8 Steps to a Less Stressful Holiday Shopping Experience + FREE Shopping Plan Printable

My mister and I budget for Christmas year round, meaning that each paycheck, a little bit of money goes into a “gift fund” that we use to purchase not only Christmas gifts, but birthday gifts and other presents throughout the year. Regardless of whether you budget for Christmas year round or not, having an organized approach is key to a less stressful holiday shopping experience. 

Organized shopping, to me, means having a plan and setting up a budget ahead of time. To make this easier, I've created a free holiday shopping printable that you can download and use to organize your upcoming shopping experience. Click here to download it!

Let's walk through the plan together.

Step One: Determine your budget

Many people start their shopping process by making a list of who they need to buy for. I say start with your budget and fit your list into it. Decide on a predetermined amount that you’re willing/able to spend on Christmas and write it down.

Step Two: Make a list

Once you have an overall budget amount in writing, make a list of every person you intend to buy a gift for.

Step Three: Check your list twice

Rethink your list you created in step two. Are you forgetting anyone? How about teachers, neighbors, hair stylists, mail people, co-workers, church members, etc? In order to stick to your budget, you want to avoid those last minute I-forgot-to-get-a-gift-for-so-and-so moments. 

Step Four: Assign a denomination to each person on the list

Divide your total budget among all the people on your list. Maybe you want to spend more on family than on friends, or spend more on children than adults. That is all up to you. Divvy up your total budget to each person until it’s all accounted for. Don’t forget to include wrapping/shipping supplies in your budget too! Those expenses can add up quickly.

Step Five: Generate gift ideas for each person

Now that you have a maximum spending price for each person on your list, brain storm some ideas for gifts in that price range. Many websites like Amazon allow you to search for gifts under a certain price. You can also find a lot of gift giving guides online that offer suggestions for certain age groups, family members, etc. Don’t forget about handmade gifts too. You could bake some special treats, make a craft, give a photo in a nice frame, etc. Sometimes those handmade gifts are much more meaningful than something store bought.

Step Six: Research the average cost of your gift ideas and narrow them down accordingly

If you have a $10 limit for someone, and find that 3 gift ideas cost $20 and one costs $8, stick to the gift item within your budget. Then, check leaked Black Friday ads, Amazon, and other retailers ahead of time to determine the best price/location to purchase your gift. Two weeks ago, I started seeing leaked Black Friday ads, so they are out there! If you are hand-making gifts, check ads for ingredients and supplies.

Step Seven: Plan your shopping route ahead of time

Take a look at your list and decide which items should be purchased online and which items you need to visit a brick and mortar store. If you are relying on Black Friday sales or cyber Monday sales, make a note of which stores/websites you need to visit either day. 

Step Eight: Make your purchases

Keep track of how much you actually spend on each gift. If you end up under budget, you could buy something for yourself, add a small gift to someone on your list, roll your savings into next year’s holiday spending, or donate it to a local charity. 

Don't forget to download your free printable to help you organize your shopping list according to the steps above. Take some deep breaths and get organized now so that your stress levels remain low and you can truly enjoy this holiday season. 

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By the way, how are you doing on this month's organizing challenge? Don't forget to share your photos on Instagram or comment on the challenge post with your results!

Do you budget for holiday spending year round? How do you keep your shopping list organized?

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10 Items I Always Buy at the Dollar Store

The Dollar Store is one of my favorite places to visit. Every time I go in, I feel like a kid at Christmas. There are always new items and everything is only $1. While there are certain items I wouldn’t recommend buying at a dollar store, there are a lot of good bargains. I’ve put together a list of ten items that I always buy at the dollar store. 

These are items that are often much more expensive at other stores and are still a decent quality.

Greeting Cards

I’ve seen greeting cards priced as high as $6 at some stores, and on average, find them for between $2 and $4. But the dollar store has a huge variety of cards for all occasions and they are only $1. Our dollar store also has a section for 2/$1 cards and they are just as nice as a $4 card you’d find elsewhere.

Gift Wrap

I typically use gift bags and tissue paper to wrap most of my gifts and that can get expensive. The dollar store has really nice gift bags for just $1 and packs of tissue paper holding 10-20 sheets for – you guessed it - $1.

Storage / Organizing Containers

When I’m working on an organizing project at home, I usually shop my house first for any containers that I might be able to re-purpose. When I can’t find something at home, I check the Dollar Store before going to a thrift store or other store. Our dollar store carries plastic storage containers, fabric storage boxes, baskets, and bins of all shapes, colors, and sizes. I can usually find something that will work for my needs, even if I need to manipulate it a little bit to work. This is how I was able to organize our entire RV for less than $40.

Holiday Décor

Honestly, Christmas is about the only holiday I decorate for. But each season, the holiday décor selection at the dollar store changes and it’s usually pretty nice stuff. Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Saint Patrick’s Day, and Valentine’s Day are popular decorating holidays and the dollar store comes through with tons of fun décor for super cheap. At Christmas, they carry bulb ornaments and other tree décor that you just can’t find for that price anywhere else.

Picture Frames

When I need a small picture frame for a project or a gift, I check the dollar store first. I make sure to inspect the frame for any scratches or dings and especially check the glass for any cracks or breaks. I bought a batch of 12 8x10 frames at the dollar store to use for our wedding décor. The frames hold up well and by far beat the other store prices of $5-$30+ for frames.

Dishes

I don’t buy my regular dishes at the dollar store, but I do buy dishes to be used as gifts. For example, last Christmas I purchased some coffee mugs at the dollar store and filled them with different drink mixes like hot cider, hot cocoa, and coffee. These made nice gifts for neighbors, co-workers, and other hard-to-buy-for people on my list. They also carry plates, bowls, and regular drinking glasses.

Party supplies

Planning a party? Go to the dollar store! They have party décor, crepe paper, blank thank you notes, balloons, and other items that make decorating for your event a breeze (and pretty inexpensive).

Kid Gifts

As more of our friends and family have beautiful babies, we are being invited to more kids birthday parties every year. Not wanting to go empty handed, we often visit the dollar store for gifts. The dollar store has puzzles, activity books, coloring books, colored pencils, crayons, regular books, and fun arts and crafts kits for kids. Shopping here allows us to get more gift items for less. I make it a point to pick up a gift bag and card at the same time!

Mailing Supplies 

Mailing out items can get expensive quick. The dollar store carries large and small clasp envelopes, cardboard boxes, padded envelopes, bubble wrap, regular envelopes, and packaging tape that make shipping easy and affordable!

Office supplies

When I need note paper, note pads, sticky notes, pens, pencils, poster board, or other basic office supplies, I usually check with the dollar store first. They also typically have binders, binder dividers, file folders, and report covers.

Bonus Item: Kitchen utensils

I was hesitant to include this item in my list because you have to be careful what you buy here. The dollar store sells a variety of kitchen utensils like spatulas, spoons, measuring cups, bag clips, pizza cutters, etc. Some of the stuff is a bit cheap. You don’t want to end up with melted spatula as part of your grilled cheese sandwich. But I have picked up a couple pairs of kitchen scissors (I use these all the time), bag clips, and cutting mats at the dollar store and I haven’t had a problem with any of them.

I make most of my own cleaning products now, but I know a lot of people buy cleaning products at the dollar store as well.

Overall, this wonderful place saves me a ton of money each year and is always one of my favorite stops when I'm out and about running errands. 

What items do you buy at the dollar store? Do you agree with my list? Have something to add?

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Preserve Your Memories: Create a T-shirt Quilt

My Mister has one million t-shirts.

Not really. But it feels like one million.

He wears five of them.

What do we do with the other 999,995? Store them in his closet of course!

Over the past year, I’ve been cleaning out my closet bit by bit each quarter to drastically reduce the amount of clothing I own. You can read about that here, here, and here. Each time I clean out my closet, I take a few minutes to re-organize his closet. Re-organize means take out one million t-shirts. Fold one million t-shirts. Sort one million t-shirts by color. Return one million t-shirts to his closet. 

The last couple times I’ve gone through this process, I’ve tried to pull out a handful that he doesn’t wear and that don’t have sentimental value and, with his consent, have donated them to someone else’s one million t-shirt collection. But a handful at a time still leaves us with a lot of t-shirts.

A good portion of his t-shirt collection is made up of what I would call sentimental shirts. Shirts he got for running a race. Shirts he got from his high school sports teams. Shirts he got for all the different places he’s worked. Shirts he’s got on vacation. Shirts he’s got from concerts. It’s hard to get rid of these because they have some sentimental value; some meaningful memory attached to them.

So what is one to do with all that sentiment? A t-shirt quilt!

This week we are celebrating our two year wedding anniversary (Yay!). Now, I’m not an extremely traditional girl, but I think it’s fun to follow the list of traditional wedding gifts because it offers a challenge to come up with something meaningful in a specific category. When I found out year two was cotton, I was stumped. Sure, I could get him some nice lounging pants or a new dress shirt, but that’s not very romantic.

Then the light bulb went off. T-shirts!

What better way to celebrate the love I have for my mister than celebrating who he is and all that he has accomplished? So I secretly dug out a pile of his t-shirts that fell into that sentimental category and planned to put them together into a t-shirt quilt for him as his anniversary gift.

I looked online for patterns, tutorials, ideas, etc and I actually found a lady who will make the quilt for you… but I couldn’t bring myself to spend that much money and I thought it would mean more if the quilt was hand made by yours truly. Now, I’m not a professional sewer by any means. My skill set falls in the very beginner level. But with the help of some great patterns and tutorials online I was able to follow the process and put a quilt together pretty easily!

A little cutting...

A little sewing...

And ta-da!

He was very excited (even though it wasn’t completely finished on our actual anniversary). He said I should have made it bigger! Now that I have one quilt under my belt, I just might venture into making a larger one. Maybe a concert t-shirt quilt or a vacation destination quilt.

If you’re interested in making your own (or having one made for you), here are the links I found most helpful:

Seams To Be You and Me - a great tutorial available online or in PDF 

Instructables - a tutorial without the sashes in between blocks

Maiden Jane - a PDF pattern you can purchase or the option to send in your shirts and have a quilt made for you


Do you have any creative ideas to contain a growing pile of t-shirts?

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Organizing a Storybook Baby Shower

Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. The weather in our neck of the woods was perfect. We enjoyed some baseball, some time on the river, and lots of quality time with friends and family. 

Speaking of family, my cousin is expecting a baby girl any day now! A few weeks ago, we put together a shower to celebrate. For some people, event planning comes naturally. For the rest of us, it's a lot of work! So I thought it'd be fun to share some of the tips and tricks I used to put this girly shower together!

To start, I put together a list of all of the main items that needed to be decided on:

• Date & Time
• Location
• Guest List
• Theme
• Invitations
• Food & Drinks
• Games
• Prizes
• Party Favors
• Decor
• Thank You notes

To settle on a date and time, we started by checking with the guest of honor to see what days would work for her. Once we had a few days to pick from, we chose one that the five of us hosts could all attend. 

To choose the location, we looked around at some different options including hosting it at one of our homes, a local restaurant, a church, or another facility. It's important when considering an outside facility to ask about reservation costs, cleaning fees, etc so there are no surprises at the end of your event. We decided on our church because it was free to use the facility and, since they have a fully furnished kitchen, we wouldn't need to bring dishes, platters, silverware, etc. It worked out perfect.

Putting together the guest list isn't always an easy task. We considered who had already been invited to previous showers and how far out into our extended family we wanted to go. For a baby shower, be sure to consider the mommy-to-be's mother and grandmothers, aunts, cousins, siblings, and close friends just to name a few. We settled on a pretty small list of 25. 

Once we knew the when, where, and who it was time to start the fun planning. Since my cousin had four other showers already, these soon-to-be-parents were quickly overwhelmed with a plethora of gifts. Now, when you're having your first child, too many goodies to get started doesn't sound like a bad thing - but it can certainly be overwhelming. To help contain the craziness, I proposed a book shower in which each guest would be requested to bring a book for the new baby. Our hope was to start a library for this baby girl so that she'd be set on books for awhile. 

The book shower idea also set the theme for the shower: A storybook shower. Our invitations, food and drink selections, games, and prizes all revolved around the idea of books.

Our invites were a simple book shape and the inside held all the details about the shower and a cute note about the request to bring a book:

Our food menu was as follows: 

Ham Sandwiches & Deviled Eggs 
Green Eggs and Ham

Meatballs 
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Veggies 
Peter Rabbit

Fruit Skewers 
The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Goldfish
One Fish, Two Fish

Cookies 
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Raspberry Pink Lemonade Punch 
Pinkalicious

We purchased the corresponding books and displayed them by each food item. The variety created a nice spread for a filling and delicious lunch.

After lunch, we played a short game called Name That Storybook, which I discovered here. Each item was a line from a popular children's book and our guests had to guess the title of the book. Our winner had 11 out of 12 correct! Our prize for the game winner stayed in the book theme and was a nice journal with some matching pens, sticky notes, and some chocolates. (Because it's perfect to eat chocolate while reading, journaling, or doing any other activity for that matter.)

When the game winner gets a prize, our guest of honor gets a prize too so we gifted our mom-to-be with a book titled "To My Daughter". It's a book that mom will fill out all about herself and her experience being a mom and can later gift to her daughter as a keepsake. 

Each of our guests also got a party favor. I colored some Hershey chocolate bars to say the word "her" or "she" in pink. (Hint: If you're having a boy shower, you can color in "he" or if you're having a gender reveal party, you can color "he" in blue and "she" in pink!) On the back of each bar was a cute thank you poem I found here.

Our decor was pretty simple. We bought coordinating tablecloths in pink, yellow, and white. Each guest table had a pink or yellow mum in the middle with a dish of mints and a dish of chocolate candies to snack on. Since the food table was covered with food and books, we left the decor to just the colorful tablecloth. And the gift table was covered in pretty pastel wrapped gifts, so it was beautiful on its own.

We provided our mom-to-be with a set of thank you notes that she could send out following the shower and had each guest fill out a stamped envelope with their address so mom wouldn't have to dig up addresses later. We think she has enough to do! We also provided each of our guests an index card in which they could write some parenting advice, a note to baby, etc and we collected those into a cute baby girl photo album for mom to take home. 

All in all, the shower was a great success. Everyone loved the theme, the decor, and the gifts. And our guests didn't disappoint! This little girl will be able to open her own library for all the other babies in the neighborhood! 

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