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Thanks for visiting my blog. Hope you find some helpful hints for organizing your time and space. My passions are to help you make home a refuge instead of a crisis center, and to help you function in peace rather than chaos - at home or at work. I have switched my main blog to 1-2-3 ... Get Organized on WordPress, so please visit me there.



Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Keeping Track of Gift Purchases


Have you ever bought the same gift for the same person two years in a row? Or totally left someone off your list? Laura, an amazing organizer over at I'm an Organizing Junkie, offers a great way to keep track of gift purchases:

"I use a simple notebook that I use year after year. Each year I write the new year at the top of a blank page and then write the names of all the people I will need to buy gifts for, including birthdays and Christmas.

As I purchase items I mark what was purchased into my notebook so I have a running list of what was bought and still needs to be bought. This system has worked well for me for years. It’s easy to use, I can bring the notebook with me shopping if I need to, and it keeps me from buying duplicates as I can easily look to see what I purchased in previous years.

Not only do I not want to rely on this brain of mine to just remember that kind of stuff but by writing it down I am freeing up all kinds of
mental clutter. Awesome!"

Aren't those great ideas? Thanks, Laura! I'm thinking I need to put this system onto my phone!

How do you keep track of gifts you've purchased?

More on Christmas Shopping:
Destressing Christmas, Part 3, 2009 - Smart Gift-Giving
10 Ways to Streamline Your Shopping
TimeCoupon Sources