I have been shopping for years. (Clothes being my specialty) I have been to many a mall at 8:30pm during the holiday season, waiting in line while my feet ache and sweat ran down my brow. The thought of carrying bags, and boxes from one store to another in search of the right gift, for the right person, at the right price, is nothing short of terrifying.

Think about it for a second. How does the average person shop? There are two main ways. By impulse buying, or by making a list and following it. When you do the impulse buying thing, you put your god given memory skills to the true test. You’re out driving back home from work or it’s the weekend and your running around for one reason or another. You see a store, you say, “I have enough money to get some of these gifts out of the way. You pull in the parking lot and from that moment on your time is gone, your body is about to be worked out and you don’t even know if your going to find the gift your looking for. You walk around hoping you’ll see a gift for the right person, at the right price. Good luck! You might have some time left in your day to catch a movie later if it works out. There is no guarantee of success.

Let’s look at the other way. You plan your list and your time. First of all it has to be a day off, and I do mean a whole day off. After you have planed to shop on a certain day you have to go down your list and think about who gets what and how much you plan to spend. You’re ready. It’s off to the mall or to one of the all in one superstores. You have a good plan but who knows how much your going to spend on each gift, an how long it’s going to take. Best case scenario you get all your gifts, for all the right people at the prices you expected. Guess what? Bags and boxes that’s what! If you did get everything, you needed, you still have to get them to the car and unpack the car when you get home. Not to mention the gas money and the mall’s food expense to keep your energy up.