It’s just that “once” now seems to span from pre-Halloween to 12/25/12. Blech.
Point is, as of 11/1/12, store aisles and circulars will be laden with holiday gifts and sales. It’s time to steel ourselves for the onslaught of pre-Black Friday, Black Friday and Christmas sales.
Speaking of, don’t forget to sign up for a Black Friday site. I’m subscribed to BFAds.net. It does regular giveaways and does side-by-side comparisons on the various TVs, computers etc offered on the big day.
So I’m curious how everyone’s saving/shopping is doing. Don’t forget that there are only 17 days left for the Christmas savings challenge. You have a chance to win up to $500. And wouldn’t that provide a lot of stocking stuffers?
I’m still trying to decide what this year’s Christmas spending limit should be. As some of you remember, last year we had a $25 Christmas. Each couple could only spend $25 on a person.
It worked pretty well. We put extra thought into our gifts, and I didn’t have to worry too much about Tim overspending on me.
I would like to increase the spending a bit, but not go crazy. I’m leaning toward a $40 limit. It’s not too much, but it gives us a little more leeway for what we can get each other.
As for actual present buying, almost nothing is done. I haven’t figured out what I’m getting most of the people on my list, let alone actually made the purchases.
Thanks to our old friend Groupon, I have the major part of one person’s present. I hit a sale, used the Groupon and found an old Visa GC with $4 on it. As a result, I got a nice little array of items for $11.04 — including the cost of the voucher itself.
I’ve started Amazon wishlists for Tim and myself. It may be my new favorite thing. And if you install the toolbar option, you can add items from anywhere on the Web.
It’ll make an easy reference for friends and family. Now if only I knew which items on it I was going to get him.
Ugh.
The good news is that I have plenty of rewards points saved up for the seasonal shopping.
How’s your guys’ progress?
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I have finished the main shopping for all 5 of my kids. As luck would have it, sears Canada decided not to sell toys in their stores anymore, and so had a HUGE blowout on all toys. Some were as cheap as $4, for something that was originally $30-$40. I got a Smithsonian science kit for $25! The original price was $125!
I just need candy and thingamabobs for stockings now. I am busily crocheting some amigurumi figures of Thor and Loki, among others. I give handmade crochet gifts to my friends, they love receiving scarves and berets and such. And yarn is very cheap if I buy directly from Red Heart; around $3 per skein, as opposed to $5-$6 per skein in stores.
I feel like I’m in pretty good shape for Christmas gifts.
[Reply]
Abigail Reply:
October 29th, 2012 at 8:44 am
Tanya: Wow, go you! And congrats on the science kit find. Thor and Loki figures sound awesome. I know Tim would love it. Whenever I used to crochet stuff for the holidays, I armed myself with Joann and Michael's coupons, which tended to help defray (is that a pun?) yarn costs. Still, you had to time it right and it could be aggravating. So ordering from the source makes sense. Glad to hear you get to breathe easy this holiday season. I'm hoping a low spending limit will help us keep from stressing overly.
[Reply]
Abigail Reply:
October 29th, 2012 at 8:44 am
Tanya: Wow, go you! And congrats on the science kit find. Thor and Loki figures sound awesome. I know Tim would love it. Whenever I used to crochet stuff for the holidays, I armed myself with Joann and Michael's coupons, which tended to help defray (is that a pun?) yarn costs. Still, you had to time it right and it could be aggravating. So ordering from the source makes sense. Glad to hear you get to breathe easy this holiday season. I'm hoping a low spending limit will help us keep from stressing overly.
[Reply]
Our daughter turns two years old ten days after Christmas so we made sure to hit the clearance sales hard after last year. By mid-January we had spent only $200 or so and gotten her pretty well set for both occasions. We also use all the points we accumulate over the year on credit card purchases for gifts for the family.
[Reply]
Abigail Reply:
October 29th, 2012 at 10:23 am
Good deal!
Glad to see that you're separating out the two occasions. Tim's still a little bitter about how many times his birthday (12/19) got lumped in with Christmas. So we try to make a bit of a fuss for it.
[Reply]
Abigail Reply:
October 29th, 2012 at 10:23 am
Good deal!
Glad to see that you're separating out the two occasions. Tim's still a little bitter about how many times his birthday (12/19) got lumped in with Christmas. So we try to make a bit of a fuss for it.
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I walked into Walmart today to pick up some candy for tomorrow…there is only one aisle left for Halloween and like 6 for Christmas! It's a downer. Oh well, off to start our gift list ideas. I started making two a couple of months ago that I need to finish up…
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