Christmas time means time with family, parties, presents, trips, and seeing old friends. That’s wonderful! Now the downside. It’s also a time for cramming dozens of activities into a short period of time, dealing with a crazy schedule, and trying to function during the shortest days of the year. While all of this is happening, you may also have ongoing work and school obligations.
If your time management skills aren’t on point, you could be in real trouble. Don’t spend your Christmas break overwhelmed and overworked. Instead, here are some holiday time savers that you can use.
Make And Organize Lists
Even if you aren’t normally a list maker, the holidays are the perfect time of year to adopt this helpful technique. Lists can help you stay on top of:
- Your Christmas Shopping
- Packing Your Bags
- Last Minute Chores Before Going on Vacations
- Itineraries
- Paying Your Bills
Even better, there are a ton of free apps that you can use for this. Many of them will coordinate with your calendar app, send you reminder notices, even let you coordinate your to-do lists with friends and family members.
Get Started Early
It’s simple, really. Get an early start on your holiday shopping and chores, and you won’t feel rushed and pressed for time later on. Unfortunately, as much as we promise ourselves we’re going to do this, we often find ourselves waiting until the last minute. So, resolve to do things differently! Here are a few ideas to help you get started:
- Wrapping paper and Christmas decorations go on sale at a deep discount immediately after the holidays. Stock up!
- Hats and gloves make great stocking stuffers. These go on sale just before spring.
- Experience presents are amazing. Do you visit museums, the local zoo, amusement parks or other attractions when the weather is nice? Grab some tickets and gift cards to give away at Christmas time.
- Double up on the food you buy for Thanksgiving and you’ll be ready for Christmas dinner and parties a month early.
Not ready to think about Christmas year ‘round? That’s okay. Just starting a couple of weeks earlier can make a big difference.
Don’t forget to get ahead of the game academically as well. Jared Davis, a blogger at Trust my Paper says, “When Christmas break ends, the spring semester begins. That means college students are vying for time with their advisors and trying to schedule their classes at the last minute. Avoid all of that stress and hassle by choosing your classes and meeting with your advisor in November.”
Double up to Meet Social Obligations
Your parents want you to spend an evening with aunts, uncles, and cousins. Your best friend wants you to come over for a night of video games. A couple of high school buddies have been begging you to go bar hopping since Thanksgiving. It can feel as if you’ve got a month of activities and obligations to fit into just a week or so.
You don’t want to upset anyone, and you don’t want to blow off your loved ones. Instead, look for opportunities to double up. Bring your best friend out for a few drinks with your pals. Then, head back to his place to close out the evening with the video games you promised. Ask your parents to host a get together so you can see friends and family members at once. Just be sure to do your share when it comes to setting up and cleaning.
Plan Some Down Time
The time before and during Christmas is stressful and hectic. If you’re overwhelmed, not taking care of yourself, and tired, you won’t manage your time well at all. Schedule time to yourself. Make sure you have an hour or so each day to relax.
One thing you can do is ensure that your academic work is caught up. This isn’t the time to fret over last minute projects and deadlines. Consider getting help from online paper writing services to make sure your assignments are covered.
Ask For And Give Help
You may have heard the phrase ‘many hands make short work’. It’s old fashioned, but true. Tackling holiday to do lists with someone else can make the work go much faster. Besides, it’s in the spirit of the holiday.
Instead of tackling your to-do list all by yourself, recruit help from friends and family. Then, offer to return the favor. For example, you can offer to babysit one evening for a friend in return for their picking you up at the airport when you fly into town.
It’s also a good time of year to reach out for a bit of professional help. Is your apartment a mess? Hire a cleaning service to come in for a one-time deep cleaning. Are you bogged down with college application essays or your personal statement for graduate school? Check out academic writing service reviews to help you find the assistance you need.
Finally: Get it Done Online
Lastly, let technology save you time and stress. If you can get it done online, from the comfort of your own home, do that! Of course, that means shopping, but that’s not all! You can use the internet to book flights, rent cars, make hotel reservations, even order groceries for delivery. You’ll save so much time avoiding stores and traffic.