The holiday season is fast approaching. Are you ready?

I don’t claim to be on top of things. I only have a few gifts bought and my house isn’t even clean let alone decorated. However I have learned a few things here and there over the years.

Saving Time and Money During the Holidays

• Don’t wait till the last minute. I mean it! Sometimes you mean to start shopping early but something comes up and you need to use that money for something else or you just forget or any number of other reasons. Don’t let yourself give excuses. Pick something up with each paycheck starting in September.
• Put some thought into it. If you think about what to give your family and friends before you are in the store, you’ll save time AND money. Last minute shoppers not only miss out on sales but also end up buying whatever is left instead of what their friend really wanted.
• Consider hand-made gifts. I can see you rolling your eyes you know. It doesn’t have to be something knitted or drawn or cut and pasted although it can if that’s what you are into. How about an offer to help someone with their scrapbooking? Perhaps homemade snacks or desserts. Coupons or gift certificates to do something for someone are good too. At the very least the gifts from your kids to others can be homemade instead of giving them your money so they can buy a gift for you.
• Designate a cleaning weekend BEFORE you want to do decorations. If you’d like to put up decorations next weekend, then this weekend clean the house. Tidy things up and make room for decorations. If you have kids, get them to help you as much as possible.
• If you are in charge of holiday dinner, get planning. What are you going to make? What ingredients do you need? What’s already on hand? Make a shopping list and shop EARLY so that if you forget something, you aren’t stuck last minute with no stores open. While you are there, stock up on basic household food essentials so you don’t have to run to the store during the rush.
• Do you do cards? If the rest of your family doesn’t do cards and aren’t too old fashioned, try e-cards. If not, buy a large stack of cards, include a photo and sign your names. Address and fill envelopes and mass stamp and mail them.

Gift Ideas

• Gift Cards. Only give these to people who will use them right away. Many have inactivity fees. These are good for young people and those who are really hard to shop for. Don’t forget some fast food places and coffee places have them too. These are especially good for teenagers.
• Electronic Picture Frame with slideshow of pictures. You can load them with pictures so they can unwrap, plug in (or put in batteries) and watch.
• Offer to pay for professional photos or buy a gift certificate for it. Many families never get around to picture taking because of money or it just gets put off. Help them with it.
• Books. As far as I’m concerned, books are a great gift. It can be hard though to pick the right one. If you don’t know the person well, give a book store gift card. Maybe you can try chatting books casually one day and get some ideas. Check out book blogs for reviews and Buy Books for the Holidays.
• Appeal to the technical side. Cameras, laptops, computer software and more would be great gifts for many people.

Well I hope I’ve helped some. Have a great holiday season.