Getting Early Your Christmas Shopping Done
Getting Your Christmas Shopping Done Early
Waiting until the last minute to do your Christmas shopping can be just downright stressful. Additionally, it can make it incredibly hard to find the perfect gift for each person on your shopping list. Furthermore, those who wait until the last minute to finish their Christmas shopping are often faced with the potential for a looming credit card debt for the start of the following year because they did the bulk of their Christmas shopping in December of the previous year. For all of the reasons above it makes a great deal of sense to get your Christmas shopping done early. Read also: Setting a Budget for Christmas Shopping
Those who complete their Christmas shopping early gain many benefits. First of all, they do not have to deal with crowded shopping areas as hordes of other shoppers are also trying to complete their last-minute Christmas shopping. Shoppers who complete their Christmas shopping early also have more time to relax and focus on other activities such as decorating, wrapping presents, baking cookies or just spending some quiet time with family. Finally, those who complete their Christmas shopping early also gain financial benefits. They can take advantage of sales which occur year-round if they spread out their shopping plus they do not have to worry about paying for all of their purchases at one time.
Now that you understand all the benefits of getting your Christmas shopping done early, you may still wonder how you can achieve this goal. One way to do this is to think of Christmas shopping as a year-long event. Sit down shortly after the Christmas season to make a list of each person you plan to purchase gifts for in the following Christmas season. You can also jot down a few gift ideas for each of these people as well. Creating a list at this time gives you a whole year to spend time searching for gifts for each member on your list. For example, you may wish to purchase a particular CD for your sister. If it is a difficult CD to find, you have plenty of time to begin tracking down this time. If it is a CD that is easy to find, you can plan on waiting until it goes on sale and may find you are able to save quite a bit of money by doing this.
If you plan on getting your Christmas shopping done early by shopping year-round for friends or relatives, you should always keep your shopping list handy. Your wallet is a good place to keep it so it is always available when you are out shopping. Not only should you always carry your list with you but you should keep it up to date. As you purchase a gift for each person on your list, cross off their name and write down the actual gift you selected if it was different from the gift idea you had written down originally. This important because it will help to prevent you from purchasing multiple gifts for those on your list because you forgot you had already purchased their gift.
While getting your Christmas shopping done early does have some distinct advantages, there are also pitfalls to this type of shopping. Those who do their shopping throughout the year are often not as budget-conscious as those who shop at the last minute. This is because those who shop at the last minute understand the bills for all of their Christmas gifts will be arriving at approximately the same time. However, those who shop early often lose track of how much they are spending on Christmas gifts because the bills blend in with regular monthly expenses. To avoid this problem, those who plan to shop throughout the year should set a budget for Christmas presents. They should determine ahead of time how much they wish to spend on each person on their list and should try not to exceed this amount.
Early Christmas Shopping
If you are one of those people who gets their Christmas shopping done early every year, you probably find yourself getting a lot of mean looks from others around the holiday season. This is especially true if you make a habit of letting others know you have already finished your Christmas shopping. This happens because the vast majority of people do not get their Christmas shopping done early and may be envious of those who manage to finish their shopping early. The fact that most Christmas shoppers wait until the last minute is evident by the crowds who flock to malls and shopping centers in the final days before Christmas.
If you are one of these people who always finishes their Christmas shopping early you may already have a method to accomplishing this goal. However, if you are like the majority of people who spend every year last-minute Christmas shopping this article will provide you with some tips for getting your Christmas shopping done early this year.
Read also: Christmas Shopping with kids in the year around after thanksgiving
One of the best ways to get your Christmas shopping done early is to try to do a great deal of Christmas shopping for the next year in the first few days after Christmas. Although the stores are usually quite crowded on these days there is not the same sense of urgency which prevails in the days just before Christmas so the atmosphere is more relaxed. Additionally, many stores are holding sales so not only can you do a large portion of your shopping but you are also likely to save a great deal of money in the process. The first few days after Christmas is an excellent time to shop because you are likely still in the Christmas spirit.
Another way to get your Christmas shopping done early is to plan on doing all of your Christmas shopping online this year. This is an excellent idea because most retailers will wrap the item for you and ship it directly to the recipient. You will pay a little more for these services but the convenience of not having to do the wrapping yourself or stand in long lines at the post office is certainly worth the extra fee. Committing to Christmas shopping online really helps you to get your shopping done early because you know you have to make your purchases early in order for them to arrive on time.
Another way to get your Christmas shopping done early is a plan on purchasing two gifts for each person on your list at the time of their birthday. You can give them the first gift for their birthday and store the other item away until Christmas. This is a great idea because it helps you to get your shopping done early so you can avoid the hassle of going to overcrowded malls and shopping centers and searching for last-minute Christmas gifts. If you follow this simple strategy when the Christmas season arrives, you will already have most, if not all, of your Christmas gifts purchased already and you can spend your time relaxing and enjoying the holiday season instead of running around trying to find the perfect gift for each person on your list. While this strategy is effective it is important to note you could be destined to some last-minute shopping if you have people on your list who have birthdays in late December. In this case, you will have to plan ahead and purchase their birthday gift and their Christmas gift early. Read also: Setting a Budget for Christmas Shopping