The Early Bird Catches the worm!!
I was talking to a friend of mine about Christmas shopping, I know right um it's August that's a long ways off. Well yes and no. I read somewhere that it takes the average family who puts Christmas on a credit card 6 months to pay it off. Think about that for a second..............interest rates? fees? not for me. I came up with my own system.
We start shopping in June. Yes you heard me, June. We spread out the damage because I don't trust myself with a credit card therefore we budget it into our plan for the year to start shopping in June for the bigger stuff. What I find is June being the start of summer can bring along some interesting clearance items, like wrapping paper from Hallmark stores for $2 a roll, or even Christmas themed items like hats, gloves, because if your kids are like mine by Christmas they will need more.
I should mention this though, after Christmas is a wonderful time to snag stocking stuffers. Another inexpensive way I have found to fill stockings is the dollar store. I usually set a dollar amount for stocking stuffers based on the previous year, this year the limit is $15. I collect things all year long for the stockings and you would be surprised at how much you can accumulate if you set a goal of no item over $2. You fill the stocking with littler things making it look fuller and if you can find items under $1 you can get a lot. ( This year this is where I am lacking, I started giving out the little items as rewards for good behavior, that's a different post for a different time).
Let's get to the budget, this year the children , we have 3, the budget is $250 for each of them and $200 for hubs and I. This includes stockings and Santa present, see below. Now what I do with the budget can be tricky sometimes go for what works for you based on the deals you get. What I like to do is this let's say I pay $1 for an item and the original item cost $50, (yes I really did snag this deal) I would write down the middle cost, so that would be 24.50, I do this in honor of keeping truer to the value of the present and overall I found this helps keep the number of items between the kids more fair, and snagging that deal was incredible, and I didn't score that well for all the kids.
Now, in your house things may be different, but here we do believe in Santa, yes even the 11 year old. Most people I found give the big guy the glory of the Santa present, here we don't. If I deal stock and get you something AMAZING I want the credit and the glory. Santa presents have a price tag this year of $10, because I got some deals on similar items for the boys and it worked out this year I could get away with this. Generally the cost is $25, but because it was even across the board, I went with $10 and this means I have $15 more to put in the general fund for each child.
For each other member of the family I put in the budget this year for $30, but here is where I use every coupon, every discount, and savings from odds and ends to meet this goal. I do find the presents here aren't always even in value, but in my family that seems to be okay. Again this is just what works for us.
Some of my favorite places to shop have become Woot, www.woot.com and Zulily, www.zulily.com. These are online deal bargain places. I have shopped for years here, and am totally comfortable plugging them. I have had many good experiences here and have nothing bad to report. Now we like to support local as well, I have a jewelry shop online that's a little store, the kids use my office stuff to make presents for people who will appreciate that stuff. We also have a bookstore in town that has a reward program for purchases. We like to support local when we can, especially if it helps put money back in the budget.
Pick a few places and sign up for email notifications of sales. Just pick your favorites so your inbox isn't overloaded with all kinds of offers and you can't find the deals you want. I almost missed the Zulily deal the other day when they had a dollar sale because my inbox has gotten out of control. I also recommend liking your favorite places on twitter or Facebook, but again be picky.
With a lot of places this year having credit/debit card breaches I do feel that I need to address this. I like to use Paypal whenever possible. I also just started using Visa Checkout ( free shipping on some orders for Zulily). I trust these names, and have used Paypal for years. However, I had an issue where my card was comprised at a big retailer store, it starts with WAL.............so places like this that aren't backed by your bank or credit card company ( my debit card is Visa) I would recommend not having your card info saved. I also like to check out as a guest so no information is saved.
We start shopping in June. Yes you heard me, June. We spread out the damage because I don't trust myself with a credit card therefore we budget it into our plan for the year to start shopping in June for the bigger stuff. What I find is June being the start of summer can bring along some interesting clearance items, like wrapping paper from Hallmark stores for $2 a roll, or even Christmas themed items like hats, gloves, because if your kids are like mine by Christmas they will need more.
I should mention this though, after Christmas is a wonderful time to snag stocking stuffers. Another inexpensive way I have found to fill stockings is the dollar store. I usually set a dollar amount for stocking stuffers based on the previous year, this year the limit is $15. I collect things all year long for the stockings and you would be surprised at how much you can accumulate if you set a goal of no item over $2. You fill the stocking with littler things making it look fuller and if you can find items under $1 you can get a lot. ( This year this is where I am lacking, I started giving out the little items as rewards for good behavior, that's a different post for a different time).
Let's get to the budget, this year the children , we have 3, the budget is $250 for each of them and $200 for hubs and I. This includes stockings and Santa present, see below. Now what I do with the budget can be tricky sometimes go for what works for you based on the deals you get. What I like to do is this let's say I pay $1 for an item and the original item cost $50, (yes I really did snag this deal) I would write down the middle cost, so that would be 24.50, I do this in honor of keeping truer to the value of the present and overall I found this helps keep the number of items between the kids more fair, and snagging that deal was incredible, and I didn't score that well for all the kids.
Now, in your house things may be different, but here we do believe in Santa, yes even the 11 year old. Most people I found give the big guy the glory of the Santa present, here we don't. If I deal stock and get you something AMAZING I want the credit and the glory. Santa presents have a price tag this year of $10, because I got some deals on similar items for the boys and it worked out this year I could get away with this. Generally the cost is $25, but because it was even across the board, I went with $10 and this means I have $15 more to put in the general fund for each child.
For each other member of the family I put in the budget this year for $30, but here is where I use every coupon, every discount, and savings from odds and ends to meet this goal. I do find the presents here aren't always even in value, but in my family that seems to be okay. Again this is just what works for us.
Some of my favorite places to shop have become Woot, www.woot.com and Zulily, www.zulily.com. These are online deal bargain places. I have shopped for years here, and am totally comfortable plugging them. I have had many good experiences here and have nothing bad to report. Now we like to support local as well, I have a jewelry shop online that's a little store, the kids use my office stuff to make presents for people who will appreciate that stuff. We also have a bookstore in town that has a reward program for purchases. We like to support local when we can, especially if it helps put money back in the budget.
Pick a few places and sign up for email notifications of sales. Just pick your favorites so your inbox isn't overloaded with all kinds of offers and you can't find the deals you want. I almost missed the Zulily deal the other day when they had a dollar sale because my inbox has gotten out of control. I also recommend liking your favorite places on twitter or Facebook, but again be picky.
With a lot of places this year having credit/debit card breaches I do feel that I need to address this. I like to use Paypal whenever possible. I also just started using Visa Checkout ( free shipping on some orders for Zulily). I trust these names, and have used Paypal for years. However, I had an issue where my card was comprised at a big retailer store, it starts with WAL.............so places like this that aren't backed by your bank or credit card company ( my debit card is Visa) I would recommend not having your card info saved. I also like to check out as a guest so no information is saved.
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