Budgeteer Gifting

With Halloween right around the corner, I suppose some people are starting to think about the holiday season. A few of our local stores already have Christmas trees on display, those snazzy pre-packaged gifts are starting to show up and we’ve even seen a few holiday decorations going up on houses around town. Okay, maybe those are just left from last year! I’m so excited I can hardly stand it. I love gift giving, and bringing smiles to my friends and family. The funny thing is, I despise shopping! That’s right, you’ll never catch me in a store on Black Friday searching for deals, battling through crowds. I prefer to shop year round, and purchase gifts when I find that perfect item for a special someone on our gift list. Of course that can mean big savings, but it also meant going a bit overboard sometimes, forgetting some of the items I had stashed away.

This year, I knew we could not have one of those overboard years! So I have refined my system a little bit… instead of getting swept up in the anticipation of the holidays and specifically shopping for gifts during the big sales (like I said, I have to avoid Black Friday Frenzy at all costs) I’ve already got most of our gifts laid out and packaged up. I spent about an hour going through all the gifts I’ve accumulated since December 26, 2009 and compared my gift giving list to what was stored. Pleasantly surprised, I found a very few key purchases that will be made. Stretching the gift budget over the entire year means I still get to lavish lovely items on the ones I care about without going in debt. That’s the best gift I’ll get all year! Wahoo!

Comments

[Cheryl]

Ha! I do the same - shop year round to avoid the last-minute stresses & craziness (there's nothing worse than the parking lot madness in December) but like you, I have sometimes forgotten what I bought. I try to keep things organized with lists and storing the items in one place. It's not fool-proof, but it helps.

[Rachel Seltzner]

Ha Cheryl! I'm pretty organized too, it's just I find so many great things when I'm looking all year long! Sometimes I can't keep it all straight! Doing much better this year though...