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Have a ‘present chest’ (or simple box). Mine used to be a massive wooden blanket chest but is currently the space underneath my bed!
We are dealing with Christmas but this box is great to have all year round as takes the hassel out of birthdays. Especially those ones you forget but don’t want it to be obvious you’ve forgotten!
In this present chest you should buy the following items. These should be bought during the year so you do not have to do the mad shop dash on December 12th!
- Brightly coloured wrapping paper (no Xmas tree or Santa in sight so you can use for birthdays too!)
- Christmas cards (and blank cards with cool, non specific graphics)
- Any item you see on sale that may make a great present (I tend to buy sticker sets, Barbie dolls, pj sets, dvds etc )
- Stamps
About 8 weeks before Christmas, do a stock take of what your chest holds and pair it up with a possible recipient. You’re likely to find that most people are taken care of and that in fact your subconscious has helped you out and made you buy things that suit particular people, for instance you have picked up a body builder’s cookbook that was on offer in Amazon which will now be perfect for your gym obsessed brother. No, oh then that’s just me then, but you get my drift.
As I said it is very handy for those birthday’s that slip through the net, not only does it save a manic trip to Toys R Us last thing on a Friday evening but it also saves you money as the gift you have in your chest was probably bought whilst it was on sale!
Look out for tip #2. In the meantime, please share any ‘hoarding’ related tips you may have!!
