Tuesday, August 06, 2013

Ho Ho Ho ... Happy August!


Today I had a few minutes to myself, so I decided to log onto Amazon.  I looked at everyone's wish lists ... and took a look at mine to see what I needed to remove and what I needed to add.   I opened Excel and started my yearly holiday planning spreadsheet.  And then?  Then I made the mistake of writing on Facebook:
There are 140 days until Christmas ... is YOUR Amazon Wish List up to date?? Just saying ... start marking stuff now!!
Well, I kicked a virtual hornet's nest.  Now I'm getting multiple private messages from friends saying, "Who thinks about Christmas this early?" and "Apparently I'm not as organized as you are!"

Normally I buy one or two things "early" ... say November.  Doing that keeps my stress level low and eliminates most of my recurring holiday nightmares.  But this year is different.  

My office is closing September 20th ... and even though I'll be getting severance and unemployment, who knows how long it will take me to get another job?   I can't go crazy December 1st and buy a bus-load of presents.  So ... what can I do?  Start planning now!

I won't get everything, mind you ... but why not pick up a few things so that I won't feel guilty spending money on presents instead of putting it into savings?  I already have two gifts hidden ... why I'm hiding them when I live alone is a subject for either a therapist's couch or another blog post.  But I'm taking baby steps.

I'm planning ... and applying for jobs ... and planning some more.

So on with the boots, back out in the snow
To the only all-night grocery,
When what to my wondering eyes should appear
No lie it's that guy I've been chasing all year!


The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping

5 comments:

  1. I'm with you. Because I'm so lousy with money, I have to start buying gifts in August, and I already have. I even buy a few things in advance when I don't know quite who they're for yet; I just know they're good gifts for SOMEbody. I scoff with you at the scoffers.

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  2. Stephalopolis7:10 PM

    What would be AWESOME is if Midwest was hiring. We recently fired our IT guy, but they had another dude waiting in the wings...

    And hey-- I'm ALL for buying gifts early. I bought my grandparent's Christmas present in January!!!! Although, I'm also really bad at buying and forgetting stuff.... There's some Schnauzer earrings I bought when I was 16 that was supposed to be your Christmas present... pretty sure they're packed away in my garage somewhere :P

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  3. I'm telling you, Scrivener ... it reduces my stress INFINTELY to not have to worry about whether something is delivered on time or if it's out of stock. Last year in early December I ordered one of the girls some of those iPod "touch" gloves ... and, of course, at the last minute, the company said they were out of stock and wouldn't be delivered until after the 25th. SIGH ... it's not that it ruined Christmas and I still gave her the gloves but ... COMMON!

    Hey, Steph ... do you have more than one Amazon list? I have the one you both made for your wedding ... it only has two things on it? Do you have another one just for you for Christmas/Birthday, etc? Does Stewie have one? Just curious ... :)

    Aw, that's too bad about Midwest ... that would've been great! So what you're saying ... I have schnauzer earrings coming at some point! SWEET! haha :)

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  4. PS - Steph ... um, due to privacy concerns, I don't expect you to answer that question here. LOL After re-thinking it, maybe you could FB me the answer to that? Thanks! LOL

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  5. Stephalopolis7:57 PM

    uhhhh.... well, I don't think it matters that I answer here, cuz the answer? I don't think I ever made an Amazon Wish list. Guess I should do that, huh?

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