Thanksgiving is over.
After stuffing our faces for a full day, now all you hear is Christmas music in the stores and twinkling lights all around. It is a very beautiful time but also could be a stressful time knowing you only have just over a month left to complete your Christmas shopping list. Writing it all out, we seem to underestimate all of the shopping we actually need to do. We have our immediate family along with extended family that we see for the holidays. Not to forget, our friends! Out of nowhere it seems like you are about to spend a ton of money in a short period of time. Now that can cause some serious stress on yourself and your wallet. You think “there has to be a better way!” I am here to let you know there is a way to financially buy all of your gifts, without spending a ton of money, and be done before the month of Christmas begins.
Every year now, I have had Christmas shopping done before the month of December (even after being married and gaining another large family to add to my list). Stocking stuffers purchased, all gifts are wrapped and under the tree. It’s a huge sense of relief realizing I do not have any gifts to buy with the large crowds of people at the stores and the large amounts of packages being delivered during the Christmas season. Here’s how I completed my Christmas list before December 1st.
· -plan a list
o Who do you really needs to buy gifts for and who do you not need to buy gifts for.
o White elephant or other family traditions
o pitch in with siblings or others to purchase big gift for parents/grandparents
o how much do you really need to spend on gifts
· -get ideas early
o children, siblings, parents, grandparents *listen* to them and hear what their wants are make a list of those wants, add or remove from the list by what they say
o sister-in-law mentioned wanting a certain shirt off a website, bought that shirt in July and gave it to her for Christmas
· -purchase sporadically
o The simple gifts that one can have multiples of and aren’t one time purchases (leggings, perfumes, accessories, etc.)
o If you have someone who shops a lot that may buy the gift they mentioned, wait until a little closer to December to purchase that one
o If you are able to buy the item for yourself, use that to see if the person would enjoy that item as well
· -watch out for sales (email promotions)
o I get A. LOT. of emails from stores and companies who run random sells throughout the year. Take advantage of those!
o For example VS does their semi-annual sales at certain times of the year – best time to get discounted prices. Other stores do similar things as this if you are on their email list they will let you know when this is happened
o Get winter clothes for cheap in the summer – and summer clothes cheap in the winter.
o TJ max, Marshalls, home good, etc. – department stores are the BEST places to find deals all year around
-if all else fails customized gifts are always special
o Vistaprint, Shutterfly, CVS offer many gifts that are customized with pictures, names, or special sayings – these places also have various sales throughout the year that they send emails about. I rely on these 3 companies for my customized gifts (many contributed to Christmas this year)
o AMAZON – I truly believe Amazon saves lives. You can buy almost anything on there. It even has many holiday gift guides for different ages, amounts of money you’re looking to spend, and for the special people in your life. These different categories have PAGES of ideas for every member on your Christmas list.
This is my own personal guide that I survive by every year for Christmas – and I’ve never had any disappointed family or friends