Christmas is coming, be ready

Get Ready

I hate to break it to you, but this year Christmas is coming in December.  It always seems to sneak up on us.  Everybody seems to forget about it until just before Thanksgiving.  That’s when most of the stores dress up their aisles with decorations and start playing Carols over the PA system.

During the week leading up to Thanksgiving, many avid shoppers are planning out their bargains and schedules for Black Friday; the crazy day after Thanksgiving when people get up at ungodly hours to fight insane crowds to get unheard of deals.  People start rushing about trying to get all their shopping done in one day.  

Get Set

Now that you’ve remembered that Christmas is coming soon, the question is what are you going to do about it?  Are you going to repeat history, have another stressed out Christmas?  Perhaps you might try something different, have a plan to get all or most of your shopping done before Thanksgiving comes.

  I decided a few years back that I wasn’t going to participate in the madness of Black Friday.  My wife and I used to brave the crowds to save a few bucks, then I started to realize that my time is worth much more than the money I saved.  Instead of trying to get the bargains on that one day, we make a list of each present we will make or buy and started saving for each of those presents.  We also start doing shopping research, so we will know a good value when we see it.

Do you know what you’re going to get for family, friends or colleagues?  Have you given it much thought?  Did you know you could buy or make your presents early?  You can take advantage of when they’re on sale early and in stock?

Need a few ideas on what to get for Christmas, here are some links from Dave Ramsey’s website:

• Creative Christmas Ideas
• A frugal Christmas

Go

You don’t have much time, you need to decide what you’re going to do about Christmas.  It’s coming soon.

Why not join me and plan to have a stressless credit-free Christmas.  Do your shopping early and do it using cash only.  We’ve been doing it since 2006.

For the last 2 years, my wife and I have spent Black Friday sleeping in, then waking up and going to a pancake or waffle shop.  They’re kind of empty because almost everybody’s out fighting the crowds.  Later, we might do some finishing touches on our presents, we get them wrapped up and get them mailed off for our loved ones who live out of state.  Then we’ll get the Christmas tree out and start decorating the house.  Of course we’ll have the music of the season playing.

Till then,  I hope you’ll have a credit-free Merry Christmas