The Perfect Time to Plan For Christmas: September
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Mentioning Christmas in September can get you some funny looks at the very least- people can start getting a bit twitchy when festivities are brought up this early in the year! However, the frugal folks out there know fine well that September is the perfect month for starting to think about Christmas.
The Perfect Time to Plan For Christmas: What To Do In September
Maybe you’re on an extremely tight budget and want to make sure you can afford everything to give your family an amazing Christmas or perhaps you just want to spread the cost to avoid running out of money or falling into debt (which so many people do December).
Being organised doesn’t need to mean putting up your tree and singing festive songs, it can simply be planning ahead and making sure you have everything you need. Here are some ideas for going about it.
1. Start Buying long life and non-perishable groceries
Things like chocolate, biscuits, crackers and other items that are commonly consumed around Christmas will have long dates on them, meaning you can start collecting them now. Each week when you’re doing your weekly shop, pick up one or two extra things that have a long date on them and store them away in a cupboard ready for Christmas.
You can buy things when they’re on offer, or find UK coupons for grocery stores to keep costs down. By the time December rolls around, you’ll only need to purchase your fresh and shorter life items which can save you massively on your grocery bill.
2. Pick up stocking fillers and gift cards
A lot of the expense at Christmas can actually be lots of smaller things all adding up. Things like stocking fillers for kids, presents for teachers, neighbours and other people in your life who you want to give a small gift to. Keep an eye out for stocking fillers now, everything from bath bombs to mugs to novelty items can be found in inexpensive shops and on eBay.
You could also start buying gift vouchers, either to put away as gifts or for you to use towards your Christmas gift shopping. Many people find this better than saving cash as they can’t dip into it and spend it on other things.
3. Start To Save towards bigger gifts
Chances are you’ll have a couple of people in your life that you’ll want to buy a slightly bigger gift for, whether it’s your kids, your partner or your mum.
If it’s a little more expensive then start saving money up. Every time you get paid, transfer a little money into a separate account. By the time December comes around, you’ll have made some good progress and can go about and buy what you need without it taking a cut out of your December budget.
If you’re looking for the perfect gift for the man in your life then it’s worth checking out manlymanco.com for some awesome gift inspiration.
I mean, who doesn’t need some booze-infused jerky in their life!
4. Purchase cards, wrap, tags and decorations
Any festive items are always incredibly cheap outside of the festive season.
Discount shops commonly sell cheap, out-of-season items that you can pick up now and save money later on. Not only will you pay less, but again you won’t need to spend money out of December’s budget buying these things closer to the time.
I like the idea of planning early but to be fair I just don’t want to think about Christmas so close to summer, but I think your ideas are very good, and I could do with some organisation tips