Household Management: 15 Stress Busters for the Holidays

1. Plan in advance: Make your preparations for dinner, decorating, entertaining, and housecleaning well ahead of the Holiday.
2. Clean your major rooms: 15 minute segments of cleaning before the event prevents a major cleaning when you are most busy. Aim for organization and acceptable levels of cleanliness and neatness, not perfection.
3. Keep a Holiday notebook: If you don't already have one. Start one today. Put in your menus and your shopping lists. Note what decorations you used where and also their storage place. Pictures are great. Make notes of things that work out well, but also note the things that did not work our well so that you can avoid them next year.
4. Accept any help offered: Your family and friends offer to help because they want to. There is no reason to be a one woman manager-accept help.
5. Not everything needs 'from scratch' preparation. Taking shortcuts is perfectly acceptable.
6. Take a poll of family members, be sure to include yourself: Ask them what traditions, activities, and menu items are really important to them. Keep the ones that mean the most and let go of the others. Many times traditions go for years and actually no one cares about them at all. Save your energy for those that count
7. Stock up on staples:Many items go on sale during the year, stock up. Nuts and canned goods keep well, candied fruit and such freeze well.
8. Consider baking 2 smaller turkeys: They cook up easier and quicker, and are much easier to store both before and after the Holiday.
9. Make a list: List the things that you must do, separate out the items that are just wishful thinking. Concentrate on what is really important and let the rest go.
10. Simplify: Choose the easier method of getting done what needs doing. Everything doesn't need to done in exquisite detail
11. Take time out for you: Give yourself the time and the permission to get your hair done, your nails manicured and whatever else needed. Don't neglect your need for adequate sleep.
12. Maintain your errand list:A prominent spot is best. Errands are greedy time stealers. Combine errands in a logical way. Do as many errands in one trip as possible. Enlist other family members to help with the errands.
13. Upgrade your cooking utensils: especially the smaller items, new sharp knives, peelers, scrapers and so forth make a big job smaller.
14. Provide a Play Area: or game room for the children, have it well stocked with activities for everyone. Busy children and teens are much more fun than bored ones.
15. Relax: You have done your best! Enjoy your company and family. No one but you will know if something is undone. Let it go and have a Great Holiday!

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