OK, get your eye rolling out of the way before we start because, yes, today I’m going to tell you why I start preparing for Christmas in January.
I totally get that it may seem silly that I start preparing for Christmas in January, but if you think about all of the discounted gift sets, deals and clearance items that practically every store has on their shelf and online, it’s a wonder why more people don’t start preparing for Christmas in January.
I’ve found that doing this every year has helped saved me a significant amount of money, so I wanted to share what I do with you all to help you in saving you some cash this year.
Clearance and sale items
After Christmas is over, there are many stores left with gift sets and Christmas goodies laid out on the shelf that won’t fit in with the following year displays. This comes as a bonus for us consumers as the gift sets and Christmas gift ranges that were on the shelf this year will now be selling for a heavily discounted rate, meaning you can purchase them for prices well below retail. There are many clearance sales online as well to take advantage of in January.
Don’t rule something out as a great gift for the following Christmas just because it has food or goods in it that will be past its sell-by date. I’ve just bought a Costa Coffee mug super cheap for this very reason. I’ll take the Costa mug out of the packaging it’s in now, add a cheeky gift card and it will make a great gift for my Costa mad teenager.
You could also buy things that you can split up and add to a homemade Christmas hamper next year.
Cheaper Christmas Cards and Wrapping
I know Christmas cards are going out of fashion a little bit but I do love hand delivering some to my favourite people so the fact that the Christmas cards are reduced massively in January means that I can buy some super expensive looking cards for a super cheap price.
This is a great way to get a head start on Christmas card send out before the prices skyrocket and the card selections are still rather wonderful in January so I find this is a wonderful way to cut costs on the following Christmas season.
Wrapping paper is also massively reduced after Christmas so it’s worth stocking up on the good stuff at a fraction of the price!
Collecting Gift Cards
Another way I prepare in January for the next Christmas is to start picking up gift cards. Whether I earn them from online sites that let you exchange rewards for gift cards or I purchase them at the local supermarket when I do my shopping, gift cards are something I can pick up throughout the year to prepare for the next Christmas season. Gift cards can go to anyone, so they are the perfect gift idea to stockpile and I even buy a stock of cards to pay for my Christmas shopping – usually, Boots and Amazon vouchers are good for me for this purpose.
Start saving Supermarket vouchers
I have a Morrisons & More card which earns me £5 vouchers when I get to a certain number of points so, in January, I always adjust the settings in my account to stop the vouchers printing out until I change the setting to pay out in December when I’m getting ready for my Christmas shop. Once I’ve done this, the vouchers I’ve accumulated through the year print out the next time I shop.
Consider signing up to survey websites that pay out in vouchers
Lots of survey sites pay gift vouchers in exchange for completing surveys or doing various different online tasks. If you sign up to a few sites now and take a little bit of time when you have it throughout the year then you might have a nice little stash by the time it comes around to Christmas shopping.
My favourite is Swagbucks but that’s because it’s contributed massively to paying for our Christmas for the last couple of years! If you sign up with my referral link then you get some extra points to get you started.
And almost as important as saving money, preparing for Christmas early reduces stress
Above all, by starting to prepare for Christmas so early I feel much less stressed as I get closer to Christmas! I know that I will have my cards, gift sets, mugs and other small gift items ready to give at Christmas time when it rolls around because I took advantage of the deals in January. This makes me stress less when it comes to gift giving at Christmas time.
If you haven’t already done so, then I really think you should consider if you could start preparing for Christmas in January. It’s the best way to save a ton of money, cut stress in half and means you’re going to find enjoying next Christmas so much easier.
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