Photo Credit: Mel Poole on Unsplash
Tips for buying presents your friends will love without breaking the bank
Rosemarie Rotundo, The Mike Staff Writer
With the holiday season fast approaching, most people are overjoyed to show their loved ones how much they care for them. With that comes the excitement of holiday shopping. Before the holiday season, people are enthusiastic to show their loved ones just how much they care for them. Typically, though, this enthusiasm is quickly replaced with growing nervousness as the number in your bank account slowly sinks.
With finals fast approaching, this time of year can be incredibly stressful; limited financial flexibility can add additional stress within these next few weeks. The pressure of gift-giving affects everyone, regardless of how you wish to celebrate the holidays this season. We often feel it’s necessary to financially “bend-over-backwards” to show our loved ones just how much we care for them through the exchange of a product or service with high financial value.
But financial insecurity should not interfere with your enjoyment of the holidays. There are tons of alternative ways to show your loved ones just how much they mean to you without breaking the bank. Below are three major ways you can find awesome holiday products on a budget that your loved ones will enjoy and that won’t leave you feeling financially strained in the coming months.
Set a spending limit
To avoid overspending on the holiday season, it’s best to begin by listing all the people you intend to purchase gifts for. Critically and realistically consider the people you wish to include on your gift list, and whether you can afford to spend a little extra this holiday season. It’s often best to begin with immediate family and close friends and expand outward from there. Once you have narrowed a list of people, determine the amount you wish to spend, in total, on all gifts; from there you can determine how much to spend on each person. It may be useful to pay in cash; this will make you think twice before overspending, which is much more easily done with an effortless tap or swipe of a credit card.
Don’t leave it all to the last minute
To avoid overspending, shop with a particular product in mind for each person on your gift list. This method makes it easier to avoid overspending because you can limit both the number of stores visited and the time spent within each store when searching for the perfect holiday gift. It’s important to avoid shopping before the last minute to ensure the product you are searching for is still in stock. It’s also important to consider that, as the holidays approach, shopping centres will become busier, which can also increase the time spent shopping due to lengthy lines and overpacked parking.
Navigate a one-stop shop
In our busy culture, a one-stop shop is appealing. To accommodate a hectic schedule, people look for ways to complete their errands at one destination and thus minimize time spent on each errand. Whether it’s through shopping at wholesale stores, markets, or through online shopping, there are several places to hit up to complete all your holiday shopping at once. Amazon is an excellent resource not only because it offers low prices, but also because the site has a wide variety of products that can be shipped in two to three business days.
So don’t stress any further this holiday season, and use these tips to ensure a relaxing time!
