‘Tis the season to get your Christmas shopping started!! Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE Christmas and I love gift-giving. It’s my favorite thing about Christmas. I enjoy adding everyone on my list, really thinking about something I know they’ll love, wrap it up in coordinated wrapping paper (yes, I have a wrapping paper theme.), and watching their eyes light up when the open it. It’s such a good feeling.
Not to toot my own horn, but I would consider myself to be an expert Christmas shopper. I plan it out well and I have some tricks up my sleeve to make sure everything goes smoothly. And you’re in luck cause I’m sharing all of those tricks with you! Let me know your favorite tips for Christmas shopping in the comments below!
Start Early
Since it’s already December, this is a tip that will be better for next year’s shopping. However, I highly recommend starting as early as possible. I actually bought my first Christmas present for 2018 on December 26th, 2017. A little aggressive, I know, so you don’t have to start quite that early. But consider starting in August or September. Although Christmas is months away at that point, it will work out to your benefit to start early. One – you’ll end up not being stressed trying to get everything last minute. Two – you won’t be poor in December. Spreading out your Christmas budget over a few months will ensure you always have plenty of dough in your wallet. And three – you can find some good deals when back-to-school season is happening. And everyone will get their presents on time. It’s a win-win!
Utilize Technology: The Santa Bag App
I used to handwrite out my lists and keep track of if had ordered everything, if things were wrapped, etc. all on that piece of paper. The past few years, I have been using the Santa Bag app to be my go-to Christmas shopping helper and organizer. On the Santa Bag app, you can add everyone on your list, give each person an individual budget, determine your overall budget, and enter what you’re getting everyone. You can put in ideas or actual items you’ll be purchasing along with details on how much it costs and where you will buy it. The app also keeps a running total of where you are. So far, I have $113 left to spend on planned presents. You can also mark each present as “to order”, “to wrap”, “given”, and many more “statuses.” Although it sounds complicated, it’s truly made my life so much easier when it comes to my yearly Christmas shopping. I highly recommend downloading the free Santa Bag app and giving it a try. You can thank me later.
Save money, Honey!
Anything I can do to save money during the holiday season is worth doing. One of my favorite ways to save money during the holiday season and year-around is Honey. Honey is an add-on you can add to your Google Chrome that finds coupon codes and discounts for you while you’re online shopping. (And we all know I love online shopping. Check out my favorite online clothing stores.) You could be shopping on any site and it’ll shine orange letting you know there are savings to be had! And sometimes, Honey teams up with stores and websites to offer you a certain percentage back. All of those savings go straight to your Honey account and once you have at least $25, you can get it on a gift card for tons of different stores. I usually just redeem it by getting a Target gift card because let’s be real, I’m going to use that gift card! Definitely download Honey if you want to save some money while online shopping!
XO –
Annena
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