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We're only a few weeks into the new year, but I had to start my Christmas shopping now. I've been doing it this way for years, and I see no reason to change a thing. Why should I? My methods are working.
There's a ton of stuff out there that's dirt cheap
We all know how holiday themed items go on sale the day after Christmas. As a shopper and one time retail salesperson, I can usually predict what to buy before Christmas and what to wait for after the holidays. Case in point: I bought a bunch of small gift items at Bath and Body Works in days and weeks after Christmas for $2 or less each. In fact some items were as cheap as 32 cents. The stores were overstocked on these items so it didn't pay to pick them up before or even during the week after Christmas. I waited until January to move in for the 75% off kill. In the end, I bought 11 stocking stuffers for around $12. I did the same for a Wilton's Candy Making Kit that makes 5 gifts. It was $10 before Christmas at the craft store. By January, it was marked down to $2.99 so I bought 2 boxes. Another 10 small gifts for $6.
Things sell out around Christmastime
You would be surprised what can sell out just before Christmas. My mom and I bought a case of wine at Whole Foods about two weeks before this last Christmas. That alone was a bargain: Three Wishes Wines for $2.99 a bottle. Now all we needed were cheap wine gift bags. Easy right? Wrong! My mother called me a few days after we bought the wines and told me she went to no less than five discount/dollar stores and could not find any wine bags. I ended up finding some at a dollar store two days later, but that was after I myself scavenged about three more stores. So when my local Target was getting rid of their Christmas stuff at 70% off, I grabbed as many wine bags for 65 cents as I could find.
Time is money for me
One of my hobbies is making chocolates and I do it as a sideline business. I can get a lot of orders during the holidays for both Christmas and New Year's. The last thing I want to be doing in December is running around for Christmas gifts when I could be home in my pajamas making chocolates for profit. And the same is true for my job and my writing. Having to go to the mall can be fun just to get out of house. But when I'm sacrificing making extra money for running around looking for wine bags or whatever, that's lost profit.
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