Christmas time is one of the best times of the year but one of the busiest. Family and friends travel far and wide to get together and exchange gifts. It’s a time where lots of baking, money spent, and events are always happening. It can be super exhausting and overwhelming if you aren’t prepared for everything the holiday season has to offer. Use these tips to have more fun and less stress during this holiday season.
Tip 1- Fly Light
If you’re traveling by plane for Christmas, don’t bring too many presents that are going to take up the space you need in your luggage. Instead, give gift cards because they are small, can fit in your wallet, and are pretty much cash. The only time I bring presents while flying are things that you can’t get anywhere else. Another option is to send packages with your name on it to a family member and let them know. On online websites, you can have multiple shipping addresses saved. Either of these two ways people should be happy with the gift you give them.
Tip 2- Strategize Gift Buying and Gift Wrapping
The best time to buy Christmas wrapping paper, wrapping accessories, and fake Christmas trees is in January. Stock up on all the wrapping paper, ribbons, bows, and tags early. When the holiday season comes, bring out all the wrapping present material and wrap and label presents as soon as you buy them. Make sure to label all your presents with stickers or use a Sharpie marker. If you don’t have labels but multiple kinds of wrapping paper, set each person with a certain designed wrapping paper.
Tip 3- Keep Small Gifts on Hand
Have you ever felt guilty about someone giving you a gift unexpectedly and you didn’t have something to give in return? The easiest solution to this is to keep small gifts on hand that is universal, such as homemade or locally made preserves or cookies. It’s also okay if you don’t have a present right away. Most people won’t get offended if you don’t have something for them right away. Even if you make homemade cookies and see them at another time to give them, that is perfectly acceptable.
Tip 4- Save for Christmas Year Round
Did you know that the average person has $1,000 or more in credit card debt just for buying presents? Sure, it’s a time to show your loved ones how much you care by buying the newest coolest toys and electronics. If you can, put aside 10% of your check or $100 a month for Christmas presents. If you put $100 aside every month, you’ll have $1,200 for Christmas spending. There are even banks and credit unions that offer accounts specifically called Christmas savings. Plus, most online banking allows you to rename accounts so you can open a savings account and rename it “Christmas Savings.”
Tip 5- Draw Up a Budget and Make a List
If you plan ahead and give yourself a budget, you will buy less impulsively, make sure everyone gets their present, but not break your bank account. The first step is to give yourself a budget. If you follow Tip 4, then your budget is automatically set to what you saved over the year. The budget for each present is dependent on the friend or family member. You probably would spend more on a significant other or your own child than your best friend. Also, set a certain number of presents for each person. Make your list based on this criterion.
Tip 6- Buy Presents Early
If you see a really good deal on something you would buy for someone, consider buying it at that point rather than the couple weeks before Christmas when it’ll be regular price. Quite often you’ll find that stuff gets marked down immediately following Christmas. This is intentional of stores. They want you to impulse buy after you spent a ton of money on Christmas presents. Get the jump on them and save more by starting to use those items you bought for marked down prices as presents for next Christmas. There is nothing wrong with buying someone something for a discounted price.
Tip 7- Create Amazon Lists and Check Frequently
Amazon is great for keeping ideas for not only yourself but for others. If an idea sparks in your mind and you find it on Amazon, you can create a list or add an item into an existing list. The item will stay on the list until you buy it or remove it yourself. There is an Idea section and a separate section called Friends. You can invite people on any list so that they can have an idea at what you want.
The best part on Amazon’s list feature is that you can look back at the lists and the list will show the newest price. If the price is lower than when you put the item in the list, there will be a notice of how much the price dropped by a % they give you. You can also use the Google Chrome extension Honey to track price drops in the best while you’re searching for items on Amazon.
Tip 8- Reuse Some of the Boxes and Bags from Presents You’ve Received
Have you ever received a gift bag or box that contained a Christmas present and just threw it out immediately? I know a ton of people who do. If the bags and boxes are in good condition and don’t have any markings indicating it was for someone, you can reuse it for someone else’s gift. It saves time and money. The only thing you need to make sure is that you probably don’t want to give that same designed Christmas bag to the person you received it from or where they can see it being given to someone else. Tip 9- Clean and Make Space in Advance
Since the Christmas holiday brings family and friends to visit for either a few hours or a few days, it is important to have clean and spacious areas where the guests will stay. This includes any closets and bedrooms the guests will occupy during their visit. The best time to clean out everything in between the week after Thanksgiving to two weeks before Christmas. Christmas doesn't get crazy until the last week or two before Christmas. Just make sure not to clutter up the space that you just cleaned because you never know when you'll be able to clean that space again before Christmas.
Tip 10- Create a Calendar of All the Festivities
There can be so many events and parties that you want to attend, but it can be difficult to keep track of everything. The easiest solution to this problem is creating a calendar of events. There's nothing worse than forgetting a party until the last minute and you don't have enough time to bake or buy something. There's no need to buy a new planner or calendar. You can easily create a calendar on Word since they have a template made that allows you to print. If you don't like using a paper calendar, your phone has a calendar that you can send automatic reminders.
No comments:
Post a Comment