I absolutely LOVE after Christmas Sales. Why? Because things I know I'll need for the next holiday season can be had for next to nothing.
See all the items in the picture above? The price before Christmas would have been $54.32 including tax.
I paid $20.97. For everything.
That's a savings of $ 33.35!
.
My normal strategy is to stock up on supplies that I know I'll need for the next year. Things like gift bags, Christmas cards, tissue paper, plates and napkins. I save, on average, anywhere from 50%-70%. That's a nice little after Christmas gift to me!
The items in the picture above I picked up at Ollie's and Big Lots, but any place that sells Christmas decorations and supplies typically have similar sales in the days following Christmas. Be sure to check places like grocery stores, pharmacies, and hardware stores, too. Some of my very best deals have come from Ace Hardware.
As with any effective frugal strategy, there is some planning necessary to ensure you are getting the most bang for your buck and not purchasing things you don't really need. I accomplish this by organizing my Christmas supplies into labeled storage containers. (More on my storage system in an upcoming post.) Each year when we get our Christmas things out, I do a quick inventory of what we have on hand and note anything we might be getting low on so I'll know what to look for when I do my after Christmas shopping.
Next, when I set my Christmas budget, I check my "what's needed" list and build an amount into my budget to be spent after the holiday on these kinds of things. That way the money is already earmarked for this purpose and there are no budgetary surprises after the holiday. Win-win.
If you're not already doing this, give it a shot. You'll definitely save a ton of "jingle" on the stuff you'll be buying at some point anyway.
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