Shopping For Christmas Already?!?

Thaaaat’s right! We all know that the holidays can be the worst. Not the holidays but rather the stress that goes into the holidays. Whether it’s shopping, traveling, cooking, planning get togethers…ect it adds up. It adds up both as stress on you as well as stress on the wallet. This year especially is probably going to be more stressful for more families with layoffs, pay cuts, and such. I know for us, DH’s pay cut has us being even more frugal.

So, about shopping for Christmas. Start doing it now. Start thinking about who you’re going to buy for and what they might like. Don’t get carried away though. Just like anything else you need to setup a budget for Christmas. For example, I’m keeping the same budget I had for last Christmas, $10 per person. Now on that budget I’m sure you’re thinking you can’t get much. Our parents, DH’s sisters and their husbands got nice comforters I found with Brylane Home for $20 ($10 per person), all of the nieces and nephews got outfits (Thank you Walmart clearance) for $10 each, and my sisters got 2 sets of PJs each for $10. So like I said, if you’re constantly shopping clearance throughout the year you’re bound to get everyone taken care of. You could probably even do it for less than $10 a person if you time it right. Right now (since we’re transitioning to spring) would be a great time to buy winter outfits and jackets.

I actually just started looking myself. I came across a website the other day called The Lakeside Collection. It was an email offer through Mypoints so I figured I’d see what they had. I was quite surprised of how many low cost items they had. I found some camo sleeping bags for our nephews for only $9.95. I was also able to find a fun Spider Man cup for DS’ birthday (He loooooves Spider Man).

I did buy some socks and random jewelry sets at the Christmas clearance sales so I think I have enough to use as stocking stuffers and gifts for co-workers.

Ebay could also be a good place to look too. I say “could” because Ebay isn’t as great as it use to be. Don’t get me wrong, I just bought a $400 Roomba on there for $50…but I mean as a whole. It’s kind of looking at the bargain bin. You have to dig all the way to the bottom only to find a deal maybe in the middle on the left side. Anyway, you can look there for your higher priced items. For the most part, people aren’t going to be looking for those high dollar items usually reserved for Christmas gifts.

I’m also starting to think as the bad news continues to come in as far as the economy goes, more coupons and sales are going to surface. A great example to that would be that Hasbro has coupons out for their games. Just make sure to keep your eyes open.

Christmas shopping early is great for your budget but let me throw this out there: You know your budget better than anyone. Always remember that household necessities always take top priority.