I got the shopping started



I know that it’s Halloween time (in fact I got the Halloween decorations out as well, and contemplated pumpkins in the grocery store) but it occurred to me last weekend that I hadn’t bought any Christmas presents yet. I’m one of those people that usually shops all year round for Christmas, buying a gift here and there as I go. But for some reason this year, nothing jumped out at me, so I hadn’t bought anything.

Apparently all I needed to do to solve that was make a list of who I planned to buy for. I have 16 people on my list so far that I want to get gifts for. (All relatives.) Plus there are 6 close relative birthdays in November through January, so I usually get those done at the same time. So, that’s a minimum of 22 gifts total.

3 stores later, I had 5 gifts bought. (3 birthday, 2 Christmas.)

I usually write down exactly what I’ve gotten for each person next to their name, so that I don’t end up accidentally buying more than one gift for the same person. (It seems like every year there’s at least one person that I see TONS of things they’d like.) I love shopping, and find STOPPING the hardest part of it, so my list is very important. When it’s full, I’m done.

On more normal years, I also keep the gifts that I buy throughout the year in the same place every year, and I write those down too as I buy them. Otherwise it’s too easy to hide something away and forget where you put it. I also make what I hope are surreptitious notes throughout the year when I overhear someone talking about something they’d like.

Do you enjoy shopping for gifts? Do you have a system for doing so?

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Posted in Spending money on Oct 11, 2007

3 Responses to “ I got the shopping started ”

  1. # 1 Bellen Says:
    October 11th, 2007 at 7:27 am

    Buying gifts year round was something I did when my kids were young. Remembering where I hid them was a biggie. I would buy small gifts at yard sales, send for freebies, etc. all year. Sometimes for a birthday party a child would get 4 or 5 items – they loved it. Also used lots of small items for stocking stuffers. For my college bound nieces & nephews I’d shop the BOGO sales for necessities (shampoo, razors, soap, toothpaste) package them up in end of summer season plastic buckets (to take to the shower) – did other themed gifts for showers, special birthdays (16 gifts for 16th birthday), new jobs, etc. This was always a year long project as most gift giving occasions are known in advance. Majority of gifts never topped the $15 mark and usually were more in the $10 range. Pleased everyone and my wallet particularly. PS. When my niece married she asked me my trick in giving such ‘wonderful, thoughtful’ gifts. Let her in on the secret and now she does it too. With 3 kids under 6 it really helps her budget too.

  2. # 2 Vixen Says:
    October 11th, 2007 at 4:31 pm

    I grew up not celebrating holidays, so it’s a real battle for me not to overindulge when it comes to them. This is my second year celebrating Christmas and I started shopping at the beginning of this month. Like you mentioned, I keep a list of who I need to buy gifts for, and then when I get them one, I annotate what was bought. A bookstore near me recently had an AMAZING sale and I got quite a few gifts for people for under thirty dollars. I think I may stick with the bookstore route this year and buy everyone a book as a common theme. They are easy to wrap and easy to ship.

  3. # 3 The Dividend Guy Says:
    October 11th, 2007 at 7:18 pm

    I must admit that my wife does all the gift shopping in our family – except for her of course.

    I set aside money each month into a Christmas fund with ING that we then take out in December to buy the gifts. Sometimes she has bought things earlier, at which time we do an early withdrawal from ING to balance the budget. This has worked well for us over the last couple of years.

    The Dividend Guy

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