[VIDEO]: Budgeting Our Time and Energy for the Holidays

Picture this scenario: You have a whole list of things you *want* to do for the holidays–like making gingerbread houses (see the one above from 2012), playing games, going on outings, watching movies, etc., but you know you’ll only get a fraction of them done if you want to keep your sanity.

Today’s 2-minute video offers a fun perspective that can help. The process is called “Zero-Based Budgeting.”

Quick note: The FULL one-hour class Eric and I taught–that covers how to flexibly schedule the “big rocks” into your holiday planning, how to emotionally navigate feelings of frustration, and how to set up systems to manage logistics so you can enjoy the season–can be found inside our STEP Mastery Facebook group. Details are at the bottom of the page!

Video Synopsis:

Eric used to work in the finance department of a large corporation, and this is one method they used as they prioritized their company projects. It looked something like this:

• List all the projects you want to do
• Identify the costs
• Look at the budget
• Organize the projects by priority
• Stop when you run out of dollars–and get to “zero”

But the process doesn’t only work for corporations and financial budgets. It also works beautifully as you make decisions to allocate your time and energy.

For example, this is a list of fun holiday activities our family brainstormed in Evernote the other day (I sat down and said, “What fun things do you want to do as a family to celebrate this year?” Everyone participated….):

Now that I have the list, we’ll sit down and sort them according to category and priority. Maybe I’ll make categories like this:

• Outings (flexible)
• Outings (calendared)
• At-home activities (non-screen)
• Movies
• Food
• Gifts

Then we’ll put the ideas into the appropriate category according to which ones are most important to us. For example, if we just watched ONE movie, which one would it be? That one will go at the top. 🙂

Clearly, we’ll need to be flexible–because weather, temperaments, health, unexpected opportunities, etc. will need to be accounted for. But the idea is that we’ll have our priorities clearly outlined–and when we don’t get to everything, it will be OKAY.

The goal isn’t to check off this list.

The goal is to enjoy our time so much that we will think, “Wow, these are the days. I love these people! And I love the holidays! And we will treasure these memories forever!”

If you have ideas for us–or for other members of the community–please share them below! We love you!!

xoxo

April (and Eric)

Related Resources

Would you like to watch the full video titled, “Your Fun, Peaceful, Guilt-Free Holiday Season”? It’s available inside our STEP Mastery Facebook group as part of the STEP Booster Series. You can find all the details here! (Now is an AMAZING time to join STEP Mastery. There’s a link and info on the Booster Series page to make it easy. Hope to see you inside!)

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