Welcome to my Stress Free Holidays series, I will be sharing some tips to reduce the amount of stress this time of year puts on all of us. Some are ones I have used, some are ones I will be instituting this year, and some I will be using in the future. If you have any great ways to reduce the amount of stress please feel free to share them with us!
Now it is a little late for this tip for this year but definitely one to keep in mind for next year. This year I have discovered that shopping early you will find almost as many and as good of deals as you do into Black Friday and December. There are some great sales on other holidays such as Columbus Day and Veterans Day. Many of the larger retailers will even feature Black Friday preview sales/early sales that are nearly as good. Also, look for the stores that offer cash or credit toward future sales, I did a lot of shopping at Kohl's this year and each time would accumulate Kohl's Cash and Yes2you rewards that I could then reinvest back into additional gifts.
Shopping early can not only save you money, but you can catch end of season goods, get some of the most wanted gifts before things are sold out and you can avoid a lot of the chaos of the stores. This year, the gift shopping for me is one of the least stressful parts of the holidays, a new one for me. I am still going to go to a few stores here and there but it will be a much more enjoyable experience, I will be able to enjoy browsing, listening to the music and a more sedate pace. The gifts I find in my later trips will just be if a special gift pops out at me.
Do you enjoy the experience of shopping in the stores during the season? Or do you shop online? Are you someone who has a specific list in mind for each person or do you browse until something jumps out at you?
I fail at this every year. I still have so much to do and I have no idea what to get for anyone. I really should start early. Like WAY early so I don’t do this to myself.
ReplyDeleteIt is such a struggle, I have always been one who shops early (heck for my nieces and sometimes other family members, I will even shop after Christmas sales and keep gifts for next year). It is a really difficult thing to get used to, my family has all gotten used to me asking for gift ideas around Sept./Oct. so eventually it does get easier.
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