Christmas shopping

After the holidays is the best time to go shopping, whether it's for cards, calendars or gifts. Everything is on sale and despite conventional fashion wisdom, not much changes from year to year. Last season's leather gloves will be stylish next year. So why not buy them now. Have them paid for and make a great show next holiday. The same holds true for other gift items such as sweaters ans scarves. I do most of my shopping now and have very little to do come December. I have either a special closet or a box to keep my goodies. I also buy for myself. I get those cashmere sweaters on sale and put them away for a year. They make a great surprise. Stemware is also a good deal this time of year. How much does a goblet change from year to year. Then when the garage sale season starts, I keep my eyes peeled for small boxed gifts like jewelry or compacts or perfume sets or other such things that people got for Christmas but didn't really want. I buy them for a dollar to use as stocking stuffers. Another great resource this time of year is the Goodwill or Salvation Army. In order to qualify for a tax deduction, individuals and some times business just dump stuff off before December 31th. It's amazing what's available this time of year and much of it is brand new. Another tactic that works for stretching the Christmas budget is to take all unwanted gifts and sell them on ebay. Make few bucks and use the money for tagging in the summer.