Printable Gift-Giving Inventory Chart

We hope you've been looking for clearance sales at retail stores lately. If you haven't, go shopping soon and look for those vivid clearance stickers. Stores often have a section just for clearance stuff. Sometimes there's a clearance section in each department of a store. We believe it is always worth a check, in case there is a great gift for someone on your shopping list.

For example, January and February are great months to get winter items on sale for a deeper discount, and you may also find Christmas items for up to 90% off. Stock up on gifts any time you see a clearance section. It saves you money and also saves you time in December by getting ahead with your gift shopping.

We recommend keeping a record of the items you buy throughout the year that may be given as gifts. Maybe you're finding last year's Christmas items on sale now. Perhaps you've seen something that your sister or grandma would like to receive. Buy it for them, saving it for a gift to give next Christmas.

It's not limited to just Christmas items, of course, but general "useful" things as well. Home decor, kitchen gadgets, clothing in someone's favorite brand, sporting goods, popular toys, and more can be found on clearance throughout the year. Get it while it's discounted, and you will be so happy with yourself when the next special occasion rolls around. If you have gifts already on-hand, things that people in your family actually need and want, it makes holidays and birthdays so much easier on the budget. It saves you time, too, because you won't have rush to a store for a last-minute gift. It will already be available in your home because you've become a planner, a money saver, and a great gift-giver.

We like to keep a "gift-bin" in our home that we fill year-round with birthday and Christmas gifts. This sure makes it easier when holidays come around, because we are already ahead of the shopping rush.

If we see a big yarn clearance sale, we buy yarn for a crafty relative. When tools are marked down, we buy them for the handy-man family member. Someone on our list loves candles, so we always keep an eye out for those to be marked down.

Generally, we buy clearance items that are 75% to 90% off of the suggested retail price. But sometimes at 50% certain items will sell out quickly, so we might get those particular items at only half-off, especially when they only have a few left. They may sell-out before they are marked down further, so decisions have to be made on the spot in certain cases. There's nothing like expecting it will still be there next week when the prices may be reduced again, only to find out that the special gift idea is gone (sold-out) by the time you return the following week.

If you decide to stock up on gifts all year long as we have suggested, we have created a "Gift Inventory" chart for you to print out and use as you accumulate the "perfect" gifts - on sale, of course! This chart will help you keep track of what you've purchased, who it is for, and when it should be given.

If your gift list is short, you might only need to print one sheet. But if you are big on gift giving, print out a separate sheet for each person on your list.