Stress Less Holiday Challenge Organizing

Stress Less Holiday Challenge Organizing! Join our Stress Less Holiday Challenge throughout November and you’ll be cozying up by the fire all December long!

Stress Less Holiday Challenge Organizing

Hey! Amber here. I am in charge of week 1 for our Stress Less Holiday Challenge! Join our Facebook group for lots of extra tips, reminders, and support throughout all of November. Week 1 of our Stress Less Holiday Challenge is going to be all about getting ORGANIZED so get ready to make some lists and check them twice!! (insert cheesy Christmas gif here haha!)

I have become an organization freak ever since reading Marie Kondo’s book “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up”. If keeping your house tidy is on your bucket list then I highly recommend clicking that link right now and buying yourself and early Christmas present!! It will change your life, no joke! To say I know a thing or two about organization now is definitely not an understatement. Here are the 10 minute challenges for this week to help you be more organized and stress less throughout the holidays!

NOVEMBER 1st: Break out the calendar. Schedule out all of the events that are going to take place over the Holidays. For me, December is crazy because not only is it Christmas but it’s my son’s birthday and our anniversary. I have to plan ahead to make sure we can fit it all in!

Some things that you might add to your calendar:

• Family parties
• Friend parties
• Birthdays
• Big Sales at your favorite stores
• School events
• Kids’ parties

NOVEMBER 2: Make a bucket list then manage your expectations. This may seem like a weird challenge for day number 2, but as a recovering anxiety maniac I know there is a definite connection between stress and unrealistic expectations. You’ve made a schedule for what the next for months might look like, and that’s probably got you thinking about all the stuff you want to do. Take a second and think about how you feel about it all.

1. Make a pinterest worthy bucket list about all your wildest Holiday hopes and dreams. (example below)
2. Then go through and cross off anything that you either don’t want to do, or don’t have to do.
3. Then check for anything that may seem unrealistic and see if you can simplify it. 
4. Find yourself looking at a realistic (aka low-stress) list of Holiday excitement!

Example:

• Make sugar cookies with the kids – (Simplified to buy sugar cookies and let the kids frost them.)
• Impress everyone with adorable crafty wrapped presents – (Actually on second thought I always get frustrated with my lack of craftiness so let’s just scrap this)
• Take a sleigh ride through downtown Salt Lake (We HAVE to do this this year!!)

BAM. I already feel less stressed and don’t feel any pressure to make homemade sugar cookies.

NOVEMBER 3: Establish a budget. Now that you have all the big events and a wish list written out, you can establish a realistic budget. My husband and I choose a sum of money, and then try to draw from that for everything from that for all Holiday type purchases. So if we decided we could swing $800 this year, we would try to have that cover all presents, food, decor, and fun. The next year we might have an extra $1000 lying around, and all those expenses would come from that. However you do your budget, I highly recommend this Gift It App to help you keep track of what you’ve spent! It’s fantastic!!

NOVEMBER 4: Toy and Decor purge/inventory. Before your kids get their Santa lists ready, and before you start buying Christmas decor you already have, purge and inventory!! If it doesn’t spark joy, let it go! If it needs to be organized better, consider an organizational device as a gift. 

November 5: Organize/plan a wrapping and gift storage station. This used to trip me up every year. Not only was my house super cluttered because I wasn’t good at tidying, but I had wrapping paper scattered everywhere, and gifts hidden in places I wouldn’t find until June! That is enough to cause Holiday stress by itself! Take a few minutes and figure out where you can store gifts and what you’re going to do about wrapping them. (Pictured above is a mobile wrapping station from Amazon.)

That’s it for this week! Join our Facebook group for lots of extra tips, reminders, and support throughout all of November. Next week will be all about saving money so be sure to tune in!

XOXO

Amber