Inside: How to Get Organised for Christmas from Budgeting to Baking. Collaborative post.
Christmas is the most magical time of the year, but when you’re in charge of organising it, it can also feel like the most stressful!
There’s no denying that there’s magic in the air over Christmas, but if you’re the one rushing around at the last minute panic buying gifts, and hurriedly preparing for guests, it can be hard to enjoy the festive season.
If you love Christmas, but the thought of preparing for it fills you with dread, you’re not alone.
Despite it being a time that’s known for bringing people together and spreading festive cheer, many people find organising Christmas, and all the jobs it entails, stressful and often overwhelming.
But Christmas doesn’t need to be this way. You can relax and enjoy Christmas, it just requires some careful planning. Getting organised now is an excellent way to help you enjoy the festivities safe in the knowledge that you’ve got your Christmas prep under control.
If you’re keen to make this Christmas a stress-free celebration, the following tips will help you to get organised ahead of the big day.
Start Early
Starting your Christmas preparations early is key to keeping your stress levels low. It’s never too early to get started, in fact, the sooner you begin, the better. Just be sure that you keep a record of everything you’ve done for your Christmas preparations so that you don’t forget closer to the big day.
Anyone who has ever bought gifts early to stay organised and then hidden them and completely forgotten about them will know how important it is to keep a record of your Christmas preparations.
Writing lists is an excellent way to keep your Christmas preparations organised and under control. When everything is written down, you can relax and let go of any nagging feelings that you may have forgotten to do something important.
You may find it helpful to have separate lists to stay super organised.
Having a to-do list of Christmas jobs that need to be done ahead of the big day, and a separate shopping list can be really useful. Nothing beats that feeling of satisfaction that comes from ticking items off your to-do list as you complete them!
Budget for Christmas
There’s no denying that Christmas is a super expensive time of the year. With the cost of living already high, adding buying presents, seasonal food, decorations, entertaining, and socialising over the festive period to the mix can leave you feeling extremely worried about how you will pay for the big day and the run up to it.
Research shows that 46% of people worry about the cost of buying gifts. Purchasing presents is certainly one of the most expensive parts of Christmas, especially if you have a large family.
You could cut corners and save money by buying cheap gifts. But buying people gifts that they may
not like, need, or use, can be a waste of your money and leave the recipient disappointed.
So, it makes sense to focus a large part of your budgeting activities on gifting to enable you to buy presents that they really want.
Looking for a Christmas savings slub is really helpful way to do this. This will enable you to gradually put money aside for Christmas, as and when you can afford it.
Setting a target for how much you want to save is a really good incentive to keep going, and will help you track your progress along the way.
Once you get closer to Christmas, you can feel confident that you have already saved all the money you need to pay for your gifts.
Budgeting and saving for Christmas is a really helpful way to ease the financial stress of Christmas. It means that you won’t need to get yourself into debt buying presents, or leave
yourself without any cash in January.
Have a Pre-Christmas Clear Out
Christmas is the time for entertaining and welcoming guests into your home. Maybe you’re hosting Christmas lunch for the entire family, or perhaps you have guests staying with you over the festive period. Either way, it’s likely that you will be receiving visitors at some point over the Christmas holiday.
Having a pre-Christmas clear out and tidy is an excellent way to get your home ready to welcome extra visitors.
Decluttering your home ahead of Christmas means that it will be much easier to clean and tidy before your guests arrive.
But this isn’t the only benefit. You may discover that you have lots of
items laying around that you no longer want, need, or use. If this is the case, you may be able to sell them to raise some extra funds for your Christmas budget.
Having a clear out now also means that you free up space to help with your Christmas preparations. Clearing space in a cupboard means that you have an easy storage solution for your Christmas presents.
It’s also wise to clear space in a kitchen cupboard to store festive food and drink. The same applies to your freezer. You may want to also make a start on freeing up space in your freezer. This may involve eating some mis-matched food combinations for dinner over the coming weeks, but it is an easy way to ensure that you have enough space to accommodate all of your Christmas food, without needing to throw away anything that’s already in your freezer.
When you’re being this organised and shopping early, it’s essential that the food you have carefully shopped for has long use by dates to ensure you don’t waste money on food that won’t last until the big day. It’s also really important to warn other people in the house that the food and drink that you’re setting aside is not to be eaten!
This will ensure it’s still there when Christmas comes around, and you don’t find the cupboard empty when Christmas Eve comes around!
Shop Smart
Budgeting for Christmas presents by using a Christmas savings club is an excellent way to spread the cost of buying gifts. Being equally organised when it comes to purchasing Christmas food and drink is also wise.
Starting your Christmas food shopping early, and most importantly, shopping smart is key to making your Christmas preparations less stressful.
While it’s not possible to buy a fresh turkey or vegetables now, it is possible to buy other festive
goodies to save you heaps of hassle and expense closer to the big day.
Many supermarkets introduce special offers on festive foods when they start to stock them. So, from October onwards, you should be able to start picking up lots of festive treats for less.
Tubs of Christmas chocolates are a prime example of this, with many supermarkets competing with each other to offer them at the lowest price.
If you’re stocking up on these, just be sure to keep them well hidden so that they don’t get eaten ahead of the big day.
You may need to shop around if you’re to get the best deals, but if you start shopping early this shouldn’t be an issue.
As well as shopping for treats, it’s also helpful to shop early for those Christmas basics that often get forgotten. So, things like cranberry sauce, crackers, napkins, etc. Buying these early not only means that you won’t forget about them, but also helps to spread the cost of your shopping even further.
Get Cooking
Baking is one of the most time-consuning parts of preparing for Christmas, and also one of the most enjoyable.
The good news is that many recipes can be baked ahead of time and frozen in preparation for your celebrations. Items such as cakes, mince pies, and even roast potatoes can be cooked and then frozen.
Getting into the kitchen, popping on your favourite Christmas songs and starting to bake is guaranteed to make you feel festive, even if it is November!
If you have kids, you can be sure that they’ll love to get involved. Baking together is always a fun activity and an excellent way to get kids involved in your preparations. Although you may need to bake extra as they might not be willing to wait until Christmas to sample the goodies they have prepared!
Starting early allows you to enjoy your Christmas baking preparations while also giving you one less thing to do when Christmas edges closer. You’ll simple need to defrost and then reheat your creations.
Don’t do it All Alone
Getting ahead with your Christmas preparations is essential, but it’s important to remember that you don’t need to do it all alone. Christmas is the time for coming together with others and spending time with your loved ones. Making your Christmas preparations a family affair will not only lighten the load for you, but can also be a lovely way to spend quality time with your loved ones at what is usually a hectic time of the year.
You may even start some new family traditions in the process.