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Its Time to Start Planning for Christmas!
Episode 93rd July 2024 • Keeping Balance At Hand • Jaqui Bohn
00:00:00 00:09:33

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Yes, you read that right. It's time to start planning for Christmas even though we are several months away from the holiday season. 

Whether you celebrate Christmas traditionally or in your unique way, early preparation is key to enjoying a stress-free, joyful holiday without the last-minute chaos or financial strain. A little bit of planning now can go a long way in ensuring your festivities run smoothly and you don’t end up paying off Christmas well into the new year. In this episode, I’ll run you through some of the tips that I have to ensure a happy and stress free Christmas period.

Remember, your presence is the greatest present of all. With simple planning, you can ensure a joyful, engaging, and meaningful holiday period. Start saving early, plan your gifts thoughtfully, and decide how you want to experience the holiday well in advance. Avoid the December rush and find special moments to cherish.


After you start your holiday preparations, I’d love to hear from you. Share your tips on how you make this season amazing. Until next time, keep preparing and live your best balanced life.


Happy early Christmas planning!


Connect with Me: 

Website: www.balanceathand.com 

Instagram:  @balance_at_hand

Transcripts

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Hello everyone.

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Yes, the title of this

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episode is correct.

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It's time to start

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planning for Christmas.

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In whatever form you partake in the

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annual event, there are things you need

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to get into place right now to remove

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stress or chaos from trying to do things

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in the weeks leading up to the day.

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And also to make sure that you're not

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paying off Christmas in the new year.

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So a little bit of planning

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is needed, but it's not hard.

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In fact, this is the fun type of

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planning where your goal is to

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create joy for others and yourself

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Let's run through the key areas.

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You need to get organized gifts.

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Your plans for the holiday

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period and budgets.

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First up, gifts.

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I recommend you get into the

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habit of starting your Christmas

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list early, really early.

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In the new year, when you start

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a new diary, there are normally a

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couple of notes pages at the back.

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This is a great spot to start

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your Christmas planning.

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And you can also use other forms

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to record your list according

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to how you manage yourself.

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This could be in your bullet journal or

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a dedicated notes page on your phone.

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Whatever suits you best

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is the right tool to use.

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Your list should have a column for names

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of people, a column for gift ideas.

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A column for your budget and then

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somewhere to tick off when you have

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purchased or completed your gift

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for a person throughout the year.

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Writing my Christmas gift list

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is one of the first things I

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do each year in my new diary.

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I love doing this just after Christmas

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when I can make sure I add the names

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of people I forgot, or people I may

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have had to do last minute, gifting

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for, or persons I had overlooked.

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My challenge to you today is to take five

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minutes after you finish this podcast and

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start your list for the coming Christmas.

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Just write down names.

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Consider people in your life you'd

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like to recognize at Christmas, which

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could be family, friends, teachers,

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children's school friends, work

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colleagues, acquaintances, and relatives

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you may be expecting to see this year.

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Over the coming weeks, as your list

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starts to get really solid with names,

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allocate a budget against each person.

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This budget is really important to

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help guide either the purchase of a

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gift or supplies to create a gift.

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total up the amount you have noted.

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Make it your goal this year to

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have a debt free Christmas day.

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So how much do you need to start

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putting aside each week to afford the

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budget you have allocated to gifts?

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Next, we are still months out

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from Christmas and you can

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start to fill in gift ideas.

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Stick to your budget and take

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inspiration from conversations

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you've been having with people.

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Have they hinted at things

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that they would need or love?

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Consider experiences over things.

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Think of gifts you can craft or create

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yourself with that extra special touch.

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so much.

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Between now and Christmas, there are a

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myriad of sales that will start coming

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our way, which is fantastic because

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you are now prepared with your list and

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budget to start looking for great buys.

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As you start to cross people off your

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list, I recommend having a large tub

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or a box at your house that you can

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place items in throughout the year.

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Place some sticky notes and a

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pen inside the box also, so that

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you can make a note of who it's

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for as you place it in the box.

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This tip just makes

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things easier at wrapping.

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My personal goal is to have gifts sorted

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and wrapped by the end of November.

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I love the feeling of being uber prepared

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coming into the Christmas period.

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No rush, no stress.

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Sometimes my kids help me wrap.

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Sometimes I love just taking a few hours

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and making presents really beautiful.

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So that's getting yourself planned,

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productive, and purposeful in your

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presence, which I find makes the gifts

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even more thoughtful and special.

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Next up, planning for the holiday period.

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Do you have a traditional way

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of celebrating on the day?

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Or will this year be different?

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Are you planning a holiday as well?

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Do you have the responsibility

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for cooking for a large group?

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Or do you contribute a dish

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to a family or friends meal?

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Make notes in your Christmas notes

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section about your typical Christmas.

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There are definitely a few meals out

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I need to budget for, as well as some

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cooking I like to do on Christmas

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Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day.

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And last year I ordered a spectacular

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lemon meringue tart from a local

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French baker, and I'm definitely

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planning to do that again this year.

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So start to build out a rough plan

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that you can put your estimates against

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so that you can budget for this also.

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Also don't forget to make time

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to do your annual decorating.

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This should be a fun activity and not

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one that's jammed into your calendar late

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one night just to make sure it gets done.

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Plan out what you need to do well

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in advance and dedicate time to it.

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So your planning needs to include

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time for decorating, but also pack up.

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Whether this is after Boxing Day or

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after New Year's, depending on what

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you all like to do, give yourself

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the time needed to remove stress from

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the exercise by giving yourself time.

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Let's have a look at

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budgets in more detail.

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I have set up a saving account

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that is called Christmas Savings.

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Yes, a really obvious account

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name, but it makes a clear message

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for me to create a time of year

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that is joyful and comfortable.

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And for me, saving and being

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prepared takes out the chaos.

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After looking at your budgets,

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how much do you need to save?

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Obviously for this year, the

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money you put aside will be a bit

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more compressed because Christmas

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is actually coming quite soon.

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But from next year, if you start saving

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from the first week of January, you need

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to put aside 10 a week to have 500 at

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Christmas, 20 a week to have a thousand,

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30 a week to have 1500 and so on.

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This holiday period comes every year.

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It's not a surprise.

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And with very simple planning,

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your credit card won't need to

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take a hit and your personal

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achievement will be on a high.

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Which makes the holiday even more fun.

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Now I do get asked about gift ideas.

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Some of the most popular ones

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trending at the moment are travel

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vouchers, plants or cactuses.

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Cactuses are always really

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good for office spaces.

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book or book voucher.

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The gift of learning is one of

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the greatest gifts you can give.

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my son has given me some

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strong feedback that Lego

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continues to be a great present.

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But also think of flowers from your

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garden or local market, or if you

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have any sort of craft skills, a gift

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made by you can be really special.

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This time of year doesn't

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need to be expensive.

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Your presence is always the

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greatest present of all.

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consider things such as taking someone

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for a special coffee or afternoon tea,

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consider baking someone a special cake.

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Or something that you've created

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yourself with due thought and effort.

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I've heard personal vouchers are

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a great way to go, such as gifting

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someone a voucher for a day of

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you helping them in the garden.

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If you have the pleasure of living

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close to those you would like to

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spoil, take them on an outing to a

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bookstore and together select a book

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for you to give them on Christmas day.

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This holiday period doesn't

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have to be the silly season.

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With some simple and fun

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planning, you can mentally and

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financially be comfortable for

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the end of year festivities.

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remember that your friends and family

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don't want a stressful Christmas for you.

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And they certainly wouldn't

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want you to still be paying

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off Christmas in the new year.

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So the key takeaways from today, simple

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planning can make your holiday period

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a joyful and engaging experience.

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As early as possible in the year, start

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setting aside a small amount of savings

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each week to enable you to work towards

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achieving a debt free holiday period.

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and experiences over things, or

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make presents really meaningful.

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Planning ahead for gifts

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provides you time to really put

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a personal touch on presents.

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Think about how you would

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like to experience the holiday

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period well ahead of the time.

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What do you love and want to do more of?

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And what do you dislike and

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want to avoid if you can?

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For me, I avoid the stores in

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December wherever possible.

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It's just not my thing.

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But every year I love to go

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shopping the week after Christmas

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and find our family's special

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decoration for our Christmas

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collection for the following year.

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It's a special ritual and I love

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getting a Boxing Day special.

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If you have space, there is nothing

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wrong with you also purchasing after

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Boxing Day, the standard Christmas

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consumables while they're on special too.

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Think ribbon, wrapping paper, cards.

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After you've had a chance to

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start your holiday preparations,

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I cannot wait to hear from you.

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I love all tips on how you make

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this time amazing until next time,

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keep getting yourself prepared

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and live your best balanced life.

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