3 Things You Can Start Now for a Stress Free Holiday Season

Despite the optimism of the title, we know that it’ll take a miracle for anyone to have a stress-free holiday season. However, we are firm believers in aiming high and going for it. Here’s some of our favourite tips on how to have a stress free holiday season. By the way, we’ll presume you already have your holiday shopping done!

1. Dry Clean Your Winter Gear – If you’re going to be stressed, late, and doing everything last minute, you might as well look your best while doing it. Your winter coats, hats, gloves and sweaters will make you feel better – and maybe even get more done – when they’re professionally cleaned and looking sharp. Clean all of your holiday outfits too while you’re at it to knock off as many items off your to-do list at once. There’s nothing worse than spotting a stain as you slip into your favourite party dress.
2. Start House Cleaning – Most people underestimate the extent of their holiday cleaning chores. For them, we’ve put together the following list to help make the holidays a less stressful time of year.
   • Deep Clean the House – If you do this now, before the real stress starts, it’ll be much easier to do a quick ‘spruce-up’ before everyone arrives.
   • Get Your Carpets, Furniture and Window Coverings Cleaned – You can clean the house all you want, but if your rugs, upholstery, blinds and drapes aren’t clean, the house never will be. And Parkers Dry Cleaners now offers an in-home cleaning service that does it all.
   • Clean Your Table Linens – This is another case where, because they’ve been sitting in the linen closet for a year, your table linens may not be as clean as you remember when you take them out at the last minute to dress your table.
3. Take Care of Yourself – The more prepared you are, physically and mentally, for the onslaught of the holidays, the less chance you’ll have of feeling overwhelmed when they get here. Holiday eating is also not usually the healthiest. So, even if you can’t imagine squeezing another minute into your day, do so for yourself, and you may just find that time opens up for you.
4. Plan Everything – Of course, you’ll at least have a list of things-to-do. But the devil (otherwise known as stress) is in the details.
   
   Here’s an example. If you have a “side dish” on your meal planning list, you run the risk of being caught short by leaving the specifics until the week of your holiday meal. But if you start planning now, including the specifics of the side dish, especially those that you can make ahead of time, you’ll reduce stress and increase enjoyment.

If you do everything you can to minimize and manage the inevitable stress of the season, you’ll be able to indulge in what you should be doing: spending time with family and friends; wrapping presents; and simply enjoying the holidays, instead of sweating over them.

If you enjoyed this post, check out our recent article about practical holiday host gifts.