Conquering Christmas Chaos
by Mary Jo Rulnick
http://MaryJoRulnick.com 

The winter holidays are one of the most stressful times of the year. There’s so much to do inside the house and the commitments outside of the house seem to double. 

Mary Jo Rulnick, author of The Frantic Woman’s Guide to Feeding Her Family (Warner Books, 2006) and coauthor of The Frantic Woman’s Guide to Life (Warner Books, 2004) offers these tips to help you untangle your Christmas chaos and save you money, too. 

1. Limit your shopping days. Every time you visit a store, you’ll increase the probability of impulse buying. Two or three impulse items on 10 different shopping trips can kill your budget. And studies have shown that once you pick up an item, you’re more than likely to buy it. So, before you put that toy in your hand, think twice. 

2. Purchase the hard-to-buy folks first. The rest of your list will seem like child’s play. Consider gift certificates for massages, pedicures, or a service like “Chefs to Go” that will make and serve the meal to your recipient. 

3. Store comfy clothes in the car. Keep a pair of walking shoes, velour sport suit, or other comfortable clothes in your car trunk so you can easily change from your business attire after work. Racing through the mall in a pair of heels is a lot tougher than walking shoes. 

4. Keep wrapping supplies in one container. Tuck wrapping paper, ribbons, scissors, bows and such inside a clean trash can or storage box for easy access. 

5. Empty freezer and refrigerator contents. Start making dinners from your frozen assets. (Even if you only have time to do so on the weekends for the week ahead.) You’ll have the extra room needed for holiday baking and cooking. 

6. Stockpile “no-think” meals. Tackle the “no time to cook” by keeping “pantry ingredients” like canned tuna, cream of mushroom soup and rice on hand for quick meals. To make: Cook rice according to directions. Dump cooked rice, tuna and soup into a microwave bowl. Heat it in the microwave for 10 minutes. Serve hot. 

7. Plan a dress rehearsal. Have all family members try on their holiday outfits to make sure shoes, tights, shirts and such fit. And with everyone dressed to the hilt, have a neighbor snapped a family photo to use as holiday greeting cards. 

8. Assign a task to everyone. Every day give some small task to a family member to complete. During the winter holidays, there are a lot more responsibilities added to your daily schedule and this will cut down on your tasks. This could be anything from opening greeting cards and hanging them on a designated spot to gathering the dirty clothes from everyone’s room. 

9. Hit the Laundromat. Pick up your overflowing hamper and head straight to the Laundromat. You can wash, dry and fold in less than two hours. Be sure to take along some minor task like your holiday cards and list. You can knock off two tasks at one time. Or take a book and give yourself some downtime. 

10. Create an “art box.” Add stickers, colored pencils, card stock, self-stick foam cutouts, fancy scissors and so forth in a plastic container. Keep this stowed away as a special treat for the times when you are busy and need to keep the kids entertained.