{"id":29,"date":"2013-11-26T09:48:42","date_gmt":"2013-11-25T21:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/?p=29"},"modified":"2016-01-13T09:17:57","modified_gmt":"2016-01-12T20:17:57","slug":"planning-tips-for-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/planning-tips-for-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Planning Tips for Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a012 Days of Christmas Ideas – Day 2<\/em><\/span><\/h1>\n

It is no secret that the Christmas Season can be a stressful time.\u00a0 It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the many things that need to be done and inundated\u00a0by the numerous Christmas and end of year functions.\u00a0 Today I want to share with you some tips on how to lower\u00a0your stress so you can more easily\u00a0enjoy this season of celebration.<\/p>\n

1. Write it\u00a0Down <\/span><\/h5>\n

Trying to hold all the appointments and to-do-lists in your head is stressful enough in itself.\u00a0 After a while they all start to jumble together and you can’t be\u00a0sure if you are coming or going.\u00a0 Writing it all down relieves your head from that pressure and it also removes that feeling of chaos because in the process of writing it down,\u00a0what\u00a0you have to do becomes clearer.<\/p>\n

So my suggestion is grab a calendar, diary or cell phone<\/strong> (for those who are more tech savvy) and write in all the things you have committed your time too.\u00a0 Actually if you want to have a little more fun with it I’ve seen that\u00a0Stampin’ Up\u00a0<\/a>are selling\u00a0this beautiful Journal that is already organised into planning sections and you can even purchase matching stickers and tags to make your planning more colourful.<\/p>\n

\"Season \"Season \"Season \"Season<\/p>\n

You can keep this process of entering your time commitments simple by just including\u00a0all the work and social functions you plan to attend.\u00a0 Or you can go\u00a0more in depth by\u00a0blocking out\u00a0times for\u00a0set\u00a0activities such as work,\u00a0children’s playgroups or club meetings.\u00a0 This should then give you a clearer picture of how your time is placed.\u00a0 One thing I highly recommend is to plan time for rest and relaxation.\u00a0 When our business is interspersed with regular times of relaxation then the feeling of being stressed is kept at bay.\u00a0 Something I have also found\u00a0helpful is to add an extra half hour between appointments as it means your not having to rush from one thing to the next.<\/p>\n

The next thing to do is to\u00a0write\u00a0a\u00a0to-do-list. This can include anything from baking to cleaning, Christmas shopping to grocery shopping, or making gifts to wrapping gifts.\u00a0 This way whenever you have a gap in the calendar you can go to your list and choose something to work on.\u00a0 Some of your tasks maybe time sensitive.\u00a0\u00a0If that is the case then make sure you mark them accordingly.<\/p>\n

\u00a02. Share the Load<\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

I was once told that we only have two hands because we are meant to ask for help when two hands just aren’t enough.\u00a0 I believe that we aren’t meant to do life on our own, and being that Christmas is supposed to be a time of togetherness what better time than now to join with our family and friends to get things done.\u00a0 If you’re living with others divide the chores among yourselves.\u00a0 Delegate out certain jobs to family members – it might not get done exactly how you would have done it, but that’s okay, at least it is done.\u00a0 If you have a big gathering of the extended family\u00a0for Christmas dinner ask different family members to bring a particular dish or beverage.\u00a0 Another favourite thing of mine to do is to work with others to get the job done.\u00a0 I often\u00a0find that\u00a0working on a task with others makes that task so much more motivating and enjoyable.\u00a0 In fact over the next few days I’ll be sharing some great Christmas party ideas that will do just that.<\/p>\n

3. De-clutter<\/span><\/h5>\n

Lastly, I read an article a few years back about how\u00a0clutter in our environment can cause stress.\u00a0\u00a0So take a moment to consider the\u00a0surroundings in your home. If there is too much stuff, pack it up and put it in the garage or under the bed – you can sort it out in the new year.\u00a0 Now if it’s people that are cluttering your house this isn’t an option.\u00a0 In this case I suggest that you plan outings or activities to engage them.\u00a0 If some of these people are out of town family or friends who have come to stay you might like to consider\u00a0arranging alternative accommodation nearby.\u00a0 By doing this you are at least bringing some order to the chaos of people who\u00a0have\u00a0nothing to do.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This may seem like a daunting process but if you sit down now and spend a few hours planning, it will make the next month\u00a0so much easier and you’ll be able to enjoy the holiday season with much less stress.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a012 Days of Christmas Ideas – Day 2 It is no secret that the Christmas Season can be a stressful time.\u00a0 It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the many things that need to be done and inundated\u00a0by the numerous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas","category-planning-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2038,"href":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions\/2038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}