One Bag Nation

Many of us have a lot to do around the holidays. Despite my attempt to plan a more frugal and simple holiday season for my family, I still have long to do lists. I’m not feeling stressed, though. I found a great way to get my tasks done without feeling completely overwhelmed.

The idea was inspired by Marelisa at Abundance Blog, who first introduced me to the concept of “micromovements” a while back, and she wrote about it again recently in a post about productivity. All it means is that you break down projects into very small pieces, and work away, little by little, until the project is finished.

Each day I’ve reviewed my holiday list, and identified something – even just a tiny something – I could accomplish, .

Some examples: one day I took inventory of our holiday cards, and another day I ordered stamps.

One day I pulled out my holiday cooking binder and located all the recipes I’m planning to use; another day I bought canning jars and cello bags.

One day I got out the patterns for the knitting projects I wanted to do; another day I put yarn, needles and patterns together into tote bags so I could easily grab them when I had time to knit.

By committing to do a little something every day I’ve managed to chip away at my list pretty efficiently. I also set aside a couple of days for shopping and errands, and I’ll be doing that again tomorrow, hopefully for the last time this season.

Micromovements have really made a difference for me this year, and if you need help managing everything you’re trying to accomplish right now, give it a try!

If you have other holiday survival tips or tricks, please share!