Its September … schools are back in session, fall routines and schedules are falling into place, calendar dates are filling up fast … and there are only 112(ish) shopping days left til Christmas !!
As you probably know, I love having a plan for everything I do. I would just love to have an organized plan for the whole hectic holiday season; more fun and family, less stress and chaos. I’ll talk about this more in a future blog post.
This year, I plan to spread my Holiday shopping out over a couple of months instead of being so jammed packed and busy during the month of December. My plan is to use only cash, no credit cards. By starting on my gift list now, I can buy one or two gifts each pay period. If I choose to give a handmade gift, starting this early leaves plenty of time to work on it lovingly, instead of a last minute rush.
Electronics always seem to be popular gifts, so this year I plan to get some bargains during the Back-to-School sales. Most of the big-box stores also have great prices on popular personal electronics during this Back-to-School time of year. Granted, a new computer isn’t on my Christmas Gift List for anyone this year, but I think a new flash drive might be a nice stocking stuffer. I’ve seen great discounted prices on iPods and iPads and digital cameras. While you’re at the office supply store, don’t forget take advantage of the sale prices to stock up on household supplies you may need for the season … thumb tacks and/or hooks for decorating, tape for wrapping the presents, etc.
You should also think ahead as to where you should keep these early gifts, depending on the ages and beliefs (sometimes Santa may need help storing presents because it can get really crowded at the North Pole) of your gift recipients. While I currently have adult (but still kinda noisy) children, I fondly remember the days of storing wrapped gifts in some big mis-labeled storage bins along with all the other bins in the basement or garage … like hiding them in plain sight 🙂
My hope is by getting my gifts purchased and wrapped nice and early, I’ll have the month of December freed up to be able to spend my time enjoying many of the seasonal activities like spending time/catching up with friends, baking goodies for family and friends, volunteering and helping the less fortunate, Christmas caroling, building a snowman, attending lots of fun parties; well, you get the idea 🙂
Just thinking about my plan gives me the peace of mind that the holidays can be stress-free and full of love and joy!
The calendar has a way of filling up fast and time flies by quickly. Do you have any tips that help you stay on track during the Christmas Holidays ? Share them by leaving a comment …
Tracy Helps You is here to help you however you’d like … from planning, to shopping, to wrapping and decorating, just click the contact tab above 🙂