The holidays are upon us! While the holiday season is filled with joy and excitement, it can also be overwhelming and stressful. The holidays require upfront planning for things like what to eat, what gifts to give, and what events to attend. A good holiday planner can help reduce some of that holiday overwhelm and stress. The components of a good holiday planner include pages necessary to plan, budget and stay focused throughout the holiday season.
A good holiday planner
Holiday Planner Benefits
Holiday planners help you set goals, plan activities, budget, and stay focused and organized throughout the holidays. Proper planning helps eliminate some of your holiday stress. To be most effective, you should begin using a holiday planner in October. It’s never too early to plan and prepare!
Holiday Planner Components
There are four components to a good holiday planner: holiday goal setting, holiday planning, holiday budgeting, and reflection. Each section is important for helping reduce your holiday stress and giving you more joy.
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Holiday Goal Setting
Any good holiday planner will include a section on holiday goal setting. Determining what things you and your family want to do and don’t want to during the holiday season is a great way to set your holiday focus. Any tasks, events or parties that are not part of your holiday goals should be eliminated and avoided. Goal setting will help you determine very quickly what items make it on your holiday schedule and which ones do not.
Planning
Your holiday planner should have pages to help you plan activities, tasks and events that you want to complete or attend over the holiday season. Plan things like your menus, grocery lists, family activities, gift lists, holiday schedule, Christmas card list, and other important holiday tasks to keep you organized and less overwhelmed. I recommend starting the planning process in late October.
Budgeting
Budgeting is an essential part of holiday planning. It’s critical to review your personal budget and determine a realistic holiday budget in early November. Create a budget for food, travel, gifts, decor, and other key holiday items before you start shopping. Set your budget and stick to it by documenting your purchases in your holiday planner as you go. Staying on budget will help eliminate some of the post-holiday stress caused when your credit card bills arrive!
Reflection
It’s important to take a few minutes at the end of the holiday season to reflect. Did you meet your goals? What went well and what did not go well? Are there things you want to do again next year? What do you want to eliminate? I recommend keeping your planner so that you can refer to this reflection section when planning next year. It’s a great way to remember the important things to do and not do!
Goal setting, planning, budgeting and reflecting all are valuable components of a good holiday planner. Each section is necessary to ensure you stay on task, on budget, meet your holiday goals, and reduce your overwhelm.
Power 4 Mom’s Holiday Planner
Our Power 4 Mom’s Holiday Planner provides you with pages to set holiday goals, plan holiday activities, set a holiday budget, create a holiday gift list and stay organized throughout the holiday season. You can download the FREE Holiday Planner below.
This Holiday Planner also includes a section on Power 4 Mom’s secret holiday weapon- the time management solution called POWER Pockets™. POWER Pockets™ are 15-minute gaps of downtime throughout your workday that you can use to complete important tasks- including holiday tasks. POWER Pockets™ are a great way to maximize your moments and reduce some of your overwhelm.
TIPS FOR USING power 4 mom’S Holiday Planner:
Review the planner and print out the pages that are helpful to you.
I recommend putting the pages in a notebook or having it bound at your local supply store so you can keep it all organized.
Sit down with your family and complete the holiday goals page.
Determine what’s important to your family and what is not. This will help clarify the agenda for your holiday season and reduce some of the overwhelm. Predetermining what events you will attend and not attend takes pressure off of trying to do all. the. things!
Schedule a couple of POWER Pockets™ each day to help you complete many of your holiday tasks.
Use POWER Pockets™ to complete the pages in your holiday planner. You can easily plan your menus, order your groceries, shop for gifts, ship your holiday gifts, mail your Christmas cards and keep track of your holiday spending during your POWER Pockets™
Review your finances
Look over your finances and determine a realistic holiday budget that will not overextend you finanically. The holidays are stressful enough without having to worry about how you are going to pay off those gifts afterwards. Set a budget and stick to it. You’ll be so thankful you did when the credit card bills come in January!
Watch holiday ads
Review holiday ads and create a plan to catch all of the sales so that you can get more bang for your buck and stay within your budget. Make the most of your money by taking advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. Some stores are already offering holiday deals. Perusing ads is a great POWER Pockets™ task! There are pages in the planner for you to map out your shopping plans!
Try to schedule some POWER Pockets™ for self-care.
I like to schedule at least 2 POWER Pockets™ each week in November, December and January to help keep myself relaxed and refreshed as I go through the holiday season and the start of the new year. Your self-care activity doesn’t have to be anything expensive or extravagant. Sometimes, my self-care POWER Pockets™ consists of listening to Christmas carols while sipping on a cup of hot cocoa! The goal is to take just a few minutes and refresh yourself.
Take time to reflect
When the holidays are over, take time to complete the reflection page at the end of the planner and document what worked, what didn’t work and any other notes you want to remember for next year. Save your planner so you can easily refer to it next year when planning the 2022 holiday season!
More peace & Less overwhelm
I believe you can have more joy and less overwhelm this holiday season through proper planning and preparation. Power 4 Mom’s Holiday Planner and POWER Pockets™ are great tools to help you complete many of your holiday tasks and have a less stressful holiday season. Happy Holidays!
Don’t miss out! Grab your FREE 2021 Holiday Planner today!
