Holiday hacks to save you time and money

I think I’m pretty safe in saying that everyone is feeling the squeeze of the wallet this year with the state of the world as it is at the moment. You already know (assuming you have been in my circle for a while) that I am a big fan of saving time whenever possible. I am also a big fan of saving money so that I can spend it on travel and stationery!

In all honesty, I could have made 5 separate posts here but, as a time and money-saving ninja, who is looking out for you too, I stuck them all in one post so it is easy for you to bookmark and come back to.

Create a list of lists to save you time

Although I’m not a big fan of to-do lists, they have a time and place. The problem is, when you try and use multiple lists daily, you are setting yourself up for failure.

That said, the holiday season needs a special kind of organizing so the list of lists is necessary.

Avoid a one-mile-long list which guaranteed you missing things, make separate lists instead, focusing on a specific task at hand. Here are some to get you going, you might need something else too or not all of these – for example, you may be staying home so the travel list would be redundant.

Holiday gift list and budget
Christmas dinner recipe list
Christmas dinner shopping list
Travel arrangements
Packages to mail
Family holiday bucket list
Travel arrangements if you plan to spend the holidays away from home
Home organizing + delegation
Home organization list
Charity/random acts of kindness

Multiple lists will also help you delegate tasks! Just one or two off each list is a whole load of work that you won’t have to do!

Be the master of your to-do lists

Once you have your to-do lists, don’t become a slave to them. You need to take charge.

Do you ever feel like this?

Excited for the holidays one minute and then you look at your to-do list and the excitement turns to overwhelm and dread?

If that’s the case, be a Wonder Mom and do this…

Grab your to-do lists.

✅ Look through and delete anything that isn’t lighting you up, anything that is too much work and anything that really isn’t that important.

✅ Go through and look at things you can simplify, want to have cute decorated cookies? There is nothing wrong with buying some and then just decorating them with the kids.

✅ Now to delegate, you don’t have to do everything, delegate some of those tasks out!

✅ Break old traditions that don’t work well for your family and start some new ones

There is so much pressure on moms at this time of year but you know what? It is a time for you too, so pull on the big girl pants, set some boundaries and focus on the things that are really important and not the crazy, keeping up with the Jones’s trends!

Reusable bags to save you time and money

Before you flick away, hear me out. Yes, it did cost me money upfront and yes, it did cost me some time.

BUT

I have been using these cloth bags since I made them in 2009. Wrapping gifts is super quick and easy.

⭐️ Open bag.

⭐️ Pop a gift in the bag.

⭐️ Close bag.

⭐️ Add a tag.

So simple even the most useless gift-wrapping husband could handle it (oh look, and there is a job you can delegate!).

I made a pile of these bags initially. (I have a tutorial here if you are a sewist) I made some rubber stamps from my son’s drawing (tutorial for that here) and he stamped some bags too – he loved that! But we also have bags that other gifts have come in and I always save the Amazon gift bags, so now we have quite the collection.

These are the bags we use for gifts while staying at home. Although I have used homemade gift bags for friends and family too because we live overseas, I tend to order things from the UK for UK friends and family to cut down on shipping both emissions and costs.

There is also the environmental factor, especially as many gift wrappings can’t be recycled.

Stocktake before you shop to save both time and money

Before you step out of the door or hop onto Amazon, do a stock take.

Check your pantry, fridge and freezer to see what food items you already have
Check what gift-wrapping supplies you already have…
Look to see if you have cards left from last year + your card list before buying new ones
Look through holiday cards to see if you need to buy any extras for this year
Check to see if you have any to repurpose as gifts
Or make gifts using supplies you already have

By taking stock of what you have already it got it will save you time because you won’t need to go out again because you thought you had sellotape but in fact, you don’t.

And saves you money because you are only buying what you actually need.

It may seem more time-consuming at first but in the long run, it’s the other way around!

Don’t be caught empty-handed!

Do this so you save face over the holidays.

You know that thing when you have totally forgotten to buy someone a gift or someone has bought you something and you weren’t expecting it?

To make yourself look unruffable, (totally a word) make sure you grab a few generic gifts, wrap them and add a label with who it’s from.

Pick things that

A. Would make a good gift for anyone, chocolates, nice biscuits, a Starbucks gift card, nice stationery…

B. Something that you can either use with your family or gift at a later time if you don’t end up using it.

Wrap it and put who it’s from on the label, if you get a chance you can just add a name at the last minute, or give it as it is.

They’ll never know!