Shopping Tidings for the Season


I was a weird child. I was mistaken for a quiet one, but if I voiced out many of the weird stuff that crossed my mind as a child, I'm certain my folks would have abandoned me in Church for some sort of permanent deliverance. One of such weird thoughts that came to me was "Why exactly do people wait till December before shopping for Christmas?"
I think I actually voiced it out once and the response my aunt gave me was "finer designs of whatever you intend to buy are always available in December". I have meticulously paid attention to this for the past 20 years and I have reached a conclusion. Aunty Toyin lied.
I have however noticed that whatever last minute shopping you engage in would land you nothing but an "aṣọ ẹbí" kinda stuff. You would eventually purchase a "uniform" and if luck is on your side, it won't be the imitation of the original uniform.
In no particular order, I think every and anyone should put these in consideration while shopping for Christmas
1. Have a budget: Who shops without one anyway?
2. Take advantage of discounted sales: Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday and any other shopping holiday you know of would not be a bad idea. You can also take advantage of gift cards, coupons and discount cards of the stores where you shop regularly.
3. Compare prices: I think it is necessary to window shop (either online or offline) before you start shopping. It saves you a lot of money.
4. Track your expenditure: With the advent of online shopping, finance apps and card transactions; this should be a piece of cake
5. Shop early: The best time to start shopping for Christmas is the third quarter of the year. The next best time is right now.
6. Combine online order: If you prefer to shop online, this would make a lot of sense because you'd avoid recurrent delivery expenses
7. Buy combined gift: Instead of getting stuff for family members or family friends individually, why not buy a gift that would be useful for the entire household?
8. Avoid impulsive shopping: In other words, adhere to your budget strictly. Identify the things that make you buy things on impulse and avoid them like a plague.
9. Declutter your space: Giving gifts does not directly imply that you have to purchase them. You can do away with the things you no longer need by gifting them to those who need them. Heard of Giving Tuesday? Take advantage of it
10. Be creative: You can make or design personalised gifts by yourself. You can also wrap your hampers that you intend to gift out by yourself. Not only will you be able to handpick what goes into such hampers, you would also be able to purchase such things at the best prices or add the things you already intend to giveaway.
Feliz Navidad!


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