10 Ways to Get Your Christmas Shopping Done this Year
Christmas is great. But it’s also stressful. Along with long strolls through suburbs decked out in Christmas lights or through snow covered valleys (depending on where you live), comes the crunch of getting your shopping done on time.
Of course, if you are planning on shopping online, you have to make sure to leave plenty of cushion time to ensure your gifts get here on time. So, if like me, you find yourself struggling to juggle Christmas shopping, here are some ideas to help you get started.
Decide Who You are Giving Gifts to – and Who You Aren’t
Friends, coworkers, family – the list goes on and on. Unfortunately, unless you have a tree that grows money in your backyard on on your terrace, it’s going to be impossible to get a gift for each and every person in your life. You’re going to have to limit yourself to a few people. How you do this is up to you, but once you limit the pool to a few names, things should get easier.
Decide on a Budget
Unless you want to go broke this Christmas season, you’re going to have to set apart a budget for what you actually intend on spending on gifts. What’s a reasonable amount that you want to spend? Figure out how much money you can spend without it getting in the way of your financial goals and divvy that number up between the people on your list you want to give presents to.
It’s okay for not everyone to have the exact same allotted budget. You may want to get more expensive gifts for your immediate family for example, while getting smaller gifts for friends.
Christmas Gifts Usually Come in Categories
You can get thoughtful gifts, gifts that you know someone really wants/needs, gag gifts and beyond. Of course, if you are contemplating what gift to get for your significant other, you’ll have to add an extra layer of thought. For more help on that, here are five mistakes people make when giving Christmas gifts.
Decide on the kind of gift you want to give first. Once you’ve done that, it should be easier to narrow things down.
Buy Online, Or At a Store?
Now that you have your list together of who you are buying gifts for, and what kind of gifts you are going to get for them, it should be much, much easier to decide on how to actually get those gifts. Are the kinds of things you are looking for likely to be available nearby? Do you enjoy shopping, or would you rather get it out of the way? If you see Christmas shopping as just something of a chore that you’d rather get out of the way, or if your gifts are highly specialized and unlikely to be available nearby, shopping online might be the way to go. Just make sure to do it on time!
If, however, you really enjoy Christmas shopping and see it more as an activity than something you need to get done, why not take a trip to your local mall, outlets or downtown?
Put these strategies into effect and before you know it you’ll be ready to sit back, relax this Christmas season without the worry of last minute Christmas shopping!
