Black Friday

My shopping experience for this year's Christmas list has been totally different than in the past. I am just shy of reaching my halfway mark with my budget, but I have only made one in store purchase. That was a bargain at $10 off what I had priced in other stores and online, and the purchase was relatively effortless as it was right on a shelf in the aisle I was in as I was doing my weekly shopping. I have already bought several of the major gifts for everyone, but I have done most of that on-line. Now I just have a moderate list of little things and clothes for several of the kids on my list and then I will be done. My goal to be finished shopping is December 6th and I want all my wrapping finished by December 14th. Since I am ordering several things on-line and through catalogs, sometimes it takes a bit of time for all the items to get in, so Monday is my goal to be finished with online and catalog ordering.

This year my budget was a bit different than in the past. I have had a budgeted amount for Christmas shopping set aside each year. I save from January through October and that is what I use for all of my Christmas purchases. This year, I broke it down to how much I was going to spend for each person on my list and tried to even the amounts I was spending for my kids and then with the cousins, and then gifts for work and school. I still have a way to go, but I hope that I can meet my goals with shopping and wrapping so I can enjoy my weekends and the first five days of my break.

The Thanksgiving decorations are still up. I will probably leave them up until Sunday, and start decorating for Christmas then. I think we will go to get the tree Wednesday or Thursday and get the house decorated by this weekend.