5 Tips To Help You Have A Minimalist Christmas

Holidays are magical yet overwhelming if you let them… especially Christmas. And especially if your not intentional. For the last two years I have made it a goal of mine to be more intentional with the way I live my life.

That means getting rid of what I don’t want in it and the top of that list is stress! One of the most stressful times for me is always around holidays or birthdays. I want them to be perfect… ask my hubby! Perfect is no where near intentional and where I wanted my life to be. So I’ve calmed down just a bit. It’s a journey and I’m always minimizing what stresses me out.

So below I’m including a couple tips that can help you “be more about the magic and less about the perfection”. So you can focus more on what really matters to you.

Plan

I’m definitely a wing it with a bit of planning type of girl so I love to plan but also not afraid to toss the list if I need too. Or lose it these days.

But planning can save you so much headache. Know what you want from the holiday most and put that at the top and plan from there. You want more laughing… then put down whatever it is your doing and go tickle your babies. You want more snuggles… then pop on some holiday movies, grab a blanket and go cuddle! Whatever it is that you would be doing otherwise… it will still be there waiting to be done.

Have a Budget

I’m a major budget nerd. Like I love and need to have a budget. The moment I wing this area of my life I start to feel lost. I just gotta keep my finances in order. I was taught by the best woman I know… my Grandma! She is a budgeting queen and she made sure I knew how to take care of my shit.

Budgeting will look different for everyone but still make it and do your best to stick to it. It’s ok if you go over it or under it but make sure you plan for that and give yourself some grace. We personally don’t like to use credit cards ever! Like never ever! And have never gone into debt for a holiday. This year I needed a fast check out system… to score a small business toy drop that sold out in LITERALLY 2 mins. And no one has time to be wasting putting in card info so I used my paypal. No big deal it’s not like we have racked up unmanageable expenses and I had planned for that going into the purchase. See… GRACE.

But budget and plan for it with a savings. Don’t just wing it from pay check to pay check trying to buy Christmas. That’s no fun at all. You can do weekly, monthly or just a big chunk at once. Whatever you do… PLAN it out in advance. Like right now might be kinda late but that’s ok…. minimalism is a journey.

My hubby and I, for our budget personally like to set an “amount per kid”. Although lots of their gifts they receive are combined gifts since they are so close in age we still go into with an amount per kid and the combined is from the extra and where we allow overages in our budget.

Intentional Gifts

Not even going to lie… my first years as a mom I was bad. My hubby to. It was about the amount of toys. They HAD to have so much to open…. we wanted the tree to be full. What they wanted was a couple of fun things and for you to PLAY with them.

I’m talking our kids got tired of opening gifts. So we started to realize it wasn’t the amount that made them happy it was the moments and memories that came from what they got. So be intentional with the amount of gifts you give.

Not just the amount matters… but what you gift them is also just as important. Yes the new shiney toy is all the rage… but you know your kids and you know what they like. Don’t buy something just because their friends have it and they want it to just say they have one too. Get them something they will love and use past January.

It’s also ok to gift things they need mixed in with some fun things they want. Don’t be a prude and buy your kid a dang toy. We always do new pajamas, socks, underwear and shoes. It’s just something we’ve always done. Do they love it… they love Spiderman and if it’s got something they love on it then they love it. Kids are really simple natured at heart. We the adults over complicate it all. We set the tone. So set the tone of what’s fun… get excited for it when they open it. Your teaching them what is exciting.

Minimal Decorations

Decor… not my strongest suit. I’ll pin the crap out of a Pinterest board and still have no idea what I want to do in the decor department. I just make it up… because I love me some holiday spirit. But holiday spirit isn’t just about the decor. So keep it simple and to an amount that won’t stress you out. Don’t be afraid to get rid of what you don’t use or love. It literally sits in storage for 11 months out of the year. Make the space it takes up count!

I actually for the first time bought a decorated dish towel to hang on my stove. We will see if it makes it into storage bin after the holiday season. For me a decorated fish towel never did anything. Like we use those to wipe things up or clean up spills and I’ve always just stuck to flour sack towels for that. But I liked the picture on it this one and figured I’d try it out. Perfectly ok to not like it after too.

Don’t Compare

I’ve never been much of a “keeping up with the Jones” type person and honestly I wish no body was... the Jones are losing their shit too. Just focus on you and yours. Be thankful for what you have and what you can do. The holidays aren’t about trying to do reach someone else’s idea of happy. Reach for yours… trust me you’ll be a lot happier at your version of it.

This will also help your kids. They need minimalism in their life just as much as we adults and moms do. So lead by example. Love what you can and do away with what you can’t and don’t go for that new shiney toy that the Jones has. It’ll be packed away in storage next month.

If your new to minimalism just remember to take it slow and steady and not stress yourself out. The whole point of this journey is to take the weight off your shoulders not buy a new backpack to hold more.

Do you have a tip to share? Comment below and let me know I’m always up for some good tips!

Xo JESSICA