Blogmas Day 2 ~ Midweek Motivation ~ Surviving Christmas Shopping

I thought combining my midweek motivation with surviving Christmas shopping post because Christmas shopping can be very stressful, trying to find the perfect gift for everyone, fighting your way through the crazy shoppers, spending all your money, eating yourself into oblivion.... a lot is expected of this season!

 

The main stressing factor in my mind is shopping,

Not only Christmas present shopping but all shopping has now become very, very stressful! It's as if suddenly everyone thinks the world is running out of food, I went food shopping last Saturday around 2pm and was met with bare shelves!!???

My way around the food craziness is 24hour shopping.... on a Monday night! (with a shopping list) Sorted!

Christmas present shopping is not so straight forward.

Plan, plan, plan

Yep that's the key to it. I love making lists anyway and otherwise I kinda get distracted by pretty thing!

So I list the people I am getting presents for and then the presents I am getting them and then the shops that should have the required gift. Easy!

Budget

It's an expensive time of year, so part of your planning has to be financial planning.
It's a bit late for this year but next year save for a few months in advance, everything about Christmas is expensive (even if it's not supposed to be) Plan how much you want to spend on everyone, on yourself and on food if your are going to have a full house!

Internet

The internet is your friend, not only online shopping (which is handy when you want to avoid the crowds and source presents)

Nowadays most retailers have an online presence, so check out their stock, find out about special offers, you can reserve and collect items, check stock in your area and use this information to plan!

Shop Early

get up early in the morning, have a wholesome breakfast and get to it. There are less crowds early in the morning so it will be a less stressful.
The shelves will be properly stocked.
The stores won't look like a hurricane just blew through.
The q's will be smaller.

Not only early in the morning but early in the month!

Last year I had finished my Christmas shopping by the end of October, ahh stress free..

This year I am pretty much done already, 2 days into December!

 

Don't forget the gift wrap!

Wrapping paper, ribbons, tags, cellophane, cellotape etc! Get it early, get extra!

Good Luck with your shopping!!

 

xx