Remember how overloaded and exhausted you get at holiday season? It happens every year. Its no surprise. It begins at Halloween and ends around Valentines Day. If you set limits in the following 5 key areas, it will serve you well for the next several months.

Set reasonable limits, plan for them, and share your plan with others who will help keep you on track. If you do, you will find yourself relaxing and enjoying this delightful time of year, rather than being overloaded, stressed out, maxed out, and wishing it would end.

1. Financial Limits:

Limit yourself to a specific amount you will spend for your gifts and dont give in to temptation, pressure or marketing savvy. Look for creative ways to give meaningful gifts to those you love the most.

If you have large family gatherings, try the group gift swap where each person brings one gift (set a maximum price), everyone draws a number, and you make a fun game out of drawing for gifts. It becomes a social time where everyone is interacting, laughing, and sharing as one gift is opened at a time. Everyone saves money and the focus is on the people you are celebrating with rather than the gifts themselves.

2. Social Limits:

The holidays are the time of year for parties - with family, friends, and co-workers. Every year you get more invitations than you could possibly attend and more than likely you feel guilty saying no to anyone. Set your limits ahead of time by discussing it with your family. There should be a limit on the number of parties your kids, you, your spouse, and your family unit will participate in.

By designating these limits ahead of time, when you begin to get all those invitations you can respond very graciously by saying how youve set a limit for your familys commitments this holiday season, and you cant attend. Thank them for the invitation. Now you have an evening free to stay home with your family to have a dinner at home together, play games, watch a movie, or any other number of family activities.

3. Work Limits:

Many people find themselves working MORE during the holidays. Some people take on a second, part-time job to earn extra money to pay for all their gifts. (But, now that you have set those limits, you wont have the financial worries you had in the past!)

If the holiday season is a busy work time for you, whether you take on extra work or not, plan ahead for those weeks when you know youll have the biggest demands. Dont schedule other activities or responsibilities during those days. Plan around that so you dont create your own tornado of stress. Keep some days aside strictly for rest and family time.

4. Eating Limits:

This is a joyful time of year with lots of celebrations that all seem to involve an abundance of delicious, tempting food. Think this one through ahead of time and set some reasonable limits for yourself. Reasonable is the key word.

If you say boldy that youll totally resist Moms delicious stuffing and homemade pecan pie, youre nuts! Plan for when, where and how you will indulge and restrict yourself around those special times and special treats. If you develop the grazing habit of eating small amounts all throughout the day, youll avoid getting so ravenous that you lose control when a huge meal is spread out before you.

5. Exercise Limits (set a minimum):

Youve gotten into a good workout routine over the warm weather months. Now is the time to knuckle down and keep a routine. The key to setting limits in this area is to set a minimum amount of exercise that you pledge to maintain.

If youre used to spending an hour and a half at the gym 6 days a week, allow yourself to lighten up a bit, knowing you will be having other events you want to plan into your life. Dont just throw it all overboard, completely losing your physical shape!

If you can maintain at least a minimal exercise routine, when New Years rolls around, you wont have the guilty resolution-setting syndrome that hits so many people.

By thinking this through ahead of time and setting reasonable limits in these 5 key areas, your holidays will be an enjoyable time rather than a stressful time that youll dread next year. Happy Holidays!