Holiday How To
by Maria Eckersley

Photography by Poul Ober
Styling by Kendra Smoot

Families come together, neighborhoods glow, and homes bustle with preparations. We all know this special magic doesn't happen on its own. In fact, many of us find ourselves trying to fulfill ever-increasing expectations with very limited resources. So how do you savor the spirit of the season while cutting back on the stress? Believe it or not, it doesn't have to mean starting your shopping in July. Regardless of where you are in your preparations, these three strategies can help you save time and money and provide you with holiday peace of mind.

Halloween comes and goes, and seemingly overnight the stores transform into holiday-centric spending traps. Confronted with a surge of shrink-wrapped cheer, we often reach for our wallets. The same temptations hit our calendars. Holiday parties, school events and religious activities get scheduled and before we know it, our entire season is booked. This year, take control! Do an Inventory: Before you wander through the toy aisles, look through your kids' toy collections. Take stock of what they need, and purge what they can do without. If you have time, make an inventory of your holiday decorations and note gaps you need to fill. If you're in a rush, simply open and look through every box. Actually seeing how much you already have will help prevent you from overspending. Establish a Game Plan: Most parents wouldn't dream of going on a family vacation without a rough itinerary and basic budget. Yet during the most hectic and costly time of year, we tend to jump in without a road map. Essential to your holiday plan is a detailed family calendar, a comprehensive gift list and an itemized budget.

Schedule a Preseason Family Meeting: Make sure your family is in the loop by sharing information about the basic holidaybudget as well as your overall goals for the season. Give each family member a chance to request his or her favorite traditions. If making a gingerbread house is important to your 5-year-old, schedule it on your calendar. If ice skating is your 12-year-old's favorite activity, find time for it. If no one votes for attending the company party or the school's holiday mart, drop the events from the calendar.

MOST PARENTS WOULDN'T DREAM OF GOING ON A FAMILY VACATION WITHOUT A ROUGH ITINERARY AND BASIC BUDGET. YET DURING THE MOST HECTIC AND COSTLY TIME OF YEAR, WE TEND TO JUMP IN WITHOUT A ROAD MAP.

This is a tough one for a lot of us. We associate the holidays with a certain nostalgia and bristle at the idea of using a computer in our preparations. However, much the way buying frozen rolls at the grocery store allows more time for perfecting the turkey, using the computer to simplify trivial tasks can free time for what's really important.

Tackle Your To Do's: Decorate the house. Purchase gifts. Send cards. Make travel plans. To keep track of the little details without scribbling lists all over the house, take advantage of the ultimate free website for list lovers: gubb.net. As user-friendly as it is functional, this site allows you to create, update and share dozens of customized, printable lists. Better still, you don't have to log on to update or review your lists. With gubb.net you can check lists on the go via e-mail or text messaging.

E-mail Holiday Cards: If during the family meeting you chose "create handmade holiday cards" as your favorite tradition, then by all means whip out your cardstock and enjoy. However, if your goal is to simply keep in touch and send a greeting, try an e-mail version. Free programs such as Windows Movie Maker (preinstalled on most PCs) offer easy tools for creating a video or photo slideshow that can be e-mailed or burned onto a disc. If you prefer the traditional postal method, use your computer to manage your mailing list. Save data entry time by sending a mass e-mail to your friends and family requesting their most recent addresses. As the responses come in, use your copy and paste tools to add the addresses to your list.

Use Online Postage and Pickup: Few things are more frustrating than waiting in line at the post office At the website usps.gov you can order mailing supplies to be delivered to your door, print postage on your home printer and schedule a free pickup.

Look in anyone's holiday gift wrap supply and you'll probably find dozens of adhesive-backed bows. Why? Because it's faster to adorn a package with one of these than it is to create a homemade bow. We value our time, and when we find shortcuts like the bows, we stock up. Do yourself a favor and search for shortcuts to help streamline your workload this season.

Buy in Bulk: Coaches, teachers, neighbors and coworkers often add to our holiday shopping lists. It can be daunting to find the perfect gift for each of these individuals. Simplify the gift buying process by purchasing dozens of "the little black dress" of presents:
something universally appreciated, relatively inexpensive and easy to accessorize. Examples include candles, cocoa mugs, hand warmers and ornaments. Like their fashion counterpart, these gifts work well on their own or can be enhanced with extras like teacher-supply store gift cards, restaurant certificates or holiday goodies.

Wrap It Up: Most stores offer a dizzying selection of gift wrap. Save time and energy by restricting yourself to a few color schemes with mix and match accessories. Keep tabs on your wrapped gifts by designating one color scheme for each group on your list, such as immediate family, extended family and non-family.

Call for Reinforcements: Hiring help during the holidays doesn't have to blow your budget. In fact, the help you need could be right around the corner. Chances are the teenager you hire to watch your kids on Friday nights would gladly accept the same rate on Saturday afternoon to iron linens, wrap gifts or help you prepare your house for guests. Likewise, the student you pay to cut your lawn in the summer would be grateful for a little offseason income earned by hanging your outdoor lights or moving furniture for your party.

If thoughts of past holidays stir up memories of budget strain and sleep deprivation, it's time to take control. By making a plan, taking advantage of technology and streamlining your efforts, you'll be giving yourself a priceless holiday gift.

Maria Eckersley

Maria Eckersley, (known to her blog readers as MeckMom) is a freelance writer and busy mom of three from Springfield, Mo.