How to have a sane Christmas

Having a sane and economical Christmas takes planning and preparation. However, you can still enjoy a fun holiday season even if you didn't start planning in January like I did. The following tips have been gleaned over the years from friends and magazines.

KEEP YOUR MONEY:
#1 Follow the "wise men" plan. Each child gets three gifts, no matter what. Once you have bought three gifts - stop shopping. (Now, for dollar-store items, I do wrap 3 or 4 together and call it one gift.)

#2 Pre-fill stockings. Once the stocking is full - stop shopping.
Many of us like to pick up one or two cute things at every store and we innocently think, "I'll just put that in the stocking". As we all know, this practice adds up to a large chunk of money by December 25th. When you know very well there is a full stocking hidden in your closet, it becomes easy to look at those cute doodads, murmur to the devil on your shoulder "it's full", and save yourself a bunch of bucks.

Don't worry, whenever it's time to hang up the decorations on the mantel, simply empty the goodies and rehide them. You will still know there is no more room!

#3 If you have young children, consider shopping at the Goodwill store on their 50%-off Saturdays. Yesterday, I left there with 6 bags of stuff for $28 dollars. My three-year-old does not care if a Hot Wheels car comes in a box or not. He thinks they "zoom" better our of the box, in fact. :-) My 2nd-grader will not notice that some of the pages of his "new" Star Wars book are a tiny bit creased. He will be too busy ooohing and aaahhhing over the ships and weapons.

For clothes, shop on Thursdays. That day, the store randomly chooses a color and all items with that color tag are only $1. Last week, I bought my older boy 4 brand-new-looking shirts for $4. I simply went to the kids' rack, looked for the color of the day and checked to see if they were his size. The Goodwill store was on my way home and the whole visit took less than 20 minutes.

KEEP YOUR SANITY:
In January, I choose wrapping paper from the Target 90%-off sale racks and buy it for about 25 cents a roll. At wrapping time (usually early October), I choose one pattern for each kid (my two boys and my two nieces). I wrap all three of the person's gifts in the same pattern and then make note of what pattern is theirs. That way, I do not have to put name tags on the gifts and there is no reason for my sons to whine, "He got more than me..." when I set everything under the tree the day after Thanksgiving.

To keep things straight, I keep a list on the back of my closet door. It tells what I have bought for each kid so I can stop at three.

"Wrapping presents in October? When did you buy everything?" The answer: all year, a little at a time, from January to late September. The way I do this is the check clearance racks each and every time I am in a store with clothes, toys, or books (the stuff our young children enjoy). No kidding, I got the cutest stuff this year from Fry's Marketplace out in Buckeye. A side benefit to that is that the purchase price is included in my weekly grocery budget, so Christmas does not really affect our bottom line.

"But I don't want to be so rigid, then I won't enjoy the holidays." I strongly disagree. By getting out of the way early all of the stuff that causes Christmas to be so hectic, I am free to enjoy the season and teach my sons the true meaning of it. We spend time making cookies for neighbors, homemade projects for teachers, videos and photo albums for grandparents; we're not running from store to store trying to find the best deal or that perfect gift. Let's face it, there is no "perfect" present and do you really think you're getting the "best" price any time after Labor Day? No. The best time to buy is when the stores don't want their stuff anymore and they have marked it down 75 - 90%. [Remember my definition of "clearance", ladies.]

In closing, just so you know, I do still have a bit of fun wrapping on Christmas eve. This is when I add all of the ribbons, bows, and tags. In the morning, everything has transformed and I love to watch the little faces light up.