Think it’s too early to start your holiday shopping? Not if you want to enjoy huge savings on your gift list.
The holiday season may not be very near yet, but if you are one of those people who hate last minute shopping and year after year regret not getting started earlier, you might want to consider doing some preholiday preparations as early as now.
To help you ace this project, we’ve got a preholiday checklist just for you.
Start a countdown
Check your calendar to see how much time you have left before the holidays. Time flies by very quickly, and if you don’t pay attention or you procrastinate until later because you think it’s too early to do any form of holiday planning, you may end up getting pressed for time.
It may only be September now, but before you know it, all the birthdays, meetings, random celebrations, business trips, and other unplanned or spontaneous events will have eaten all your time away until you find yourself in DECEMBER already.
Count the number of days left and use your free time wisely to avoid the holiday rush.
Calculate a reasonable budget
After you have set a timeframe, you need to work around a budget and stick to it. Calculate the amount by taking your shopping list into consideration. Also, be realistic with how much you want to limit yourself to spending over the holidays. This will give you a total figure which you can start saving for now. It will help you avoid financial pain in the long run.
This step is also to help you determine what you can afford to shell out for each gift for each person in your list. Once you have that, you can carefully track your spending as you start your pre-holiday shopping. Remember, it’s a lot easier to lose track of your spending when you spread out your holiday shopping over the next months, so it’s important to stay on top of your gift list and to stay aware of your expenses.
Shop carefully
This is the time to make good use of all that planning and budgeting you’ve been doing. When you start your preholiday shopping, take advantage of discounts and promos to begin buying gifts and checking them off your list.
Remember to be strategic about it as you wouldn’t want to spend all your money in one place only to find better deals later. Clearance sales are always good places to start, but they don’t always happen at the same time, so shop in installments and watch out for upcoming retail deals. If done right, you can turn your holiday shopping into a smart financial move which can save you lots of money.
