Stress free shopping! (Tips For Hassle-Free Christmas Shopping)

Member Name: Vicki H

Product:	Tips For Hassle-Free Christmas Shopping
Date:	08/12/01 (53 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: stress free, debt free

Disadvantages: braving the sales

I am so, so organised at Christmas time that I even surprise myself – let me share my shopping secrets with you!

The first year that I lived with my husband, I started my shopping in early November thinking that I was being ever so organised. What I hadn’t realised was quite how large his family was. There were hundreds of them. The problem wasn’t what to buy them, it was financial. That year it took us until February to financially recover from the Christmas festivities and I vowed that this would never happen again.

There are so many hassles at Christmas time. The shopping malls are heaving with people, the streets are bitterly cold. There isn’t anywhere to park or eat and the kid’s are whining! Don’t you just love it?

Now what I do is visit the sales on the first day that they open. It is horrendous I will admit it but I save an absolute fortune. The first year that I did this my husband came along and was horrified by the spectacle. Basically you have to be willing to crawl on your hands and knees around the store delving between people’s legs looking for your bargains. The memory of my bank statement was all the motivation I needed to shop with a vengeance. This particular year I visited the Meadowhall shopping centre at Sheffield and found loads of cheap pressies in Boots. Realising that my husband was more of a hindrance than help I bagged my bargains and took him home. It is a good plan to leave your other half at home, you can shop in half the time and they don’t get in everyone’s way. I think if us women vowed never to take our fellows shopping, it would be a much pleasanter experience for all concerned. Anyway, then I phoned my best friend and invited her to join me in battle – and she did. So within an hour I was back again with 3 basket load of gifts. When I got home I worked out that I had spent £80 and saved over £120. I had presents for most of t
he family and they were of a high quality and suitable too. By the way if you leave your other half at home he can baby sit too!

Last year I bagged lots of bargains in Next. I got a make up set for just £3-50 that should have been over £9, men’s aftershave at half price and even a vase for £4. It is lovely to see them back in the shops at full price this Christmas. Once again I had a fair wait at the checkout but the sales are on during my holidays and so I see it as time well spent.

I also buy all my Christmas cards in the sales. You generally find that the cards do not go on sale immediately but a week or so after the general sales start. I bought 80 cards from Next last year for just £4. W H Smith is also a good place to buy cards in the sale. I visited Clinton Cards for my family’s cards which came to £13 – this usually costs me around £40.

Of course it is not always possible to buy for everyone in the sales so I constantly keep my eye out for suitable gifts during the year. If I see a lovely present in February then I buy it and put it away in my special present wardrobe. I tend to be a thrifty shopper and enjoy searching for bargains in factory stores. My favourite is Readman’s at Leeds which sells Next, Marks and Spencer’s and Wallis amongst other big names.

I do like to buy bits and bobs near Christmas too. I think that it is lovely to shop when the stores are decorated and the Christmas music is playing. Also because I have bought the bulk of my gifts I am not shopping under pressure and therefore it is a relatively stress free experience.

If you do decide to shop early it would help to make a list of what you have bought for whom. I have often made the mistake of duplicating presents because I have forgotten about a gift that I chose in January! Not that it matter as I simply save it for a birthday or the following year.

This year I bought all my gift-wrap
from the Studio catalogue which was an easy experience. I just filled in the form and it was delivered direct to my door. The quality of the paper is good considering how cheap it was. I also purchased from Webb Ivory too but was less impressed with the service here. I ordered some name labels which arrived with the wrong spelling on them. I also bought an ‘engraved pen’ but when it arrived the pen wasn’t engraved at all, it came with a sticker with the name on it that you had to put on the box. I’m a bit embarrassed about giving it as a gift to be honest as it looks so tacky. This is the problem with ordering through catalogues, at least at the sales you get to look at the goods that you buy.

For books you really can’t beat ordering through Amazon.co.uk. The service is excellent and there is a huge range of material to choose from, they even gift-wrap. I ordered a book last week and it was on my doorstep within 48 hours, talk about hassle free!

Argos and Index are good choices to make if you can’t be bothered with the hassle of shopping. You can choose from the comfort of your own living room and then go into store, order over the phone or on the internet depending on your preference. In this day of modern technology you need never set foot outside the door of your own home to shop.

Another hassle that I find during shopping at busy periods is parking. The best bet is to get someone to drop you off or use public transport. I spend many an hour in Meadowhall car park desperately trying to find a place. Also eating out can be a problem when the dining facilities are overcrowded. Now you can either eat before you set off or do what we do, think of the place where the food is the worse and go there, you are guaranteed a seat!

Hope this helps you to remain hassle free this Christmas time or if not this one, certainly next year.

Thanks for reading.

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