Christmas Eve is here its time to go to bed....... (Tips For Hassle-Free Christmas Shopping)

Member Name: jennifer3002

Product:	Tips For Hassle-Free Christmas Shopping
Date:	24/12/01 (501 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: .

Disadvantages: .

Can I just begin by wishing you all a very merry christmas and I hope that whatever you do and wherever you are that your having the best time ever and now that hopefully all the presents are wrapped and the christmas lunch is getting prepared and your sitting with a glass of wine trying to ignore your screaming hyper kids then I'll share a few of my hints and tips to make it easier for you next year.


I love christmas and all that goes with it but for me I think about it the whole year round. I'm a saddo that thinks of ideas for pressies or If I see something ideal I pick it up there and then. I saw the perfect present for one of my nephews in February but it was his birthday in January so I decided to buy it and put it away for his christmas even though I had to hide it for 10 months it will be worth it to see his face when he opens it.
I also buy wrapping paper and cards in the january sales as they are usually more than half price but these are only a bargain if you remember where you put them when December comes around



I save up all year round as I couldn't afford to pay for everything at the one go so I buy two Asda stamps and an Iceland stamp each week.
I also save up for high street vouchers which can be used at most major shops such as Argos, Index woolies and BHS. They can also be used in sports shops and certain jewlers such as H.M Sammuals.By the time christmas arrives I usually have saved around £500 worth of high street vouchers and £100 of asda stamps and £50 of Iceland stamps so as you can imagine this goes a long way.

The high street vouchers usually arrive the first week in november and I have already written my lists for argos and index so I just go in and get my gifts delivered straight to my house you have to spend over £100 to get this service free but with two kids and four nephews two nieces and five friends kids that I buy for I usually manage to spend well over the £100.

>I then go to a large shopping centre such as Braehead or east kilbride and pick up the gifts I can't buy from Argos or index and I go nice and early in the morning as I can't stand shopping in crowds with people fighting in the aisles. Believe me even in early November it still can get pretty ugly out there so I start nice and early to avoid the crowds.

Another thing I do is to buy those fancy bags that you put pressies into instead of fiddling around with sellotape and wrapping paper as I will confess I'm the worlds worst at wrapping presents.
I know that these can work out quite expensive at over £1 a time but when you add up the cost of wrapping paper, bows and ribbons it doesn't seem quite so expensive compared to the hours spent wrapping pressies and then fiddling with name tags etc you just pop in the present and seal with some sellotape and write on the atatched card and bob's your uncle it's done in a fraction of the time.

When shopping for food I usually buy in a little each week such as jars of pickles and beetroot and other non perishable goods they soon mount up if you put something in with your weekly shop.
Why do i do this I hear you ask especially when I save Asda and Iceland stamps the whole year round why not just get it in one go well I'll tell you it's because I usually use my Asda stamps at christmas to buy a few wee extras and some chocolates to add to gifts and if I'm lucky a cd I've been wanting for ages so my £100 doesn't usually go very far especially as this year I bought my father in law a lovely dressing gown as part of his christmas and it was £25 so that was a quater of my money gone.

A little saved each week goes a long way and at christmas you will appreciate the extra help especially as most shops with christmas saving stamps usually give you bonuses such as Asda give you £5 when you save £95 and Iceland give you £2 when you save £48 not much I know but e
very penny counts at this time of year.

oh and one last thing try and get to the shops before 11am before it gets busy..

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Summary: