I have never been one of these highly organized Christmas shoppers who has all their Christmas shopping done by the 4th of July. I’ve said that a lot around here. Invariably, every September I start trying to figure out what I’m going to do about Christmas. It’s funny because if you mention that you are looking forward to the holidays people groan, they don’t want to even think about it. But, if you mention that you are trying to get a jump on it so the holiday season doesn’t steamroll you… well, the response isn’t much better.

First order of business for me is to hop over to FlyLady.Net and download the Holiday Control Journal. I think I mentioned something about this all being clear to me between the turkey and the ham last February. I actually did jot down a bunch of notes and stashed them in the binder where my holiday control journal goes. At least I’m slightly ahead there.

The point is, I’m at the time of year where if I am going to get any projects done for the holidays I kind of need to start planning them out now at the very least and I need to save as much money as possible. Fortunately, I found some places with coupons and discounts for Fabric, craft items through JoAnn’s, and a whole lot of other places as well. For example, Fabric.com Coupons will come in handy for ribbon, buttons, and various craft supplies. There are alsoPersonal Creations Coupons for PersonalCreations.Com, a website dedicated to personalized gifts with the recipients name on different items like t-shirts, mugs, frames, etc. With all this shopping, planning, etc. sometimes we need to take care of ourselves as well so they also have Her Room Coupons for discounts on lingerie, etc.

While we are on the topic of saving money, I know a lot of people go to the movies over the holidays and there is a site that has partnered with Fandango and saves you money on movie tickets. Get Your Free Movie Ticket here and it looks like you get extra free tickets by referring friends. That takes the ouch out of a movie outing, especially if you are the kind of person or family that likes to go to the movies often.

Are you planning on doing anything home-made or handmade for Christmas gifts this year? What are you doing? I’m always looking for new ideas.