10 Tips for Year-Round Gift Buying

1. Create a central location for all your gifts – this can be a closet, a shelf in a closet, a box, under a bed, anything just as long as you automatically take all purchases to this location when you come home from shopping.

2. Always be on the lookout for a good bargain but buy with a plan and take it back if you impulse sale buy just because it “was too good to pass up.”

3. Use Gift Box Inventory Cards to record all purchases on – this allows you to record not only what the gift is but also how much it cost, possible gift recipients and who you gave the gift to and what occasion.

4. Keep the Gift Box Inventory Cards in a card box along with ALL receipts so they are at your fingertips and you do not have to dig through your gift box to see what you have on hand.

5. “Shop” out of your gift box FIRST for those extra gifts you need throughout the year, this allows you to rotate your gifts in and out of your stash.

6. Combine several small gifts you find on sale together to make a larger gift. Do not pass up those little items because you probably have something you can add with it to create a nice little bag or basket of gifts.

7. Remember – people do not know you got it at 90% off so look at the gift as if you paid the original price.  This will keep you from giving someone more items than you originally planned.  The fact that you only paid $5 for a $20 item will never be known unless you tell, but they are sure to notice if you give them four items that would normally cost $20 each even though you only spent $20 in total.  

8. You can “control” your children’s wants just like the TV – get them excited about gifts you have already purchased by showing them the items in stores and catalogs.  I have successfully done this for years now, and it works wonderfully!  Leave one gift to purchase near Christmas for something that may come up that they want.

9. Get to know a sales clerk at your favorite store to find out how the store marks items down.  This will allow you to get to the store when the markdowns first take place and have the best choices of the items.

10. Have a theme for your holiday gifts and shop according to your theme all year long.  This also allows you to tell others to be on the lookout for great deals on your theme.

Krisann Blair, Christmas Coach
Christmas Organizing Founder