What are your holiday time management tricks?

[#1]

Hey there!

I write for Etsy's Seller Handbook, and I'm working on a piece about holiday time management tips. Have you experienced a busy holiday season in the past? What time management tricks did you use to handle it all?

Please share your seasonal time management experiences and advice here. If your tips seem like a potential fit for the article, I may reach out directly. In any case, we'll all benefit from sharing lessons learned.

Can't wait to hear what strategies you suggest using to manage the holiday rush!

[Former_Member]

Everything in my shop is now a digital download file due to my husband being diagnosed with Parkinson which is a full-time 24-7 job for me. I work in my shop when he is sleeping. There are days we can go on a Photography field trip to take new photographs. I figured out how the digital downloads would enable me to keep my Etsy Shop. I knew right away that packaging and mailing would be to time consuming. I had to deactivate 400 items hoping to activate them again sometime in the future. Now that the holidays are here I am making and listing several new prints with my fine art photographs adding quotes and bible verses several times a week. I belong to three Etsy teams and make sure their names are listed in my tags. Many of the team members have used my collages in their beautiful treasuries which spreads the items around. I click the heart on each item in the treasury and leave the Etsy creator a message of thankfulness and gratitude. My Etsy Shop works well this way at this heartbreaking time of my life.

[OmnimodeVintage]

I hope it's okay to pile on and ask a relevant question on this thread.

Sellers, what is the busiest day or week of your holiday season?
Black Friday? Cyber Monday? Small Business Saturday?
I am especially interested in US sales numbers as that is where most of my customers are located.
Thank you for helping me plan my calendar for my first holiday on Etsy!

[Plektra]

I am not doing anything more special during the busy times of the year than the rest of the year. I always try to keep an eye on stock, materials and supplies so I have enough and ready to use. During any quiet times I have I create stock, review things etc so whenever it gets busy there are products to list and ship instead of rushing.

One special, I suppose, thing I do is I cut down on social events in November & December. These are 2 months for me to focus on my business and my customers even more. They are busy times for me so I have to meet my deadlines. I need to be ready to start orders, sometimes I have to look for special materials and ship as quickly as possible. Packages take longer to arrive in the period leading up to Xmas.

I also need to rest mentally, not just physically. I need time off just like other employees. I need to eat well, sleep well and switch off. I need to stay focused with clear thinking. Other activities can be tiring and distracting with everything else going on.

I find this approach keeps me balanced, rested and focused without draining me during the busiest times in the year.