Christmas Planning Starts With What You Learned This Year • Everyday Cheapskate

Christmas has a funny way of developing amnesia.

Right now, you know exactly which recipe everybody loved, which gift was a hit, which tradition was worth every minute and which supposedly “simple” idea turned into a three-day production involving six stores and language not normally associated with Christmas cheer.

A few months from now? Gone.

You’ll open a Christmas bin, find something mysterious and think, Why did I buy four of these?

So I have one last suggestion for you.

Not today, if you’re still in the middle of celebrating. But before Christmas gets too far behind you, leave yourself a note.

Future You is going to need it.

Write It Down Before You Forget

Think back over this Christmas while the details are still fresh.

What surprised you by working really well?
What was harder than it needed to be?
What did you spend money on that was absolutely worth it?
What did you spend money on that wasn’t?
What did everybody love?
What did nobody particularly care about?

And what are you already thinking: I am not doing that again.

Write it down.

You don’t need a Christmas debriefing committee or a color-coded spreadsheet. A note in your phone, or a piece of paper tucked into the Christmas decorations, will do just fine.

Leave Future You a Few Clues

1. What would you absolutely do again?

A meal. A tradition. A gift idea. Something you skipped. Something you simplified. Something you spent money on and would gladly pay for again.

Write down the things that worked.

2. What would you change?

Maybe you bought too much food. Maybe you waited too long to ship something. Maybe one tradition has officially run its course. Maybe the thing you worried about for three weeks turned out not to matter at all.

That’s useful information too.

3. Finish the sentence again.

We started this Challenge with:

This Christmas, I want more __________ and less __________.

Now finish it for next Christmas.

Next Christmas, I want more __________ and less __________.

There. You’ve already given yourself a head start.

Don’t Rely on Your Christmas Memory

I say this with affection because I’ve done it too. We assume we’ll remember.

Of course we’ll remember that the extension cord needs replacing. We’ll remember which wrapping paper tore if you so much as looked at it sternly. We’ll remember where we hid the leftover gift tags. We’ll certainly remember that nobody ate the second pie.

And then another year goes by.

This is how we end up buying things we already own and repeating things we already decided weren’t worth the trouble.

Write down the useful stuff now. Then put the note somewhere you’ll actually find it when Christmas comes around again.

With the decorations works. A calendar reminder works. A note in your phone works.

The system doesn’t need to be clever. It needs to survive until next Christmas.

Now I’d Like to Hear From You

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this year’s 40-Day Christmas Challenge. But I experienced it from this side of the screen.

You experienced it in an actual house, with an actual budget, actual people and a December that probably didn’t behave itself every single day.

That’s the part I want to know about.

Which challenges genuinely helped? Was anything confusing, repetitive or more work than it was worth? What would you like more of next time? What should I leave out?

I’d much rather know what really happened than hear that everything was wonderful.

TAKE THE 40-DAY CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE SURVEY →

Your answers will help me make the next Challenge more useful, practical and realistic.

And With That, We’re Really Done

Thank you for letting me into your inbox and your Christmas for these past 40 days.

Whether you did every challenge, skipped half of them, started late, finished early or took the parts that worked and ignored the rest, I hope something changed.

Maybe you spent less.

Maybe you rushed less.

Maybe you said no to something you never wanted to do in the first place.

Maybe you had dinner by the Christmas tree.

Maybe you called somebody.

Maybe you simply figured out that Christmas doesn’t need quite as much from you as you thought it did.

I’ll take any of those.

Save your note for next year. Take the survey if you have a few minutes. Then we’re done.

Really this time.

xo,

Mary

Question: What’s one thing from this Christmas you definitely want to remember next year? Tell us in the comments below.

If the 40-Day Christmas Challenge helped you spend a little more thoughtfully, stress a little less or simply make everyday life feel more manageable, I’d love to keep showing up in your inbox. That’s what Everyday Cheapskate is all about: practical ways to save money, use what you have, avoid unnecessary spending and make life run a little easier. Subscribe here and I’ll send Everyday Cheapskate straight to your inbox, free.

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