Christmas Gift Shopping

My gal friends and I decided that we'd pool together all of our resources and find the best deals on the internet for Christmas gift shopping at its finest.  For this first article, I'll give our theory of what works best, and then we'll get into the nitty gritty and fun! of all the great places to check out this holiday season.

First, since this economy has just about everyone I know in and out of the black at various times (that's nicer than saying in the red!), we start with strategy.  If funds are not so important and freely available, this site isn't for you.  We're going to concentrate on how to best serve the majority of us who struggle with "to shop on a budget, or not to shop adhering to the budget".  If you make a formal budget, you can always decide to make an exception here or there.  However, don't let the exceptions become such the rule that there was no reason to make the shopping budget in the first place.  That's where we realized most of us became apathetic.  If you're diligent about sticking to the budget, you really can bring home a treasure trove of lovely Christmas gifts within budget (minus a dollar here and there).  That's the goal.  Don't make yourself wrong for being slightly above budget.  It's not a "down to the last dollar" kind of thing.  It's a general target that you want to hit plus or minus 5%.

The next problem many of us run into is that we think we HAVE to spend a certain amount on specific people for Christmas.  WRONG!  No, if you find the right item for $20 and you budgeted $40, take the win!  The value is in the "rightness" of the item and the fact that you cared enough to find it.  Nobody thinks, "Dang, she only spent around $20 on me" when you've found that person the absolute right thing.  Spending less isn't being cheap.  It's being smart when the item is right.  Grab it and move on.  

So first, make your list of all the people you want to buy gifts for. Next, if budget is the primary issue, assign a dollar amount to each person. Conversely, if finding the right gifts is the primary issue, think of 2 or 3 key issues, topics or words that describe the ideal gift theme for each person. Going about your Christmas shopping in this manner will shave HOURS of time off the task, and make it much more pleasant. Once you've got a limiter of either money or theme, it's easy to say "no" to things that don't fit within the parameters you've set. Doesn't matter if you like the item. If it doesn't fit, just move on to the next exciting possibility.