I found it rather coincidental that on the day I decided to start shopping (Black Friday), my Moneysense magazine came in the mail with a startling declaration.
The editorial ,”Overtaking America”, stated that in the Credit Suisse 2011 Global Wealth Report that we are currently wealthier than the Americans. Apparently, our net worth median income per adult is $89,072; for Americans the amount was just $53,000.
In the bad news department, our household debt ratio is the highest of the G7 countries (including THE USA) except for the U.K.
On Black Friday, people were definitely showing their wealth off. Cash registers were ringing and sales were everywhere. I felt like I was in a scene from Jingle All the way. (Anyways it was pretty crazy and I made the best efforts to get out of everyone’s way).
The frenzy has begun; the starting pistol of holiday shopping has begun and lots of people are off to the races. The rules are simple everyone gets a gift and ugly sweaters might be allowed.
I thought I should share some tips with you to allow you to enjoy your holiday season:
1)Have you worked out a budget of what you need to spend at Christmas?
It is always best to try to do a rough workout or list of these costs as early as possible and flesh out what expenses you will have to cover during that time period including food and gift costs.
With these amounts, you can start squirreling money away between that time period and Christmas for this purpose and check out things off your list as you move along.
The sooner you work out your budget, hopefully the sooner you can recalculate your budget.
As well, with some food items buy them by a certain date so you are not left surprised when they are sold out.
2)Are you using the best digital shopping applications to help you zero in the gifts that you need?
A lot of shopping mall developers have phone applications (in various platforms) or email alerts to inform you what stores have things on sale and when.
When you want to save money shopping online you can use shopping applications eg. price comparison websites. They can save you a lot of time to find out what quantity stores of what you need when you have no time. A lot of these websites like Red -flagdeals.com, Wishabi or Pricebot partner with retailers so you can filter the information you need on retailer inventory, manufacturer, price etc. As well with these sites it is good to compare sites to make sure you are getting the best deal and see what is in your desired price range.
Iphones have a variety of applications that do the price shopping and legwork for you.
As well with programs like Giftplan which allow you to keep an inventory of information including what gifts you may have purchased for friends and family in the past (including pricing). It can be used for almost anything including Christmas and people’s birthdays. Android and Blackberry platform phones have similar applications.
3)Have you written down or typed out exactly who you are buying for? Do you really need to buy gifts for everybody and everyone?
Buying for everyone can certainly be expensive and frustrating especially when you leave things to the last minute.
If you have a special talent it may be time to utilize it for purposes of Christmas giving. Showing off your creativity like baking, embroidering, knitting, painting for example might allow you to do things in a fun and inexpensive way.
As well, maybe you might want to discuss with friends or families about buying gifts for the kids or doing a Kris Kringle.
A friend of mine has a brother who has five kids and took the chance to go the last minute shopping route. After paying $1,500 for gifts for his brother’s whole family (two years ago), he decided he might want to put his creative streak to work and make his own cards and gifts for friends and family members. When he thinks he cannot do it, he pulls out the credit card bill to remind him.
4)Have you confirmed shipping deadlines before Christmas ?
If absolutely, positively has to be there before Christmas it maybe best to review terms with canadapost.ca or the website of whatever courier you decide to use for shipping knowing these dates can save you a lot on shipping costs.
Hopefully I have given you some food for thought. I hope these options will allow you to have an enjoyable Christmas holiday and a richer and even more pleasant New Year!
For more shopping tips, please these links:
Victoria’s Secret big with Santa shoppers, http://www.torontosun.com/2011/12/10/victorias-secret-big-with-santa-shoppers
Super T.O. Christmas Shoppers Guide, http://www.torontosun.com/2011/12/10/super-to-christmas-shopper-guide
Christmas Battle Plan: Think Ahead, Shop Effectively, http://www.walletpop.ca/blog/2011/12/12/the-christmas-battle-plan-think-ahead-shop-effectively/
{ 1 comment }
Great ideas but December 20 is a little late to implement. Next year try November.
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