Defrosting the turkey, wrapping the presents, sending out Christmas cards; there’s so much to remember this time of year and pretty soon your advent calendar can start to feel like a countdown to a day of non-stop stress.
Our recent Household Helpers survey showed that for many anxiety is at an all-time high over Christmas, with a fifth of UK householders worrying that they have a messy kitchen, while a further 16% of mums say they are nervous about entertaining in-laws.
At Beko we wanted to put the holiday back into Christmas, so we asked some of our favourite bloggers to share their top tips for a stress-free December. We got a great response, the best of which we’ve featured on this page. So pour yourself a sherry, take a seat and let us take the stress out of your Yuletide.
Our Top Tipster
Our favourite tips came from blogger Anna in the Playroom, who has some great advice on organisation and time saving to help you keep calm at Christmas. These include:
- Make lists: Making lists always helps you to feel organised and makes sure that nothing vital gets forgotten or overlooked.
- Don’t feel bad about taking the easy route: If you can budget for a professional house clean in the run up to Christmas then why not? There are also many restaurants open which you can book for Christmas meals, if cooking for a lot of people is really stressing you out it is an option you could consider.
- Remember what’s important: Don’t let it bother you if something doesn’t go to plan. Having many guests in the house can cause a lot of extra work and sometimes chaos but the important thing is having all the family and loved ones together.
Other Great Tips
Here are some other fantastic stress-busting tips we got from our chosen bloggers:
- All Baby Advice said: “Tidying up is very important for some, but I think that it does not have to mean spending hours and hours, and then having no energy for celebrating during Xmas. Always make sure you divide all tasks among all family members.”
- Mummy’s Little Monkey said: “Get next year's pressies in the New Year sales when huge discounts are offered. Just don't tuck them away somewhere safe and forget all about them (I may, or may not, be speaking from experience).”
- Honest Mum said: “My top tip is delegation: On Christmas Day each of the family members brings along a dish they’ve created, be it the soup starter or the Christmas pudding, so the load is divided and that counts for whoever hosts Christmas dinner.”
Think you have got a top stress-saving tip for Christmas that we should know about? We would love to hear it, simply post it on our Facebook page.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Beko.
