A lot of holiday stress stems from trying to do too much around this time of year.

You not only have all of your regular responsibilities, but then you are hosting family, helping others to plan their own getherings, going shopping, decorating the house, and trying to plan fun holiday activities with your family. When you combine with the financial stress of the holidays, it can be a lot to handle all at once. There are times when you can’t possibly take on anything else and you just need to say no to certain things. Here are some helpful tips for learning to do that.

Be Honest About Your Reasons For Turning it Down

To start with, be honest and upfront right away if someone asks you to handle something over the holidays and you don’t think you can do it. Whether it will cost too much money, too much time, or too much energy during the holidays, you are not forced to do anything you don’t want to do. If you have enough to deal with and someone asks you to host a party in your home, be honest and let them know you can’t do it this year. You can be as open with them as you need to be until they fully understand why you are saying no.

Offer Up Better Alternatives

In some cases, it can be helpful not to just say no and walk away, but to come up with some better alternatives. Perhaps someone else in the family has a big house and you know they don’t have any big plans yet for the holidays. Ask if that person is able to host the party this year at their house, then you can host the next party when you aren’t dealing with all of the overwhelming holiday stress. This can help to ease the blow a little bit.

Agree to Help with Smaller Things

Another way to turn them down is not to say no completely to helping, but just to the larger task, such as hosting or helping to plan a gift exchange. If this is a bit too much, then maybe you can offer to bring food to the get together if someone else hosts, or you can pitch in with a little bit of money. Think of something smaller you can help with that also allows you to reduce the overall amount of tasks you will have to do during the holidays.

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