10 Time Savers for the Holidays to Help Keep Your Sanity

Posted: January 11, 2023

It happens every year. All the running around, obligations, stress, and less sleep eventually wear you down. Instead of enjoying the holidays with your friends and family, (some of whom you only get to see a few times a year) you are sleep-deprived, cranky, and stretched too thin. NOT THIS YEAR!! You can make the choice to keep your sanity and enter the holiday season with joy and happiness. How can you do this? Read these ten-time savers for the holidays. You don’t have to do them all, but even if you implement one, you’ll be better off than you were (and these are good to work on year-round and build into your routine).

Spending too much time doing errands? Solution: Pay a friend who loves to shop, hire a personal shopper, and get a delivery service, a high school student or a retired person to help you out. You may not get the exact price that you want, but it will be very close and you saved yourself time and the stress from heading to the overcrowded malls. Relax, put your feet up and add some lavender essential oil to your diffuser which is calming, and soothing.

No time to read all your e-mail? Solution: Pop some essential oil into the diffuser while you open up your email and unsubscribe from the excess e-mail that will come with all the sales happening during November and December. Take yourself off of newsletters and unnecessary email lists for the months of November and December. You can always sign up again in January. Clean up your email using Unroll.me

Can’t pay your bills on time? Solution: Automate all administrative and financial tasks. Use bill paying with computer software, internet, or by phone. Try a debit card. Pay bills with automatic deductions. Use reminder services for birthdays, bills, etc. You’ll open up space that more than justifies the cost. With the time you save, you can go for a walk or take an exercise class. You might need some Deep Blue essential oil blend to help soothe those aching muscles!

Can’t get it all done? Solution: Cut back on everything you don’t need… I sent out my Christmas cards last February because it was less stressful for me. My friends wrote back to tell me they actually had the time to read them. Prevent yourself from filling up every available space on your bingo card. If you DO happen to overdo it, add the Breathe essential oil blend to your diffuser and you’ll start to breathe easier in minutes!

Hate shopping at the mall? Solution: Order supplies and gifts via catalogs and the Internet. No need to get trapped shopping at the mall, trying to remember where you parked. Remove yourself from great quantities of stress. You can usually save money that offsets the mailing costs or get free shipping!

Can’t find things in your closet? Solution: Empty your closets of any items you don’t really like or don’t fit. Before you put your clothes back in, spray your closet with a spray bottle of Tea Tree essential oil and water to purify the air in an enclosed space. This simple act will lighten your load and set off a chain reaction that will simplify other areas of your life (basement, garage, attic, and desk).

Invited to so many holiday events that it exhausts you? Solution: Eliminate what drains your energy. Simplify your personal relationships. Identify the 10 most important people in your life and focus on them, instead of trying to juggle your relationships. Do you really enjoy a party that you attended out of a sense of obligation? Try saying no and see how that free time feels. When you are feeling frazzled, try some Frankincense & Lavender essential oils rubbed between your palms and inhaled or in your diffuser to keep you grounded during this busy time of the year.

The house is a mess, especially around the holidays. Solution: Add some onGuard blend and Lemon essential oils to a spray bottle and delegate the cleaning to a housekeeper. Get rid of the household threats and leave your house smelling delicious. Hire a maintenance man, handy person, computer person, or whatever it takes to ease your workload.

Feel obligated to do family traditions that wear you out? Solution: Just say no. Children go through a phase where NO is their favorite word. No is empowering because it allows us time and space to do what we really want to do. Give yourself permission to say no to holiday traditions that have lost meaning or are too stressful. You don’t have to bake 25 different types of cookies this year. (But just in case you eat too much and your stomach doesn’t agree, be sure to have the DigestZen essential oil blend on hand for both you and the kids!)

Can’t concentrate on anything? Solution: Take 15 minutes per day quiet time to just do nothing. Breathe, meditate with some Balance essential oil. Rub some Balance essential oil between your palms, cup your nose, take some deep breathes. and give your gray matter rest and your spirit a boost.

Action tip: Choose one way to lighten your load. Start it today.