Have you ever thought about how crazy people get during the holiday season? People are rushing to find presents and to wrap them and to bake traditional Christmas goodies as well as go to parties and entertain others. Every year I listen to people complaining that time is going so fast and that they do not have everything done that they wanted done. They complain about the number of people at the mall and how hard it is to find parking and that they are maxing out their credit limits.

I do not understand why people feel a need to put off all the things that go with preparing for a holiday until the last minute. I do my Christmas shopping year round. Every year after Christmas there are huge sales. This is when I do a great deal of my shopping and I get great cheap Christmas present ideas. By cheap I mean the price, the quality is always great. Each year I buy for roughly the same people. There may be a birth in the family or an addition of a friend, but the core people remain the same.

As I am shopping through the year if I see something that I think would make a nice gift for someone I will buy it, especially if it is one sale. This way I am able to safe money with the cheap Christmas presents, yet the person gets a nice gift. Many times during the holidays if you are looking for cheap Xmas presents they look cheap, and everyone that haws been out shopping has also seen the items and knows that they are cheap. We all like to save money, especially on the gifts we give, but we do not want to be considered cheap.

By spreading out the gift buying through the year I do not put such a big strain on my pocketbook all at once. Also I do not have to spend as much time in the malls when they are crowded. This gives me extra time to bake, entertain and enjoy the season. I have one closet in a guest bedroom where I store the gifts that I buy through the year. My husband laughs that there are times when I get surprised at the gifts that I bought a long time ago and have forgotten about.

I keep a list of everyone we buy for. If I found cheap Christmas gifts for the person I cross their name off so when it is closer to the season I will remember who I still need to shop for. I keep the list in the closet with the gifts so I know where it is. I have to admit that there are times when I do get surprised at what is in the closet. The things that were bought in January of February get forgotten as time passes.