Last minute shopping tips for the procrastinators
It’s that time of year again and your holiday shopping and to-do list still looks like the novel War and Peace. Don’t sweat it. We have scoured the Internet to find the best last minute shopping and planning tips to make this holiday season a Zen experience for all procrastinators.
Laura Coffey of msnbc.com suggests some of these tips to eliminate the last minute stress of gift buying…
- Donate to charity in someone else’s name. Through the nonprofit Charity Checks, you can order a check in any dollar amount, then let your recipient select a charity from among 800,000 in the United States.
- Send electronic gift certificates or gift cards. Order an online gift certificate that gets sent out via e-mail. Some retailers allow the certificates to be used only on their Web sites, not in their stores, so make sure the person on the receiving end is comfortable shopping online.
- Wait until the absolute last day to shop - Most non-procrastinating types relax on Christmas Eve – meaning traffic at the malls should be thinner then. Of course, this approach only will work for presents you can give in person locally, not for gifts that need to be mailed.
- Give the gift of a magazine subscriptions – This is the perfect last minute gift – order the subscription online and wrap a current issue of the magazine in a fancy package and let your loved one know there are 12 more where that came from.
WorldofChristmas.net suggests these last minute tips to ensure you get what you need this holiday season, within budget…
- Be sure you set an approximate budget before heading out to shop, and stick to it
- Since you’re shopping last minute, prepare a detailed list of everyone to buy for and gifts they would most likely appreciate. This will save you time browsing the stores aimlessly.
- Try the larger stores first, such as Target, since they offer everything from clothes, to toys, to food, etc. You could possibly get several of your gifts in one place saving you a ton of time parking and dealing with crowds.
- Search the internet to find out what deals are out there – you could save a trip to a store by ordering online if you don’t need the package to arrive before the big day
- Even though the closer it gets to the big day, the larger the crowds, you can avoid some of the rush by shopping during the day when most people are at work.
Professional organizer, Liz Witts, on HGTV.com suggests some of these time-saving tips for the procrastinator in us all…
- Shop online to save time. You can order at any time of day, and those goodies will be delivered right to your door. It is a good idea to keep a list of what you purchased and for whom so you don’t buy more than what you need for each person on your list.
- As you purchase gifts, try to wrap them right away. This will save precious hours when it comes to crunch time.
- Use holiday gift bags with bright tissue paper or a festive holiday box with a bow to save time when wrapping. Plus, it’s very green!