I'm a slacker. I haven't started yet. I need to start, but I'm such a procrastinator. Every year I talk about doing a Christmas fund, and then I just never do it. When I do buy for Christmas, I typically buy the big ticket items first, and then move on to small sundries. I also buy all the children's stuff first, and then if I have anything left over I go to adult presents. Maybe this post will be a kick in a butt for me to get in gear.
I tend to start buying in late November. Around then there seems to be a lot of deals and Christmas coupons lying around for grabs. Not that I'm a cheapskate or anything, but if you save where you can, you'll have a little bit extra funds for some additional gifts or finishing touches. I think if you start in December then there is less chance of anything you order online or ask to be delivered turning up on time, due to the heavy delivery demands around that period of time. The problem for me is that I also tend to procrastinate a bit. Although I do celebrate Christmas, I'm not as ecstatic about it as I was in the younger years because it does get repetitive. I buy a lot of DVDs from Play.com and Amazon.co.uk because they have quite a lot of deals around the November-December periods.
Not soon enough! Every year I say I will start shopping early and every year I don't - I am the most unorganized person when it comes to Christmas. I admire those who can buy presents for the following Christmas in the January sales, I would end up misplacing/losing them.
I have been on the look out in the past month. I'm only buying my parents presents. I have bought my mum a nice scarf she wanted on eBay. The retail price was around 80 dollars and I got it for 20 dollars so I was happy with that.
