It’s ONLY JULY BRITNEE!!! I know, I know!! I get it!! When I first saw Hobby Lobby and other stores already bringing out their Christmas Decorations BEFORE 4th of July even got here, I said “REALLYYY!!??” Did they forget about the other holidays in between July && December!? Can we enjoy Summer for 2 seconds?! But then it clicked, I need to be smart about this!!! I need to start getting my act together for multiple reasons!

1. Spread the Expenses Out!
2. Get Personal Gifts, not just whatever you can find left on the shelf Christmas Eve!
3. Be able to actually enjoy the season when it gets here!
4. Helps you stick to your budget!
5. EVERYONE will totally be jealous you’re already done!
6. Reduce the stress!!

To START: Make a List of everyone you have to get gifts for! See how many people you have and then see how many weeks are left until Christmas or until December 1st!! Divide it up and see how many gifts you should plan to get each week! Make sure to write down ideas when you think of them and to write down what you’ve already purchased on your list!

Now let’s find some fun shops to order gifts from! (I’m all about online shopping right now!! So let’s see a few fun places!)

We LOVE Jane.com! Shops feature some of their products on sale and every few days they put new items on their website!

Groopdealz.com is like Jane’s sister of websites!! We love all of the personalized items between the two sites!!

Zulily.com posts new items DAILY!! They have items up to 70% off! There is something for EVERYONE on here with so many things to choose from!!! I could’ve finished all of my shopping just today on here!

SassySteals.com is just like the shops above except SassySteals is more focused towards women && kids!!

Amazon.com ok, this one may be a little obvious! But you can’t go wrong with them!! You can type in things like, “Gifts for Him” or “Gifts for Baby” and they will show you the hottest items for that person at the moment!!

PickYourPlum.com They post new items at 6am daily!!

Now you have a lot of options to find all of your gifts! Be on the look out for Gift Idea Posts for different people in your family over the next few weeks! Just in case you become stuck on someone!!

Here are a few more tips:

• Winter Clothes are super cheap right now! No one wants Jackets & Boots in the middle of July! Go stock up!
• July is when most retailers hold their BIG summer sales!! Go check them out! Get items the cheapest price of the year!
• If you are a crafty person, start making items now! Gives you plenty of time!!
• Make sure to hide the gifts really good! Having them longer means someone has a higher chance of finding them!! But make sure you remember WHERE you hid the gifts!
• You can shop for your Christmas meal in advance too! Maybe not 5 months in advance but if you serve pretty much the same thing every year, look at the shelf dates of items, get your canned goods a few months out, your frozen foods a few weeks out! Helps keep all costs spread out!
• “According to a 2018 report by Skyscanner, a flight search engine, the best time to book flights for Christmas and New Year’s Eve is 11 weeks out—the week of October 22 for Christmas, and the week of October 29 for New Year’s.” –BusinessInsider

Do you have any tips to share with us? Know of any big sales going on? Please let us know in the comments!!

Happy Shopping,