Special Blog From the CEO’s Desk · @Alissa Duhon
The holidays don't arrive all at once. They show up one sign-up sheet, one group text, and one "Can you bring the rolls?" at a time. By mid-November, a lot of us are running on whatever is left.
The last week of October is your window. It's still quiet enough to make a few decisions on purpose, before the season starts making them for you. This isn't a whole new routine. It's eight small moves that protect your time, your money, your sleep, and your sanity.
A quick note on who this is for: at The Weekday Woman Co., the word “weekday” means any day someone's counting on you and wherever your workdays land. You could be working nine to five, 7pm to 7am, graveyard/overnights, rotating shifts, two jobs, a business and a side hustle and/or caregiving days with no clock-out time, these tips are built to fit your schedule.
1. Put in your holiday time-off request now
Many workplaces close PTO (paid time off) requests and shift bids for late November and December around the end of October. If you wait until you know exactly what you want, the good days may already be gone to someone with more seniority, or more nerve.
You don't need a perfect plan to ask. Request the days you'd want if nothing else changed. It's much easier to give a day back than to win one later.
Try this: Check your employer's deadline for holiday requests this week, and put a reminder in your phone two days before it.
2. Pick your three
The office party. The church dinner. The school program. Your cousin's Friendsgiving. The neighborhood cookie swap. Every one of them is lovely, and together they can eat every free evening you have.
Before the invitations start rolling in, choose the three holiday events that matter most to you. Those get a yes and a spot on the calendar. Everything else gets a kind "not this year," or a quick drop-in instead of the whole night.
Try this: Write your three down and share them with your household, so you're not deciding from scratch every time someone asks.
3. Set a limit for the "small stuff"
It's rarely the big gifts that wreck a budget. It's the costume, the class party supplies, the office gift exchange, the fall festival tickets, and the "just grab something on the way" runs. None of it feels like much in the moment. All of it adds up though.
Pick one total for the small stuff across October, November and December, and keep a running tally where you'll actually see it. When you hit the number, the answer is simpler, not stingier.
Try this: Start a note on your phone called "Small stuff" with your limit at the top. Subtract as you go.
4. Get ready for the time change
Clocks fall back on Sunday, Nov. 1. Everyone talks about the "extra hour of sleep." Not everyone gets one.
If you work overnight, that may be an extra hour on the clock. If you have little ones, it may be a 5 a.m. wake-up call from someone who doesn't care what the clock says. And once it's dark before dinner, a lot of us feel the drag in our energy and mood.
Try this: The four nights before the change, push bedtime (yours and the kids') 15 minutes later each night. Then get outside in daylight as early as you can that first week, even for 10 minutes. For after the time change, create new alarms and reminders to accommodate the earlier darkness so that you’re able to get those errands in before sunset. For example: gas refills, pharmacy pickups, grocery runs and take-out for dinner.
5. Hand off one job, start to finish
There's the work you do, and then there's the work of remembering, planning, and following up on everything else. That second shift is invisible, and the holidays double it. For my working moms and caregivers, you already know the struggle that this can create.
So don't just ask for help. Hand off a whole job. The Halloween costume. The Thanksgiving grocery list. The dentist appointments. The prescription pickup, the gift for the secret Santa and covered dish prep. Someone else remembers it, plans it, and handles it from beginning to end.
The hard part: you don't check their work. It may not be done your way. It will be done, and you'll have one less thing running in the back of your mind.
Try this: Pick the one job that takes up the most mental space, and hand it off this weekend. If this isn’t possible try to break this task into 2 parts where you share one with someone else. For example: your spouse picks up the cupcakes from the bakery for your kids holiday school party and you’ll take care of dropping them off during your lunch break.
6. Use open enrollment for you
Many employers hold open enrollment in the fall. That's the yearly window to pick or change your work benefits. Most of us click "keep the same plan" and move on.
This year, look over the health plan. You may already have support you're not using:
Employee assistance program (EAP): free, short-term counseling and support through work, often for family members too
Caregiver support: help finding childcare or eldercare, or backup care when your usual plan falls through
Flexible spending account (FSA): money set aside before taxes for health or dependent care costs
Try this: Find your enrollment deadline, then spend 15 minutes reading the benefits guide, not just the plan prices. Additionally, contact your HR department to find out if there’s any special holiday assistance available.
BONUS: Check with your banking institution, especially your Credit Union to review their special offers for the holidays.
7. Book one honest conversation
When life gets busy, connection is usually the first thing to go. We see people, but we're mostly passing them in the hallway, at pickup, or in the group chat.
Before the season gets loud, schedule time with someone you don't have to say "I'm fine" to. Coffee, a walk, or a phone call on your drive home all count. What matters is that it's on the calendar, not "we should get together sometime." A visit could be batched with an errand, a phone call during a lunch break and a walk together during your usual exercise time. This could be with your spouse, kids or sibling. It could also include a friend, extended family member or prayer partner. Up to you just be sure you include it in your calendar.
Try this: Text that person today and offer two specific times.
8. Pick a done time
The to-do list never finishes. It just runs until you do. Without a stopping point, "one more thing" can stretch into midnight, or into the hours you were supposed to be sleeping after a night shift.
Choose a time when your list closes for the day. After that, anything left is tomorrow's problem, and tomorrow’s list will still be there.
Try this: Set a phone alarm for your done time and label it something you'll respect, like "Off the clock." My own is labeled “Girl, You’re Doing Too Much” (just saying it works for me).
Bonus: Stock three no-thinking dinners
It's dark earlier now, and some nights you'll walk in the door with zero decisions left in you. Because decision fatigue is real and once nightfall hits it doesn’t help, if anything you feel even more rushed to hurry because of perceived lateness. So plan for those nights before they happen.
Keep three easy meals on hand that need no planning: a frozen soup or casserole, breakfast-for-dinner, a rotisserie chicken with bagged salad. Whatever your household will actually eat. Dinner doesn't have to be impressive on a Tuesday. It just has to happen.
Your wellbeing belongs in the plan!
You don't have to do all eight. Pick the one or two that would make the biggest difference in your actual week, and start there. Balance looks different for every woman, and you get to decide what yours looks like this season.
Just don't leave your wellbeing for whatever time is left over. By December, there usually isn't any.
Which one are you starting with? Share with me in this week’s post comments! Happy Planning. xoxo
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