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6 Top Reasons Why Shopping After the Holidays Makes More Sense
Here are more advantages to shopping in January!
By: Aimee Morales | January 01, 2023
Get smart tips for more savings!
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Whenever the New Year comes around, there aren’t many people who go on shopping sprees. Many have already used up their shopping money over the holidays. Also, everyone’s busy catching up on work or resuming classes. It just seems impractical to be shopping for stuff.
Some find, however, stocking up on things you might need for the coming weeks and months to be more beneficial for many reasons. First of all, one can take advantage of post-holiday sales and discounts. Secondly, it can be a big part of one’s planning or strategizing for the New Year. And third, some of the items you might need for the summer or the next school year, for example, are selling cheaply. Here’s your shopping guide for January!
1. Make a list (even early in the previous year) before stocking up.
Save yourself from more shopping trips by buying gifts in one go!
Image: Stock photo
If you’re like most people who cleaned out their closets and cabinets, threw out unwanted stuff, and donated selected belongings by the end of the previous year, then you can quickly see if there are things you need more of this year. After going through your shelves to throw away old and broken items, you needed to stock up on certain office supplies. For each cabinet, write down the things you need. This shopping list comes in handy when you finally find yourself in the mall early in January.
2. For less hassle throughout the New Year, buy gifts in bulk!
Save yourself from more shopping trips by buying gifts in one go!
Image: Stock photo
Some people shop for birthday presents at the start of the year. Busy people can take one day early in the year to get gifts for loved ones, so there is no need to go out and shop for one birthday present at a time. You can even save some cash if you buy in bulk. You can buy a vast stash of nice pens because most of the shops in the Philippines are on sale. You can pair it with a notebook—which you can also get in volume—and give it to some friends celebrating birthdays.
3. Prepare for your trips early.
If you have an out-of-the-country trip in the summer, get your things early to avoid the summer rush.
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Articles of clothing can be bought at the start of the year, provided that you’re someone who can, more or less, maintain the same weight or size for some time. Take stock of travels lined up for the year and see if there is anything you might need for these trips. If you know you’re going to the beach this year and need a new bikini, you can probably get a pair or two at the start of the year when the beachwear section of the department store isn’t too crowded yet.
4. Fill up your pantry with food items that won’t perish quickly.
Reuse old jars and bottles for eco-friendly containers!
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Perhaps, one of the things you like to do at the start of the year is to go grocery shopping and stock up your kitchen with items that have run out or new things you want to try in the coming weeks. If you’re a planner, you know this will save you a lot of time because you’ll have what you need in your kitchen whenever you need it.
If there was a time, you felt like baking a big batch of muffins and cookies for everybody, stocked up on boxes of flour, sugar, oatmeal (for the cookies!), and other ingredients that are not easily perishable. When the baking time came around, the whole pantry helped you encourage to go through with it because the ingredients were already there! This shopping guide enables you to save a lot!
5. Buy essentials in bulk!
Although your bill is more significant when you buy in bulk, you ultimately get more savings!
Image: Pexels
Spices and herbs, cookies, teas, coffee, chips, biscuits, and condiments are just some items on your list. Bulk shopping for toiletries like bath soap, toothpaste, big bottles of shampoos and conditioners, paper products, detergent, and other necessities can be bought way in advance. Watch out for New Year sales because there are plenty of discounts to take advantage of at the start of every year.
Buying bulk from the source makes more sense, too, so don’t hesitate to go to the warehouse or factory. For example, you can go directly to the Uratex factory in Quezon City if you need plastic products or new bedding. Or if you’re planning to buy organic toiletries to last the whole year, you can buy from the extensive Human Nature on Commonwealth outlet. You just need to plan carefully—what you need and where to get them—to get the best value for money.
6. Be wise with your money.
Having enough money at the beginning of the year means saving well in the previous year!
Image: Stock photo
To pull off an excellent shopping activity very early in the year, one also needs to be wise with money. Do not spend all your cash on Christmas celebrations and gift-giving. If you have received unexpected cash gifts and bonuses, you can even set these aside and use some of them to shop for the year’s necessities. Some people are in financial trouble come January because they went through some pretty extravagant Christmas and pre-Christmas spending binges. If you can budget your money correctly, you’ll have enough for your New Year shopping spree.
Once you have made your list, try to see if you can find information online regarding New Year sales and post-Christmas promos in some shops in the Philippines. Then you can match these with your list. Usually, the sales are advertised prominently, so it shouldn’t be a problem trying to get information on which malls or stores are having a sale.
And when the New Year shopping activity is over, you may not need to worry about shopping too much for the rest of the year. You might have to go bulk shopping once or twice more, but that’s it. It takes some planning, but just imagine the time and money you will be able to save if you can do this shopping business well. You may have to drop by the stores for things you may have missed or new needs that pop up unexpectedly or replenish the perishables, but the shopping trips may now be few and far between, which means more savings.
Give it a try and see if it’s a system that works for your household. Happy shopping!
Visit Yoorekka Magazine for more helpful shopping tips!
This article was initially published in Yoorekka on January 05, 2017.
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About Aimee Morales
Aimee Morales is a freelance writer and editor. She is the founder of FLOW, a small community of writers who write for healing and inspiration. She started the Freelance Writers' Guild of the Philippines (FWGP) in 2010 and served as its president until September 2020. Balangay Productions published her first book, “Why Mandaya Teens Have Sharp Black Teeth” in 2015. Five years later in 2020, she published her second book (an eBook) titled, “Alignment: Lessons on Writing”. Aimee is a single mother, tai chi and eskrima practitioner, and creator of the #santoshaproject - a personal effort to encourage more people to incorporate the Santosha gratitude practice into their daily lives.
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