12 Ways to Simplify the Holidays

Enjoy a simple holiday!

With the holiday season upon us, I realized that while everyone’s life becomes hectic and stressful, mine becomes even more peaceful and relaxing.

I realize that  you may not be able to make a lot of changes this holiday season, however I felt that sharing my experience and providing different suggestions may help you to be mindful about what you want to create for next year.

My story

Over ten years ago was my first holiday away from family.  My hubby and I decided to celebrate our one year anniversary on a cruise, which happened to fall over the Christmas season.  It was really hard for me to separate myself from my family, but I was also very excited for something new.

At some point we decided to buy gifts for everyone on our trip.  We spent our entire time at one of our port days looking for the perfect gifts.  We were exhausted AND we didn’t get to take in any of the activities that were planned because we were busy shopping. So needless to say, I don’t remember much about the place we visited and we only had 3 port days.

When we got home the real job began by getting everything ready to be mailed.  I had to take it to a special packaging place because of things being fragile, odd shaped, and heavy.  Unfortunately, we didn’t take all of that into consideration when we were shopping.  The packaging and the shipping came to an outrageous amount that was more than the actual gifts we were sending.  I couldn’t believe it.

Looking back I wish we would have just enjoyed our trip and bypassed gifts all together.

Another story relates to holiday cards.  Keeping in touch with friends have always been important to me and holiday cards was something that I just did year to year.  It probably took me several weeks to do my cards because I hand wrote personal messages in every card.  It felt wasteful and meaningless for me to just sign my name.  One year I realized I was sending over 90 cards and the list was only going to grow.  It was another moment of amazement.  It had become a job and I no longer enjoyed it.

Both of these stories allowed me the opportunity to give myself permission to do something different and explore what I really wanted my holiday seasons to be for me.

Then I took appropriate action based on what I wanted, communicated it with my family and was consistent with my actions.  I also have allowed myself to be open and evolve so my holiday season can reflect what I want and need as I evolve as a person.  Now I take into account how the holiday season impacts the environment, which wasn’t a factor several years ago.

As you read this, I encourage you to give yourself permission to do things differently (or the same), explore what you enjoy and don’t enjoy about the holiday season, take appropriate actions to make it more enjoyable, communicate and be consistent with family and friends, and then allow your holidays to evolve.

Before we begin I want to share a few holiday statistics with you.

Reasons to Simplify

• 5 MILLION of extra tons of trash is produced in the U.S. each year between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.
• It takes an average of 4 months for a credit card user to pay off holiday bills.
• The holiday season these days seems less a time of tradition, family and faith than a consumerist binge. And the hidden financial, environmental, and human costs of the commercialization of the holidays are now coming to light: 96% of 8-to-12-year-olds included a big screen TV on their 1997 holiday wish list. But 73% of parents would like to limit their children’s TV watching.
• The day on which holiday sales peak varies depending upon which day of the week Christmas falls upon, but the highest sales day is usually either the last Saturday before Christmas or December 23

This last one tells me there is a lot of last minute, pressured, stressful shopping going on!

1- Making a List and Checking it Twice

What do you love about the holiday season?

What stresses you out about the holiday season?

Solutions to reduce the stressors are:

2- Gift Giving Solutions

This is a pretty important topic.  Not only can it be challenging to find the right gift for a person, we know from personal experience gifts themselves can become clutter.  AND the they often come with strings attached with some sort of expectation of having it displayed, worn, or kept no matter what.

The following gift suggestions will help alleviate a lot of the pressure, while making it more enjoyable for the giver and receiver.

• Gift of Time–(baby/pet sitting, help with a project, teach a skill you may have, make a meal)
• Gift of Activity/vacation (yoga, concerts, photography class,
• Locally made gifts–may require some research, but you could find some amazing products
• Hand delivered gifts (reduce online/catalog shopping)
• Themes–(hand made; under $5; only stocking stuffers, games or puzzles, etc.)
• Gift of Service (house cleaning, massage, landscaping,
• Wish Lists
• Gifts from your home–alarm clocks, cookbooks, toys, books, picture frames etc.
• Gift cards (iTunes, Netflix, Bookstores, coffee shops, movies, etc.)
• Ten Green Toys for the Holiday (http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/shopunshop/10GreenToys.cfm)
• No Gifts
• Give them permission to let go of the gift when it no longer serves them.

3- Gift Wrapping

Americans spend close to $3 billion per year on wrapping paper!  So, instead how about using old maps, cloth napkins, reusable cloth bags, newsprint to wrap your gifts, hide gift for a scavenger hunt?

4- Greeting Cards

• Divide list: odd & even years
• Combine your letters and cards in one
• Address labels
• SimplifyMyCards.com- This is the service I use for my cards. It is easy, fast, inexpensive and personalized cards.
• Don’t do cards at all

5- Decorating

• Try having a decoration party to put up and to take down the decorations.
• Have a different symbol each year as the focus.
• Only decorate one room.
• Organize your decorations based on the room of the house they will be displayed and take a picture so anyone can decorate your space.
• Keep in mind decorations should bring you joy when you look at them; if they don’t, it is time to pass them along to someone else who will enjoy them.
• Go enjoy other places that are decorated all out for the holiday season.  We just spent the weekend at a resort that had huge decorated trees and holiday lights everywhere.

6- TV Freedom.

• Turn the TV off during the holiday season.
• Reserve time with the TV to show holiday movies that can be enjoyed by the whole family.

7- Hire it done

• Cleaning before and after the party
• Local cooks to make dessert or main meal
• Outdoor decorations

8- Social Events

• Pick one or two to attend
• As host, have only a dessert and drinks instead of meal

9- Financial Abundance

• Explore how much you have spent during the holiday season (plane tickets, gifts, food, decorations, etc.)
• Create a holiday savings account and place money in it each month.

10- Tree

• Plant a tree
• Use an outdoor tree to decorate
• Treecycling 101
• Picking the Greenest Tree

11- Organize?

Having a more cheery holiday doesn’t automatically come with being more organized.  The key is this: the less you have, the less you expect, and the less you commit to will allow you to be more organized and in the process feel more peace and cheer with the holidays.

12-Communication

• Know what you want and why
• Share in advance with your family and friends so they have time to process what you are sharing
• Be prepared for different responses
• Be consistent
• Be open to include other’s ideas to make them feel a part of the new tradition

Have a Green Holiday

How can you contribute to a more eco-friendly holiday by taking the following into consideration?

• Gift wrap
• Trees
• Ornaments
• Energy
• Cards
• Gift Giving

Okay…now what?

List at least one thing you are going to do differently to create the holiday you want.

What is your next step?

Resources to Simplify Your Holiday

These resources have helped me along my simplicity journey.

Story of Stuff Great video that will inspire you to have less stuff in your life.

Holiday Survival Kit by NewDream.org

Recycle Trees, and other holiday items

www.SimplifyMyCards.com

Ten Green Toys for the Holiday

Skipping Christmas by Jon Grisham. A fun little story to get you thinking about your own holiday rituals.

“Simplify Your Christmas” by Elaine St. James.  The tips and ideas can be applied to every holiday.

 

May your holidays be filled with peace, love, and simple abundance!

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