Woman's Day Offers Creative Solutions That Will Make Your Family Holiday Stres-Free

The December issue of Woman's Day (on newsstands now) is offering ways to cope with the holidays by providing 10 stress-free solutions to make your Christmas a merry one.

Woman's Day turned to the experts, from etiquette coaches to psychologists, to get the best tips on how to minimize the stress this holiday and eliminate some of the factors that have been issues in past years.

When it comes to presents, and saving money, experts advise readers to let go of gift guilt and suggest proposing that your family change their gift-giving traditions to possibly only giving gifts to the kids, a Secret Santa exchange with a price cap, or homemade gifts only. And once you get the gift, if you don't like it, fake it. It's better than hurting the feelings of one of your relatives.  

If you are hosting the entire family there are a few tricks that experts say to keep in mind:   -          Command Your Kitchen - Don't lose it if someone tries to step on your turf in the kitchen. Give each matriarch of the family a task to do outside the kitchen and explain it will just be faster for you to do the cooking. -          Take it Easy on Holiday "Spirits" - Keep those relatives that generally have one too many in check by limiting the alcohol served or have someone serve it. -          Remember, The More The Merrier - Plan ahead for late additions and when unexpected guests show up, keep your cool and roll with it. -          Call it a Night When You're Ready - When you are ready give the impression the night is coming to a close by starting to clean the kitchen, mentioning how fast the evening went by or begin to gather coats for people. To tame the family drama, avoid talking about politics, keep the gossiping on hold, and reduce the use of annoying and distracting electronics. Experts suggest being ready to divert attention when these subjects come up. CEO of Beverly Hills Manners, Lisa Gache, says "change the subject with a remark like 'The turkey smells terrific, doesn't it? Let's go check on it.'" With these tips, any family can have a festive, happy holiday.

Women's Day Offers Out-of-The Box Ways to Reduce Cell Phone and Cable Bills in the November Issue

With the sluggish economy, families are looking to save money anywhere they can. Americans need to know that they don't have to sit by and pay those dreaded cell phone and television cable bills that take a chunk out of the budget. The November issue of Woman's Day (on newsstands October 12) provides solutions to only paying for what you need but eliminating unnecessary costs. So how can a family keep these bills in line? When it comes to the family cell phones, Woman's Day says the most important place to start is by reviewing your plan. Cell phone provider's customer service departments can design a plan that is specific to the kind of minutes and texts each person uses. Additional hints experts give include: -          Watch for unexpected charges for going over your minutes (add 10-15% more than you think to be safe) -          Add up your texting charges. They can be up to 25 cents for each sent and received text so inquire if it makes more sense to get even a basic texting plan -          Stay within a network. Try to get on the same providers as your friends and family since those calls are often free -          Use alternatives such as Skype and Google Voice -          Consider prepaid phones for light users For the rest of the bills there are creative options as well. Downgrading a landline phone to local service only (while using a cell phone for the long distance calls) or using phone cards can reduce bills to under $20. While using digital cable providers or an e-call service such as Skype or iCall can also significantly reduce rates.   Cable/Internet Woman's Day also addresses cable/satellite and internet bills. There are options that many people are not aware of such as calling to negotiate a lower rate that another company is offering, reducing their channels to just the ones they really need, or eliminating cable all together. Sites like Hulu.com are great solutions for people with no cable access. Internet is another necessity in today's world so finding different options is key. Some suggestions that Woman's Day have found successful are using free connections at the library or a local coffee shop or shopping around for the basic dial-up or DSL connection and broadband services. These unconventional options can lower bills as low as $15 or $20 a month.

Click here to read the Women's Wear Daily November article on cutting your cell and cable bills