Preparing for the holiday shopping adventure can be a little daunting, to say the least. Getting ready for dealing with the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping? Here are some tips to keep the joy of the holiday season.
Arm yourself with a list. Be as thorough as possible when making your shopping list. Write down everyone, including those easily forgotten folks like your hair stylist, schoolteacher and Secret Santa gift buddy at the office. Once you have written your list, jot down what you would like to purchase. This is the time to decide to eliminate on your list this year. Also you may want to make plans for homemade gifts such as baked goods. Just keep in mind both your budget and time.
Let your smart phone to do the work. There are a number of apps to help you get through the holiday season. Better Christmas List is an app that helps you keep track of your gift list as well as your budget. TGI Black Friday app helps you track down Black Friday ads for major stores. This app also does comparison price shopping as well as creates a shopping list for you. Red Laser is a bar code scanner app that does comparison price shopping for you with Google Product Search and EBay. These are just a few well-rated apps to make the season a little brighter.
Shop Cyber Monday. Internet shopping can not only save you time but can help you stay on budget. Your favorite stores are online and you can shop in your pajamas. The biggest online holiday deals happen the Monday following Thanksgiving, or Cyber Monday. Be ready to find discounts that will offset shipping costs. Keep track of purchases and your budget as you shop from your computer. Take a break if you find yourself tempted to make an emotional buy.
Shop during off hours. I personally love to shop during off peak hours. I usually wait until retailers extend their night holiday hours just after Thanksgiving. There are still sales in progress and the crowds are limited. This shopping time gives me room to breathe during this busy shopping season.
Save your receipts. Get ready for wrong-sized items, broken toys or somebody just not too fond of their gift. After a day of holiday shopping, I cross the gift off my list and place it in an envelope for safe keeping. I usually keep them for about 90 days after purchase, just in case anybody needs the receipt for a return.
Check for free gift wrapping. After making your purchase check and see if the store offer free gift wrapping. Make sure you tag the gifts after the purchase to keep track of your gifts.
If you would like more holiday tips click here to download your free gift "Four Stress Relief Tips on How to Keep Your Holiday Gift Budget Under Wraps."
For over 25 years in the health care profession, Lisa Birnesser has studied stress relief techniques and have helped hundreds of people reduce stress in their lives.Lisa specializes stress management coaching by helping people do what matters most every day.
Great tips Lissa! Thank you for sharing this… 🙂
GREAT article! I love the shopping apps! I have had some great success with them. Amazon is still my favorite online store :-). Lists are huge is so many areas of our lives huh? Certainly important at Christmas time.
All great tips for keeping your stress down and sticking to your budget during the holidays, Lisa!
One idea I heard the other day… Set out your spending budget first, then divide by the number of people on your list and THEN write out your shopping list. This will avoid a lot of sticker-shock or regret later on!
And I love your idea of shopping at off-hours. I do lots of my shopping early but even when I must go in ‘last minute’ I go early in the morning to avoid the crowds!
Great post Lisa!! I love shopping online, can do it any time of the day and no crowds to deal with or searching for a parking space:) Thanks for sharing your tips.
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