If your life feels anything like mine feels at the moment – it’s a whirlwind! Between work amping up as of late, having a full calendar in December, oodles of deadlines, and of course, the holidays, there’s definitely a sense of panic that I can’t and won’t be able to do it all. I felt this post was so needed. I wanted to share some of my favorite ways to simplify your life during the holidays. How do we do it all? Or how do we at least simplify things so that we focus on what’s important?

First things first – breathe! We often play things up in our heads to be worse than they are. God knows we all have a ton on our plates right now, but we’ve also done this before and we can do it again (can you tell I used to be a cheerleader?! 😉 ). I wanted to share my top tips for how I keep things much more simple during the holidays. Keep reading for my tips on 5 Ways to Simplify Your Life During the Holidays!

5 Ways to Simplify Your Life During the Holidays

1. Keep Gifts on Hand for Emergencies – Especially Simple Life Wine!

This is one my mom taught me growing up since she was (and still is!) the queen of keeping extra cards, hostess gifts, and birthday presents around for those unexpected birthday parties that would always creep up.  At the very least, you should keep gift bags, a generic wrapping paper (I like to always keep brown wrapping paper on hand because it can be used for literally any occasion – holiday or not), tissue paper, and a few cards on hand.

If you want to save yourself stress during the holidays, keep a couple bottles of a nice wine on hand (the only hard part is not allowing yourself to drink it 😉 ) that could be used as a hostess gift. I’ve been loving Simple Life Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir as of late. Locally, you can find it here in Boston at Shaw’s. For this time of year, I find that a nice bottle of wine such as a Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, or even some bubbly such as a prosecco/Champagne is best. Not only is Simple Life’s wine delicious, but I also love their mission. Collect beautiful moments, not things. They’re all about the simple things in life, which is just another reason that I love them. I know I’ve said this before, but this time of year, some of my favorite memories are getting together with family (Christmas Eve often comes to mind) and sharing a bottle of wine and appetizers. No one is overly dressed up or fancy. We’re usually crammed in my grandmother’s small kitchen. But, it’s just simple. And fun. And there’s laughter. And it’s always memorable.

Other things you could keep on hand are fancy cocktail glasses (even something as simple as copper mugs with twine and a little garland attached), a coffee table book or two, gift cards, etc. Keep in mind that you don’t have to buy anything too pricy. My mom would always stock up on things throughout the year while they were on sale so that she would have them around for the holidays. You never know when a Yankee Swap, Secret Santa, holiday party, or an invite might turn up, so keeping a gift or two on hand (and a couple bottles of Simple Life) always comes in handy.

2. Sync Your Calendar to Your Phone

This past month has felt so crazy and to be honest with you, I would be absolutely LOST without Outlook Calendar. A couple months ago I came home from work, sat down at my computer, then noticed a notification flashing up about a blogging event I had completely forgotten about and was supposed to be at right at the moment when I was seeing it. I felt horrible and there’s nothing that feels more rude/disrespectful than missing out on something that you had RSVP’d you would make it to.

While at first it might feel counterintuitive for “simplifying your life,” trust me on this one. Sync your calendars to your phone and you will never miss an event again. That being said, while we’re on the topic – stop saying yes to everything! To be honest, I’m a bit of a homebody during the winter. I only like to commit to a couple events a week (tops) because I’m someone who needs to come home and relax, make dinner, and get my life in order. I don’t feel bad about saying no to things because I know it means I would be sacrificing other areas of my life if I said “yes” to every single thing. Stop feeling bad about it! 🙂

3. Do Half-Way Meal Prepping on the Weekend & Order Your Groceries

If you guys have followed me on Instagram for a while, you might have seen a few months ago when I jumped on stories and talked about something I like to do on the weekends that is sort of meal prepping, but more what I like to call, half-way meal prepping. You’re probably rolling your eyes with this one, but just hear me out! 🙂 I find full meal prepping to be so gross. I sincerely don’t mean to offend you if this is something you love, it’s just not for me. I’m not a huge leftovers person, so the thought of cooking food on a Saturday or Sunday and essentially eating leftovers all week long just doesn’t sit well with me.

For the last year or so, I’ve been prepping food on the weekend so that it’s good to go for the week (mostly fruits and veggies). I wash almost all of my vegetables and cut them up/trim them. Things like broccoli, green beans, carrots, cucumber slices, green peppers, red peppers, etc. or whatever else I bought that week. Then, I put them in glass containers (ideally if they’re all clean, but sometimes plastic freezer bags). Cutting out that 10 minutes of washing/cutting up things and dirtying a bunch of cutting boards during the work week (and instead doing it on the weekend) makes me so much more likely to eat healthy when I’m exhausted during the work week. I also wash/cut up fruit like strawberries, blueberries, and apples (cut into slices and put into small bags to grab in the morning for a work snack). You can easily add to oatmeal, cereal, or just grab for a snack. I’m in a much better mood and overall, just feel that much better when I’m eating healthier and drinking tons of water.

Something I discovered a few weeks ago that has saved my life is something called Instacart. My car has been in the shop for no joke, 2 months so I haven’t really been able to do my typical grocery haul. If you live in a city, chances are you have access to this. You can either use the app or computer (I actually kind of prefer using it on my Desktop computer), order all of your groceries, and they even recognize things that are frequently out of stock and have you pick replacements. They also text you and/or pick replacements for you (within a decent price range) if something isn’t available. All of this for around $5 shipping and $5 tip that they automatically calculate for you. Worth it, in my opinion!

3. Focus on Being Present – Rather Than the Presents You’ll Receive

It’s really easy to get caught up in the commercial side of things this season. Everywhere we look, someone is telling us we “need” something. I’m definitely guilty! But rather than focusing on that, let’s make a conscious decision to focus on time spent with loved ones and experiences over buying more and more and more gifts. You will be happier. I guarantee it. How can you become more present? Things like this:

• Greet your partner when they come home from work and look them in the eyes/embrace them rather than staring at your phone and mumbling something to them (or maybe nothing at all).
• Turn your phone off from dinnertime on… (I’m working on this one…. eeeek why is it so hard to put it away?!).
• Gift someone an experience/something you’ll be able to create a memory around rather than something that will collect dust.

4. Let Go of the Things that Feel Overwhelming

There’s a difference between sometimes having to do things you don’t want to do and letting go of the things that are causing you to feel seriously overwhelmed or anxious. Stop agreeing to make three things for your child’s bake sale when one will do. Stop agreeing to accommodate other people’s schedules “to be nice” when it negatively impacts your own. You get the idea! Oh, and also, promise yourself you’ll buy a couple Christmas presents for people on your list in the coming days so that you won’t end up at the mall on Christmas Eve. That will save you a LOT of stress! 🙂

Thank you to Simple Life for sponsoring this post. As always, all opinions are my own.

Make sure to check out this link to find out where you can purchase your own bottle or two of Simple Life wine. Cheers! As always, please drink responsibly. 🙂