Tips to Plan Ahead Now for Next Christmas

As I write this there are 364 shopping days 'till next Christmas. The Christmas tree sparkles full of twinkly lights and beautiful ornaments. Opened gifts lie under the tree and in chairs in the living room, with neatly folded gift wrapping paper next to them. Christmas cards are in a red and green basket with a jolly snowman, they overfill the basket with well-wishes from our friends and family all over the country and even a couple of international cards.

It was a lovely Christmas. Not a perfect Christmas - no Christmas is. But the keen holiday organizer and well-seasoned shopper knows all to well that now is the time to plan for next Christmas. Now is the time to get all the bargains. Now is the time to plan ahead for what you'd like to do for next year that you didn't do this year. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Shop the after Christmas sales for all of the bargains. Of course you know what is going to be on sale. Christmas cards. Christmas decorations. Christmas lights. Christmas gift wrap. Anything and everything that was used for the holidays - more than likely it will be at least fifty percent off. If you are someone who loves to decorate your front lawn with lots of jolly cheer - this is the perfect time to find lots of great lawn decorations at wonderfully discounted prices. This is also a great time to get your holiday cards, your gift wrap, and perhaps some of your gifts - such as housewarming gifts for Christmas parties you will be attending next year.

A great tip to keep in mind though for shopping all of these sales though is your storage of these items. Many people will rush out to these sales, but they will store the gift wrap or cards somewhere dusty or perhaps damp, causing the paper goods to be completely ruined. Or maybe they put them in a forgotten corner, so come next December they completely forget that they have them in the house. So the key to discount shopping now is to find a great place to store things safely. And if you don't have a good place to store things, purchase a container to put things in. Rubbermaid has lots of containers. So does The Container Store.

Now is also a great time to think about what you would like to remove from your decorations. Sometimes decorations get worn from use and it is just time to replace them. If the decorations could be used by someone else - consider donating them to Goodwill or The Salvation Army, or another charity organization. If the decorations or Christmas items are beyond salvage then simply discard them. But now is a great time to re-organize them, while you still have everything out and in front of you. Take a look at your ornament collection and see if you'd like to keep everything you have or if it is time to scale your collection down a bit for example.

Some people think that planning ahead for next Christmas only involves shopping the after Christmas sales. But this isn't really the case. There are other things that you can plan for your next Christmas that don't involve going to the mall and handing over your credit card. What can you do now to add more meaning to next Christmas? What was special about this Christmas and what do you wish you had more of or what do you wish you had less of with your family and friends? Now is the time to plan for next year.

Many people when they think of Christmas don't just think of the one day, they think of "the season" - which typically starts the day after Christmas. There are lots of things that you can do to celebrate Christmas with your family. Keep in mind that there are also lots of events in your community that probably don't cost very much money, but would still be fun and interesting for your family to do. Attending a choral sing, a Christmas pageant, a tree lighting, a volunteer event - these are all things that will probably be low cost or even free. Perhaps next year you would even like to try adding some new traditions or doing some fun holiday themed things, such as going for a sleigh ride or perhaps petting a live reindeer. Make a list of the things you would like to do, and start to research where these things have happened in your area this year (a Google.com search is a great place to start, so is your local newspaper). Chances are if the event happened this year in your area, that it will probably be held again by the same organization. One organization in my area has held a wonderful stocking stuffer sale every December with all sorts of interesting items right in the middle of December - all of the items are vintage or antique and they are all very unusual and one-of-a-kind. It is a great thing to attend and I always like to go if I can. But the more events you can discover now that have occurred this Christmas season, the more you will have on file for next Christmas season. Make yourself a small folder for your desk marked "Christmas" and keep all of your clippings or computer printouts with all of the necessary information. You'll be glad you did.

Like the old saying "Christmas comes but once a year" and we all know that Christmas is such a special time, for the old and the young, and the young at heart. May the joy of Christmas remain with you all year long!