It’s the middle of January, and you can relax now. It’s all over, the insanity of the Santa Season has passed and all is calm - for a little while.

You have just over 2 weeks before the next Spend Session will be thrust in your face, because in just over 3 weeks Valentine’s Day will be upon us.

The marketing dudes have to time this very carefully. They have to take down all the store decorations, and have the post-Christmas specials and clearances out of the way. They know we need a few days to breathe and rest. Just when we begin to relax and think it’s now safe to go out into the malls again - WHAM! we are whacked with another spending event to show how much we care.

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I think the look on her face says it all - What Have I Done? Where did all that money go? How am I ever going to repay this?

If you too are suffering from post-Santa despair, now is the time to ensure it doesn’t happen again. January is never too soon to get ready for Christmas, as long as the getting ready involves a plan to avoid this next one looking like the last one.

Here are Five Top Tips to doing it differently.

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So - did you get sucked into the Santa hype? Don’t go beating yourself if you are today shaking your head over that pile of crap on the living room floor. I know it all looked great on Christmas Eve as you were stuffing it under the tree.

Why is it that the kids reckon all the presents were so much more interesting before they unwrapped them?

I know it was fun wrapping it up, thinking - boy! the kids are going to love this! But now you feel flat because it looks like the don’t love it at all. At least, not the way you want them to love it.

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How many jolly ol’ Santa Cards did you receive this year? Have you noticed that you are receiving - and sending - fewer than ever before? I spoke to several determined Season’s Greetings senders, and they all agree that it is harder than ever before to get them bought, written, addressed, stamped and sent in time to arrive before Australia Day, let alone turn up before December 24.They all agreed that this time of year is just too busy to be sitting down to a stack of cards and a lengthy address book. Gone are the days when each recipient would receive a hand written, personal note.

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I spend at least 5 hours a month in shopping malls, and I appreciate the efforts of the management to try to make my time in their environment more pleasant.

They build with high ceilings, spotlessly clean floors, and comfy benches at conveniently spaced locations.

The supermarkets especially have obligingly designed their premises with my comfort in mind, with very wide aisles, usually 3 trolleys wide.

Happily they don’t store their spare stock on the floor in the aisles, but in some big back room that I will never see. The lighting is bright and cheery, and the decor is subdued, yet not depressing.

At the mall, it seems like they have really taken some thought about how to make my shopping trip pleasant. I know it’s a clever ruse to get me to stay longer and spend more, but that’s ok.

Well, it’s not ok right now though. The malls are alive with sounds of muzak - Santa Muzak. I can’t stand the stuff. All the way from Away in a manger, to Deck the halls, right along the to the end of line with Bing Crosby dreaming of yet another white Christmas. In Australia, where it’s 35′ in the shade, and we’re only in the mall because they will pay for the air conditioning bill.

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Ok, well maybe it won’t be a sure fire cure, but at least we can make a start on reducing the amount of Can I Haves that you hear. As with anything that has become a habit over time, it will take some time to resolve.

All of these instant cures will be much easier to instigate before children arrive, or even when they are tiny tots. Don’t despair if you are starting in on this with teenage children, or a recalcitrant spouse. Stick to your principles, be firm and loving, and generally – Just Say No.

Instant Cure Number 1: Just Say No.

The other part of this has to be: Repeatedly.

If you have spent years saying no to stuff which your children have been pestering you for, and find that in the end you always give in and get them what they want, then you have succumbed to the Pester Factor.

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An interesting thing I have noticed about the Santa Season is that the closer we get to December 25 the more likely people are to criticise me for not buying Christmas presents. Keep in mind that these people are not family members or even dear friends. These critics can be lumped into the category of nodding acquaintances, perhaps I know their first name but that’s all.

Take yesterday, for example. I was at Tai Chi class (a wonderful way to escape the frenetic rush and hustle outside in the stores) and one of the more senior participants bustled in and asked the group ‘Have you all finished your christmas shopping yet?’

It was couched in such a way as to invite the question back to her, as she had finished all her gift buying and wanted everyone to know how clever she was. I refused to buy into this game, and so, probably spitefully, I took the wind out of her sails and clearly spoke up with ‘I don’t buy presents for anyone.’

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With just 28 days left until Santa lands on your roof, have you thought about how the next four weeks are going to affect your lifestyle? How the rapidly passing days will dictate your expenditure, your food choices, your activities - even how much sleep and exercise you get.The last 4 weeks before December 25th is when 99% of the gift buying population is out there, filling the malls, spending up big on presents.

I don’t know about you, but I have had enough of having the last few weeks of the year being hijacked by the Big Guy in Red. Santa has a lot to answer for, and I am here to keep him accountable.

I’ve had enough and I’m not going to take it any more.

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