Christmas 2011 - really?

I have been giving a lot of thought to the various ways that a person can save money and simplify their life.

I know that one way I can simplify my life is to begin thinking about Christmas 2011 now - yes, now!  My tree is still up, my outside lights are turned on, New Year's is only a couple of days away and I'm already thinking about next Christmas.  I have 5 stockings to stuff and without careful planning, I can blow my whole budget just on stockings.  Plus, there are gifts to make.  I have two stockings to cross stitch and sew by next Christmas and  I am not the kind of person who sits down and finishes a project before beginning a new one; I usually have several projects going at the same time.  Right now, I am crocheting an afghan for a wounded soldier and I am crocheting baby caps for infants in underdeveloped countries.

I have a list of projects that I want to do and I keep finding more great ideas every time I'm online.  I need to go through them all and decide what I really want to work on next year.  This is all part of my master plan (hehe) to living a more simplified life in 2011.  We'll see.