Don't end up like this person.
The Holiday Season is fast approaching, and if you are anything like me, you are getting nervous with the amount of people out on the streets, shopping & snatching up all the great gifts.
Or worse, you can’t seem to stick to your list or your budget.
Today’s Saturday Project, since it is the 5th of December, is to sit down and do your dreaded Holiday Shopping List.
Making your Holiday List
- Figure out what your budget is
- Write a list of everyone you would like to buy for
- Place $$ figures beside each person
- Add up the tally & match it up to your budget
- If you are over $$, axe some names from the list. If you’re under $$, rejoice.
- Check it twice & make a final list with the person’s name & their budgeted amount
- If you must, give a card or a phone call to the ones you crossed off.
Shopping your Holiday List
- Stick to your budgeted amount for each person.
- Consider edible gifts – the thought is still there, but the gift disappears without a trace.
- Consider gifts that will not require more cost/maintenance later (eg. iPhones).
- Consider service certificates (e.g. massage and facials).
- Consider taking people out for a coffee or dinner instead.
- Once you buy a gift for a person, cross it off & keep it crossed off.
- Resist the urge to add more. Maybe others are trying to cut down on their clutter too.
- Take one entire weekend out and get the entire job done, early.
- Don’t stress about finding the absolute perfect gift. It doesn’t exist.
- Keep snacks in your jacket to keep up your energy.
- Wear comfortable shoes.
- Go with friends and steal embrace their gift ideas whenever you can.
- Remember that the holidays are about friends & family, not things.
Enjoy the holidays!
Be Organized and shop for less, instead.
diane
on Dec 5th, 2009
@ 11:51 am:
Several years ago, I got tired of returning home with a car full of expensive gifts that I neither needed nor wanted. The following year, about Thanksgiving, I emailed family members and suggested that we stop the madness and only give to the children. Turns out, others had felt he same way but didn’t want to be the ones who said something. Instead, we now each make a donation to a charity (or charities) of our choice. The kids are older and I can can shop for them in my study by writing out checks (which I know they prefer). I do not have a single gift to shop for. Donations can be made online. I actually spend more on the donations than I did on gifts but feel that is acceptable. After all, how can one spend too much money helping to feed others who are hungry?
My only regret is that I no longer have gifts to wrap. That is something I have always enjoyed doing…making gifts look beautiful. Last year, I began soliciting friends who complained about wrapping and now I wrap for others.
Christy Z.
on Dec 5th, 2009
@ 12:08 pm:
Honestly, this is the decisions I make in October. I can’t afford to do Christmas all in one month, so I have to spread it out for damage control.
For me, minimalism is thinking ahead and getting organized, so that a little work is spread out over a longer period and it’s way more painless.
Joan40
on Dec 7th, 2009
@ 4:02 pm:
I’m minimalist – the real thing. I have one brand of shampoo in my bathroom. That’s minimalist. I buy what I need, not what I want having discerned the difference between wants and needs. I don’t use my ego as gift wrap for presents. I give what I can afford and if I can’t afford anything, I trust my family and friends will understand where my heart is. When time allows, I help out where help is needed, which is a big gift when you think how many of us suffer from a shortage of that valuable commodity. There are many ways to give, presents are just one of them.
everydayminimalist
on Dec 8th, 2009
@ 7:39 am:
I too only have one brand of each of something in my bathroom, but I don’t consider myself a full-on minimalist, due to other factors..
I think time is definitely the most precious gift you can give. That’s a great point!