We are now three weeks away from Christmas. Where are you with your holiday planning?

Have you been able to break your task list down and handle a little bit at a time or has life gotten in the way and here you are still scrambling and stressed out about all the things you need to do before the celebrations begin (if they haven’t begun already for you)?

Even if you are just getting started here are some ideas to divide and conquer your holiday task list:

• Review you gift buying list and simplify. Consider purchasing gift cards or giving coupons for tasks or time.
• Set up a wrapping station. Begin wrapping the gifts that need to be mailed.
• Set aside time to address holiday cards or eliminate that task and plan a New Year’s communication.
• Schedule a baking day. Then put it and a grocery trip in your calendar. Recruit helpers for the project. Bake with a friend or relative. Or make arrangement to do a cookie exchange with them.

Ask yourself what is most important to you this holiday season and focus on getting those things done. This can help take some of the stress out of these last few weeks.

According to www.nationalregiftingday.com the third Thursday before Christmas is National Regifting Day. This year that date is December 16, 2010.

This date is particularly appropriate since the third Thursday of December it is the most common day for a holiday office party. And it seems that coworkers are the recipients of the majority of regifts.

So why not bring regifting out of the closet and turn your office or family gift exchange into a regifting party. And before you shut the door to that idea know that regifting is becoming more accepted mostly because it is a way to save holiday expenses and as a way to recycle.

Of course, if you regift there are some guidelines to follow.

Still not ready to regift then give others gift certificates or vouchers for the valuable gift of your time. Things such a yard work, baking or babysitting are possible gifts of time.

Link above Hold a regifting party

As you begin your thank you notes take a few minutes to reflect on the holiday celebrations.

Did they meet your goals? What was the best part? What would you do differently?

By asking those questions and recording those notes in your holiday planner you now have your plan started for the next season.

In addition, answer the following questions and jot the answers down:

• Don’t forget for next year
• Best places to shop
• What worked this year
• What was the best thing that happened

Just think you have the first step done for next year’s holiday plan. Happy 2010!

During this holiday season, remember to take care of yourself to ease stress. Holidays come on top of all our other tasks so make sure you have time for yourself. Put yourself first so you have the energy for others and other things.

If you have a plan you can incorporate self care into your schedule to help find balance. Also, as you plan for the remainder of the holiday season remember to:

• Let go of unrealistic expectations
• Don’t over obligate yourself
• Put your own name on your list
• Ask for help and take it
• Take time to for a leisure activity such as a movie or reading a book
• Continue to exercise and eat healthy
• Look outside yourself and make contact with those less fortunate

Does the thought of sending holiday cards send you into panic mode?

You can enjoy the process of card giving if you have a plan.

Schedule time in your plan to buy cards and stamps and to address and sign cards. If you haven’t put these tasks in your calendar yet, do so now and soon. Also schedule a reasonable amount of time since the majority of us still hand address and sign cards.

One tactic for eliminating stress related to sending holiday cards is to simplify and place a limit on how many you will send. You can base the number on cost, an arbitrary number such as 50 or 100, by keeping track of who responds with cards or by the amount of time you have available to spend on this task.

By having a realistic plan you can stress less on holiday cards. Remember this task should be enjoyable for you as well as for the receiver.

Here are a few more tips for organizing your holiday gift-giving:

• Set up a gift-wrap center right away so you can wrap as you go. Select a color and theme for your wrapping and keep all supplies such as tape, pens and scissors together so you don’t have to hunt for them.
• Prepare a written gift list NOW (if you haven’t already). List people in same order each year and save the list to reference.
• Keep your receipts in one place. This will help with returns or budget calculations.
• Buy in major categories or themes or from the same store or mall or order gifts on line and ship direct. Doing so helps streamline buying and saves time.

Gift-giving can be an enjoyable process if you include time for it in your holiday plans. If you haven’t already started shopping make the commitment to do so now so you can take pleasure in gift-giving and enjoy the remainder of the festivities.

“Gift giving is the inside-out feeling wrapped in a box.” ~Marcia Ramsland

Many times as we approach the holiday gift-giving becomes more of a chore than a pleasure. Gif-giving is often identified by many as one of the biggest stresses in preparing for the holiday season.

Just think about it…. you have to decide what to buy, where to buy it, wrap it and deliver it. Then there is potentially mailing gifts.

Once you get your gift buying organized by having a full of gift ideas, past gift lists for reference and supplies on hand for convenient gift wrapping holiday shopping can be an enjoyable process.

Start by looking at how many people you can reasonably buy gifts for. Is there a magic number? Maybe it is 10. Or maybe you say how can I exclude anyone? The bottom is when your list of names is manageable you will enjoy the season more. Stop whatever is frustrating. Stop feeling guilty.

Here are some ideas for making your gift list manageable:
• Draw names
• Give family gifts
• Give couple gifts
• Limit age of extended family members
• Give gift cards

It is important to learn your limits and to write your list on paper which will give you the perfect overview. And don’t forget to keep fine tuning it each year.

Have you started your holiday planning? Have you been thinking about the holidays and thought you need to get a plan going? Or do you say what plan, why would I need a plan?

Most of the holiday stress occurs in the last three weeks because most events happen during that timeframe. There are parties, cookie exchanges, religious events, concerts, open houses and work potlucks. If you wait until just before the holiday to get it all done…no wonder you are stressed.

The solution to stressing less for the holidays is to have a plan so you can enjoy the process along the way. In fact, I am a proponent of whenever you have to do something more than once; it saves time and stress if you organize it with a project plan. Let’s face it the holidays are a project.

Having an eight week timeframe for planning the holidays is ideal. But it is still doable in the six weeks remaining before the holiday. Here is an outline of tasks to accomplish week by week for the next six weeks to take the stress out of the holidays.

• 6 weeks: develop gift list, set up gift-wrapping center shop/wrap ½ of gift list, develop card list, address envelopes/create holiday letter/copy
• 5 weeks: shop/wrap ½ of gift list, finalize baking/menu list, buy stamps gather return labels
• 4 weeks: decorate outdoors, write holiday cards, buy baking supplies
• 3 weeks: decorate indoors, mail gifts/cards
• 2 weeks: attend/host parties, buy grocery staples, bake/cook ahead, begin cleaning/finalize holiday menu
• 1 week: finish baking/cleaning, buy perishable groceries

So put these tasks in your calendar and you’ll be on the road to feeling prepared and calm this holiday season.

For more holiday tips I will be address some of the tasks over the next several weeks.

If you would like to receive a copy of the Clutter Busting Coach’s Eight Week Holiday Plan contact me.

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Everyone is faced with daily stressors and as the holiday season approaches stress can become extreme when combined with daily pressures.

You can handle stress- big and small-by following these tips:
• Avoiding problems (stressors) can make them seem bigger than they are because you can start to imagine the worst case scenario. Many times the worst never happens. When you start to fret stop worry in its tracks. Ask yourself what is the worst thing that could happen, then how likely it will happen. Many problems seem insurmountable, but realistically looking at the problem, identifying potential outcomes and actions can ease stress.

• Make a plan and determine an alternative or Plan B. Sometimes having a backup plan can prevent frustration if the first plan doesn’t work out.

• Tackle problems one step at a time. Take any project or task and break it down into small steps.

• Embrace the fear. When you start feeling stressed become aware of how your body feels so that these sensations become familiar and don’t feed your worry.

• “Vaccinate” yourself against stress. Push yourself to deal with small stressors to build confidence for handling the bigger ones.

“Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.” ~ Henry Ford

Although you can’t control some things that cause stress like losing your job or a parent’s illness, you can take steps to control the negative effect of stress on your body.

Take charge of stress by:
• Rallying your support system. This can be a network of friends who will listen so you don’t feel isolated.
• Journal or keep a “stress journal” to help you pinpoint your trigger issues so you can brainstorm ways to respond differently in the future.
• Visualize yourself less tense or visualize a nice scene such as the beach. This can help you feel refreshed.
• Take a deep breath. Slow, full breaths are the key to the relaxation response.
• Practice mediation. Mindful thought can help center you.
• Remind yourself that you have choices. When you have control, challenge and commitment you will find yourself with a better attitude.

It is within your power to stop complaining about your job, your kids or your bills. Focus instead on the positives such as your yoga class after work or creating action plans to incorporate healthy eating even when you work overtime or setting boundaries with friends/family.

By deciding to get outside of yourself and to stop dwelling on a problem you can bolster your sense of power and lift some of your anxiety. So again, employ self-care…take better care of yourself…get enough sleep, eat well and exercise so you will be more distress resistant.