A few simple planning tips and tricks can make getting ready for Christmas a stress-free time in your home. Read on to learn more.
Christmas is a wonderful time of year if you don’t have the stress of running around like a crazy person in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. You can experience an old-fashioned homestead pioneer Christmas with family and friends filled with joy versus chaos.
A few simple planning tips and tricks can make getting ready for Christmas a stress-free time in your home. Read on to learn more!
Note: This blog post has been updated to include multiple podcast episodes on getting ready for Christmas. I've had multiple listeners over the years ask for ways to reduce stress over the holidays as well as time and money-saving tips. So download each of these podcasts and listen to them at your leisure! Here's to a stress-free Christmas!
Getting Ready for Christmas on the Homestead
I love the holidays; that old saying “ like a kid at Christmas” applies to me 100%.
I cherish a pioneer-inspired Christmas with homemade gifts focusing on family and friends. Creating and giving a Christmas present or making a new memory through stress-free experiences brings me joy. These things truly make it the most wonderful time of the year.
My dad's first-hand pioneering experience with frugal great depression Christmas traditions has taught us to focus on what’s truly important. Relationships, giving to others, keeping life simple, and spending time together are how we enjoy this special time of year.
Over the years, I've learned some tips to help keep your DIY Christmas gifts old-fashioned and frugal with a homestead style, even if you don't live on a homestead.
Getting organized and prepared ahead of time can make all the difference in your holiday season.
Homesteading is first and foremost a frame of mind. Anyone can use these lifestyle tips, no matter where you live. Making Christmas dinner from scratch on the big day or hosting a holiday craft party beforehand is less stressful and more enjoyable when you implement a few intentional tactics to your planning mindset.
Best Tips for a Stress-Free Christmas
Keeping a homestead running takes some work, and the winter season is when I have time to focus on the house when the garden is in standby mode for the most part.
These are my top tips and tricks to set yourself up for a great new year and save yourself some headaches and troubles this Christmas season.
Declutter
The first step you should take in getting ready for Christmas is decluttering. If you already follow my methods outlined in How to Declutter Your Home and Keep it That Way, then a brief “holiday version” of decluttering will be a breeze.
- Closets and Drawers – Go through your closets and drawers and remove anything you don’t wear or use anymore. Pro-Tip: If it's something you only wore once over the entire summer or not at all, then it's a good indication that you need to either donate or re-purpose it.
- Decorations – As you pull out decorations and ornaments, ask yourself: Am I still putting out ALL of our ornaments and decorations? There are some items I've had for years, but I don't like them and they have sat in our tote for a while. What on earth am I still hanging on to them for? Do NOT pack them back up. Do NOT hold on to them. Anything that you haven't put out for a few years or you don't love, get it out of your house.
- Toys – Now, if your kids are still young enough that they've got toys, this is a great time to go through and pull out any they have outgrown or don't play with anymore. My kids are now past the “toy” stage, but when they were younger, it was really helpful to purge their toys BEFORE shopping to help us determine their needs. Going through these things and seeing what we got rid of helped my husband and I re-think our gifts and focus more on experiences.
Get Organized
If we don't plan beforehand, the holiday season gets so busy that we are frazzled and trying to cram it all into one day, like Christmas Eve! If you have ever tried to do a cram session, it usually doesn't go so well. You're stressed out, we end up making mistakes, and it's not that much fun.
Begin by creating a Christmas gift list in a (Christmas planner or notebook) and a Christmas budget that includes how much you will spend per person per gift. Even with making homemade gifts, you usually need to purchase some type of supplies and/or ingredients to make the gift.
Pro Tip: Once your list is made, you may find that you have exceeded your budget. Check out my DIY Christmas Gifts for tips on prioritizing your lists and money-saving ideas.
You will want to mark your calendar after your list and budget are finalized, keeping in mind that not all gifts need to be ready on Christmas Day. Christmas parties or gifts to your neighbors, service workers, co-workers, etc., are often done prior to Christmas, so make your due dates accordingly.
If you are shopping for store-bought gifts, plan a time to shop for them so that you can enjoy selecting your heartfelt gift. Remember that online purchases take longer to deliver during the holiday season.
If you are making homemade gifts, put on the calendar when you need to start these items, keeping in mind that some homemade gifts may need time to cure before they're ready to gift. Go through the ingredients needed to ensure you have them on hand or purchased by the date you plan to make them.
This is a good time also to take stock of your pantry. There is nothing worse than having the time to bake some holiday goodies and finding out at the end of the recipe that you're out of the one key ingredient (or that it's expired).
Get Frugal
Whether you’re on a tight budget, trying to minimize the amount of stuff in your life, looking to leave a lighter footprint on the planet or just want to get back to a simpler way of celebrating, here are some tips to spend less this holiday season.
I like to prepare as early as possible to minimize stress, slow down and enjoy an old-fashioned Pioneer Christmas! During the great depression, people saved everything they could; nothing went to waste. Use what you have and save where you can; a penny saved is a penny earned.
Think about items you no longer use that you can sell, or have a dinner and movie night at home instead of out where it’s triple the cost, and add it to your Christmas savings account. Think of ways to be frugal and live with less so you can give more during the holiday season.
Points earned on your credit card, whether redeemable cash points or travel and lodging rewards, can minimize drawing from the gift budget. Fuel points help with the rising fuel cost when traveling to see family or going on holiday outings.
I am a Black Friday shopper and get socks for the family at 50% off every year. It’s one of the ways you can be frugal; whether it be Christmas gifts for people or flash sales on turkeys or ham, stock up!
When you see something you know you’ll need at Christmas on sale, put it away or preserve it. These tips will lower your food budget during the holiday and give you more time for other things rather than grocery shopping. Pro-Tip: Don’t forget to make a note in a designated place where you store early purchased gifts. A year is a long time to remember where you stashed them.
Save money by not buying any Christmas decorations this year. Use what you already have and items you can gather from nature. My daughter and I make these easy winter holiday bouquets and pioneer swags in less than 15 minutes every year and they always turn out so beautiful and festive for zero dollars.
Work Ahead
I make my cookie dough and pie crusts ahead of time and freeze them. Making my great-grandmother's flaky pastry recipe takes fifteen minutes. I can have four pie crusts (or two top and bottom crusts) in the freezer lickety split. It doesn’t change the taste or texture at all.
When I need to make a quick dinner, I can pull a pie crust out for a quick quiche. Or if there are some last-minute plans and I need to make cookies, I can pull them straight out of the freezer and pop them in the oven. With about five extra minutes of bake time I'm now ready with a homemade dessert.
I love pumpkin dishes all year long. Frozen pumpkin puree is a wonderful addition to cookies, pancakes, muffins, stews, chilis, and pies. Don't like how freezing pumpkin puree makes it watery? Follow this tutorial for canning pumpkin instead, you can toss the cubed pumpkin into a blender and have pumpkin puree in minutes.
When harvesting on the homestead, I prepare ahead for Christmas and preserve extras for Christmas gifts while preparing food for the pantry. I think ahead and remember some favorite jams, pickled foods or pie fillings my family and friends enjoy.
Pro-Tip: Keep an eye out for all sizes of Mason-type jars at yard sales or online; these DIY mixes in a jar are great make-ahead gift ideas!
Planning the handmade Christmas gifts I want to make early in the year takes a lot of pressure off me. I find I enjoy spending the time more and think about the person I’m making it for when I’m not in such a hurry! That’s what an old-fashioned homestead Christmas should feel like.
Use Time Efficiently
When you use time efficiently, it really takes the stress off. Here are a few tips to help you enjoy the holiday season instead of feeling bogged down in the hustle and bustle and last-minute running around that steals our joy!
Finding gift ideas you can batch will save money and time, especially when making homemade gifts. Batching works really well because you can buy in bulk, which is always a money saver. You're doing it all at one time, and you're making multiple gifts for multiple people.
You can make 20 items at once by getting all your ingredients in bulk. Timewise, it doesn’t take much longer to assemble 20 jars of hot cocoa mix for example, than it takes to make a few.
A purchased gift paired with homemade gifts wrapped with old-fashioned bags and tags is a time saver, too!
Before it’s time to start baking or cooking, save yourself time and frustration by going through your pantry, refrigerators and freezers to ensure you have all the ingredients needed for your favorite Christmas recipes.
Making a detailed list will save you time in the long run. Gathering everything you need will prevent that frantic run to the store because you are halfway through a recipe and missing an ingredient.
Keep it Simple and Joyful
Relationships with family and friends are foremost in my mind during this Christmas season. Making memories is something money can’t buy, and time spent together is a worthy investment. Simple living and the joy of an old-fashioned homestead Christmas are invaluable.
It’s so easy to start strong and then succumb to the temptation to spend closer to Christmas. Whether you’re sick of the financial burden of the holiday season or trying to minimize the amount of stuff in your life, make a conscious effort to do Christmas a little differently this year.
Resources:
- Podcast #16
- Podcast #160
- Handmade Master Class – Learn step-by-step instructions for making your own homemade natural soaps, candles, balms, salves, and more!
- Pie challenge my 6 Secrets to Perfect Flaky Pie Crust every time and our pie challenge here! (The link works, but after it’s filled out, you receive a 404.)
- Verse of the Week: Ephesians 3:19
