Wow!

It is over, can you believe it? The shopping craziness and hustle and bustle has finally come to an end.

Let’s all take a deep breathe. Breathe in…..1, 2, 3…..OK, Breathe out!

Don’t we all feel better?

I hope so. I truly hope you have relaxed and caught your breath, because it is time to start again! I am serious, to save the most you need to start NOW!

For my family, we save thousands a year by doing all of our shopping before the Holidays.. As soon as we are through the season, I sit down and prepare. And, if you also follow a few easy steps, you will find you can save an immense amounts of money next year, too.

So, let’s begin:

1. Create a list: This will keep you from overspending when you find a good sale. Keep your list on you at all times ( I personally have my spreadsheet saved on my computer and then keep a copy in my purse with me always ).
Sit down an put together a list of everyone you need to buy a gift for in the next year. Of course, you can mark down family members, but don’t forget teacher gifts, coach gifts, kids birthday parties, employee gifts, etc.
Next, mark down next to each person the occasion. So, if you need to buy a gift for a Birthday, Christmas and a Wedding for that person, list them three times w/each individual occasion after their name. Remember, if your children go to birthday parties to buy a few extra gifts for the random school friend parties they get invited to each year. And, what about the gifts you donate around the Holidays.

Above is a photo of my daughter giving her $25 valued gift to a 5 year old girl this Christmas. She was so excited. I paid $6.24 for it!
After each occasion, designate an amount you want to spend on the gift at full price. So, if you would normally get a $50 gift for a wedding, write that number down. If it is only $25 you spend for weddings, then mark that instead.
Finally, leave spaces to mark down what you bought, how much you spent, the saving percentage and the amount saved. Tracking your savings is very inspriring!

2. Once you have your list created, the next step is to decide your savings goal. For me personally, I always try to buy 75% or more. So, if I know I want a $50 gift for a wedding, I will end up spending $12.50 instead. If I want to spend $100 on my child for Christmas, I will instead spend $25 instead. I am comfortable with 75% off and know I can usually meet this goal.
If you are new to sale shopping, you may be more comfortable with a 50% off goal or even another number. But, whatever percentage goal you set for yourself, try to consistently find items in that savings range. If you know your goal, it is easier to meet it and finish your list.

3. Shop regularly! I know, ugh, who wants to think of shopping right after that mad Holiday rush! But, seriously, this is the best and quickest way to meet your goal for the year. I have a few favorite stores and then watch online for other great sales. Personally, I do very well at Target and JcPenney. On top of that, both of these stores are very close to my house, so easily accessible to me.
Think about your life. What stores do you enjoy shopping the most, are easy for you to get to and would have gifts you would feel comfortable giving. Once you shop at store on a regularly basis, you know where the clearance items are located. I try to run into my favorite stores quickly each week ( at least every other week ).
For me, I can run into Target and back out within 10 minutes. I only go down all the end cap of the aisles because I know that is where their clearance items are. They will usually have a few shelves in each department and I can quickly eye ball or go thru the shelves to see if there is anything 75% off.
If I find items I like, I pull out my handy list to see who it would work for as a gift. If I can match it up with someone, into my cart it goes. Yay! Another person marked off the list.

Last year, I hit the 75% off Target toy sale and stocked up on gifts for all of 2009 and am already half done for 2010. We had carts full and I split this with my family. We all went thru it later that day and split it up so that not only was I done, but so were other members of my family.

4. Utilize coupons, customer newsletters and discounted gift cards. These methods will save you more and can often bring you to your savings goal if the original sale price doesn’t meet it.
Personally, I keep a portable coupon filer in my car at all times. As coupons come in the mail, the Sunday paper, etc I immediately put them in my file. I alphabetize it by store so as I pull up to any store, I can immediately check quickly for coupons and take them in with me.
One of the best methods to get coupons is through store newsletters ( e-newsletters ) and loyalty programs. Even if I don’t shop a store regularly or for myself, I will still sign up. Often I can get great coupons that I can match with sales and get gifts for others.
$ off $ coupons are a great way to get almost free gifts. When stores send out $10 off $10 coupons or $15 off $15 you can walk out with items that are on sale for close to that amount. When you stack the savings from the sale with the additional money off from the coupon you will be well below your savings goal.
Since you will be planning on signing up for every e-newsletter and loyalty program available, I highly suggest opening an email up for strictly newsletters. This allows me to keep my emails from stores and manufacturers separate from my personal email. I can log in quickly to check deals daily.
And finally, don’t forget to use discounted gift cards. If you missed my previous post on the benefit of shopping with discounted gift cards and where to find them, you can click here to read the article.

5. Finally, keep those receipts! Most stores will do price adjustments for a set amount of time.. On average, it seems to be 1 to 2 weeks. I have an envelope I keep in my car marked with the month on it. As I get back in my car from shopping, I put all receipts in there. That way, when I go to a store and if the item I bought got marked down even lower, I immediately go get my receipt and wheel over to customer service to get the difference back.
If it is past the price adjustment period, I buy the product again at the new lower price ( make sure the SKUs match ) and then go to customer service and return it with the older receipt. Stores usually have a longer return policy than price match period, so this method can be used much longer. For returns, I have found three months to be about the norm, but please check your store for specifics.

Some of the questions I get asked often are how to I keep my kids happy and get them what is on their list. My eldest is now 7, and is pretty specific about what he wants.

But, I am also straightforward with my children. They each get to ask Santa for one gift. And, they know the rest of the gifts come from Mom/Dad, grandparents, etc. It isn’t hard to do, considering all the kids cartoons only show Santa bringing one toy per child.. Thankfully! This year, my son wanted Lego City. My daughter wanted a specific doll. My 2 year old wants Candy Canes (hmmm…that one will be easy).

Because I know that I want my kids to get their wish from Santa each year, I set aside part of their budget for whatever their specific gift may be and then try to get it as low as I can around the Holidays. So, for my son’s Lego’s I got them Buy 1 Get 1 50% off this year. That is no where near the savings I target, but I am OK with that because I had that money set aside and my overall total for the year is at my goal.

Does anyone else have any helpful tips? What about stores that you shop regularly and find great deals (please share!)

Here is to a successful shopping year in 2010!