Well, the only way I know to Stop Stress is to die. Stress is a fact of life and is in fact necessary for life.

What you really want is to control the stress that makes you crazy or angry or unable to function.

Do you make the broad statement that holidays especially Thanksgiving and Christmas make you stressed out and unable to enjoy the holiday? There has to be a finer point that is the start of this stress. You may not even be conscious of that little item because you have lumped the whole season together.

Do you hate the shopping? Why – is it the crowds or is it the lack of money? Shop on the internet to solve the first problem, but the second requires more thought.

Are you just living payday to payday with no savings or extra money for gifts? That is one fact that you must accept and do something different in your life to create more money. In the mean time, bake cookies or do some other home made gift. Remember, it is the thought not the gift. If someone is trying to lose weight, don’t give them cookies.

But is the lack of enough money really some thought in your mind that you must impress someone or your family or you neighbors? Do you have the money to buy a gift for those names on your list? Maybe it is not the gift you think they want.

Maybe in the past you spent thousands of dollars on your credit cards at Christmas and now you are living on a cash basis and there is only a couple of hundred dollars to cover all those gifts. Family and friends are used to a certain level of gift and they will be disappointed or angry – brain trash talk. Reverse the situation — would you be angry with a member of your family or a good friend if they were taking control of their finances and in the process cutting back on the amount spent on a gift.

Getting your finances under control is a major stress event – the doing of it and the reward of it. Learning to live within your means is not easy. Honesty with your friends and family will go a long way. Some may still encourage you to join them in an expensive outing that is not in your budget — learn to say no.

If members of your family want to pay your way —– what now. That is a personal decision. Do they have the funds or will it be credit card? Will they “hold it over your head”? If it is a gift, reverse the situation in your mind. How would you feel if you were doing the offering? And a few years down the road, when your finances are in top shape, that just may be the case.