Let’s Get Christmas Organised Part One

“Save your way to a happy Christmas”

You know as I get older, time seems to go by quicker and quicker. Years in my opinion, seem to be getting faster! Now this surely must be in my head, but it does feel like it. Each year Christmas just seems to sneak up on me and Renee. But over the last few years we have been ready for it!

We start getting ready for Christmas in August. Yes, right now we start planning. However, we have been doing this with the best financial defence possible.

We start off by writing down a list of everybody we intend to get presents for.  Next to each name we write what present we intend to get them. Then we include the price at current retail levels.Plus we write down the present Renee and I intend to get for each other.

At the end of this list we add up the cost of the total spend at retail prices. Let’s pretend the total cost of the list is $1285 retail price. Now we know to the dollar what our Christmas presents will cost us.  However, we don’t wait until Dec to start buying these gifts and run around like mad people. We start shopping now!

The fun part is trying to get the gifts people want for under the retail cost. The bigger the discount we get, the higher the overall Christmas savings for us.

Let’s face it, if you leave all your shopping until Dec you will be less price sensitive. As you have less time until the 25^th, you may buy things that you have not shopped for on price. But if you start in August you can pick things up each month, as you can afford them, while still shopping for the best price you can get. It becomes fun to cross another present off the list as you buy it. However, it is even more fun when you cross it off at a cheaper price.

Let’s look at a real life example of this. My brother really wants an IPod Mini Blue 2 Gigabyte. Calling Apple’s own store, the price was $199

Now doing some shopping around I found that I could find the same product at these prices:

Harvey Norman $187. A saving of $12 or 6.03%

JB Hi-Fi $176. A saving of $23 off the original price or 11.55%

eBay (New not 2^nd hand from a reputable seller) $168 A saving of $31 off the original price or 15.57%

As you can see, there is a 15.57% saving from the original price that I was first quoted. Now as we found the best price on eBay I’m glad we knew about it in Aug. Let’s pretend we started shopping in Dec. We found the best price on eBay... this brings up a question’ Can we get it delivered in time for Christmas? As you know Christmas is the biggest month for mail. Would we be getting a great price if we have it delivered after the 25^th?

Let’s pretend we started phoning around dept. stores in Dec. There are two problems that you might face here. First, due to the Christmas rush, your product might be well and truly sold out in Dec. Apple may have worldwide shortages so you may not be able to get the product (Just look at the Nintendo Wii). Second, what is it going to be like shopping in Dec when the mad rush is on?

 As our total orginal pretend list at retail was $1265. Let’s pretend we could get this 15.57% saving that we got on my brother’s IPod right across every present. That means we would have saved $197 this Christmas. Not too shabby.

Think of all the things we could do with this extra money.  Just looking at my expenses from 2008; that saving could have paid for 29% of my total gas bill last year. Or it could have paid for 3.18% of my total supermarket bill. Or even 4.21% of my total petrol bill. These amounts do add up. Imagine when you pay for your fuel for a whole year the staff member takes off 4.21% of the total price. This is effectively what you are doing by planning Christmas early.

With Christmas being your biggest month for presents/spending why not plan it and save as much as possible?

Now I am going to do something a little unusual, I’m going to show you exactly what I’m going to get each one of our friends and family. This list is going to be 100% real. Each month I will update you with what I have purchased at what saving. This way you can follow with Renee and me as we “save our way to a happy Christmas”. Also, I will include what Renee and I want from each other for Christmas.

OK, here is the list. For fun I have included photos of everything we are purchasing. Over the next 5 months you will see us make savings on the following products.

Me and Renee

My Present From Renee

Grand Slam Tennis for the Nintendo Wii $99.95

From K Mart

My Present To Renee

Samsung C5220 Pre Paid Mobile Phone

My local phone dealer does this phone for $239.00

Renee’s and my present to each other

Canon FS21 Digital Camcorder (? Price)

Harvey Norman

Adam’s Family

To both of my parents

A Nintendo Wii (with Wii Sports free) from JB Hi-Fi $379

My Brother Jarrad:

Apple Store iPod Nano 8GB $199.00

Renee’s Family

Renee's Mum

Friends Box Set Ezy DVD $299.97 plus an additional $30.00 for delivery

Total price of $329.97

Renee's Dad

Sony Blu-ray player BDP-S350

Harvey Norman total price $449

As you can see, our total preliminary Christmas list this year will cost us $2374.92 According to the orginal prices that we have been given. Now comes the fun part of trying to lower these prices by finding them cheaper elsewhere. Each month I will give you an update on my progress. However, try and get some ideas for yourself.