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Step 1
Think back to any mall you’ve ever visited between Black Friday and Christmas Eve. If those thoughts give you anxiety attacks, extreme rage or annoyance at the amount of people you will encounter in one area at a time, you’re likely to get motivated to get a head start on shopping.
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Step 2
Keep an eye out for Christmas gifts as early as Halloween. As soon as stores start putting out Halloween decorations, start thinking of who you need to buy for and what they might like. The earlier you start formulating gift ideas, the more time you’ll have to find said gifts.
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Step 3
Buy gifts in stages. Don’t set aside one pressure-filled day to try and find gifts for everyone on your list. Buy a few gifts here and there and you’re bound to feel less stressed out.
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Step 4
Set Black Friday as your deadline to be done (or at least almost done) with your shopping; consider it your Christmas Eve. Any time you can shop before Black Friday will ensure that the stores will be less crowded. With stores putting out Christmas merchandise, cards and decorations right after (or sometimes around the same time as) Halloween, you’ll still be able to buy Christmas-themed items that you need fairly early as well.
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Step 5
Take advantage of all the other things you can be doing, as it gets closer to Christmas and you don’t have to spend time in a mall. Look at Christmas light displays. Watch Christmas specials. Bake Christmas cookies. And laugh to yourself at how you aren’t standing in a line in a department store, listening to the same tired Christmas CD while the man in front of you argues about the price of the gift he’s trying to purchase.
