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

Hello everyone.

Yes, the title of this

episode is correct.

It's time to start

planning for Christmas.

In whatever form you partake in the

annual event, there are things you need

to get into place right now to remove

stress or chaos from trying to do things

in the weeks leading up to the day.

And also to make sure that you're not

paying off Christmas in the new year.

So a little bit of planning

is needed, but it's not hard.

In fact, this is the fun type of

planning where your goal is to

create joy for others and yourself

Let's run through the key areas.

You need to get organized gifts.

Your plans for the holiday

period and budgets.

First up, gifts.

I recommend you get into the

habit of starting your Christmas

list early, really early.

In the new year, when you start

a new diary, there are normally a

couple of notes pages at the back.

This is a great spot to start

your Christmas planning.

And you can also use other forms

to record your list according

to how you manage yourself.

This could be in your bullet journal or

a dedicated notes page on your phone.

Whatever suits you best

is the right tool to use.

Your list should have a column for names

of people, a column for gift ideas.

A column for your budget and then

somewhere to tick off when you have

purchased or completed your gift

for a person throughout the year.

Writing my Christmas gift list

is one of the first things I

do each year in my new diary.

I love doing this just after Christmas

when I can make sure I add the names

of people I forgot, or people I may

have had to do last minute, gifting

for, or persons I had overlooked.

My challenge to you today is to take five

minutes after you finish this podcast and

start your list for the coming Christmas.

Just write down names.

Consider people in your life you'd

like to recognize at Christmas, which

could be family, friends, teachers,

children's school friends, work

colleagues, acquaintances, and relatives

you may be expecting to see this year.

Over the coming weeks, as your list

starts to get really solid with names,

allocate a budget against each person.

This budget is really important to

help guide either the purchase of a

gift or supplies to create a gift.

total up the amount you have noted.

Make it your goal this year to

have a debt free Christmas day.

So how much do you need to start

putting aside each week to afford the

budget you have allocated to gifts?

Next, we are still months out

from Christmas and you can

start to fill in gift ideas.

Stick to your budget and take

inspiration from conversations

you've been having with people.

Have they hinted at things

that they would need or love?

Consider experiences over things.

Think of gifts you can craft or create

yourself with that extra special touch.

so much.

Between now and Christmas, there are a

myriad of sales that will start coming

our way, which is fantastic because

you are now prepared with your list and

budget to start looking for great buys.

As you start to cross people off your

list, I recommend having a large tub

or a box at your house that you can

place items in throughout the year.

Place some sticky notes and a

pen inside the box also, so that

you can make a note of who it's

for as you place it in the box.

This tip just makes

things easier at wrapping.

My personal goal is to have gifts sorted

and wrapped by the end of November.

I love the feeling of being uber prepared

coming into the Christmas period.

No rush, no stress.

Sometimes my kids help me wrap.

Sometimes I love just taking a few hours

and making presents really beautiful.

So that's getting yourself planned,

productive, and purposeful in your

presence, which I find makes the gifts

even more thoughtful and special.

Next up, planning for the holiday period.

Do you have a traditional way

of celebrating on the day?

Or will this year be different?

Are you planning a holiday as well?

Do you have the responsibility

for cooking for a large group?

Or do you contribute a dish

to a family or friends meal?

Make notes in your Christmas notes

section about your typical Christmas.

There are definitely a few meals out

I need to budget for, as well as some

cooking I like to do on Christmas

Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day.

And last year I ordered a spectacular

lemon meringue tart from a local

French baker, and I'm definitely

planning to do that again this year.

So start to build out a rough plan

that you can put your estimates against

so that you can budget for this also.

Also don't forget to make time

to do your annual decorating.

This should be a fun activity and not

one that's jammed into your calendar late

one night just to make sure it gets done.

Plan out what you need to do well

in advance and dedicate time to it.

So your planning needs to include

time for decorating, but also pack up.

Whether this is after Boxing Day or

after New Year's, depending on what

you all like to do, give yourself

the time needed to remove stress from

the exercise by giving yourself time.

Let's have a look at

budgets in more detail.

I have set up a saving account

that is called Christmas Savings.

Yes, a really obvious account

name, but it makes a clear message

for me to create a time of year

that is joyful and comfortable.

And for me, saving and being

prepared takes out the chaos.

After looking at your budgets,

how much do you need to save?

Obviously for this year, the

money you put aside will be a bit

more compressed because Christmas

is actually coming quite soon.

But from next year, if you start saving

from the first week of January, you need

to put aside 10 a week to have 500 at

Christmas, 20 a week to have a thousand,

30 a week to have 1500 and so on.

This holiday period comes every year.

It's not a surprise.

And with very simple planning,

your credit card won't need to

take a hit and your personal

achievement will be on a high.

Which makes the holiday even more fun.

Now I do get asked about gift ideas.

Some of the most popular ones

trending at the moment are travel

vouchers, plants or cactuses.

Cactuses are always really

good for office spaces.

book or book voucher.

The gift of learning is one of

the greatest gifts you can give.

my son has given me some

strong feedback that Lego

continues to be a great present.

But also think of flowers from your

garden or local market, or if you

have any sort of craft skills, a gift

made by you can be really special.

This time of year doesn't

need to be expensive.

Your presence is always the

greatest present of all.

consider things such as taking someone

for a special coffee or afternoon tea,

consider baking someone a special cake.

Or something that you've created

yourself with due thought and effort.

I've heard personal vouchers are

a great way to go, such as gifting

someone a voucher for a day of

you helping them in the garden.

If you have the pleasure of living

close to those you would like to

spoil, take them on an outing to a

bookstore and together select a book

for you to give them on Christmas day.

This holiday period doesn't

have to be the silly season.

With some simple and fun

planning, you can mentally and

financially be comfortable for

the end of year festivities.

remember that your friends and family

don't want a stressful Christmas for you.

And they certainly wouldn't

want you to still be paying

off Christmas in the new year.

So the key takeaways from today, simple

planning can make your holiday period

a joyful and engaging experience.

As early as possible in the year, start

setting aside a small amount of savings

each week to enable you to work towards

achieving a debt free holiday period.

and experiences over things, or

make presents really meaningful.

Planning ahead for gifts

provides you time to really put

a personal touch on presents.

Think about how you would

like to experience the holiday

period well ahead of the time.

What do you love and want to do more of?

And what do you dislike and

want to avoid if you can?

For me, I avoid the stores in

December wherever possible.

It's just not my thing.

But every year I love to go

shopping the week after Christmas

and find our family's special

decoration for our Christmas

collection for the following year.

It's a special ritual and I love

getting a Boxing Day special.

If you have space, there is nothing

wrong with you also purchasing after

Boxing Day, the standard Christmas

consumables while they're on special too.

Think ribbon, wrapping paper, cards.

After you've had a chance to

start your holiday preparations,

I cannot wait to hear from you.

I love all tips on how you make

this time amazing until next time,

keep getting yourself prepared

and live your best balanced life.