Back For Another Year!
August 21, 2013
I know it is odd to be talking about Christmas and the holidays in August (or maybe it isn’t if you check your stores). However, the earlier you start and the better you plan the less stressful and budget busting the season can be.
Last year I wrote a review for “100 Days to Christmas 2012” by Jennifer Tankersley which you can find here. Well, the 2013 edition is being released today which you can find here.
The last couple years I have talked about the importance of setting up the Christmas budget and planning ahead. This book allows you to do that a little each day from September 16 until December 25. It takes a lot of the stress and guesswork out of holiday planning and provides you plenty of time to enjoy the season with family without worrying about the odds and ends of what you need to get done
The book is an instant download and along with the book you get 28 interactive lists (3 additional over last year) and 60 days free on ListPlanIt – Jennifer’s main site with all kinds of organizational goodies.
How much do I believe this book can help you? Well, I am giving it away! All you need to do is follow the instructions below and you’ll be entered. You have until Sunday to enter and winners will be contacted by e-mail.
Form removed. Giveaway has ended. Congratulations to Michael D. and Emily C. for receiving a free copy of the book!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to All
December 25, 2012
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to Everyone!
May you have a great rest of this year and be ready to kick it into gear for 2013!
ENDED: Giveaway: 3 Holiday ePlanners From ListPlanIt
November 3, 2012
Winners
Congratulations to Matt L., Bambi W., and Davi H.! Enjoy your planners and have a less stressful holiday season!
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From November 3-November 9 you can enter to win one of three holiday eplanners from ListPlanIt. These planners can help keep you organized and stress free during the holiday season from Thanksgiving through Christmas. It is 53 pages of tools such as card lists, gift lists, meal and party planning lists, and anything else you might need to get your holiday planning on track.
Giveaway Times
Giveaway will run from 12:01am EST on November 3, 2012 until 12:01am EST on November 9, 2012. Winners will be announced no later than November 10, 2012 on this page.
Delivery
3 winner will be notified via e-mail and a link to download the eplanner will be sent from ListPlanIt directly to download your eplanner.
How to Sign Up
Follow the information below and gain multiple entries!
*Signup Form Removed – Giveaway has ended*
Keep organized and stress free this holiday season!
September 2, 2012
Book Review – “100 Days to Christmas” by Jennifer Tankersley
I see it year in and year out. Individuals stressed out beyond belief because the holidays “creep up on them” as if the dates move every year. They are running around at the last minute trying to buy gifts and get cards. I know you can relate in some way.
You can now avoid the drama that comes with doing everything last minute thanks to Jennifer Tankersley. Her book “100 Days to Christmas” takes the “surprise” out of the date coming up on you and allows you to do a little each day that gets you ready for Christmas.
Your countdown begins on September 16 as you get your supplies ready to go. Then you do a little each day such as doing your Christmas budget, deciding on a costume for Halloween, and getting your food ready for Thanksgiving day. There is a different activity each day some of which is just something fun to do with the family like picking apples or going to the pumpkin patch. Saturday is your catch up day to do any projects your missed during the week and get ready for the new week.
Along with the ebook you also get 25 downloadable PDF pages from ListPlanIt, Jennifer’s main site, that includes your budget sheet, planning calendars and more.
I highly recommend this ebook, if nothing else, because it allows you to greatly reduce your holiday stress while increasing your enjoyment of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
It is an excellent tool to use and you can add traditions and items that you need to do or take away things that you don’t like. The important thing is you are ready and prepared for the last three and a half months of the year and can enjoy it with your family and friends. I purchased one last year and loved it and I am sure you will find great ideas inside too!
To learn more or purchase the ebook for $5.00 visit ListPlanIt.
If you want to know a little more about reducing your stress through the holiday season check out my article from last year: 99 Days Until Christmas
*Note: I received a copy of this ebook at no charge in exchange for providing my thoughts in this review.*
100 Days of Summertime
May 21, 2012
Jennifer Tankersley’s newest edition to her organizational repertoire has been released. “100 Days of Summertime” is her followup to her successful (and wonderful) ebook “100 Days to Christmas” which takes you from100 days prior to the holiday (September 16) until Christmas day itself and showing you how you can have a stress free holiday season.
In this ebook we go from Memorial Day to Labor Day outlining different life events and activities you can complete to have a great family summer. This includes planning a start of summer party and preparing for graduation events to school starting up and preparing to get ready for fall (which starts September 22).
Woven throughout this book are downloadable planning sheets from Jennifer’s site ListPlanIt which you can fill in the blanks and print out. These are great for continual planning for events during the year.
I recommend this ebook to my clients for a couple of reasons. One is it gives you some ideas on things to do during the summer. Instead of sitting at home all the time or doing the same routine day in and day out this can help provide you with variety.
Second reason is that it helps reduce stress by helping you organize what you need to do through the use of calendars and other downloadable worksheets.
You can purchase this ebook from the ListPlanIt web site for $5.
(Note: I received a copy of this ebook at no charge to review it and the links are referral links.)
Have you started saving for Christmas?
February 8, 2012
It is almost that time of year again! What? It isn’t? Oh, it is just time to start saving for that time of year. That is what I wanted to discuss.
Every year I see first hand hundreds of people waiting until the last minute to purchase presents for Christmas because they do not plan throughout the year. They wait and wait and at the last minute it is like a ghost that was leftover from Halloween screamed “BOO!” and they are rushing to get gifts or get money for the holidays. Want to have a less stressful season in 10 months? Start saving now!
You don’t have to be stressed this year. I promise you, if you will follow a few simple steps you can have the easiest holiday season you have ever had. Everything feels different when you have the money saved, you pay with cash, and you know you won’t have a huge credit card bill come January that may very well stick around until the following Christmas.
All you have to do are a few simple steps:
- Write down everyone you want to buy for.
- Double check that list. Are you sure you want to buy something for everyone on that list?
- Can you make something for some of those people (including food items) instead of buying them an expensive gift? If so, move them to the side of the list.
- Write down how much you want to spend on each person beside their name.
- Total that number up.
- Divide it by how many times you will get paid between now and your last pay check before Christmas.
- BAM! You just decided how much you needed to save each pay day to pay in full in cash for Christmas this year and not have the stress of running around at the last minute.
You must be realistic on what you want to spend on each person. If you make $20,000 a year you need to spend what you can afford. If you feel bad for this, then let the people know now that you can’t afford it and settle on a mutual amount to spend on each other based on what you can spend. Don’t let the people who put everything on credit cards tell you how much you should spend on them.
If you want to go a little further figure out how much it will cost for the supplies to make the people at the side your list their gifts and budget for that as well. Or, better yet, of you aren’t making them a food item figure out how many items you need to make each month to be finished for Christmas and you can save that stress at the end of the year as well.
Have A Merry February Everyone!
More Information:
What Dave Ramsey says about saving for Christmas
Photo courtesy of David DeHetre
Merry Christmas 2011
December 24, 2011
Photo Courtesy of Rob Boudon
Merry Christmas from my family to yours. I hope you will take the next couple of days to rest, relax, and enjoy those around you.
99 Days Until Christmas
September 17, 2011
It is 99 days until Christmas! I know, I know but I want to tell you a secret. Come closer to your screen and listen closely. Ready? It is possible to go through the holiday season without time or financial stress.
Really, it is possible. There are only two things you really need to do it and that is a calendar and a budget.
Calendar
I recommend you look online for a printable monthly calendar. Print out September, October, November, and December. Pick an afternoon within the next week (or right now) and right out all of the things that will come up over the next 3 1/2 months: birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, church events, appointments, etc. Once completed lay them all out in front of you. You have just relieved a hefty part of that stress if you will keep this handy and look at it daily.
Remember to add new things as they come along such as your kid’s school functions and parties so you know when everything is. This helps get these dates out of your mind and put somewhere that you will look. It reduces a lot of stress and that dreaded feeling that you are forgetting something.
Calendar Part 2
Now that you have the events on your calendar you know you need to attend or do something for now you need to set dates to complete the tasks involved with them. It is really easy:
- Go through and look at each event. On a separate sheet write down what events you will need to complete a task for. Example: Samantha’s Birthday.
- Beside the event write down what tasks needs to be completed. Example: Samantha’s Birthday – Purchase Gift
- Return to your calendar and choose a date that is your deadline for purchasing the gift. I would suggest at least three weeks out in order to retain the low level of stress that I hope your calendar has allowed you to have.
This simple task should not take you more than an hour to complete for most people. It gives you a goal – yes, you just set goals for one of the busiest times of the year. This will allow you to have your grocery shopping for Thanksgiving and Christmas done a week or two in advance, your shopping completed before the holiday gets here, and most importantly allows you to spend time with your family near the holiday instead of running around.
Budget
The dreaded word has peaked it’s head out! However, a budget can be an extremely easy tool to put together and again should not take more than an hour get finished.
All you need to do is figure out how much you are willing to spend for each event. Take that amount and divide it by the number of paydays you have until your deadline to have the tasks completed and now you know how much to save from each check. If you do not already do this the first year may be a little hit or miss but starting December 26 you need to prepare for next year and take a little out of every check. This saves you from having to come up with all the money at the last minute or worse yet paying for the holidays with credit cards so they follow you into next year.
Need more help?
One of my favorite places to find pages to help keep me organized is List PlanIt. The woman who runs the site is Jennifer Tankersley and she wrote an ebook called 100 Days to Christmas which outlines action items to do each day for 100 days leading to December 25th.
It is only $4.99 and I highly recommend picking this up. If you have trouble staying on task or would like an easy to follow guide to make your holiday season even less stressful then take a look.
Purchase the book here.
Bonus part of the book is Jennifer includes the planning pages (including the calendar pages mentioned above) from List PlanIt so you have everything you need to have one of the best holiday seasons you have ever had.