Christmas is one of the worst times of year for managing your time effectively, particularly if you are a working parent. In your job, you are rushing to get all your work done before the Christmas break and at home you have to do all the shopping, decorating and cooking (you, too guys!). Not to mention ferrying your kids here and there, attending their school nativity play and finding ways to amuse them at home during the ‘relaxing’ Christmas vacation.
So, how can you have a Christmas that doesn’t frazzle your nerves and have you praying for it to end?
After many years of stress-filled seasons of joy and goodwill to all men I needed something to save my sanity every December so I developed the PROP sytem.
PROP stands for Planning, Realism, Organization and Prioritization.
You need to plan your Christmas well in advance.
I’m not saying you should be one of those sad people who buy next year’s Christmas presents in the January sales. Around October time you should prepare a schedule for November and December. The days you are going to go shopping, when you are going to meet your friends, when to put up the tree and decorate your home. Make a list of people you are going to buy presents for. Also, the week before Christmas make sure you have a whole day free to deal with any last minute problems.
Be realistic.
About time, about money and about your expectations.
As Christmas approaches, it’s not just the days that get shorter. Weeks just fly by and suddenly Christmas Eve arrives and you are nowhere near ready. So, don’t give yourself too much to do. The unexpected always happens when you are under time pressure. The less you have to do, the less pressure you are facing.
Fix a budget that doesn’t max out your credit card or dip into your savings. It would be nice to buy your wife that diamond ring she’s always wanted, but maybe not this Christmas. Don’t expect a magical White Christmas with peace on earth. The more you chase magic the faster it runs away from you. A Christmas at home with your family around you and food on the table is magical in itself.
Organize.
Share the tasks around the family. Delegate someone to get the food. Someone else to get the tree. And have a dishwashing and cleaning rota for Christmas and the New year. “If you don’t cook ya gotta clean!” We don’t want mum to be stuck in the kitchen 24/7.
Here comes the difficult part.
Prioritizing.
So, you make your Christmas present list and you can either spend $10 each on 30 presents or $50 on each of your nearest and dearest. It should be an easy decison but a lot of us get embarrassed if we don’t buy presents for friends and colleagues.
You have to make choices.
Decide what you really want to get for your partner, parents and children and work out how much it will cost to get these gifts. Put that amount aside and whatever is left over goes on non-family members.
Prioritizing also includes your time. Christmas Eve at the office party or in front of the tree with your family? Watch TV all day or visit friends?
It takes some effort, but if you use the PROP system you’re well on the way to having a happy, stress-free Christmas
Related posts: