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16-Month Big Grid Wall Planner + 432 Stickers $9.95
School’s starting, time to get organized!
Christmas Shopping Prep! Make a list!
If you have been shopping lately it is hard to miss the fact that the Christmas shopping season is just around the corner – or in many cases, it is already here! The stores are lavishly decorated and the Christmas music is playing to put shoppers in the buying mood. There is nothing like a Christmas song and pretty display to make you start buying your Christmas gifts. Have you done your Christmas shopping prep?
Exactly what is Christmas shopping prep? Christmas shopping prep actually includes a lot of different things. Christmas shopping prep as a whole is the one thing that you have to do first to avoid Christmas shopping chaos which includes too many shopping trips and overspending. Sound confusing? It isn’t! Follow these simple steps and your Christmas shopping prep will get off to the right start.
Make your list
Do you know everyone you need to give gifts to this year? There are probably more people than you think. The best way to get an accurate picture of your gift giving plans is to list ALL gift recipients. Be sure to list family, friends, coworkers, teachers, coaches, everyone and anyone that you will give a gift to this year. Don’t skip this important step in your Christmas shopping prep.
Set a budget for each person
After you have listed all of your gift recipients, decide the maximum amount you will spend on each person. This will help keep you from overbuying gifts. This step in your Christmas shopping prep is important to keep your holiday budget from going bust.
Find out likes, sizes or wants
I like to give people things that they will love. I always try to do a bit of research and find out what people like or want for Christmas. If you are giving clothing or something with a size, find out what size your gift recipient wears. This part of Christmas shopping prep will help make your gifts a hit.
Look at last year’s gift giving list
If you need ideas or don’t want to duplicate a gift, check last year’s gift giving list. This also may help you remember what a person likes. Christmas shopping prep starts in the previous year. If you didn’t keep last year’s list, remember to save this year’s list for use next year.
Brainstorm
Brainstorm a few different ideas for each person on your list. Your first idea isn’t always your best. Don’t be afraid to play with lots of different ideas and think outside the box. As you do this part of your Christmas shopping prep jot down lots of possible ideas.
Narrow it down to favorites
Now it is time to narrow down your gift ideas. Take all of your ideas and pick a couple of the best ideas for each person on your list. List them in the gift giving order you prefer. I try to stick with about 3 ideas for each gift I need to give. After I have done this I usually toss the other Christmas shopping prep I did and just keep this one clean and organized list.
Decide on a few extras
Think about picking up a few extras to have on hand for surprise gifts. I always seem to need a small gift or two that I didn’t think or know about when I made my list. I always try to add a few small items to my list to use if I need a last minute unexpected gift. I like grabbing a couple of inexpensive but fun gift cards to this purpose.
Follow these Christmas shopping prep steps and you’ll have a great list to help you begin your Christmas gift shopping. Have ideas to share? Let us know! Stay tuned as we feature more Christmas shopping tips.
Keeping a well organized food storage!
Like so many other frugal moms (and dads) out there, I use almost any strategy I can to help save my family money. One of my favorite things is having well organized food storage or a home store. No matter what you call it, it is pretty much the same thing. You buy multiples of something you use when it is a great price. When items I use are at rock bottom prices I try to buy as much as my family will realistically use before the items go bad. Then when you need the items and they are full price, you don’t have to pay full price. You shop from your home store or food storage. Well organized food storage is also a great way to help ensure your family will have enough to eat if it becomes temporarily hard to purchase groceries. This could be because of finances or some sort of emergency. Having useable well organized food storage is a great way to be prepared and save money.
Why is having well organized food storage important? Why won’t a bunch of things tossed on a shelf work just as well? If you can’t find it, see it, use it – it can’t help you save money. In fact, it could end up costing you money. This well organized food storage is pretty easy to maintain if you follow a few basic tips. If you don’t follow them, you will have food storage chaos. (Trust me, I know from experience.) There are a few basic tips I like to follow to help me keep on top of things.
Put items away
I try to put my items away shortly after I purchase them. Having everything where it belongs helps you see what you have and helps you keep track of your food storage. Sometimes life is crazy and I put the bags of groceries on the floor near the shelf. If I don’t get it put away soon after, more bags pile up. This leads to that dreaded chaos. You forget what you have and may buy unneeded items. Getting items put away quickly is an important part of having well organized food storage.
Store like items together
This step may be a little different for everyone, just do it how it works for you. I try to store things together that are related or seem to go together. I think if it like how a grocery store is organized. When you go to look for something in your food storage, it will be easier to find because it is on the shelf where it makes sense to you. This makes your organized food storage much easier to use.
Keep storage areas as close together as possible
I’ve lived in some places that had great food storage areas and some that had none. In many of those hard food storage places it took a lot of creativity to have well organized food storage. Even in the hardest of places, keeping the storage areas as close together as possible was a great help. Running all of the house to locate items can defeat the helpfulness and discourage the use of items. Again you may end up buying things you don’t need.
Set rules about use
Having a great, well organized food storage can lead kids (or adults) to feel like that can just grab a snack and use whatever they want. Be sure to set some basic rules with your family about who can take things from the food storage and when that can happen. It will help items last longer and keep people from using up that one favorite snack or other item too quickly.
Know what you have
Find some way to have a basic idea of the inventory in you well organized food storage. If it is organized and easy to find, this could be as simple as taking a visual look before you shop. Some people keep detailed lists and itemize everything. There are lots of ways to do it in between those two extremes. Find what works for you and make a habit of knowing what you have in your well organized food storage.
Do you have more tips on keeping well organized food storage? We’d love to hear them!