Miscellaneous Monday - OCD: Organised Christmas Dilemmas!!

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

ADVENT IS FLYING....!

So, it feels like only yesterday that our kids opened the first box on their cute little chocolate Advent calendars 🍫📅

A few blinks later and it is already the 7th!! OMGoodness.... how time flies!

Therefore, with Christmas approaching too fast and December disappearing even quicker, it is key to make sure that Christmas greetings and/or presents are sent out in a timely manner.

It almost feels like #ChristMassionImpossible

(Sorry, not sorry for that bad pun! Here's an epic GIF of Ethan Hunt freaking out about Christmas to make up for it!)

Time to get ORGANISED!

With 2020 and the Corona pandemic being an absolute bag of sh^te, sending Christmas cards and presents could be a total nightmare - huge delays, online shopping overload, etc!

Luckily I suffer REALLY badly from OCD!:

Organised Christmas Discipline!

Every year at the end of November I get cracking and get sorting. Being British and having a huge love for the tradition of sending greetings cards to loved ones and presents to nearest & dearest, it is vitally important that I am on time, and 2020 has never been more relevant for my OCD!

My way of staying on top of it all is really simple: TRELLO! Yup, not a hard one to guess that the Fun Man Andy is making use once again of his #TrustyTool. It is a GREAT way to keep an excellent overview of all the presents, the budgets, the statuses, etc. etc.!

So what are the key ways that I make the most out of it??

1. One Board to rule them all. Very handy!
2. A Christmas themed background. Not critical, but it must be done
3. One list per household. This keeps the board clean and logical
4. Extra lists for "just Christmas" cards people
5. The same list but split into Overseas vs. NL as the former needs sending out in a very timely manner!
6. For presents one card per person/couple
7. For greetings cards, use Custom Fields Checkboxes to monitor statues (written/stamped/(return)addressed)/posted) [they only appear on the front once ticked so it doesn't clutter the board or ruin the "non greeting cards" cards
8. Snapshot of the gift to place as a cover (make them as wide and as short as possible to keep the board clean)
9. Choose the cover type that has the text over the image and nothing else on the front of the card
10. When a list has both cards and gifts, use two extra cards to monitor greeting cards status and the total spend!
11. Sit back with a mulled wine, or eggnog or a mid-strength beer (in my case normally all three) and enjoy the organisation!!

Here's what this years' board looks like, and I am right on schedule... only the NL greeting cards remain to be sent. Epic!

Disciplined or Dilemma?

As it is with every Miscellaneous Monday, we want to hear from the community about your own experiences with the subject matter at hand.

How is it going with your Christmas organisation?

Is it disciplined or is it dilemma?

Are you rocking the OCD Fun Man Andy style or is the OCD christmas cake burning in the oven and you've freaked out worse than Ethan Hunt during ChristMassionImpossible (yes, I did just use that terrible pun a second time, and no I will not be apologising)

And we want to hear about how what you are up to in terms of greetings and gifts this year, especially considering the circumstances, and if it all needs organising, how you are keeping it #OCD 🎄🎅🎁🌟❄⛄

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

We have a very simple Christmas Trello board.  We have not got a complicated to-do list, due to a moderately simplified family - no kids here.   And the cat is easy to buy presents for.  A tin of tuna and the option of a rendition of "Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, thy ornaments are history" at 4am makes them perfectly happy.

So we have a board with a card per person to buy presents for, with columns by "delivery type" (Family we will meet, family we won't, also split by hers and mine, friends similarly grouped, etc).

Then there's another bit for "things we might have been invited to / are hosting" to help work out if there are clashes

Plus some miscellaneous tasks - two for writing the pile of greeting cards (posting and hand-delivered), putting up the decorations, repairing them after the cat assault, one for the present-wrapping session, and so-on.

Finally, there's three odd looking ones scheduled for the peroid between Christmas Day and New Years Eve.  Two tax returns and "clear out the board ready for next year".  The last one is important because we often find or think of things that we think would make good presents all year round and don't want to forget the box in the store room or idea.

So, a bit less OCD, but it really helps us.

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

Excellent stuff @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- 
Sounds like you guys are well and truly sorted out!
Our cat LOVES getting a nice Tuna treat too. 😻🐟

[Helen Griffiths {Capgemini}]

WOW you're organised @Andy - PTC Redundant !

I didn't go down the Trello route, but I did get all my Christmas shopping done by the end of October for the first time ever - I'm usually one of the ones desperately trying to find 'things' in the shops the days before Christmas when the good stuff has gone. 

I started planning for Christmas this year on Christmas Day last year...sounds bizarre but here's the sense part of it. I always have big dreams for Christmas, but sometimes the budget doesn't stretch that far. Using the budgeting functionality which is available on most banking apps these days, I moved £2 per day into a pot which i didn't touch. Fast forward to 1st October and me starting my Christmas shopping I had £560 saved to start buying. Did I miss the £2 a day? No. Would I have missed a big £560 hole in my bank account otherwise, absolutely!

Christmas done, and anything I've saved in between then and Christmas is mine to treat myself!

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

WHAT!?
@Helen Griffiths {Capgemini} - this is amazing! Mass respect to you. 🌟👏
What a blooming great approach to Christmas shopping. I am stealing this BIG time for next year, starting straight away with the savings on December 26th this year! 💸👍

[Dave Liao]

This post makes me so happy: I'm fairly OCD but most folks don't realize it since I don't usually share my productivity tips outside of an office environment.

Thankfully I don't have much to do for the Christmas holiday since cats are easy to shop for. +1000 to what @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- said 😄

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

"Joy to the world, Dave Liao is Happy...." 😀 Excellent! That in turn makes ME happy!

Hah hah! The cat lovers are always quick to find each other on Community 🐈🐈🐈💙