What exactly is a gift closet? It is simply closet or space dedicated to gifts that you buy when you find a good deal and save for when needed. Why do this, you ask? It saves you time and money!!!! There is nothing worse than remembering that you have a birthday party to go to and you have forgotten to get a gift. If you have couple of days you can shop Amazon and get it there quickly. But what if you remember the day of the party? Now you have to run to the store, made worse if you have kids in tow, find a gift and most likely pay....retail! Gasp! The horror!!!!! Seriously though, it can be stressful.
But what if you didn't have to run to the store? Instead you look in your gift closet and grab an appropriate gift, wrap it up and go! Done! A gift that you saved 70% on a few months ago! Now that is how I like to shop for a gift!!!
So you have decided that a gift closet is the way to go, but what do you buy? Stick to things you know you will use. If you have no teenage boys in your family or circle of friends, then buying gifts for a teenage boy will most likely not be used. Buy gifts for the age of kids you associate with. Family gifts, hostess gifts, and gifts for men and women are all great ideas too. When you see something deeply discounted that you may be able to use as a gift, buy it! The same goes for cards, gift bags and wrap, etc.
The best part is that at Christmas time you will have accumulated gifts for friends, family, and your own kids and it will reduce the amount you need to purchase at one time. It is so much less stressful to spend $5-10 here and there instead $100 or $200 at one time at Christmas. This will also allow you to have things to donate to organizations that provide gifts for needy families. This year I had 80% of my shopping completed by August, leaving just a handful of gifts for me to find in December. Since I had so little to buy we were able to spend $40-50 on gifts to donate to a local organization and a week before Christmas we learned of a family in need of gifts and I was able to go into my gift closet and bring out get 6 very nice gifts for their kids. Gifts that I got for 75% off months earlier.
So really, there is no good reason NOT to have a gift closet!!
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