The holidays can be chaotic, but you don’t need to let the chaos ruin your Christmas.

Instead, get organized, stay organized and get to enjoy all the fun stuff that comes along with the holiday season.

Here are 5 simple tips for staying organized this holiday season.

1. Make a Christmas Gift Checklist

Don”t be one of those people that have to run out to the store on Christmas Eve because you forget to get a gift for someone. Instead make a Christmas gift checklist of everyone you want to buy a gift for as well as then the actual gift you have bought them.

This way you can quickly glance at your list to see what gifts you may still need to buy and won’t have to worry about forgetting somebody. Check out my checklist of people to buy Christmas gifts for to help you put together your own checklist.

2. Write Down Every Holiday Event for Your Family

The best way to remember any type of holiday events is to write them down as soon as you are aware of them. You can use a calendar or your daily planner to write them down or if you don’t currently use a calendar or planner you can simply print out a free calendar for the month of November and December.

Place the calendar someplace where you will see it on a daily basis as well as your other family members as well. You can also jot down small notes next to the events as well, such as for your daughter’s daycare Christmas party you could write down “snack” next to it if you have to bring a snack for the party.

This also helps to see if you have any overlapping events and prevents any double booking during the holidays which also can be quite stressful as well.

3. Make Your Christmas Budget Well In Advance

If you want to avoid having to go into debt and stressing out about your credit card bills in January, you need to make a budget for Christmas as soon as possible. In fact, it’s not a bad idea to start saving for Christmas in the beginning of the year.

But if you haven’t’ started saving yet or budgeting, you can still come out debt free if you plan accordingly.

Look at how much extra money you may have for Christmas this year as well as some ways that you can save on other things to help get some money for Christmas. Then budget out everything you may need from Christmas gifts, to food, and even new clothes for parties. Do your best to stay on budget no matter how much money you have and definitely shop all the holiday sales to help stay within your budget.

4. Plan and Schedule Your Holiday Baking and Cooking

Come up with a plan of everything you plan to cook and bake for the holidays. This may include cookies for your family as well as any side dishes or desserts you may be bringing to Christmas parties. Pull out the recipes for all the items and put together you shopping list for each week so you now you will have all the ingredients on hand.

If you are planning to have your own party and do a lot of cooking or baking, then definitely make a plan and get organized as soon as possible. You can even start looking for some of the ingredients on sale to help save you money as well.

5. Get the Whole Family Involved in Decorating for Christmas

For some people decorating the house for Christmas is a daunting task. Instead of making it stressful, make it a special day for the whole family. Play some Christmas music and have some cookies or hot cocoa on hand and let your family have a great day decorating the house.

Schedule the day well in advance so the whole family knows to plan for that day and you can even invite special friends and other family members and make it even better.

Now, some people who are perfectionist may not go for this, but it may surprise you how much your family wants to spend time decorating and you may just have to ease up a bit and just enjoy the time together instead of looking at what they may be doing wrong with the decor.

Stay organized this Christmas and plan ahead so you can have the very best holiday season full of fun and joy.