Christmas Help For Overloaded Mums

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The holidays can be loud, fast and unforgiving, especially when you’re parenting little ones and carrying a full mental load. In this shorter episode, we talk candidly about a kinder approach to Christmas: putting the tree up late without guilt, toddler-proofing décor, and letting “good enough” be more than enough. If you’re grieving, stretched thin, or simply out of ideas, this is your permission to choose rest over hype and design the season around your real capacity.

We unpack a few tips that actually help under pressure (even if you keep it in mind for next Christmas). Think pre-Christmas decluttering to clear space and donate what no longer serves, a lighter gift plan when your brain is at capacity, and small rituals that steady the week. You’ll hear how embracing a “do differently” mindset reduces stress, protects your energy, and keeps joy at the centre, even when traditions shift. Your kids want presence more than perfection, and the memories that stick often come from the calm you protect.

We also open the door to more support in the new year. Our She's Organised Hub community focuses on real-life organising, group coaching, weekly focus hours, and practical templates that save time without the overwhelm. 

Whether you’ve listened since April or just found us, we want your feedback, your ideas and your voice. Please tell us what topics would help you most and if you’d like to join as a guest. 

You can find all the info you need at beyondorganised.com.

Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a softer season, and leave a quick review so more parents can find a calmer way through the Christmas holidays.

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Remember, organising is a tool to live the purposeful life beyond it.

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Episode Transcript

Mel (00:18):
Welcome to Beyond Organised, the podcast that helps you simplify your life and amplify your purpose. I'm Mel Schenker, life coach, speaker, founder of She's Organised, but, more importantly, a wife and mum of four little kids. If you've ever felt overwhelmed, like you're constantly juggling everything but never quite catching up, this is the place for you. Here we go beyond just the tidying up and creating systems. We're talking about real life strategies that bring order to your life, but also we talk about the things beyond the organising, the things that really matter, like your parenting relationships and so much more. So grab your coffee and let's dive in.

(00:59):
Merry Christmas! We are only afew days away.
I can't believe how quick thisyear has flown.
I'm sure you're saying the samething.
I just wanted to do a reallyshort episode today because
honestly, it's Christmas time.
Who has time to be listening tothings or taking on too much

(01:22):
action or anything like that?
So I just wanted to reach out,say Merry Christmas, but also I
wanted to speak to the youngmums for a second.
Now, this year has not lookedthe way it usually does for me.
I have four kids, as you know,and my youngest is now 16

(01:42):
months, and it has been full on.
It's been full on.
Juggling this business, thepodcast, uh, my part-time job,
baby, three other kids.
Like it has been nuts to adegree.
I will admit.
I mean, I love it.
I love every bit of it.
It is a bit crazy though.
But I just want to say thisChristmas has looked quite

(02:05):
different for me.
And perhaps you're findingyourself in a similar position.
And I just wanted to say thatit's okay.
It's okay if things are notlooking the way you would like
it to.
I'll give you an example.
We are putting the Christmastree up today, and I'm recording
this as of the Sunday, the daybefore, the 21st of December.

(02:26):
We are putting the Christmastree up today.
This is the latest I think I'veever had the Christmas tree up.
But my 16-month-old is in aphase where he's going through
every cupboard, every drawer,climbing everything.
He is full on.
He's very active.
He's also very happy, veryhappy little baby.

(02:48):
But it's full on.
And I know putting up this treeis going to see it as another
mountain to climb.
So I have purposely left it tothe week of, knowing that I'm
probably going to spend a lot ofthis week preventing the tree
from coming down.
And the ornaments are probablynot even going to be around the

(03:09):
bottom.
So it's going to look a littlefunny.
There's a lot of things that Ijust would love to have the
tree, you know, fully directdecorated, up at the start of
December, all these things, butI'm taking my own advice.
I'm simplifying and I'mfollowing that fourth D of do
differently.
And that's how it's happeningthis year.

(03:30):
For the sake of my own sanityand everything that's going on
in this season that I'm in, I'mdoing it differently.
And, you know, next year,hopefully, he's out of that
phase and we can have the treeup as normal and continue on
with our normal traditions.
But I know that for a lot ofyou, even Christmas time, it can

(03:51):
be painful because maybe it's areminder of someone you've lost
this year.
It's another reminder of howdisorganized you are.
Um, and you're feeling thatfrantic panic and rush.
Look, I'll even admit I haven'teven finished all my Christmas
shopping.
And it's not that I'm sodisorganized, it's because I
literally have no idea what toget these people.

(04:14):
Family members.
I I have no idea.
And my brain is just at fullcapacity that I can't actually
even think to brainstorm to workout what it is that they want.
Now I've only got a few daysleft, and this is probably the
um, yeah, the slowest I've I'veever been with this, but I
actually just don't have thebrain capacity.

(04:36):
And so I'm navigating howthings even look right now.
And and look, they'll they'llhave a Christmas present on
Christmas Day, it'll happen.
I know that.
But even for someone asorganized as me, I'm having to
accept that I can't controlevery facet of my life.
I mean, I've already learnedthat sort of the hard way over

(04:58):
the years anyway.
But it's more justunderstanding that sometimes you
just have to give yourself thatbreathing space and allow
things to be a little differentto how they normally are for
you.
And yeah, I just want toencourage you more than anything
that if this Christmas isfeeling a little crazy, this

(05:20):
cryptopany really quick, thingsare looking a little different.
Perhaps people that are notaround that you're used to
seeing around, it's okay.
It's okay.
It's okay that you know, youmight be feeling a little bit
out of your depth, feeling a bitoverwhelmed, a bit frustrated,

(05:40):
and no doubt feeling exhausted.
I would love you to go intothese last few days of the
Christmas season, but into thenew year from looking at it
differently.
Going, actually, I'm not goingto buy into the hype and the
craziness of this season.

(06:01):
I'm actually going toprioritize my rest and the way
that I go about things, and it'sgoing to look a little
different, and that's okay.
And at the end of the day,another year rolls on, and
another and another.
There'll be more Christmases,there'll be more things, and
it's okay if this year islooking a little different here.

(06:22):
I've certainly had to come toterms with it because, like I
said, having a 16-month-oldreally kind of throws everything
out the door.
And but look, my nine, seven,and three-year-olds, they're
fine.
They're not complaining.
As long as they get presents onChristmas Day, they don't care
if there's a tree up or not.
So it is going to look a littlebit different for us, but it's

(06:43):
okay if it's looking a littledifferent for you.
Or maybe it's looking the samefor you, but it has pushed you
over the edge because you'retrying to do it the way you've
always done it.
Having the tree up by a certaindate, having presents wrapped
and organized and sorted by acertain date, uh, having
everyone over and cooking andall these things, and it's

(07:05):
pushed you over the edge.
Perhaps it's time to reevaluatethat, okay, maybe you can't do
things differently this year forChristmas.
But in a lead up to Christmasnext year, let's have a look at
how things could be donedifferently.
Now, one tip I will give, andit's probably a little late this
year, though you've still got afew days, but one thing I like
to do before Christmas is toactually go through my kids'

(07:28):
rooms and declutter a whole lotof stuff.
So remove all the clothes thatno longer fit them so they've
got space for the next size up,um, which generally they get
gifted some things, but alsoremove the toys that they no
longer play with and all ofthat.
And I generally don't, youknow, completely discard the
toys or anything like that.
I box them away, give it sometime, and if they don't ask for

(07:52):
it again after a couple ofmonths, I then donate or sell or
anything like that.
Um, but it's good to do itbefore Christmas for two
reasons.
When Christmas rolls around,you've got the space for the new
toys and the new items to fitin your home without adding more
clutter.
But also, secondly, if you canget it done and there are things

(08:13):
that you can donate straightaway, then you're potentially
helping someone else atChristmas to afford some lovely
gifts that they couldn't havepaid for otherwise.
So it might be a little latethis year, but let's think of
the year ahead and the lead upto that and how things can be

(08:33):
done differently there.
Now, I'm not gonna go on muchlonger.
This is a really short one, andI'm really hoping that you all
have a great Christmas.
Now, moving into next year, Iwill do another episode next
week talking into the new year,but I just want to get give a
heads up now.
I would love to hear from you.
I would love to hear how youhave found this podcast this

(08:56):
year.
Because I started back at theend of April.
I've had one episode out everysingle week.
I've had guests, I've had solo.
How have you found it?
Do you like it?
Do you not like it?
What would you like to see nextyear in the episodes moving
forward?
Would you like to even be onthe podcast?
If that's the case, I'll popthe details in the show notes so

(09:19):
you can actually follow throughand let me know your thoughts
because I want to hear from you.
I want to give you content thatis relevant for you, that will
help you with your everydaylife, getting that balance and
order through organizing and allthe things beyond it.
So let me know your thoughts.

(09:40):
And if you are after moresupport now in the new year,
even a few months from now, I dohave my paid community, the
She's Organized Hub, and you getso much in there, but you also
get access to me.
I get to know every singleperson in there, what they're

(10:02):
currently dealing with, theirstruggles, their challenges, and
I help work through a solutionto your current season to help
you move through.
There's also group coaching,there's a bunch of courses,
templates, resources.
There's a lot in there.
But you can find somethingthat's specific for you in this
moment.
You don't have to do all of it.

(10:22):
You can find something specificfor you.
And I would love to be able tohelp you, support you, keep you
accountable as well for thechanges you might be putting in
place already.
But I want to help you.
But also, I have beenconsistently helping women save
at least seven hours or moreevery week on everyday tasks.

(10:43):
So I would love to be able tohelp you more than anything get
through your list so you don'thave to duplicate yourself, that
you can get through all thethings that you need to and
still have time for you.
Because next year is going tobe a year where we focus more on

(11:04):
you, focus more on being ableto restore you and build you up
and get you to a place where youare feeling confident and
capable in who you are as awoman, as a mother, as just a
person that wants to be able todo more.
I want to help you in thatseason.

(11:27):
And I've loved getting to knoweveryone that's inside the hub.
I have, I think it's 116 peoplein there now, and I'm still
continuing to get to knoweveryone and help and support.
And I have so many great newthings coming and set for the
new year.
Everything from just weeklycoffee catch-ups so we can get

(11:48):
to know each other as acommunity through to actual
focus hours where we're actuallyputting things into place and
implementing things that welearn to normal, you know, group
coaching and Q ⁇ A sessions andall these things.
And you don't have to attendany of them.
You don't have to attend all ofthem.
You can choose whatever youlike that fits with your
schedule and with your seasonright now.

(12:10):
But the option is there andit's all in one place, keeping
it really, really, really simplefor you.
So if you'd like to know more,I've got the details in the show
notes, and it will be thereevery week in the show notes
that you can actually see thelink to be able to get more
details on that.
But I would love to keeptalking, but I am going to go

(12:34):
and be with my family, and Ihope you can enjoy time with
your family.
And I really hope to hear fromyou soon because I do respond to
every single email, everysingle message personally.
I don't get my assistant oranyone else to do that.
I take care of it all myself.
So please reach out.
I'd love to hear from you, andI do wish you a very, very Merry

(12:57):
Christmas.
If you like this episode, don't forget to hit subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next. And if you want to continue the conversation, you can connect with me on Instagram @shes.organised or for some free resources, head over to beyondorganised.com/ toolkit. Remember, organising is a tool to live the purposeful life of beyond it. See you next time.