When I was younger, there was this little store by my mom and dad’s house. Every September, the little old lady that ran it would ask me whenever I went in: “All ready for Christmas?”. Now I know that sounds a little crazy, but I think she may have been onto something!
One of the secrets of super organized people is that they start to prepare things well before the holidays. In fact, Christmas preparation can be done all year. Read on to find out how doing it this way can help you stay on top of the holidays and save money too!
Buying Gifts
Firstly my mom buys gifts all year round. As soon as she sees something she thinks we’ll like she’s purchased it and then puts it away to be wrapped, come holiday time. This is a great way of doing the thing for several reasons.
The first is that breaks down gift buying into small manageable chunks. That means you are not left scratching your head with what to but people on December 23rd. It also means that you get to spread the cost throughout the years, meaning that December isn’t such a strain on the family budget.
It’s best to have a place to store the unwrapped gifts. Try the back of the wardrobe, in a plastic air tight box in the garage or some other place prying eyes, won’t find it! Also if you do want to get super organized and start to wrap early, pleases, do not forget to write and attach the names tags on the gifts. Or you’ll be having a particularly expensive round of secret Santa come Christmas morning!
Home Decor
Of course, you’ll want to make sure that your home is festive come Christmas time. A fantastic way of buying the best value Christmas and winter themed home decor is to hit the January sales.
Shops like Target now offer specific holidays ranges. These are marked down to ridiculously low prices after Christmas. What better time to buy them and put them away for next year. You’ll probably find that the same or similar items end up in the shops again, but at a vastly higher price than you paid for them!
To get that home decor Christmas magic, why not buy a real fire or a wood burning stove? Stoves like the ones available at http://harman-stoves.com, provide perfect Christmassy atmosphere. Imagine popping a Christmas film on the DVD player, sipping hot chocolate, while being curler up in front warming real flames!
Decorations
Also, a nice tradition to start is to buy a small decoration when you go on a trip somewhere. These can be Christmas themed if you can find them, but they don’t have to be. They just need to be small enough to hang on the tree. So far my friend has a Las Vegas sign, from when she got married, a wooden gondolier from Venice, and Mr. and Mrs. Claus riding a Harley she got from a bike meet!
