Welcome back to the 10th day in the 15 Days to an Organized Christmas! For the past 9 days, we have talked about all the things that you need to do right now in order to get prepared for the upcoming holidays. On day 1, I gave you a beautiful Christmas planner (you can get it right here if you still need it!) and we have been busy bees filling it out list by list over the last several days.
You know when all the social activities and events are taking place and you've compiled a master to-do list. You have all of your Christmas related lists, plans, receipts, dinner ideas, gift ideas, everything all together in a Christmas binder. You have set a Christmas budget and decided who is on your gift list. You have brainstormed gift ideas for those on your gift list. You decided if you were sending Christmas cards out and when that was happening. You started compiling your Christmas card list and already decided on the card design. You have also made a list of all the crafts and activities that you and your family are going to do this holiday season. You know which crafts you are going to make this year and where to find them. You also know exactly what Christmas baking you are doing, when you are doing it, and already have all the recipes together. And to top it all off, you've already planned out your Christmas dinner and have a grocery list that is ready to go!
You can see that when all the different holiday related tasks are broken down and taken step by step, you can get a plan in place for every single thing that you will need to do by Christmas day. When you give yourself enough time in advance to get things done, there is less stress because you've already made all the decisions that go into Christmas. Should you make gifts this year or buy them all? Should you send out your Christmas cards or skip them? What Christmas goodies are you going to bake this year? What is your Christmas budget? These are some of the many questions that get asked during the busiest times of the year. The good news, is that you have asked all of them before Christmas and have a plan in place. Has this changed your Christmas season at all? I know it has for me!
Today we are talking about Black Friday and Cyber Monday. First you need to ask yourself, am I shopping on one or both of those days? After you've answered that question, you can ask yourself why you are shopping on one/both of those days. Than, what are you wanting to buy.
I normally do not normally go shopping at the crack of dawn on Black Friday. There is just nothing that I need that badly. I prefer to do my shopping in the comfort of my own home since most of the same deals are online. Well, last year was an exception. I shopped with my sisters who wanted to get some awesome in-store only deals. At 5am, I went to the 1st place and got what I needed. Then drove to the next location at 5:15am. Now, the 2nd store did not open until 7am but the line was already 300 people long!! Then, to make matters worse, they only let in 40ish people in at a time. I ended up getting in that store about 8:30am or so. All the popular blanket scarves were almost gone! The store was a complete mess, everyone was grabbing items, checkout lines were crazy, and people were mad that they had to stand outside for ridiculous reasons. Not an experience that I want to have this year I can assure you.
If you are getting out into the madness that is Black Friday, than you defiantly need a plan in place! First, write down all the items that you intend to purchase on Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday. Write down what store or website it is on, who you are buying it for, and what the price is. Remember to do your research ahead of time to find out if it really is a good deal or not. You can follow deal sites like Money Saving Mom, Hip2Save, and Black Friday to see what deals are to be had and to view the upcoming ads. If you shopped last year, think back to how it was and what you want to do different this time around.
Today's Assignment
Decide if you are going to shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Write down exactly what items you are going to purchase and who they are for. Start forming a plan for which stores you will shop at and when you will get there.
Do you deal shop on Black Friday or Cyber Monday? What is the best deal you've gotten on one of those days? If you missed one of the days in the 15 Days to an Organized Christmas, you can get caught up right here. You can also download the Christmas planner if you haven't gotten it already!
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