1. Follow Department Store Timing When Making Plans
You might roll your eyes when Christmas decorations start taking over shopping malls before Halloween arrives, but jot this down for next year: one of the best-kept secrets of Type A moms is the long-lead deadline. It takes a lot of forward-thinking, but if you can, take care of the non-time-sensitive tasks — gift shopping and holiday card making — as far in advance as you can. That means spending those lazy Summer months crafting Halloween costumes so your September can be devoted to Thanksgiving meal prep and you can hit the ground running with holiday to-dos as early as October.
2. Update Your Address Book All Year Long
If you like to send holiday cards to friends and family, there's no greater stress than having to send out dozens of time-sensitive emails asking for updated addresses or, worse, sifting through emails trying to remember your second-cousin's fiancé's last name. Instead, make it a habit to keep your address list — preferably in a Google Doc spreadsheet so you can reference it anywhere — up to date by making adjustments as they come.
