Hi all,
Each year I plan my Christmas early, by writing a list to help me get organised. I do this because of all the events that suddenly spring up around the festive season and because it is the busiest time of year for us here at Katie’s Cards, there isn’t a minute to spare!
I find getting things planned early is a good way to manage the mammoth task of the festive season and thought you might find some of the tips I have picked up over the years useful to help you get organised for Christmas. Please share any additional tips you have with me!
I will add a different set of tips each day for each section of the planning. Today I am looking at buying gifts:
When it comes to gifts many of us feel obliged to spend lots of money and end up overspending.
Its very easy to do, I have done it many times in the past but over the years I have honed a way of organising my present buying which eliminates the stress factor and saves a bit of money. Here are some of my tips:
- In early November, I sit down and work out what I have to spend on presents.
- I then made a list of everyone I need to buy gifts for, adding any present ideas I have for those on the list as I go.
- I set a budget for each person on the list and add it up to find the total cost. This helps me to make sure I can afford what I have planned and if I can’t, I edit the list and remove anyone who shouldn’t be there and re-budget anyone who can until the total matches what I have to spend.
- I always set myself a present-buying deadline-date. I do an online deadline of 3 weeks before Christmas (I had an incident a few years ago when my order didn’t arrive until after Christmas) and traditional shopping 1 week before. This should give you enough time to get everyone a present and leave some time to browse for people you struggle to think of ideas for.
- As soon as I can, I go online and try to find special vouchers or deals that I can use to buy my gifts. There are some great websites offering discount vouchers etc. such as: Groupon, Discountvouchers.co.uk, moneysavingexpert.com, myvouchercodes.co.uk, couponcodes4u.com, myvouchercodes.com, couponcodeusa.com, latestdiscountvouchers.com. I then browse online shops to see if there is anything else I can pick up. A great place to start is Amazon.
- I try to plan my first shopping trip soon after completing my list and try to plan which shops I need to visit so I can get round them quickly. Remember to take any discount vouchers that you need and if you have a smart phone, try using the ‘Facebook places’ app once you have reached your shopping destination as you can find lots of special deals linked to specific shops just by checking in and they are usually not promoted anywhere else on the internet!
- I often find that there are a couple of people on my list who would like some nice bath/beauty products and will try to pop into shops such as Boots who offer some great 3 for 2’s around Chritsmas time.
- I make sure to tick off the people I have bought presents for and keep a rolling tally of what I have actually spent.
Following my plan, I always get my shopping done well before Christmas eve.
Thankfully you don’t have to be anywhere near as organised to send your Christmas e cards, as you can have them delivered instantly!
Katie x
