I know it might be too early to talk about Christmas shopping, but hear me out here. We have huge sales coming after Thanksgiving, and if you're like me, who's on a budget, we are going to need to take the time to plan this out, right?
Well, one can always shop for anything random at the last minute, so this post would be for those who don't want any stress in shopping for presents, are on a tight budget, or simply want to give thoughtful gifts this season.
Start with Overall Plan
First thing's first: how much are you willing to spend on all presents this year? That includes all the other expenses, such as wrapping paper, delivery fees, boxes, etc. If you're planning to personally make some of the presents, how much do you have for materials?
Most importantly, how many people can you give presents to this year? It is okay if you can only give to family and closest friends this year. Times are difficult, and that is completely understandable.
For whom and how much?
Once your basics are rounded up, list the names according to priority if you can. There might also be those whom you want to list as groups, like an entire household or a couple. After that, think about how much you're willing to spend on each person. This will make it easier to determine the best places to purchase the presents.
If you're very forgetful like I am, you might also want to track down those whom you've bought presents for—the ones you've wrapped and the ones you've given. The included downloadable checklist below has all the essentials to help you stick to a plan.
Strategise where to purchase
A very good way to save time and money, not only on the presents but also on delivery fees and gas, is to try to strategize your place of purchase in one or a few stores. Other stores also offer good discounts for large purchases. For example, stores like Old Navy often have discounts for purchases reaching a certain amount.
Another advantage of purchasing in as few shops as possible is that it will be easier for you to manage as there will be fewer deliveries.
Keep track of all the sales/specials!
As you may already know, we have a couple of huge sales coming before Christmas. Black Friday is on November 29th, followed by Cyber Monday on December 2nd. Stores usually have early sales, which may start days prior to the main event and could last days after Cyber Monday. For cosmetics, the brands' main websites usually have huge discounts during the Thanksgiving season.
Those dates would be the best to purchase presents if you're looking to save some more.
You can also search for the previous year's sales pattern of your target stores and sign up for newsletters or keep note of them in your shopping list or calendars.
Get things done as early as you can
I know this might be difficult, especially for those who are extremely busy or for the proscratinators, but the most effective way to get through the holiday shopping season is to get them done as early as possible. You don't have to get it all done at once. Say you've already had the presents purchased and delivered after the Black Friday sales; why not try and wrap a present each day? Or take like half an hour to wrap a few for the days you're bored? Just take things nice and slow if you can, and before you know it, by the second week of December, all you'll have to do is wait until it's appropriate to start giving your presents (or whenever their tree is up, really).
I hope this somehow is able to help get you started on properly organizing a plan for Christmas shopping. Being properly organised during this time of the year will help take out most or all of the stress, so you can truly enjoy what the season is for!
Downloadable Content
I prepped a downloadable and printable file of this shopping list to hopefully help organise your shopping trips this year. You may download the file by clicking the button below.
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| (PREVIEW) Christmas Shopping List by glifesnaps |
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