big are your stockings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 For me, the biggest thing I think I need to do to prepare is to actually do a review, figure out where and how we spent money for the holidays, and aim to set a budget for next year! In particular, we host a dinner party every year on the Saturday between Christmas and New Year's, and we went WAY over our budget on it. Put that together with accidentally overlooking rent dropping out of the January budget projection (I ended it when the lease ended, thinking it might change), and I really overestimated how much of my "bonus" 3rd biweekly paycheck for the month of January I could put towards paying down credit cards while still spending some extra on the holidays. I need to NOT do that again! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheReader Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 3 hours ago, mommyoffive said: That is so damn smart. Don't the kids peek though? I cannot take credit, it was suggested in the article. But, no, our kids are not peekers & never really have been. All Christmas season, when DH Is ordering gifts, buying gifts, etc., the gifts just get placed in our closet. No one has, to our knowledge, peeked yet. Just in case, I'm hanging them on a hanger in the back behind a big jacket, mainly for DH's stocking, as he is a peeker, LOL! 2 hours ago, Sherry in OH said: How big are your stockings? Hmm....normal Christmas stocking sized....? At the moment I have them all looped on one hanger via the hanging loops (the loops are around the hook part of the hanger); as I start filling, I'll switch to pants hangers/skirt hangers and clip each stocking to one hanger -- again, per the suggestion in the article Alicia wrote/posted. We already were buying stocking stuff all year, and tucking it here & there, so this was a smart switch for me to make and I'm so glad Alicia suggested it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustEm Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 That sounds like fun. I won't be doing quite as much as you but I do always do Christmas planning throughout the year. In January, I make a list of who I need to shop for, their age at Christmas, and the budget I set for them. After calculating how much I want to spend on each person I add it up and divide by 12 so I know how much I need to save per month. But really I just go throughout the year buying stuff so I deduct the amount spent from the total budget. One really great thing with the way my family does gifts is that everyone is 100% fine with used stuff. So, most of the time I can find great used board games in like new condition for nieces and nephews at Goodwill. Dh's family is a bit different because they don't do used gifts, which is absolutely fine. I can usually find great clearance gifts throughout the year for everyone. Most of my gift shopping is done in summer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustEm Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 So, I have a lot of young girls to shop for and because my dd is trying to put together a spa day for when her cousin is in town, I decided a spa kit is going to be what I give to all the young girls I need to shop for. I'll be able to keep an eye out for good deals on all the things that go into it and some sort of basket or container. Now I think I want to think of some sort of basket thing I can do for all the boys. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 I read the article. It sounds exhausting. I don’t think it streamlined the holidays at all . . . just blew them up to encroach on the whole year. It’s a nice season and all, but I don’t miss it when it’s gone nor do I want to think about it before Thanksgiving. This is not a method for live-in-the-moment personality types. I’m no Grinch. I wrap the gifts and see the shows and cook all the things, but it seems like spreading it out over a whole year would inevitably add up to MORE holiday work for mom. Maybe I’m just tired because my youngest is 18, but I’m definitely ready to transition to more adult holidays. I haven’t decided how that will look, but it could involve a destination and fewer gifts. I’m fine ramping cookie production back up when grandchildren arrive, but I imagine that’s no big effort when you’re not responsible for being the Santa in Chief. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherry in OH Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 I admire those of you who go all out for holidays. This afternoon I prepped our Advent calendar for next year before putting it away. That is the extent of my pre-planning for Christmas 2019. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoeless Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 I have an online business which ramps up during the holidays. I like the idea of shifting some of the prep-work for Christmas to an earlier point in the year, so I don't run around like a nut during the actual holiday season. I want the maximum amount of room in the holiday season for FUN for all of us, including me! Buying gifts early for my kiddo or husband won't work for us, because we all have summer birthdays so any great gift ideas get used up mid-year. But I can definitely come up with a more mindful gift budget for the extended family. Since my in-laws are quantity vs quality type people, I can probably tuck things aside all year long as I find good deals. They don't seem to care what they receive as long as there's a lot of it. 😕 But things like tidying up the ornaments? Started doing that today! I also saved all the gift bags from Amazon this year, to make "wrapping" gifts quick next year (no expense and no waste!). My cards are pre-addressed and ready for next year, plus while I was addressing them, I sat down and wrote out some cards for elderly relatives that live far away to send this month and next month. My resolution this year is to send all of them a card every month, so they know I am thinking of them. I am really terrible about sending letters and cards, and while it is maybe a little assembly-line to write them out now, it's a heck of a lot better than the hastily-written-or-not-written-at-all thing that I've got going on now, lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 (edited) On 1/2/2019 at 7:35 PM, hjffkj said: After calculating how much I want to spend on each person I add it up and divide by 12 so I know how much I need to save per month. I’ve done this for the past 3 years and it’s worked beautifully. DH used to get so stressed seeing all the Christmas money leave the bank account in a 1 or 2 week period. Instead of letting the money sit in the bank all year, I get a set amount of cashback when I go to the grocery store every other week and I tuck the cash in a hidden spot in the house. In December, I take my wad of cash to the bank and then buy the gifts online. Dh never sees a big hit to the bank account so he doesn’t stress in December—the amount of money that was in the bank on Dec 1st, is the same amount that’s in the bank on Dec 26th. Removing that stress from him is a gift to him and to me! His stressing over Christmas costs led to me stressing over his stress about Christmas costs. Edited January 5, 2019 by Garga 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 I already do a few of the things on the list that work for me. The things that don’t work are pre-buying gifts more than a month in advance. My kids tastes change fast. Something they want in March is something they likely won’t want by December. I was burned too many times by kids who wanted something earlier in the year and then didn’t have any interest in it by the end of the year. However, I do jot down ideas all throughout the year, as mentioned in the article. Certainly! But I wait until December to actually buy anything, in case they no longer want the items. I cull out decorations every January. I set up the monthly savings in January as well. I love the idea of baking some cookies earlier...sort of. My kids are old enough that it’s not about the eating of the cookies. It’s about the time together making them. The point of cookie baking is the activity rather than the eating...except for one chocolate/cracker thing I made. They don’t join me in making that (it’s more of a one-person thing), and it’s a brilliant idea to pre-make that, freeze it, and then pull it out in December. I can totally do that in October and get that done ahead of time. Overall, I think it’s a great idea to spread this stuff out throughout the year. Some of the ideas in the article are things I already do, some are things that won’t work for me, and some are awesome new ideas I’m going to implement. Good article! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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