Have you ever bought someone a Christmas gift, then hidden it, and lost it? And then you clean out your closet two years later, and there it is, right behind the too-small jeans, except now nobody plays with Rescue Heroes anymore?
Uh, yes ma'am. Many times. The more kids I had, the more likely this scenario became. Or--and this is the worst--I'd find that I'd spent too much one person and not enough on another, and the whole thing felt unbalanced, causing a last-minute scurry.
A few years ago, I started keeping a close record of what I was buying, and for whom. It's simply a list, {DRYER CHILDREN, STOP READING} kept in the back of my daily planner. I start it in the fall, when I first start mulling over gift ideas. When a child mentions something they'd like, I record it on my list. When I've actually purchased it, I circle it. When I've gift-wrapped it (oh, the sense of completion) I cross it off.
Then (and this is key), if I hide it someplace weird, I write down where I hid it.
This list isn't only for my kids' gifts, either. I keep every gift idea/record I have on ONE piece of paper, with notes jotted about sale prices and sweater sizes and any other relevant bit of info. That way I can take it with me when I go shopping. It has saved me a ton of stress, and a good bit of money, too.
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