Holiday Time Management Tips
If you no longer enjoy the holidays, it's time to re-think.
Who says you have to spend weeks in a frenzy of shopping, visiting,
baking, buying, sending cards to people you scarcely know because
they sent you one last year, buying outfits you'll only wear
once, gift wrapping, holiday concerts, then returning unwanted
gifts?
When you rush from one activity to another, no wonder you don't
enjoy it. For many people, the holidays means spending precious
vacation time meeting endless obligations, hours waiting in airports,
spending money for things they can't afford, and beginning the
New Year mentally and financially depleted. Why not take back
the holidays and celebrate in more enjoyable ways?
The point of the holidays is to relax with your friends and
family. Every meal doesn't have to be elaborate. Hold a potluck
instead of doing all the cooking yourself. A variant on this
is to collaborate on holiday baking. A group of friends or neighbors
plan together, each bakes a large amount of a particular cookie
or pie and shares it with the group. Everyone ends up with a
variety of treats with a fraction of the effort because each
makes only one recipe.
Planning get-togethers is easy with an internet-based invitation
service such as evite.com, which lets you quickly send invitations
to a group of people, send directions, and receive their RSVPs
via e-mail.
Prepare for snafus: If you're flying and must take a connecting
flight to reach your destination, don't schedule so tightly that
if your first flight is late you miss your connection. Waiting
time at the airport can be spent reading, catching up on your
correspondence, or phoning your greetings to people you know
are alone at this time of year-don't forget those who have no
family to visit! Save time and aggravation at the airport by
mailing your wrapped gifts in advance and avoiding the long line
at baggage check.
About those gifts-the easiest way is to shop way in advance.
If, in July, you see something your daughter would love, buy
it then. By December all your gifts are bought, all you have
to do is wrap them. Catalogs are great time-savers for holiday
shopping. Ask your spouse and kids to look through their favorite
catalogs and sign their names by items they want. This not only
spares you having to fight the holiday crowds at the mall, but
everybody gets what they want so there's nothing to exchange
later. A variant on catalog shopping is to buy your gifts on
the Internet.
If you do shop in the stores just before the holiday, take advantage
of stores' gift-wrapping services. For those hard-to-please people
on your list, how about getting them a gift certificate?
When will you find time to stamp, address, and mail out dozens
of holiday greeting cards? Frankly, few people enjoy sending
them, and the recipient's brief pleasure is outweighed by feeling
obligated to send you a card in return. So just skip the cards.
Many people will be relieved --it lets them off the hook so you'll
get far fewer cards next year. For people you really want to
acknowledge, send them a card at Thanksgiving-people get far
fewer cards then so your card will truly be appreciated.
Plan to return a day or two before you go back to work. This
gives you time to shop for groceries, do the laundry, deal with
the mail, etc. This way you begin the New Year rested, not harried.
Jan Jasper has been training busy people to work smarter, not harder, since
1988. She helps clients streamline their procedures, use technology efficiently,
and manage task & information overload. Jan is the author of TAKE
BACK YOUR TIME: HOW TO REGAIN CONTROL OF WORK, INFORMATION, & TECHNOLOGY
(St. Martin's Press). Contact her at www.janjasper.com.
