Buying gifts for everyone is probably one of the most stressful and time-consuming things about Christmas. This is because it can be difficult knowing both what to buy everyone and how to budget accordingly. To avoid all this stress and hassle, the best time to start your Christmas shopping is now, and here are 6 reasons why.
1. Avoiding the Christmas rush
Starting your shopping as early as September can help you avoid the mad Christmas shopping rush that seems to peak around the 22nd of December. Shops do open later during these periods, but most people are doing last minute things and it can turn into chaos. Starting now means you can shop at your leisure and avoid long queues.
2. More time to relax
If you’re not particularly organised on a normal day, the lead up to the festive season is the best time to start getting into the habit. If you make a list of everything you need and give yourself enough time to do it, your organisation will pay off and you will have more time to relax when Christmas Eve and Christmas Day come, so you can enjoy it a lot more.
3. Bargains
Prices tend to hike up a bit around Christmas, so something you buy in December could set you back a bit more than if you bought it now. There tends to be a lot of bargains and deals leading up to Black Friday too, so your best bet is to start looking now.
4.Spare cash for Christmas
If you budget successfully and allocate a certain spending limit to each month leading up to Christmas, this means you won’t have to fork out all your gift buying money on November pay day. Spreading the cost across the next few months will make it easier for you when December comes and it’s time to buy drinks, snacks and the good old turkey.
5.Less easy to forget someone
Again, being organised means that you’re less likely to forget someone on your Christmas gift list. Shopping now gives you time to think and plan, whereas those who leave it until a few days before Christmas will be rushing and may forget to buy for someone.
6. Never be caught out
If you do forget someone or someone unexpectedly buys for you, then this is where shopping now pays off. You can pick up an extra one or two token items each month so that if you’re ever in this situation, there’s an easy way to rectify it.
