Wednesdays are simplicity days at SimpleProductivity blog.

I hate shopping. With a passion. So my solution to Black Friday is to stay inside and pretend like I’m snowed in.

This worked fine until my daughter started to be old enough to want to do things when she wasn’t in school. So here are my top five things to do instead of shopping on Black Friday.

1. Visit the ocean. Or a park, or some natural place far away from the shopping malls. We live in a city that is near the ocean, so walking on the boardwalk is always a possibility for us.
2. Visit the garden. This year our local botanical garden is hosting an American Indian ceremony to honor the spirit of a bald eagle killed there earlier this year. We will be attending to watch the dancing and to see the beautiful attire on the dancers.
3. Craft. Now that my daughter is old enough, we can craft together. I will encourage her to pull out a craft kit from the closet and work on her craft while I knit nearby. Note: this will only work if you have the supplies ahead of time.
4. Make bird feeders. I like to make bird feeders out of pine cones, peanut butter and birdseed. This quick “craft” is fun to do and the birds (and squirrels) love them!
5. Read. My daughter is reading a chapter book (The Westing Game) I adored when I was her age, so we are reading it together.
6. Make gingerbread. It’s too early for me to make holiday cookies, but gingerbread is a welcome treat. This also gives my daughter practice in practical math and fractions, but don’t tell her that!

Do you have something you do as an alternative to shopping on Black Friday? Share below.

Photo by zenera

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It dawned on me tonight that the holidays are almost here. Next week is Thanksgiving in the US – the start of the headlong rush into the holiday season.

Yet here I am, blissfully working on my National Novel Writing Month project – and not stressed at all.

It’s not that I don’t do a lot of things at the holidays. In fact, I merge multiple religious traditions and holidays into a busy month of activity.

Yet I am not stressed.

I figured out how to make the holidays manageable and stress-free: by simplifying. It’s not about stark holidays, either. It’s about doing things efficiently so that they are manageable and enjoyable.

I’ve released the 2011 updated version of my ebook Simplify the Holidays tonight. It contains information on how holidays can be made manageable and stress-free. Included are the forms that I use myself to make this a happy and joyous time.

More information can be found here.

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We did something last night that can only be done where we live.

Once the tourists have abandoned the oceanfront, the city puts up a display of holiday lights on the beach and stretching over the boardwalk. Every year we go to the oceanfront and drive the length of the boardwalk, looking at the lights.

That by itself is pretty remarkable. But last night we drove in a convertible with the top down.

What a treat to hear the ocean waves and see all the lights without looking through windows!

Sure, it was cold, but with a sleeping bag and blankets, and the heat on high, we were comfortable.

Is there something you do every year that can only be done where you live? Please share!

Photo by reed_flickr

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How is your holiday planning going? Are you staying in budget? Are you doing things you truly want to do? Do you have time to enjoy those that are important? Is your correspondence done?

Or are you over-scheduled, over-budget and over-stressed?

Here’s the great news: you CAN have an organized, sane, in-budget holiday season — with just a few hours of effort.

Dear Sanity-Seeker,

I used to dread December.

I used to do holidays as my family had done, the full-on American version of the Christian holiday of Christmas. This included traditions from my German grandparents, as well as the Norman Rockwell version. Added to that were my childhood church traditions, my current church celebrations, my husband’s childhood church traditions and our current spiritual paths.

It was overwhelming.

I was following someone else’s script of what the holidays should be like. I decorated. I partied. I spent way too much money. I overcommitted time, resources and energy. And I was exhausted, cranky and no fun to be around.

Every year as an adult that I followed this pattern, I hated it worse. I got to the point where I would have preferred to ignore the entire season, along with all the activities that go along with it.

When my daughter was born, I felt I had to do something. I didn’t want to make my daughter be left out of all the celebrations in the winter. With our cultural and differing religious backgrounds, I had to make sense of all the family and cultural traditions and craft something I could manage.

That was when I discovered the power of simplification.

From Crazy To Simple

It took me a while to figure out what the essence of stress-free holidays were about. Now these techniques are available to you.

To purchase the ebook, click here.
You will learn:

• How to determine what traditions are meaningful.
• How to set up a holiday budget that takes into account everything.
• How to set up your calendar so that you are not overwhelmed.
• How to plan holiday meals that are organized — no more forgetting to serve things!
• How to decorate without exhaustion.
• How to plan for meaningful gifts that arrive on time.
• How to send out holiday correspondence with minimal effort.
• How to create a holiday binder to keep you organized and on track

PLUS a complete set of printable forms to keep you organized and on-track.

Stress-Free Holidays Are Within Your Reach

Everything above is contained in my e-book, Simplifying The Holidays.

Sure, you could spend the time putting all this together yourself. But why add to your list of things to do? Using the techniques and forms in my e-book will jump-start your holiday planning with little effort.

To purchase the ebook, click here.

Money Back Guarantee

I am so sure that this will be useful to you, that I offer a 30-day, no questions asked money-back guarantee.

Give yourself the gift of a calmer holiday.
To purchase the ebook, click here.

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I normally don’t post things like this outside of the Open Loops, but this one is special. A few years ago, I read this post (yes, the same post, he does it every year) about an old-time radio show, one episode per day, leading up to Christmas. Last year I actually had it together enough to listen with my daughter. It was a great time.

If you are looking for a free thing to do with kids at Christmas, look into The Cinnamon Bear: An Old-Time Radio Christmas Tradition. It’s a great little series. Because, after all, “Holiday traditions don’t have to be expensive. Some of the best traditions don’t cost anything at all.”

Photo by orvalrochefort

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This is the fifth article in the Editing Life series.

Have you ever noticed how holidays…all of them…are really getting out of hand? For instance, Halloween. We made our costumes (to fit over snowsuits) and went trick-or-treating for one piece of candy per house when I was a child. Now people give out handfuls of candy to children garbed in expensive costumes while surrounded by fog machines, lights and decorations. And often the adults are costumed too.

Children’s birthday parties now have entertainment, hors d’oeuvres, and gift bags…for the attendees.

Don’t even get me started on Christmas.

Before you write me off as a killjoy, let me explain that I am not disparaging the holidays and special events. I just think they have become too dependent on “stuff”.

Why is this an area for editing? Because a holiday can take on a life of its own, requiring weeks of preparation and a huge outlay of cash. My editing the holidays, I bring them back in line with my expectations and abilities.

Setting Limits On Holidays

I have made a conscious effort to really cut back on holidays. I do this by setting limits.

Gifts Don’t Have To Be Excessive

For holidays that gifting is requisite, I make sure to set the expectations up front. For instance, my daughter really wanted a Nintendo DSI. She was told that if she asked for that, she would not be receiving any other gifts from us. So she wasn’t disappointed when she didn’t receive more.

Activities Can Be Modest

Activities don’t have to be over the top. For my daughter’s last birthday party, we gave her a choice: she could have a sleepover with up to four girls (the limit of my floor space), a during-the-day birthday party with outdoor activities and old-fashioned party games, or a day out with a friend where we would go to a movie, visit Build-A-Bear and go out to dinner. All of the activities are manageable from a logistics standpoint.

By editing my holidays I make the direction rather than being directed by the event.

Do you edit holidays? Share below.

Photo by wolfcry0

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Fridays are tip days at SimpleProductivity blog.

With our major gift-giving day approaching rapidly, I realized that I haven’t wrapped anything yet. And then I remembered that I don’t wrap presents anymore.

Santa’s Gift Bags

A few years ago, Santa, knowing that I try to be green, presented us with some fabric gift bags. Made out of holiday-themed cotton fabric, these bags came in all sorts of different sizes, and had drawstrings made out of ribbon. We re-use these bags every year for gifts we give each other, leaving a few by the fireplace for Santa to wrap up the gifts he brings.

Making Fabric Gift Bags, Elf Style

Looking at these elf-made bags, I see that the elves used a very simple pattern. Sew a pocket for the ribbon to run through on the top of the bags, then stitch up the sides and bottom. Thread a piece of ribbon through the pockets and tie on each side so that it doesn’t slip out.

Reusing the Gift Bags without Mixup

We reuse the gift bags, attaching paper tags made from repurposed holiday cards. This cuts our waste down from bags of wrapping paper into a handful of tags that can be recycled.

That Santa, he’s a pretty smart and green dude!

Photo by Matti Mattila

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Wednesdays are simplicity days at SimpleProductivity blog.

I love cookies. And especially holiday cookies, because there is something about the holidays that makes it OK to eat many different types of cookies.

But baking lots of different holiday cookies can be a drag. Here are the ways I simplify holiday cookies.

Plan A Cookie Exchange

Imagine. You bake six dozen cookies (an average size batch) and you exchange dozens, receiving six dozen other cookies in return. Variety with very little effort.

Skip the Fussiness

We all know fussy cookies. They’re the type that need to be chilled, rolled and filled. Unless you have a lot of time, skip them in favor of less fussy ones. I make spritz (German pressed) cookies instead of the traditional roll-out-bake-and-frost sugar cookies. They can be decorated, but don’t require using a rolling pin (which I do not do well).

Slice and Bake

Now, before the purists out there jump all over me, know that I usually make my own dough. You make (or buy) sugar cookie dough, then slice it and bake it. I drizzle green trees and yellow stars on the baked cookies.

Go For Traditional

My family loves snickerdoodles. So I make them during the holidays. Same with chocolate chip and my favorite chocolate-peanut-butter-chip cookies. They’re not holiday cookies, but my family doesn’t care if they are mixed in with the spritz.

Make Ahead and Freeze

Many cookies can be made and frozen ahead of time. This can spread out the time for baking to a month rather than days.

Go For Other Sweets

If you want something different, try making candy. I do batches of fudge and toffee every year (this was much easier when I could put the candy on the porch to cool instead of the fridge!). Get yourself a good candy thermometer if the recipe calls for checking the doneness using cold water. The thermometer is easier.

Holiday sweets don’t have to be sour. Use some shortcuts and get to the eating quicker!

Photo by EverySpoon

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I am very happy to announce that the “Simplifying the Holidays” ebook is now available for purchase.

This ebook is based on a series of articles I did for the blog a few weeks back, but expanded to include tips on simplifying all aspects of the holidays, and including two other topics the blog articles did not cover. It also includes printable forms to help make simplifying the holidays, well….SIMPLE!

You can learn more about the ebook and purchase it by going to the Simplifying the Holidays page.

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Wednesdays are simplicity days at SimpleProductivity blog.

While I am not a great believer in “Hallmark holidays”, I do enjoy sending and receiving cards for birthdays and anniversaries.

This can complicate my life. I must go to the card store, find a card, and mail it, all within a time frame to reach the recipient by the event.

Let’s look at the cost next: let’s say I have 12 family members and we’re doing birthday cards only. That’s 12 * $3.00 for the cards. That’s $36.00 a year, and that is before gas and time are added in. If you figure it takes an hour a month to get to the card store and pick out a card, that adds up to 12 hours out of my life.

It’s time to simplify. There are three ways that I simplify card sending:

Stock Cards

I save the cards with blank insides sent to me by various charities. These can be customized to fit the recipient and occasion. Some of these cards have a theme already; I keep the birthday cards at work so that we can quickly pass around a card for a co-worker. The scenic cards work well for condolences or get well.

If you are stuck for what to write inside, a quick Google search for appropriate messages usually turns something nice up.

American Greetings

(Please note I am not paid for this endorsement…)

Many card manufacturers have online sites that allow you to create and print your own greeting cards. There are also many software packages that do this as well. With high-quality paper (available from an office supply store or Amazon), you can create very nice customized cards.

I like American Greetings online because they have a large number of cards available, along with other types of projects. They add new cards regularly, and you can get licensed characters like Spongebob and Dora for children’s cards. You can customize their cards by modifying the text and adding photos. A bonus with American Greetings is I can share my subscription with two other people.

Printing is easy, with a wizard that walks you through setting up your printer so that you know exactly how to put the paper in to get the card out. It can do 8.5 x 5.5 cards as well as quarter-sheet cards.

If you truly don’t want to print, you can have American Greetings print and mail the card for you for a small fee.

Make Your Own

I am fairly crafty, but I do not do fancy greeting cards. I do make invitations myself, though. With some card stock and a couple of rubber stamps from my local craft store, coupled with some crayons or colored pencils, I can make simple cards quickly and easily.

All three of these methods will save you time and money, and simplify sending out greeting cards.

Photo by Gare and Kitty

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