With the season's sales and gift-giving spirit, it’s easy to get swept up in impulse buying, leading to clutter and overwhelm. This week on the podcast we discuss strategies for mindful holiday shopping. We introduce a simple shopping plan to help listeners stay intentional, focusing on needs, wants, and gifts, and avoiding the pitfalls of overspending. Plus, don’t miss out on our Organized for the Holidays in 21 Days challenge starting November 18, 2024 for daily organizing prompts to keep you on track this holiday season!
Find all of the links mentioned in this episode at https://theorganizedflamingo.com/quicklinks
In this episode we talk about:
- How to create a mindful shopping plan for the holidays
- The difference between needs, wants, and gifts in holiday shopping
- Tips for avoiding clutter and overspending during seasonal sales
Mentioned in this Episode:
Organized for the Holidays in 21 Days Challenge: A day-by-day organizing guide to keep you stress-free throughout the holiday season. Sign up for reminders in the show notes or follow us on Instagram @theorganizedflamingo.
Downloadable Shopping Plan Worksheet: Available on The Organized Flamingo Shop to help you categorize your holiday shopping list by needs, wants, and gifts.
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The Organized & Productive podcast is brought to you by The Organized Flamingo and hosted by Stephanie Y. Deininger! For those of you who love the thought of organizing & being more productive, but don’t know where to start or constantly up against hurdles that don’t let you advance the way you want to, this podcast is for you!
Review full show notes and resources at https://theorganizedflamingo.com/podcast
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Review the Transcript:
Stephanie [00:00:00]:
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Organized and Productive, the podcast with me, Stephanie, AKA the Organized Flamingo. Today we are sharing a replay of one of your favorite holiday episodes, one of the most popular ones. This one is filled with tips on staying mindful while shopping during the festive season. So we thought it was a great time for us to replay it. And even though if you've heard it before, I do have a couple of announcements really quick that I think you will want to be a part of. It's our annual 21 Days organized for the Holidays in 21 Days challenge, where we take on day one and then every day we have a prompt to get you organized during the holiday season. So you'll definitely want to miss that.
Stephanie [00:00:44]:
And this is a reminder for that. So it's easy to just get all caught up in the holiday rush, right? And this episode will help you just step back for a minute, think about what your plan for the holidays will be as far as shopping and bringing new things into your home. Because that's just kind of the way it can be. Even if it's not expensive things or big things. People are in the giving season and I personally think that's beautiful and lovely. But because they do give, whether it's small things or big things, stuff can start accumulating. So this is a good time for you to just step back for a minute and think about a plan, or at least be thinking about what you'd like to do with the stuff that is incoming. And if you have a strategy for things that are no longer needed, you don't need, you don't want.
Stephanie [00:01:31]:
And if you have a strategy for letting those things go so they don't start cluttering your space. Okay, so I'm super excited to announce the Organize for the Holidays in 21 Days challenge, which is coming up. We do this every year. This is, I think now our fifth year, maybe coming up, starting November 18th. In the show notes, I have where to sign up. So you get reminders, but basically it's over on Instagram. So if you're already following us at the Organized Flamingo on Instagram, then you're all set. But if not and you don't want to and or you don't want to be on Instagram, I will have a recap on our weekly newsletter on Wednesday.
Stephanie [00:02:05]:
So you'll want to sign up for that. These are it's a day by day guide designed to keep you organized and stress free as we approach the holiday. So this is like a little by little, step by step, Momentum that can help you reach your goal so that it doesn't feel so overwhelming. So whether you're tuning in for the first time or need a refresher, let's dive into today's episode on mindful shopping, creating a holiday plan that avoids overspending and staying focused on what really matters. Enjoy. Welcome to the Organized and Productive podcast with the Organized Flamingo. I am your host, Stephanie, a professional organizer and productivity expert. Ready to explore the right organizing and productivity solutions for you.
Stephanie [00:02:47]:
Yeah. Well, then, let's go. Hey, Organized and Productive community and listeners, welcome to another episode of our podcast. I am really excited about today's conversation because it starts the topic of the holiday season and organizing during the holiday season. And as many of you know, I am a big fan of seasonal decluttering and seasonal organizing, which really means that you work with the season, whatever that season may be. So in this case, it's the holiday season or the fall winter season, and you naturally declutter and or organize according to what you're taking out in the moment. So this time of the year is when you're going into the basement, the attic, the closets, and you're getting stuff out, if you have holiday stuff to put out and. Or you are doing some natural decluttering because at the end of the year and the beginning of the year, it just presents itself to leaving, you know, or discarding of things that you no longer need.
Stephanie [00:03:44]:
So it's just such a natural time for us to look into our closets and dig a little deeper into the boxes that have been accumulating. And so that's why I like to talk about this subject matter in the moment. Now, this is going to be a series of different conversations about how do you get organized during the holiday season or the end of the season. So today's episode is focused more on mindful shopping, and we're going to talk about how to create a shopping plan that can get you a little bit more organized and avoid the overspending during the holidays. So let's get started. Welcome to the Organized and Productive podcast with the Organized Flamingo. I am your host, Stephanie, a professional organizer and productivity expert. Ready to explore the right organizing and productivity solutions for you.
Stephanie [00:04:31]:
Yeah. Well, then, let's go. Okay, so before we get started, I just want to mention really quick that today we are going to talk about how to create a shopping plan for the holidays and how to avoid the overspending, but we're not going to touch upon the mental health piece of it or the addiction part. Of overspending or shopping that is out of control. We are saving that conversation when we are when we talk to a mental health practitioner who will be on the podcast and we're going to talk all about the mental health disorder that comes with overspending and how to and some tips that they will offer us on how to avoid that. But that's a conversation for a separate episode. Today is more about how to create a mindful shopping plan and how to prepare a little bit ahead of time before all the sales, before you start making the list, before you start buying all the holiday gifts and all the things that come with the holidays, let's just be a little bit mindful about what our game plan is. So one of the biggest culprits of clutter and feeling overwhelmed with digital and physical things is excess stuff.
Stephanie [00:05:41]:
And this happens quite often when you just don't impulse buy. You will buy with no plan, and then slowly the piles stack up and now you're left with a lot of stuff. I'm sure many of you can relate to this. And by the way, side note, this is not about making you feel guilty. This is about knowing that you're not alone. And a lot of these actions are very normal. And with a little bit of planning and with a little bit of thoughtfulness, we can avoid it getting worse and worse. Okay, so this is not about making you feel guilty or any of that.
Stephanie [00:06:13]:
But I know many of us and many of you can relate to this, that you will overbuy because the thing you thought you had is hidden in a drawer or hidden in a closet and you can't find it. And so now you buy a duplicate of something, or maybe you bought something at the beginning of the year when it was on sale with thoughts that it was going to be a holiday gift for someone and a birthday gift or just a token of appreciation type of gift, and you forgot you had it, because out of sight, out of mind, especially for neurodivergence, if you didn't see it, you forgot about it. And now you bought another gift for that person for the holidays, for their birthday, and now you have two or three or four, and now all the duplicates start to accumulate. So we call this impulse buying because you don't think about it, you really just kind of go buy when you need it in the moment without even thinking through what you have, what you don't have, or without a plan. Sometimes it's intentional and sometimes most of the time it's not. It's truly just because you Forgot that you even had that item. And now it's just getting. The piles are getting bigger and bigger.
Stephanie [00:07:25]:
So there will be no shortage of tempting sales over the next few weeks with Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, the end of the year sales, all of those things, and all of those fighting for your attention and spending money. So today we are going to start making our plan over what you intend to buy so that you don't miss out on the really good sales. Because once you think about, okay, these are the things that I need, you will be more on the lookout for the things that you need, not just the things that are passing by. And you're impulse buying. So get yourself a spreadsheet or a piece of paper or something to that effect where you can write and divide the sheet into three sections. The three sections are need, want, and gift. So those are the three sections, need, want, and gift. Okay, so let's start off with the first column, which is the need column, and let's talk about it in detail.
Stephanie [00:08:21]:
So the need column is all about the essential items that you need in your life, like the need, the essentials, in order to lead a healthy, merry, and fulfilled life. I don't want to be the person to tell you what you need in your life. That's not my place. And so you, you, you're the one that, you know, understands what it is that you need there. The second column is all about the wants. And these are items that would be nice to have but not essential. So you kind of see the difference. The need is I need, like, you know, I need new clothes for work.
Stephanie [00:08:56]:
That's a really good example. Like those are, I need new clothes for work because work, you know, allows me to make money and pay my bills, etc. Etc. And then I'm going to describe what some examples in each of the categories in just a second. Okay, so that's the difference between the need and the want. The want is, well, it would be nice to have this, but I don't need it. It's not part of my essential. It's not bringing me money.
Stephanie [00:09:20]:
It's not the essential thing for me, like food. So that's the want category and the second category. Then we go over to the third column, the third category, and it's called gift. And these are gifts. Gift or gifts. Gift is an idea or they're ideas that you've been thinking about for someone other than yourself. So it's gifts, things that you're going to be gifting. Those are the three columns and the Details within each column.
Stephanie [00:09:46]:
Now let's talk about what goes into each category and the tips I'm going to give you on how you can utilize this plan. Each of those columns will have its own sheet, which by the way, you can actually download this entire exercise for free over on our online shop, which is the Organized Flamingo Shop. So if you're following along, but you're more of a visual person and you just need it in front of you, then go ahead and download that. But if you're more of a DIYer and you want to create your own and you are listening to this and you can kind of create your own in your own head and then do your own thing, then that's awesome. So you know you have options here. So the first again, so the first sheet is just the three categories and then each of those categories will have its own sht. So in theory you have four pieces of paper or they could be longer, obviously, if your list is longer. But the need will have its own sheet of paper or own digital page.
Stephanie [00:10:42]:
And the need section is the. Okay, what do I need? Right, so you will then write down, first part is, what do I need it for? Do you need it for work? Do you need it to eat or live? You kind of create your own needs. Again, I don't want to be the person to tell you what you need in your life. You know, what you need in your life and for your life. So you will write down I need this in order to fill in the blank. And then, so that's the first out of the columns. The second is what is the item that you need in an overall description. So let's say you need a new pair of pants for work.
Stephanie [00:11:23]:
So you will put for work. The item is a new pair of pants, maybe a suit or something like that. Then from there you will start writing down. Whenever you see something come up, like a sale that comes up, you will write down what store or maybe the store that you like or the store that you saw that item at. So you're going to write down the stores, you're going to keep tally of what stores have this item that you're looking for. And then the next two categories, the next two columns within this sheet of your need section is where did you see a deal? Have you seen a deal? And you're going to start keeping track that way. Now remember, this is a plan. So this is not necessarily your shopping list or the exact tracking of where you're seeing the deals.
Stephanie [00:12:12]:
This is a plan. This is for you to Start thinking ahead of time. So in the example of I'm looking for new pants for work, then you are going to start writing down where typically you would shop for, where you have seen that there's pants that you like that fit you. And so you're going to then from this list, start saving and subscribing to those stores and to those places that you normally frequent. Maybe you haven't subscribed to that store or to that E newsletter, if it's a digital online store, or this is going to make sure that you are getting the alerts from maybe your favorite boutique. And so this is the plan for the items that you're thinking of buying that you need. And of course, you can pause this entire episode as you go along and you kind of need to work through some of these exercises. The next section is very similar to the need.
Stephanie [00:13:09]:
It's the want. And so you're going to have the same columns and you're going to write down what is it that I would like to have? Again, it's not a need, it's what would I like to have. And then put the description over what it is that you would like to, why you would like to have it. And then now the difference here between the want and the need is I don't, you know, you probably won't have a reason as to why you want it. Sometimes the reason is I just think it's cute. Maybe that is a reason, you know. So the reason is going to be a little bit more vague than in the need spreadsheet or in that worksheet. So the want is a little bit more generalized.
Stephanie [00:13:46]:
That's okay. That's the whole point as to why you have two different plans. So in your want spreadsheet or sheet, you're going to write down, okay, what is it that I've been wanting to have? Maybe it's a brand new pair of shoes. I don't need these new heels or boots, but I would, I really want them. And so you're going to write down the want. You're going to say, I want these red boots. I would like to have them because they're really cute. And then you're going to write down similar to the need, what store have you seen it at? What is a store that you have, you know, you think you might see it at maybe a local boutique that you saw it once and you like to be on the lookout for again.
Stephanie [00:14:26]:
That's that third section, by the way. I don't know if you have noticed, but I Have not mentioned anything about money and pricing. I don't necessarily want you to focus on how much it costs right now because this is not a financial plan. This is a shopping plan, which is very different. This is the type of plan where you write down your needs, your wants, and what you're thinking about gifting so that you can start looking out for prices after. This is the one that will fit into your financial plan. Now, if you are working within a certain budget, this shopping plan is going to help you see what it is. Like, what's the bigger picture? What are all of my needs, wants, and the things that I'm thinking about gifting so that you can start creating a budget from this plan.
Stephanie [00:15:16]:
So that's why intentionally, I do not have a dollar amount section for you to write down. You can, if you are a go getter and you're like, okay, no, I need to have like a price attached to this or else I'm lost. Or else it just doesn't make sense. Great, you add that column if you need to, but that's not the point of the shopping plan. This is just putting together your shopping list. Almost like a grocery list, right? Like you don't, when you do your grocery list, you don't put how much each thing costs. I mean, like I said, some of you do and it's part of your habit and that's. It works great for you and you should continue that.
Stephanie [00:15:55]:
But if you don't, it's just like a shopping list, like a grocery list. You put bananas and milk and water and all the things in a list without the price. So this is very similar to that. Okay, so for the last sheet is the gift and this is the place where you are writing down all the gifts that you intend on giving. So it's the, you know, the gifts for your kiddos. The. If you celebrate Christmas, you know what it is that you want to give for Christmas. Maybe you know, whatever other holidays you're celebrating.
Stephanie [00:16:26]:
Maybe you all do Thanksgiving holidays. Like you all get together as a family and that's when you do your gift giving. Whatever it is. Like any gifts during the holiday season is. This is where you're going to write it down in this section. This whole section is all about naming the person. So now you're going to have a person in mind. So sometimes some people in their plan, they start with categories of people, so not necessarily names of people.
Stephanie [00:16:56]:
They'll write down for my coworkers or for my friends or for my neighbor. So maybe you have more of a Like to start off your plan, you have a generalized list. That's okay too. So maybe if it's for your neighbors or maybe the teachers for your kiddos, you'll write teachers, right? Like teachers gifts. And then that's where you're going to write down the ideas of what you're thinking about and where you think you want to buy them. Where you need to go on the lookout for what do you need to subscribe to so you can get their alerts for when the deals are happening? Okay, so you have your sheets all ready to go and now it start. This is like the brainstorming session and plan. From here this is where we will then go to a more formalized, actionable list and or budget.
Stephanie [00:17:47]:
Take this plan to the next level for whatever your natural tendency, however your natural tendencies are. So if you're more of a budget shopper, this list is going to help you determine. Okay, you know I have X amount of money to spend during the holidays and these are the categories I need to shop for this year. I have more needs than wants. I started a new job so I need more work clothes. Therefore my wants are going to be shorter. Or maybe this year you it's completely opposite. You know, I have plenty of my work items.
Stephanie [00:18:16]:
Like I don't really need. I don't really need. My needs list is fulfilled. I've been able to fulfill it during the year. This year is all about gifting myself a little something. You know, I got a big bonus or I just, I've been saving for a while and I'm looking for like a new wardrobe or maybe you are in a new chapter in your life and so you're looking for some more wants versus needs. And so this is going to help your budget and your bigger plan. It's going to feed into that.
Stephanie [00:18:47]:
And just remember that this shopping plan exercise is meant to help you create a game plan for what you need, what you want and what you should buy during this holiday season. So to be a little bit more thoughtful ahead of time and not get so wrapped up in the overspending and the moment of you were presented by a deal and then you think it's a good deal, but in reality it really wasn't. So I hope this plan exercise helps you get started with your holiday shopping with your holiday plans. And until next time, happy organizing. Thank you for listening to the Organized and productive podcast with the Organized Flamingo. If you enjoy today's episode, I would love it if you'd leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast player. It helps with letting people know that we're here. For full show notes and resources, head on over to the organized flamingo.com podcast.
Stephanie [00:19:38]:
Happy organizing.
