Plans for Christmas shopping for 2023

I find myself running like a chicken with my head cut off every year trying to get gifts and decor for the house. I always end up getting things together at around the beginning of November. It sounds like enough time but it’s really not.

Rather than continuing this vicious cycle, I have come up with some ways to give myself some relaxation time during the holidays. I’m hoping that I will be able to follow through with all my plans. Once the year ends, I will be able to present the results to show how they effected our holiday.

Here are the plans I have created: (Feel free to join in on the fun!)

Buying gifts once a month: Rather than rushing and robbing Peter to pay Paul in November, we’ll get a handful of gifts every month and have a good amount of gifts for each kid. I’ve thought about doing this before but life got in the way. This time I’ve decided to add this to our monthly budget to get things rolling. If we’re able to pull this off… we will have so much more money for holiday activities!

Purchasing our decorations for 2024 now! Holiday decor is on sale everywhere after the holidays. Rather than spending hundreds at the time I’m already stretching my wallet as far as it can go, I can spend up to 70% less getting them early! Tree, decorations, gifts and much more. I used to think of this as something silly because you would just have items accumulating in your house for a year before you intend to use them. However, isn't that what we do with the items we purchase during the holidays to keep for the following year?

Creating personalized gifts: This has been growing in popularity over time. Tumblers, t-shirts with iron on sayings, gift baskets and much more. I am hoping to learn to see clothing this year… at least well enough to make some shirts or hoodie. This will take some time and effort. I will have to watch some YouTube videos and read some blogs for assistance, but I think the end result will be interesting.

Christmas cards in July: Forgetting the Christmas cards is my biggest issue with the holidays. I’m always wanting to create a family photo Christmas card. Yet the hustle and bustle of the holidays always pulls a large amount of my time. Before I know it… Christmas is here, and we never took a photo. The plan for 2023 is to take our Christmas photo in July and have it ready well before the holiday comes around. In fact, I’ve already scheduled the appointment.

We’re all looking for ways to make our holidays more magical. We want to create amazing memories that our children will remember it long after we’re gone. This is difficult to do when one is set on a fixed income or living paycheck to paycheck. If there are any ways that we can reach our goals without falling short financially each December.

Again, I’ll let you know if I see a difference in financial strain, anxiety and stress after implanting these changes!

Let me know if you have any additional tips.

🧡 Shine Bright, Kayla