October 6, 2024 • 22 mins
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I've pooled all of the collective TOM wisdom and collated it all into one episode for you. ❤️ Here is the link to everything that you need. https://theorganisedmum.com/quick-links/ If you have a question that you would like answered on the show please email contact@theorganisedmum.com
Listen to the TOM Rocks Guided sessions via The Organised Mum app. We’ll start you off with a 7 day free trial 🎉 TOM Rocks guided sessions are available via an in app subscription on The Organised Mum cleaning app.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, everybody, Welcome back. I'm Jemma. I am the founder
of TOM and it is my mission in life to
make all of this stuff that comes with running a
house as easy and as simple as possible so that
you can go and get on with living the rest
of your life. Why, because there's more to life than housework.
I love Christmas. It is like probably it takes probably
one quarter of my content that I put out every
(00:20):
single year. But this year we've had so many messages
from people who are concerned about the cost of living.
Maybe budgets a little bit tied to this year, there's
less cash in our pockets, and they still really really
want to make Christmas a magical time, but maybe there's
a little bit of concern there about how to do
it when cash is tight. Now we've got a lovely
(00:41):
episode coming for you today. We've basically taken the wisdom
and the knowledge from the TOM community, pulled it and
come up with some realistic and simple ways that you
can really rain in the spending without And this is
the important bit, losing the magic. Now, before we go
any further, I just want to say that Christmas it's
(01:03):
not about the money. It's not about the amount of
money that you have, or the budget that you have,
or what you spend on who If you look back
to Christmas's past and you think back to your most
memorable your favorite Christmas is the Christmas is where you
just have lovely memories, I can pretty much guarantee you
that those Christmases, what you remember is how you felt,
(01:25):
who you were with, and just the general vibe and atmosphere.
You're probably not thinking back to a certain present. And
the same goes for your kids. So money is not
the be all and end all, especially when it comes
to Christmas. And I think we are becoming more and
more aware now of our own personal consumption and not
(01:46):
just buying for buying's sake. Hopefully this episode is going
to be useful in lots of different ways. I've got
a cup of Lady Gray, maybe you're going to have
a hot chocolate, and let's get into Team Tom's top
tis for a festive Christmas on a budget. Firstly, we're
going to start to talk about is what I think
is the best bit of Christmas. It's the lead up,
it's the anticipation, it's the whole of the month of December,
(02:08):
which is why for me organized Christmas, and I designed
it in such a way that we were done, were
done by December first, so that you and me, the
orchestrators of the Christmas magic, can enjoy it too, because
I absolutely love those twenty four days up until Christmas Day.
In fact, my favorite day of the year is actually
(02:29):
Christmas Eve, in particular around about four pm, just as
the sun is starting to set. That gold nowur between
four pm five thirty pm on Christmas Eve very niche
That's very specific, and I think in the run up
to Christmas, we can forget this, can't we And it's
very much thinking about Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day.
But half of the fun is the build up, and
(02:51):
part of that build up is Advent calendars. Now, when
I was growing up in the eighties, we were lucky
if we've got an Advent calendar with chocolate. We were
lucky if we've got an admint downward. And very often
you just get one that was just a cardboard Advent
calendar and the door opens to get a picture, and
you would be grateful for that, right. But nowadays I've
got all sorts of fancy calendars, and the other day
I was looking online and I saw, oh my goodness,
(03:14):
it was going into the thousands of pounds an advent
calendar with like real gold jewelry in it. And there
wasn't twenty four pieces. I mean it was probably probably
about six or seven. But nevertheless, right an absolute extravagance.
Don't get me wrong, someone presented me with that Advent calendar,
I would be very very happy. But the the point
I'm trying to make is Advent calenders are becoming more
and more extravagant. You don't have to pay out a
(03:36):
massive amount of money to get the same sort of
excitement and to really cash in, for want of a
better phrase, on that excitement and really try and capitalize
on it to really bring the festive vibe for very
little money. And Team Tom had some amazing ideas that
I absolutely love. So obviously you can make, if you're
like crafty and you're good with sewing and that sort
(03:57):
of thing, you can make from scratch for very little money,
a reusable Advent calendar made from fabric and you so
on twenty four little pouches. You can make it as
extravagant or as simple as you need to pull it
out every single year. And this is the sort of
tradition that kids love, isn't it. They start to see
it and they recognize it, and all the Advent calendars
(04:18):
out and then put whatever you want in a little pouch.
It could be chocolate coins, it could be little pressies.
But one person on the teens on Facebook group came
up with this amazing idea, which was either to use
a jigsaw that maybe you were gifted last year and
no one's actually had time to do, or go to
a charity shop and spend pennies maybe a couple of
quid on a jigsaw and divide those jigsaw pieces amongst
(04:42):
the twenty four pockets or compartments of your reusable Advent calendar,
and then every day you get the bits out, you
get them on the kitchen table, on the dining room table,
and you can all it could be a whole family thing,
or it could just be for the kids. As the
month of December progresses, you are starting to do the
jigsaw puzzle. I thought that was such a really lovely idea.
(05:03):
You can also do the same hopping over to the
chair of shop and get in like a bit a
lego set, making sure that it's obviously fully intact and
it's got the instructions with it, and dividing the lego
pieces amongst the Advent calendar pockets, making sure that you
put the instructions in day one, and then the same
principle applies over the course of December. Your kids have
(05:24):
got things to do, an activity to look forward to,
they can build a lego model. And I think it's
just so much nicer than waking up in the morning
quickly eating your chocolate from the Advent calendar and then
go and brushing your teeth. It makes it more of an event,
something to look forward to, and it really ekes out
that lovely period in the run up to Christmas. Another
lovely idea that Tom has had was to do the
(05:45):
same with books. So maybe you've got loads of books
that you've never read. Now a book a day. It
depends on the length of the book. You know, obviously
like use your imagination with this one, but you could
do like a book a week that sort of thing,
and then that again becomes an event and you can
read with your kids. Maybe you'll say, this is a
it's a long chapter book. Let's read a chapter a night,
(06:06):
or three chapters a night for advent and I think
again just a really nice way of creating family memories
are cozy in the spirit of Christmas. You can also
do a collaborative advent calendar. Again absolutely love this idea,
and just write, sit down with your kids maybe at
the end of November and just say, as a family,
is there anything we'd all like to do, like what's
(06:27):
on our Christmas boocket list? Bearing in mind we're trying
to do that. You know, you don't have to say
we're doing it on a budget, because that feels like
you put pouring cold water over it a little bit,
doesn't it. So, like, what are some good things that
we can do as a family over December that maybe
can do like once a day, from ranging from really
little things that we can do during the week to
maybe bigger things during the weekend like going for a
(06:48):
woodland walk, all that sort of stuff. Write down your list,
vet everything and make sure everything's realistic obviously, and then
you don't even need an advent calendar for this. You
can just get a jam jar or a jar or
a topperware box. Make these fancies you want. You can
put them in lovely envelopes if you want to just
keep it really simple. Put them in the jam jar
or in the bowl, and every day someone pulls something
(07:09):
out and then that's the activity for the day. It
could be something like bake some cookies or watch a
Christmas movie. Those are some ideas that you can use
playing on the idea of an advent calenda, that are
either cheap or completely free, that are going to help
to build up this lovely, magical sense of Christmas. So
what activities can you do for cheap or for free
(07:30):
with your family over Christmas to keep the spirits high?
The one that was suggested the most, and my personal
favorite is going out for a Christmas light walk. A
Christmas light walk, so not a light walk, but going
out and see the lights. This is such a lovely
thing to do, wrapping up cozy, maybe taking some travel
mugs with some hot chocolate in. If you live in
(07:52):
an area where you can walk to roads, and there's
always that one road, isn't there that goes to town,
go and walk there with your kids, take the dog,
go and admire everyone's lights. It might give you some
inspiration for next year. You've already put yours uf or
if you want to like go a little bit further afield.
Then maybe get the bus or the train or drive
out to your local city center. Maybe go to the
(08:13):
light switch on there or building up that sense of
atmosphere for the big day, eking out the Christmas fund,
go and see go the Christmas light walk. So one
of my favorite things do We always do it on
Christmas Eve when the kids were little. We always used
to take like some bells that I used to keep
in my coat pocket and like jingle them and be like, oh,
my goodness, did you hear that? That's Father Christmas. We
(08:35):
need to go home and get ready for bed. So
much you can do, so use your imagination and have
fun with it. Have a look as well at local
community facebook pages. There's loads of things usually that's going
on in the community, usually for free or for a
very low entry cost. These sorts of things like the
village light switch on, carol concerts, Christmas fairs that you
(08:56):
can go to as a family, just to take advantage
of the community Christmas spirit. Think about having things like
Christmas movie nights. Your family to write all of the
bucket list Christmas films that they want to see in
the run up to the big day and say right
We're going to do this once every Friday or every
other Friday, depending on what your calendar looks like. You
(09:17):
can go as big or as small. Here you can
get the kids to design tickets for entry tickets. That's
going to keep them busy for like an hour or
half an hour whilst you're maybe doing something else. Get
the popcorn out, get the blankets out, turn the lights down,
and watch a Christmas film as a family, because I
think Christmas films are a little bit different than normal films,
aren't they. I just a little bit like Halloween films
(09:38):
because they have such a sense of nostalgia about them
that you're never going to be bored. So just write
down your favorite Christmas moodies. Although having said that, we
did watch The Grinch for the first time with Ben
a few years ago and it scared him and he
couldn't and he couldn't watch it, so obviously make sure
they're kid friendly again. Such a lovely way to create
(10:00):
memories and just spend time together. Which I know it
sounds like a real cliche, it's what Christmas is all about.
It's not about the it's about actually making the memories.
So there's one thing that you can do as well, just
to make watching a Christmas film a really fun game.
It's called Christmas Bingo, and this is an idea that
was floated around in the Facebook group. Get a Bringo
card and you can print them out really easy, and
(10:21):
it's like you might have a picture of Snowman's snow
Christmas tit tree. Every time someone says the word Nativity
or something like that, every time it appears in the
film that you're watching, cross it off and it's the
first one to shout Christmas Bingo that wins. Now, obviously
we can't talk about Christmas without talking about presents and gifts.
There are some things that you can do to help
(10:41):
rain in the spending. So if you're doing organized Christmas,
you'll know that we talk all the time, don't we,
about being realistic both with your time that you have
and also with the amount of money that you have
for Christmas. Just like there's only so many hours in
a day, there's only so many pounds that are going
to be coming in to your bank account before Christmas,
(11:02):
so we have to be really realistic about that and
cut our cloth accordingly. A lovely thing that I hear
about every year, but I don't think we've ever We
don't do it regularly, but we're going to do it
this year. Is like really put in a full stop
on the presence, just compartmentalizing it now because the kids
are older, I'm trying to avoid buying like plastic tap
(11:24):
and that is using the gift giving rule of something
they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read. Now,
this has been going around four years and I think
it's a really lovely way of both gently setting expectations. Again,
we don't need point cold water on Christmas, like this
is going to be a lean Christmas. You know, there
are ways of spinning this. It's just a lovely way
(11:46):
of setting expectations. And it's also a lovely way of
taking the pressure off you because we talk about the
Christmas itch every single year. And if there's one bit
of budgeting advice that I can give you, it's where
the Christmas itch. The Christmas itch is an affliction that
lots of us suffer from from time to time over Christmas.
(12:08):
Where we've done all our Christmas shopping, We've been super organized,
and we've done it nice and early. We've stuck to budget,
and before all the things are wrapped, it looks like loads.
Oh my gosh, I've done so well. I've got loads
of bargains. And then the second you wrap them in
the inner wrapping paper, it seems like less. And it's
(12:29):
this is actually called something because as someone told me
about it a couple of years ago, and I was
talking about it online, and I think it seems to
do with the human brain perceives the gifts as being
less because they're all wrapped in a similar wrapping paper.
Before you wrap them, they all look completely different, so
your brain perceives them there's being more there than when
(12:50):
they're all wrapped in the same paper. And I thought
that was so interesting. And then the Christmas itch strikes
and then you're like, oh my god, I need to
go and buy more. And then all a sudden, you
down pound Land b and M home bargains, buying stuff,
buying tats. Right, And if you say to yourself, right,
I'm gonna go and ask the kids, go and do
it now after this video, after this episode is finished,
(13:10):
go and say to your kids, what did you get
for Christmas last year? Now, they could reel off one
or two of the main presence that they got, but
I bet you all if you did like succumb to
the Christmas itch and went out buying all sorts of
the sake of it just to sort of make it
look more, I bet they can't remember that. What's more,
I bet if you've done a d clutter recently, or
(13:31):
you're about to do a de clutter, quite a lot
of that stuff that you bought whilst you were suffering
from the Christmas itch is the stuff that you're decluttering
right now. So not only you're making work for yourself,
you're spending money that potentially haven't budgeted for, and also
you're bringing clutter into your home. So by making sure
that you are compartment site and putting a full stop
on the gift giving lists on them to wear, things
(13:53):
to read, and they want something they need, I was
get wrong. I was getting the wrong order. It's helping
you to give you that scaffold that so I've done
the four things, I've hit the four requirements. And if
buying for wider friends and family is stressing you out
a little bit, have a full and you have a
really frank conversation with them and say, do you know
what I think would be better this year if we
(14:14):
just do a secret center. Let's set a budget of
ten pounds or whatever per person. Let's stick everyone's name
in a hat, and then whoever pulls it out. I mean,
you know how a secrets answer works, Like you know
how it works, But it means that it's going to
save you time and effort because you're just buying for
one person, and it's also going to save your money,
and it's also going to help stop waste. Because let's
(14:34):
let's be real here. I say you're buying for uncle
Trevor right here. You maybe see once a year at Christmas.
I mean you know him your family, but you don't
know him, so you end up buying in some arbitrary
gift like a bottle of whiskey or a box of
chocolates or a pair of socks, and you know, there's
no real thought behind it, really is there. So by
doing something like a secret sander, it's more fun, there's
(14:57):
a little bit more thought behind it, and it makes
it into more open event. Plus it's going to save
your money and it's going to stop over consumption and waste.
Don't forget about charity shops, don't forget about eBay and
vined have a look especially now, loads of people are decluttering,
making a room for all of the stuff that's going
to come in for Christmas and also to clause some
(15:17):
money back for their own Christmas budget. You can find
bargains right now, often in pristine condition. We've just sold
a load of stuff because we decluttered Ben's toy covered
as part of organized Christmas, and there was a lovely
box set of like the Mister Men and the Little
Miss books, all of the books in alphabetical order, and
he'd looked after them really really well, so there wasn't
(15:39):
a book missing and they were in pristine condition, and
we've sold them and we just know they're going to
be regifted to someone because they're going to make the
perfect gift, and also we've clawed some money back for
our Christmas budget. Check in charity shops if you want
to do things like stockings, they're perfect places to find
stocking fillers. And if you've got young kids, it doesn't
(15:59):
matter the things not in the box. I promise you,
I promise you, overthinking it right. If you can get
a lovely train set or a scale extrix or whatever right,
or a doll's house secondhand, there is nothing more magical
for a child than coming down on Christmas morning to
see it already set up in front of the tree.
So don't worry about something being in its box. As
(16:21):
long as the actual thing is in good condition, you
can spin it. You can make it look just as
magical for a fraction of the cost. Other budgeting tips
that have come up whilst we've been talking about this
on the Facebook group is start early now. I know
some people start planning for Christmas like literally boxing day
after Christmas, but the earlier you can plan the better. Now.
I know you're thinking, why are you telling me this now, Gemma,
(16:43):
it's literally the first week and not sober. You can
still pick up some really good deals now, and also
you can have this in the back of your mind
for next year as well. Plan ahead. Think about buying
secondhand again. Not only is it really good for the planet,
but it's really really good for your wallet as well.
Things like Christmas jumper day at school. Don't have to
buy brand new, buy secondhand. Keep an eye out for
(17:06):
these things early and you're going to save yourself money
if you want to do things like Christmas eve boxes,
and I know that lots of you love doing that
maybe think about giving them at the start of December,
making it into a December the first traditional when the
tree goes up tradition. Because if you've got a Christmas
Eve box that you're going to put things like Christmas
pjs in, or I know a lot of you like
(17:26):
to do Christmas bedding and you don't have to have
brand new bedding every year. You can just pop the
Christmas bedding, wash it and then store it and pop
the normal Christmas bedding that you bring out every year
into that box. Again, it creates a tradition. Get the
Christmas pj's out if you're going to get more aware
out of all of that stuff, more use out of
all of that stuff over the course December, rather than
(17:47):
just bringing them out on Christmas Eve and like maybe
you get a week two weeks worth use out of them.
This is something that I'm really passionate about. Christmas dinner.
I love Christmas dinner. I love Christmas dinner. But also
remember it is just Sunday lunch. It's a fancy sundry
lunch with a cracker and a hat. And for lots
of us, it isn't even that your Christmas, your rules,
your Christmas day, your rules, your Christmas lunch, your rules.
(18:09):
Do not feel trapped or under pressure by what you're
seeing on the adverts, on the telly, on your social media.
Remember the all those lovely Christmas adverts. There's adverts that
we love. What is their job to sell us something, right,
So of course they're going to look litzy. Of course
they're going to look fabulous. Just remember that, enjoy them
(18:31):
for what they are. Do not put yourself under pressure
to create this maximalist Christmas. You know that just has
to look fantastic. I always think Thata's that episode at
the Royal Family where Denise says, todave, all I wanted
was a Christmas like Nigellas. You are not going to
turn into Nigella Lawson or Delia Smith at the stroke
of midnight on Christmas. E like magic. If you don't
(18:54):
like cooking, if you don't normally do a lot of
cooking in the ear, then don't put yourself under pressure.
Just do it on Christmas Day, your Christmas Day to
loads of people. Just have like pasta, a lasagna, like
a heat a warm up meal, just to completely take
the pressure off, and maybe do Christmas dinner on Christmas
Eve or on Boxing Day. Spread out the fun. There
(19:15):
are no rules here. Work out what works for you
and your family. Again, your Christmas, your rules, and if
he wants to do a Christmas dinner, opt for simplicity.
If you want to quality over quantity here, you don't
have to do a thousand and one different sides. They
won't get eaten. You're going to feel frustrated, and you're
going to feel frustrated not only by the amount of
(19:36):
time that you put in, but also potentially on the
amount of money that you've wasted. Keep it really simple
to two or three sides that you know the kids
will eat. If you really want to jazz it up,
then make your own condiments. If not, there's nothing wrong
with a jar of cranberry sauce. If you know, if
you feel bad, listen, I just get the jarra cranbery
sauce out right. It's fine. It's fine. But if you
(19:59):
want to be a little fancy, put it in a
bowl with a nice spoon. Okay, Just keep it really,
really simple. It's going to save your money and it's
also going to avoid food waste. Avoiding impulse buis is key.
We've already touched on this with the Christmas Itch. If
you can't trust yourself, if you must do avoid going
to shops after a certain date, give yourself a cut
off date, right, I'm not going to browse the shops
(20:21):
in person after date. Everything that I'm going to do
is online. So if you have to ban yourself from
going to BNM home sense donell millaf. I can't go
in there. I just come out with stuff that I
didn't know when needed. I don't really need, but I
think I do, right, So just be really strict yourself.
Avoid impulse bis if you have to make a note
on your phone of what you've already brought for people
and how much it's cost. Just to keep it into perspective,
(20:43):
and remember that little weird phenomenon that we spoke about.
When you wrapsed off, it will look less. But then
on Christmas morning when it all gets unwrapped, all of
a sudden, there's an explosion of stuff and it's like, oh, yeah,
I did actually buy a lot. I hope that in
some way has helped remember Christmas magic isn't born from
a big budget. It comes from little moments that we've
created with our family and our friends. And our loved ones.
(21:06):
Very often spontaneous moments that stick with you forever, the
weird moments that you never thought that you would actually remember,
but will actually stick with you for years to come.
And very often it's a Christmas mishap, like when the
cat jumps at the Christmas tree, or someone spills a
prosecco over the Christmas pudding or something. So that's a
random example. So don't put yourself under pressure. Remember there's
(21:28):
no thing is perfect. You cannot plan a Christmas that
is going to be perfect. If you put too much
pressure on it, you're going to ruin it for yourself
and you might make everyone else feel a little bit
stressed as well. So just relax, do the best you
can with the time, with the money, and the energy
that you have available to you. And I hope whether
you're baking cookies, going on a woodland walk, going to
(21:51):
have a look at the lights around your town, hope
you are happy, healthy and well. And I would also
love to know your ideas, So if you're watching this
on YouTube, please pop them in the comments. And if
you're thinking, oh my goodness, Christmas, Oh my goodness, Christmas,
I haven't even thought about it. Then, don't forget on
the Organized Mom app. We have got the Organized Christmas.
It's ready in waiting for you. There. It's thirteen weeks
(22:15):
so you can join in now you've still got time.
It's thirteen weeks from now. And little bite sized jobs
each week so that you don't feel so you don't
feel too overwhelmed, we can sneak it into your week
without you even noticing that you are all done and
dusted for Christmas. And we deal with things like budget
and food and all that sort of thing. And also
(22:35):
there's going to be some lovely Tom Rocks guided sessions
coming your way for Christmas as well, because how could
I not until I see you again, don't forget that
there is more to life than housework. I love you,
bite
Hello, everybody, Welcome back. I'm Jemma. I am the founder
of TOM and it is my mission in life to
make all of this stuff that comes with running a
house as easy and as simple as possible so that
you can go and get on with living the rest
of your life. Why, because there's more to life than housework.
I love Christmas. It is like probably it takes probably
one quarter of my content that I put out every
(00:20):
single year. But this year we've had so many messages
from people who are concerned about the cost of living.
Maybe budgets a little bit tied to this year, there's
less cash in our pockets, and they still really really
want to make Christmas a magical time, but maybe there's
a little bit of concern there about how to do
it when cash is tight. Now we've got a lovely
(00:41):
episode coming for you today. We've basically taken the wisdom
and the knowledge from the TOM community, pulled it and
come up with some realistic and simple ways that you
can really rain in the spending without And this is
the important bit, losing the magic. Now, before we go
any further, I just want to say that Christmas it's
(01:03):
not about the money. It's not about the amount of
money that you have, or the budget that you have,
or what you spend on who If you look back
to Christmas's past and you think back to your most
memorable your favorite Christmas is the Christmas is where you
just have lovely memories, I can pretty much guarantee you
that those Christmases, what you remember is how you felt,
(01:25):
who you were with, and just the general vibe and atmosphere.
You're probably not thinking back to a certain present. And
the same goes for your kids. So money is not
the be all and end all, especially when it comes
to Christmas. And I think we are becoming more and
more aware now of our own personal consumption and not
(01:46):
just buying for buying's sake. Hopefully this episode is going
to be useful in lots of different ways. I've got
a cup of Lady Gray, maybe you're going to have
a hot chocolate, and let's get into Team Tom's top
tis for a festive Christmas on a budget. Firstly, we're
going to start to talk about is what I think
is the best bit of Christmas. It's the lead up,
it's the anticipation, it's the whole of the month of December,
(02:08):
which is why for me organized Christmas, and I designed
it in such a way that we were done, were
done by December first, so that you and me, the
orchestrators of the Christmas magic, can enjoy it too, because
I absolutely love those twenty four days up until Christmas Day.
In fact, my favorite day of the year is actually
(02:29):
Christmas Eve, in particular around about four pm, just as
the sun is starting to set. That gold nowur between
four pm five thirty pm on Christmas Eve very niche
That's very specific, and I think in the run up
to Christmas, we can forget this, can't we And it's
very much thinking about Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day.
But half of the fun is the build up, and
(02:51):
part of that build up is Advent calendars. Now, when
I was growing up in the eighties, we were lucky
if we've got an Advent calendar with chocolate. We were
lucky if we've got an admint downward. And very often
you just get one that was just a cardboard Advent
calendar and the door opens to get a picture, and
you would be grateful for that, right. But nowadays I've
got all sorts of fancy calendars, and the other day
I was looking online and I saw, oh my goodness,
(03:14):
it was going into the thousands of pounds an advent
calendar with like real gold jewelry in it. And there
wasn't twenty four pieces. I mean it was probably probably
about six or seven. But nevertheless, right an absolute extravagance.
Don't get me wrong, someone presented me with that Advent calendar,
I would be very very happy. But the the point
I'm trying to make is Advent calenders are becoming more
and more extravagant. You don't have to pay out a
(03:36):
massive amount of money to get the same sort of
excitement and to really cash in, for want of a
better phrase, on that excitement and really try and capitalize
on it to really bring the festive vibe for very
little money. And Team Tom had some amazing ideas that
I absolutely love. So obviously you can make, if you're
like crafty and you're good with sewing and that sort
(03:57):
of thing, you can make from scratch for very little money,
a reusable Advent calendar made from fabric and you so
on twenty four little pouches. You can make it as
extravagant or as simple as you need to pull it
out every single year. And this is the sort of
tradition that kids love, isn't it. They start to see
it and they recognize it, and all the Advent calendars
(04:18):
out and then put whatever you want in a little pouch.
It could be chocolate coins, it could be little pressies.
But one person on the teens on Facebook group came
up with this amazing idea, which was either to use
a jigsaw that maybe you were gifted last year and
no one's actually had time to do, or go to
a charity shop and spend pennies maybe a couple of
quid on a jigsaw and divide those jigsaw pieces amongst
(04:42):
the twenty four pockets or compartments of your reusable Advent calendar,
and then every day you get the bits out, you
get them on the kitchen table, on the dining room table,
and you can all it could be a whole family thing,
or it could just be for the kids. As the
month of December progresses, you are starting to do the
jigsaw puzzle. I thought that was such a really lovely idea.
(05:03):
You can also do the same hopping over to the
chair of shop and get in like a bit a
lego set, making sure that it's obviously fully intact and
it's got the instructions with it, and dividing the lego
pieces amongst the Advent calendar pockets, making sure that you
put the instructions in day one, and then the same
principle applies over the course of December. Your kids have
(05:24):
got things to do, an activity to look forward to,
they can build a lego model. And I think it's
just so much nicer than waking up in the morning
quickly eating your chocolate from the Advent calendar and then
go and brushing your teeth. It makes it more of an event,
something to look forward to, and it really ekes out
that lovely period in the run up to Christmas. Another
lovely idea that Tom has had was to do the
(05:45):
same with books. So maybe you've got loads of books
that you've never read. Now a book a day. It
depends on the length of the book. You know, obviously
like use your imagination with this one, but you could
do like a book a week that sort of thing,
and then that again becomes an event and you can
read with your kids. Maybe you'll say, this is a
it's a long chapter book. Let's read a chapter a night,
(06:06):
or three chapters a night for advent and I think
again just a really nice way of creating family memories
are cozy in the spirit of Christmas. You can also
do a collaborative advent calendar. Again absolutely love this idea,
and just write, sit down with your kids maybe at
the end of November and just say, as a family,
is there anything we'd all like to do, like what's
(06:27):
on our Christmas boocket list? Bearing in mind we're trying
to do that. You know, you don't have to say
we're doing it on a budget, because that feels like
you put pouring cold water over it a little bit,
doesn't it. So, like, what are some good things that
we can do as a family over December that maybe
can do like once a day, from ranging from really
little things that we can do during the week to
maybe bigger things during the weekend like going for a
(06:48):
woodland walk, all that sort of stuff. Write down your list,
vet everything and make sure everything's realistic obviously, and then
you don't even need an advent calendar for this. You
can just get a jam jar or a jar or
a topperware box. Make these fancies you want. You can
put them in lovely envelopes if you want to just
keep it really simple. Put them in the jam jar
or in the bowl, and every day someone pulls something
(07:09):
out and then that's the activity for the day. It
could be something like bake some cookies or watch a
Christmas movie. Those are some ideas that you can use
playing on the idea of an advent calenda, that are
either cheap or completely free, that are going to help
to build up this lovely, magical sense of Christmas. So
what activities can you do for cheap or for free
(07:30):
with your family over Christmas to keep the spirits high?
The one that was suggested the most, and my personal
favorite is going out for a Christmas light walk. A
Christmas light walk, so not a light walk, but going
out and see the lights. This is such a lovely
thing to do, wrapping up cozy, maybe taking some travel
mugs with some hot chocolate in. If you live in
(07:52):
an area where you can walk to roads, and there's
always that one road, isn't there that goes to town,
go and walk there with your kids, take the dog,
go and admire everyone's lights. It might give you some
inspiration for next year. You've already put yours uf or
if you want to like go a little bit further afield.
Then maybe get the bus or the train or drive
out to your local city center. Maybe go to the
(08:13):
light switch on there or building up that sense of
atmosphere for the big day, eking out the Christmas fund,
go and see go the Christmas light walk. So one
of my favorite things do We always do it on
Christmas Eve when the kids were little. We always used
to take like some bells that I used to keep
in my coat pocket and like jingle them and be like, oh,
my goodness, did you hear that? That's Father Christmas. We
(08:35):
need to go home and get ready for bed. So
much you can do, so use your imagination and have
fun with it. Have a look as well at local
community facebook pages. There's loads of things usually that's going
on in the community, usually for free or for a
very low entry cost. These sorts of things like the
village light switch on, carol concerts, Christmas fairs that you
(08:56):
can go to as a family, just to take advantage
of the community Christmas spirit. Think about having things like
Christmas movie nights. Your family to write all of the
bucket list Christmas films that they want to see in
the run up to the big day and say right
We're going to do this once every Friday or every
other Friday, depending on what your calendar looks like. You
(09:17):
can go as big or as small. Here you can
get the kids to design tickets for entry tickets. That's
going to keep them busy for like an hour or
half an hour whilst you're maybe doing something else. Get
the popcorn out, get the blankets out, turn the lights down,
and watch a Christmas film as a family, because I
think Christmas films are a little bit different than normal films,
aren't they. I just a little bit like Halloween films
(09:38):
because they have such a sense of nostalgia about them
that you're never going to be bored. So just write
down your favorite Christmas moodies. Although having said that, we
did watch The Grinch for the first time with Ben
a few years ago and it scared him and he
couldn't and he couldn't watch it, so obviously make sure
they're kid friendly again. Such a lovely way to create
(10:00):
memories and just spend time together. Which I know it
sounds like a real cliche, it's what Christmas is all about.
It's not about the it's about actually making the memories.
So there's one thing that you can do as well, just
to make watching a Christmas film a really fun game.
It's called Christmas Bingo, and this is an idea that
was floated around in the Facebook group. Get a Bringo
card and you can print them out really easy, and
(10:21):
it's like you might have a picture of Snowman's snow
Christmas tit tree. Every time someone says the word Nativity
or something like that, every time it appears in the
film that you're watching, cross it off and it's the
first one to shout Christmas Bingo that wins. Now, obviously
we can't talk about Christmas without talking about presents and gifts.
There are some things that you can do to help
(10:41):
rain in the spending. So if you're doing organized Christmas,
you'll know that we talk all the time, don't we,
about being realistic both with your time that you have
and also with the amount of money that you have
for Christmas. Just like there's only so many hours in
a day, there's only so many pounds that are going
to be coming in to your bank account before Christmas,
(11:02):
so we have to be really realistic about that and
cut our cloth accordingly. A lovely thing that I hear
about every year, but I don't think we've ever We
don't do it regularly, but we're going to do it
this year. Is like really put in a full stop
on the presence, just compartmentalizing it now because the kids
are older, I'm trying to avoid buying like plastic tap
(11:24):
and that is using the gift giving rule of something
they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read. Now,
this has been going around four years and I think
it's a really lovely way of both gently setting expectations. Again,
we don't need point cold water on Christmas, like this
is going to be a lean Christmas. You know, there
are ways of spinning this. It's just a lovely way
(11:46):
of setting expectations. And it's also a lovely way of
taking the pressure off you because we talk about the
Christmas itch every single year. And if there's one bit
of budgeting advice that I can give you, it's where
the Christmas itch. The Christmas itch is an affliction that
lots of us suffer from from time to time over Christmas.
(12:08):
Where we've done all our Christmas shopping, We've been super organized,
and we've done it nice and early. We've stuck to budget,
and before all the things are wrapped, it looks like loads.
Oh my gosh, I've done so well. I've got loads
of bargains. And then the second you wrap them in
the inner wrapping paper, it seems like less. And it's
(12:29):
this is actually called something because as someone told me
about it a couple of years ago, and I was
talking about it online, and I think it seems to
do with the human brain perceives the gifts as being
less because they're all wrapped in a similar wrapping paper.
Before you wrap them, they all look completely different, so
your brain perceives them there's being more there than when
(12:50):
they're all wrapped in the same paper. And I thought
that was so interesting. And then the Christmas itch strikes
and then you're like, oh my god, I need to
go and buy more. And then all a sudden, you
down pound Land b and M home bargains, buying stuff,
buying tats. Right, And if you say to yourself, right,
I'm gonna go and ask the kids, go and do
it now after this video, after this episode is finished,
(13:10):
go and say to your kids, what did you get
for Christmas last year? Now, they could reel off one
or two of the main presence that they got, but
I bet you all if you did like succumb to
the Christmas itch and went out buying all sorts of
the sake of it just to sort of make it
look more, I bet they can't remember that. What's more,
I bet if you've done a d clutter recently, or
(13:31):
you're about to do a de clutter, quite a lot
of that stuff that you bought whilst you were suffering
from the Christmas itch is the stuff that you're decluttering
right now. So not only you're making work for yourself,
you're spending money that potentially haven't budgeted for, and also
you're bringing clutter into your home. So by making sure
that you are compartment site and putting a full stop
on the gift giving lists on them to wear, things
(13:53):
to read, and they want something they need, I was
get wrong. I was getting the wrong order. It's helping
you to give you that scaffold that so I've done
the four things, I've hit the four requirements. And if
buying for wider friends and family is stressing you out
a little bit, have a full and you have a
really frank conversation with them and say, do you know
what I think would be better this year if we
(14:14):
just do a secret center. Let's set a budget of
ten pounds or whatever per person. Let's stick everyone's name
in a hat, and then whoever pulls it out. I mean,
you know how a secrets answer works, Like you know
how it works, But it means that it's going to
save you time and effort because you're just buying for
one person, and it's also going to save your money,
and it's also going to help stop waste. Because let's
(14:34):
let's be real here. I say you're buying for uncle
Trevor right here. You maybe see once a year at Christmas.
I mean you know him your family, but you don't
know him, so you end up buying in some arbitrary
gift like a bottle of whiskey or a box of
chocolates or a pair of socks, and you know, there's
no real thought behind it, really is there. So by
doing something like a secret sander, it's more fun, there's
(14:57):
a little bit more thought behind it, and it makes
it into more open event. Plus it's going to save
your money and it's going to stop over consumption and waste.
Don't forget about charity shops, don't forget about eBay and
vined have a look especially now, loads of people are decluttering,
making a room for all of the stuff that's going
to come in for Christmas and also to clause some
(15:17):
money back for their own Christmas budget. You can find
bargains right now, often in pristine condition. We've just sold
a load of stuff because we decluttered Ben's toy covered
as part of organized Christmas, and there was a lovely
box set of like the Mister Men and the Little
Miss books, all of the books in alphabetical order, and
he'd looked after them really really well, so there wasn't
(15:39):
a book missing and they were in pristine condition, and
we've sold them and we just know they're going to
be regifted to someone because they're going to make the
perfect gift, and also we've clawed some money back for
our Christmas budget. Check in charity shops if you want
to do things like stockings, they're perfect places to find
stocking fillers. And if you've got young kids, it doesn't
(15:59):
matter the things not in the box. I promise you,
I promise you, overthinking it right. If you can get
a lovely train set or a scale extrix or whatever right,
or a doll's house secondhand, there is nothing more magical
for a child than coming down on Christmas morning to
see it already set up in front of the tree.
So don't worry about something being in its box. As
(16:21):
long as the actual thing is in good condition, you
can spin it. You can make it look just as
magical for a fraction of the cost. Other budgeting tips
that have come up whilst we've been talking about this
on the Facebook group is start early now. I know
some people start planning for Christmas like literally boxing day
after Christmas, but the earlier you can plan the better. Now.
I know you're thinking, why are you telling me this now, Gemma,
(16:43):
it's literally the first week and not sober. You can
still pick up some really good deals now, and also
you can have this in the back of your mind
for next year as well. Plan ahead. Think about buying
secondhand again. Not only is it really good for the planet,
but it's really really good for your wallet as well.
Things like Christmas jumper day at school. Don't have to
buy brand new, buy secondhand. Keep an eye out for
(17:06):
these things early and you're going to save yourself money
if you want to do things like Christmas eve boxes,
and I know that lots of you love doing that
maybe think about giving them at the start of December,
making it into a December the first traditional when the
tree goes up tradition. Because if you've got a Christmas
Eve box that you're going to put things like Christmas
pjs in, or I know a lot of you like
(17:26):
to do Christmas bedding and you don't have to have
brand new bedding every year. You can just pop the
Christmas bedding, wash it and then store it and pop
the normal Christmas bedding that you bring out every year
into that box. Again, it creates a tradition. Get the
Christmas pj's out if you're going to get more aware
out of all of that stuff, more use out of
all of that stuff over the course December, rather than
(17:47):
just bringing them out on Christmas Eve and like maybe
you get a week two weeks worth use out of them.
This is something that I'm really passionate about. Christmas dinner.
I love Christmas dinner. I love Christmas dinner. But also
remember it is just Sunday lunch. It's a fancy sundry
lunch with a cracker and a hat. And for lots
of us, it isn't even that your Christmas, your rules,
your Christmas day, your rules, your Christmas lunch, your rules.
(18:09):
Do not feel trapped or under pressure by what you're
seeing on the adverts, on the telly, on your social media.
Remember the all those lovely Christmas adverts. There's adverts that
we love. What is their job to sell us something, right,
So of course they're going to look litzy. Of course
they're going to look fabulous. Just remember that, enjoy them
(18:31):
for what they are. Do not put yourself under pressure
to create this maximalist Christmas. You know that just has
to look fantastic. I always think Thata's that episode at
the Royal Family where Denise says, todave, all I wanted
was a Christmas like Nigellas. You are not going to
turn into Nigella Lawson or Delia Smith at the stroke
of midnight on Christmas. E like magic. If you don't
(18:54):
like cooking, if you don't normally do a lot of
cooking in the ear, then don't put yourself under pressure.
Just do it on Christmas Day, your Christmas Day to
loads of people. Just have like pasta, a lasagna, like
a heat a warm up meal, just to completely take
the pressure off, and maybe do Christmas dinner on Christmas
Eve or on Boxing Day. Spread out the fun. There
(19:15):
are no rules here. Work out what works for you
and your family. Again, your Christmas, your rules, and if
he wants to do a Christmas dinner, opt for simplicity.
If you want to quality over quantity here, you don't
have to do a thousand and one different sides. They
won't get eaten. You're going to feel frustrated, and you're
going to feel frustrated not only by the amount of
(19:36):
time that you put in, but also potentially on the
amount of money that you've wasted. Keep it really simple
to two or three sides that you know the kids
will eat. If you really want to jazz it up,
then make your own condiments. If not, there's nothing wrong
with a jar of cranberry sauce. If you know, if
you feel bad, listen, I just get the jarra cranbery
sauce out right. It's fine. It's fine. But if you
(19:59):
want to be a little fancy, put it in a
bowl with a nice spoon. Okay, Just keep it really,
really simple. It's going to save your money and it's
also going to avoid food waste. Avoiding impulse buis is key.
We've already touched on this with the Christmas Itch. If
you can't trust yourself, if you must do avoid going
to shops after a certain date, give yourself a cut
off date, right, I'm not going to browse the shops
(20:21):
in person after date. Everything that I'm going to do
is online. So if you have to ban yourself from
going to BNM home sense donell millaf. I can't go
in there. I just come out with stuff that I
didn't know when needed. I don't really need, but I
think I do, right, So just be really strict yourself.
Avoid impulse bis if you have to make a note
on your phone of what you've already brought for people
and how much it's cost. Just to keep it into perspective,
(20:43):
and remember that little weird phenomenon that we spoke about.
When you wrapsed off, it will look less. But then
on Christmas morning when it all gets unwrapped, all of
a sudden, there's an explosion of stuff and it's like, oh, yeah,
I did actually buy a lot. I hope that in
some way has helped remember Christmas magic isn't born from
a big budget. It comes from little moments that we've
created with our family and our friends. And our loved ones.
(21:06):
Very often spontaneous moments that stick with you forever, the
weird moments that you never thought that you would actually remember,
but will actually stick with you for years to come.
And very often it's a Christmas mishap, like when the
cat jumps at the Christmas tree, or someone spills a
prosecco over the Christmas pudding or something. So that's a
random example. So don't put yourself under pressure. Remember there's
(21:28):
no thing is perfect. You cannot plan a Christmas that
is going to be perfect. If you put too much
pressure on it, you're going to ruin it for yourself
and you might make everyone else feel a little bit
stressed as well. So just relax, do the best you
can with the time, with the money, and the energy
that you have available to you. And I hope whether
you're baking cookies, going on a woodland walk, going to
(21:51):
have a look at the lights around your town, hope
you are happy, healthy and well. And I would also
love to know your ideas, So if you're watching this
on YouTube, please pop them in the comments. And if
you're thinking, oh my goodness, Christmas, Oh my goodness, Christmas,
I haven't even thought about it. Then, don't forget on
the Organized Mom app. We have got the Organized Christmas.
It's ready in waiting for you. There. It's thirteen weeks
(22:15):
so you can join in now you've still got time.
It's thirteen weeks from now. And little bite sized jobs
each week so that you don't feel so you don't
feel too overwhelmed, we can sneak it into your week
without you even noticing that you are all done and
dusted for Christmas. And we deal with things like budget
and food and all that sort of thing. And also
(22:35):
there's going to be some lovely Tom Rocks guided sessions
coming your way for Christmas as well, because how could
I not until I see you again, don't forget that
there is more to life than housework. I love you,
bite
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