Planning for Holiday Shopping

With tomorrow being Thanksgiving that means the holiday shopping season officially commences the day after. This year I’m attempting to plan ahead and be ready for the big day.

I’ve found that the easiest way for me to keep track of things is to put it all in a spreadsheet. I use Google Sheets, and I set up a spreadsheet with six columns: Recipient, Gift Idea/Details, Where to Buy, Budget, Actual, and ✔ (to mark it done).

It’s nothing fancy, and I prefer it that way as the simplicity of it all helps me easily keep track of everything. Then I just duplicate the sheet each year, and I have the ability to look back on who I got gifts for in previous years and how much I spent on them.

Before committing to the spreadsheet method I used paper and pen. These are a couple of my favorite free printables if you prefer that option.

Holiday Gift Tracking from iHeart Organizing

Christmas Gift Record from A Pair of Pears

How do you keep track of everything for your Christmas shopping?