Reader Tips on Getting Ready for Christmas

And here are some of the great tips that people listed on how to get ahead on Christmas:

• Family History gift- time consuming, but valuable and they're doable if you spread the work out over a year
• The Target Clearance Sale- unadvertised and happens in January and July
• Make presents, start looking for ideas in September and start the making in October/November
• Buy one of those key locked large rubbermaid storage chests with three shelves. Buy things for each child,  wrap it and sit it on their shelf. Shop all year and not have a huge closet stashed with gifts to dig out
• Do most of my Christmas shopping on Black Friday, to make the holidays more stress free and enjoyable. Usually hit Target and Walmart and any other store that has an item I want or need.
• Look for free deals on photobooks at online sites like Picaboo and Shutterfly. Great family gifts for the price of shipping
• Enter giveaways for a chance to win presents
• Clip coupons 
• Cyber Monday & other forms of online shopping
• Do lots of shopping close to Christmas, businesses are dropping prices to compete for your dollar
• Don't travel more than twice in December and never back to back weekends
• For the holidays, make a list of all the goodies and extra traditional snacks. Then decide which ones to make this year. Then, put them all on the calendar for which days to make which things. 
• Whenever I see something that someone would like, I file it away mentally or make a note of it. I start doing actual shopping in September or October, usually, and it takes a lot of the stress off. 
• Used bookstores, they save a bundle, and used books have extra character. 
• Make photo calendars.
• Buying baking ingredients in bulk during the big loss leader sales in November. Check the store flyers and plan ahead!