Christmas In August? Here's How I Deal With Early Seasonal Shopping

Retailers tend to have a single goal -- to make money. And so they tend to employ different tactics to get consumers to reach into their wallets or swipe their credit cards.

One such tactic, for example, is to set up fun-looking displays at the end of different aisles. Another is to simply slap the word "sale" on a sign in the hopes of it triggering something in people's brains to capitalize on a so-called great deal.

In recent years, though, retailers have adopted a strategy that I'm really not a fan of. I call it getting ahead of the seasons, and it goes as follows.

Rather than waiting until September to put out Halloween candy, many stores get it on the shelves in July. You'll also start to see Christmas trees in August, Easter baskets in January, and so forth.

I don't like this trend because rather than getting me excited for those future events, it gets me anxious and annoyed. I'll worry, for example, that if I don't scoop up my bulk bag of Halloween candy in July, there won't be any left in mid-October, when I'd normally purchase it.

Similarly, in recent years, I've run into issues with not being able to find all of my holiday gifts in November and December. So when I see seasonal stuff hit the shelves in August, I'm often inclined to shell out the money.

The whole getting ahead of the season trend has the potential to throw a lot of people's finances off-course. And that's just one of several traps you might fall into. So here's how I manage this new and, frankly, unwanted phenomenon.

I make a point to get organized

Last year, I did some of my holiday shopping well ahead of the season. And you know what happened? I did such a great job of hiding the gifts I purchased in my basement closet that by the time the holidays rolled around months later, I'd forgotten about them. In fact, I remember discovering a handful of gifts multiple weeks after the holidays ended and cursing my decision to purchase them.

This year, I'm being smarter about keeping tabs on my holiday purchases. Call it dorky, but I'm maintaining a spreadsheet that lists not only the holiday items I've purchased ahead of time, but exactly where in my house they're located. That way, I won't have a repeat where I forget about things I've already spent money on.

I save for the holidays all year round

Some people first start putting money into their savings accounts for the holidays during the fall. But given the whole getting-ahead-of-the-season trend, for me, that's too late. I can't first start setting money aside for the holidays in October if I need to begin my shopping in August or September.

That's why I've started allocating money for holiday purchases as early as January. Now, if you missed that boat this year, you can't go back in time. But given that the trend is probably here to stay, you may want to make a point to start saving for the 2024 holidays this coming January.

A trend that's not going away

Because retailers are putting out holiday items earlier and earlier, consumers are following their lead. A good 46% of consumers started their holiday shopping before November last year, says the National Retail Federation, up from 39% in 2019.

While you may not like the idea of feeling pressured to do your shopping so far ahead of the season, it's important to put yourself in a position where you can at least afford to do so. Just as importantly, create a system that prevents you from misplacing the gifts you're buying ahead of time, whether it's a spreadsheet, a series of sticky notes on your desk, or something else that works well for you.