SOL: How to Conquer Shopping for H0lidays Sanely!

I love the holidays and I love Christmas time, but I seriously do not like shopping during the holiday times.

And you know what is even worse, is when you ask people what they want as a gift, they always give you the run around, or don’t even answer and then you have to guess. And let me tell you, my guessing, is usually not what they want. It’s usually what I think they want and I am always off!

So instead of being a crazy person during the holiday shopping season, and looking/feeling like this:

I need to have a few guidelines, so why not share them with you, so you don’t have to look and feel like the picture above!

1. Make a list – a legitimate list. Find out what people want and then search for the best deals online for them.
2. Create a budget – how much are you going to spend on each person and then how much do you have to live off of your paycheck the rest of the month after you buy all of the gifts.
3. Determine where is a better price to buy the gifts -Online or in the store.
4. Do you need them shipped or are you buying and bringing? – For me, it almost makes no sense to buy most of my gifts online since I have to ship most of them across the country, instead of trying to buy them and bring them in my suitcase!
5. If you have no budget, what can you do? – DIY gifts, which I cannot do at all, but some of you like my best friend are lucky enough to be artistic!

 

Using a gift tracking app is an amazing – I used it in order to keep my gifts under control and know what I bought/who I was buying for. I use an app for everything else, I figured why wouldn’t I use one to track my shopping?

I always realize, that even though I have made a budget, I  never, ever, ever stick to it. It is like nearly impossible to do. Then I saw this picture and realized that I must spend like double or triple the amount I should spend for my salary!!!

I pretty much used Amazon Prime this year because it helped me with my shopping. I was able to get everything sent and they pretty much had everything I needed on there and with two day free shipping. I mean literally everything was free shipping and that is where it can really kill you in cost! Another reason for my online shopping is my daughter coming with me would add like $200 to my purchases because I would have to buy everything we saw that she liked, hence my post about online shopping!

I can tell you one holiday secret we used – we booked our tickets back to New York in September. That way while we were holiday shopping, I didn’t have to worry about the prices for plane tickets at the same exact time. We also booked it on a Tuesday night which really helped. How weird that it can matter the day in which you buy tickets, but there is definitely a difference. Kayak is always my go to for plane tickets.

There’s also a financial app that is super helpful for this time of year.

You can use it to track all of your accounts in one place so it’s great to use through the app when you’re out shopping. I know when I am shopping, I have no clue what I am buying because I see things and add it to my already long list, so this can help me keep track!

Although even with wonderful prices, nothing can change what happens when the date really actually comes and you get stuck in the airport because of weather. 😦

And lastly, do some yoga and exercising during this time. All the time, effort and money spent on other people and not thinking about yourself during this time, there still needs to be some time for you. Otherwise you will get sick and look and feel like crap when it’s a time of the year when you need to feel rested and happy.

So, that being said, please have a wonderful holiday and be happy, healthy and safe!

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