What you wanted for a whole year and what will be useful to you as a useful and necessary thing, you can buy at the New Year's Eve sale. But to organize your thoughts, you need a list. Lists can be compiled both in applications like "Buy a Loaf" and Wunderlist, or just on paper. After a while, go back to the compiled list again and carefully re-read it: is there anything there that can be crossed out? Even when choosing gifts for children, pay attention to their wishes.
You should not buy something too expensive and pretentious, if you have enough money only for this purchase, and that's it. The most reasonable approach is to set aside some amount of money every month for the whole year for the holidays, so that by the end of the year the amount will be "in reserve". Do not spend more than 60% of the family budget on gifts. The holidays will pass quickly, and the needs, such as utility bills, food and other mandatory expenses, will not go away. Our people still have a strange tradition of gaining loans and installments for the New Year, but I'll tell you about it a little later.
For example, you may want a console, but you will play it 2 times a month, because you return from work late. A child may want an iPhone, but the parents' salary is only enough for a third of the iPhone :) You can even take out a loan and buy home a couple of speakers and a cool guitar at the New Year's Eve sale – but do not flatter yourself with the hope that by working 10-12 hours a day 6 days a week, you will have time and desire to play it. And so you can give and give more and more new examples. The essence is simple: give and buy for yourself and others only what, in addition to their fleeting desires or hobbies, they really like and will really be in demand, if not daily, then at least 3-4 times a week.
In the eyes of discounts, price tags and promotional offers, it is already rippling. The closer to the New Year, the more difficult it will be to figure it out. Price aggregators (Runet and foreign) will help you compare and choose those products that have really fallen in price, check the reputation of stores, compare delivery terms and warranty period for the same model of gadget or other gift you have chosen.
Offline trading is another separate world, which is full of its own "pitfalls". Sometimes, after reading the fine print on the price tag, you suddenly discover that the price, which seemed sensationally low, is actually 10% higher, because you still have to pay VAT, and even higher – if you do not take a loan to buy. If you choose an item in the New Year period, always ask the consultants in detail about the conditions of discounts and promotions, the price of an out-of-stock purchase, warranty, the possibility of return and exchange, warranty periods and similar important details. It is especially necessary to approach all these issues carefully if you are buying a gift under the Christmas tree not for yourself or your child, but for relatives, friends, colleagues – i.e. other adults. After all, if they encounter unpleasant surprises like a breakdown or repair, or the need to return an unsuccessful gift to the store, they should not have any problems with this.
I have already mentioned above about the fashion for installments and loans under the Christmas tree. It is not necessary to start the year with a bundle of financial obligations and debts: it is not a matter of superstition, but of simple home accounting. Having collected loans and payments, you, thereby, start your family budget in the new year with a negative balance. Who will fill it for you if you already spend more than you earned from the start? In addition, as a rule, New Year's installments and loans have rather strict conditions for non-payment, overdue payments, and early repayment. All the nuances of such contracts should be carefully studied, even if you still decided to take out a loan to purchase a New Year's gift (after all, someone can also buy an apartment or a house "under the Christmas tree").
You gave your parents a great new TV – but if it breaks down, then the nearest official service center is only in the neighboring city. It didn't work out very well. At the same time, if you bought a TV with the same parameters, but from another manufacturer, whose SC is in your city, you could save on time, nerves, calls and forwarding of broken equipment. In addition, online stores and retail outlets that do not provide a full-fledged official guarantee or agreements with the SC are likely to implement "gray" and "black" deliveries of goods for which there may not be any certificates and guarantees from brands at all.
And finally, I would like to remind you that if the refrigerator has been in the house for a long time, and you bought a game console of the newest model for equivalent money, then this is not a very reasonable choice. Gamers in your family will surely be happy with the gift; but when an old refrigerator burns down in a month, you will have to sell the console and buy a refrigerator. Or take a loan to buy a refrigerator, because the new PS 4 will not freeze your food. If your children do not have comfortable winter shoes, and instead you bought them 2 sets of bakugans and a bunch of other games, then maybe it's worth telling the child that you should start by asking Santa Claus for good warm shoes?
And remember the main thing: it is not an expensive gift that is important, but attention to those whom you value, love, respect, remember and care about. Bright price tags and famous brands that try to drown out this thought in you during the sales period are transitory. But choosing a gift with intelligence, usefulness and a "highlight" that will be pleasant to the recipient is a little art, if you want.
