Spend Less this Christmas

Unique Ways to Simplify and Spend Less This Christmas What is it about the Christmas season that causes us to overspend, overeat, and get stressed out during the holidays? Seriously, this time of year is supposed to be about love, peace, and giving, but we've allowed it to degenerate into shopping craziness. It’s become a full on festival of stress! So what can we do to counteract all the craziness that come with Christmas? Well, first I think the best way to make the Christmas season a more enjoyable time of year is to simplify our approach to the season.   11 Steps To a Simpler Christmas So to help out with that, here are 11 ways to lower your stress level, spend less, and increase your enjoyment of the Christmas holidays through simplifying your approach. 1. Don’t Spend What You Don’t Have Spend only saved up cash in buying gifts so you don’t end up with a post-Christmas financial hangover.  2. Slow Down It’s so easy to rush, rush, rush, during the holidays and forget to relax and enjoy.  Relax and don’t feel like you have to please everyone. 3. Set Expectations Tell family and friends that you’re simplifying your holidays this year and that you won’t make it to every party or give a gift to every person.  This lets you off the hook and allows you to put less pressure on yourself.  If your friends and family don’t like it, that’s their choice to make. 4. It’s OK to Say No Once expectations are set, follow through by committing only to the parties and people that are most important to you and bring you the most joy. 5. Give Less Gifts Don’t feel obligated to give a gift to everyone.  Giving because you feel obligated is not a way to bring joy to your life.  Focus on giving to people that you love the most, make you the happiest and to the less privileged.. 6. Don’t Go Crazy With The Christmas Decorations Some people really love to decorate for Christmas.  But if trying to make your house into a Christmas village causes you more stress than it should, then cut back, decorate simply, and eliminate the stress that comes from trying to make everything look “perfect”. 7. Don’t Be a Control Freak Feeling like everything has to be “just perfect” for the holidays is a recipe for disaster.  You can have a nice Christmas season without stressing out over what people think about your party, your gift, or your décor.  Keep it simple, relax, and have a good time. 8. Make a Plan For Next Year For many people, Christmastime is stressful because they run up huge debts.  Make a plan to start putting back money every month for Christmas spending.  Start in January, and when December comes around you’ll have enough to take care of your Christmas expenses. 9. Find Time To Relax at Night Turn on the Christmas tree lights, dim the room lights, and curl up with a good book or some good Christmas music and a cup of tea or choco. 10. Don’t Accept Every Invitation For me and many others, going to too many holiday parties can be stressful because there’s just not enough time to enjoy them all.  Accept only the invites that are the most important to you to minimize Christmas party fatigue. 11. Focus on Faith and Family Remember that ultimately Christmas is about loving God and loving others.  It’s not all about parties, gifts, large amounts of food, and sparkly decorations.  It’s about loving people and spending time with them. It’s about worshiping the God that made us and is there for us always. It’s about recognizing that He was born and died for us. That’s about as simple and stress free as it gets. Enjoy the season! Merry Christmas in advance!

Culled from: https://www.cfinancialfreedom.com