Mark your calendars, mamas. Thanksgiving is just under five weeks away! As soon as Halloween hits, the holidays tumble one after another until we hit the top (bottom?) with the New Year… and it can all be extremely stressful, if you aren’t ready. Time for some frugal ways to reduce stress this Thanksgiving!
My dad is a Christmas lights PERSON. Like, he starts putting out Christmas lights early October, I think – and has a major Christmas light display every year. All of that to explain that he tells me that Halloween isn’t even here yet and CHRISTMAS items are flying off the shelves. We are talking yard decor, Christmas lights, decorations… you name it. Certain items can’t even be purchased later if you don’t jump on it early (like September/October).
These are the people that are planning ahead. The people that are organized, know what they want, and prepare for the season before it actually arrives. #goals
Frugal Ways to Reduce Stress This Thanksgiving
So, you want to be frugal, but not overwhelmed and stressed out the whole last quarter of the year, either… gotcha.
A party planner is out, then. Guess it’s you and me, mama.
- DON’T wait to plan whether it’s asking about allergies or setting the menu, the sooner you get this done the EASIER it will be when the time comes. We are already planning our menu (with many lactose intolerant people in the home and a few allergies including tomatoes, avocado, and pineapple) so we can purchase when sales happen.
- Bake and freeze if you are making the meal yourself, or have a potluck style Thanksgiving – we do a combination of these two approaches. We will bake ahead as we are able (especially for the sugar free people), but people bring dishes, too. This goes along with the above (purchasing on sale instead of as needed, but also saves our sanity).
- Use a free Holiday planner or make notes in your daily planner so you don’t forget anything important and have to rely on last minute store runs
- Clean 10-15 minutes every day starting NOW – this is a great habit and if you are the host the last thing you want to stress over is a dirty house on Thanksgiving day before people arrive! A short time is doable for most – just set a timer and clean! (Don’t feel like you have to finish – some is better than none!)
- Start talking to friends about the idea of Friendsgiving if you don’t have somewhere to be, but don’t want to be alone. Maybe a new tradition will start!
Bonus idea: don’t invite a large crowd, and instead celebrate a small, intimate Thanksgiving (see more about this idea over at Celebrating a Small Scale Thanksgiving)
Quick Tips for a Better Thanksgiving
We are all about that frugal life, and we are going to focus on reducing stress this last quarter… so that’s where this section comes into play. A bad experience at Thanksgiving could taint the holiday for years to come.
Although some of this may be “common sense”, when families get together that can fly out the window. So these are reminders.
- Avoid sports/politics talk unless you KNOW the other person can emotionally handle the conversation (no need to stir the pot on Thanksgiving of all days!)
- We have the “freedom of speech” in America. That does NOT mean that we should ALWAYS use that freedom. Sometimes, common sense (and decency) dictate that we stay quiet.
- REMEMBER your NO is someone else’s YES (even if they don’t want it to be). Someone eventually has to step up – so keep that in mind if/when you refuse to step in and help out.
The holidays are creeping racing at us, so stay safe, stay sane, and let me know in the comments below if you’ll start planning your Thanksgiving in October.
Christian, wife, “hybrid” mama, I run the site All Behind A Smile to help others like me.
Leave a Reply