I don't know about you.. but i am a little OCD when it comes to Christmas. okay, truth be told, I'm UBER OCD about Christmas time. I am incredibly stubborn about decorations, food, festivities, and gifts. I refuse to give gift cards, and generic gifts. I want each and every single one to have meaning to the person I am giving it to. On top of that, I have a very large family, and we all exchange gifts. In past years, I have tried to cram everything into October, November, and December.. and its just nerve wrecking.
2 years ago I discovered flylady, It is a great home organizational system that allows those of us who need some strict routine to stay on top of things like, meals, chores, clutter, laundry, and Christmas. When the holidays near, they have a whole section dedicated to Christmas time! The goal in their system is to be completely done with Christmas buying by November 1st. I very quickly decided that should be my goal, so i can enjoy the season and not worry about crowds, budgets, and the 40982843729485784.7 gifts i need to buy!
Last year... it did NOT happen. We took the handmade pledge a little late in the year, and i was struggling to make/buy all the handmade gifts we would need in time! I finished the very last one on Dec. 24th... talk about cutting it close!
This year.. I am determined to make that happen! Brace yourselves... I have already started on my Christmas shopping! GASP! i know right? But its only July?!?!
However, I will be well prepared this year, and not struggle so much to come up with handmade items. I have almost all the children bought for, and partial gifts for most of the grandparents/great grandparents. My mother has requested Pajama's for her and my stepfather and I will be working on those this week.
As I am working on finding the things I wish to buy, I am quickly realizing that winter things are much cheaper in July :) By starting now, in July, I am making it much easier for us to stick to our Budget. We all know that Christmas can be taxing on the bank account, and impulse buying is at a all time high at the end of the year. We are very carefully saving to put down 100% on land, and the more frugal we are, the sooner we are living our dreams. On top of that, the day i can talk my husband into putting up our tree ( usually way earlier than December, lol), I can have gifts under it, and that oh so awesome sense of accomplishment!
My favorite plus to finish Christmas shopping early is being able to enjoy the true reason for the season without the distractions of the consumer side of the holiday. <3.
What are your plans for Christmas's shopping? How do you coordinate it for your families?
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