Christmas is coming!

I love the holidays, I love it for the family gatherings, the decorations, having a break from school/work, relaxing. . .and also presents are nice. As October draws to a close, I am beginning to realize how soon the big holidays will be upon us. This is both exciting and scary at the same time. You see, I love buying presents for people, and I don't usually stick to a budget, I just spend, spend, spend and this year I can't really do that. Being a one income household and not living under the umbrella of my parents, I need to watch myself and not get into debt. My sister is doing the smart thing and making presents, (check out her sweet blog) which I would do if that crafty gene had been blessed to me, but right now, I have not discovered my trade. (Unless you count baking, but baked goods will not wrap nicely or hold up over a long period of time and they might make people fat) I will be so tempted to buy lots this year, especially when it comes to decorations because who wants to have a naked Christmas tree in the living room. Not this girl. I've always had a safety net of money and never understood those people who lived paycheck to paycheck or say stuff like I just spent my last $20. Thankfully I don't (and still have that safety net) know what that feels like. The holidays are so much more than presents but it is still nice to be able to give people you love something that makes them happy or that they really want. I am itching to start buying gifts for people but the frugal part of me is telling myself to wait for a sale or look for a coupon. Not that I am a crazy couponer. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy getting coupons in the mail, but I limit myself to only cutting out the ones that I would buy even if I didn't have the coupon. And I don't like the ones where you have to buy like 3 items to get $1 off. That's lame. I could just buy one item and save the money from the other two and it would be worth more than a dollar. So here I am, what to buy, how much, should I start now, what do they want, oh the questions are endless. At least I am only working at the mall one more day and then I won't have to gaze longingly at Macy's and their beautiful red Christmas balls hanging from the ceiling, with their white snowflakes, and cinnamon spicy smell. . . I'm getting carried away. Off to browse the internet for inspiration on good presents. Perhaps I'll start with pintrest.

xox