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How To Save Time During the Holidays

“babysavers”

 

**This giveaway has ended. Congratulations to Dorothy!**

I don't know about you, but I find the holiday season exciting, heartwarming, but also incredibly exhausting! As a Minnesota Mom with family on both the north and south ends of the state, I find myself driving long distances to multiple destinations nearly every weekend. I'm also a deal blogger, which means many hours at the computer and time offline planning posts and strategizing the best ways to get shopping information to my lovely readers. Throw in Christmas parties, baking, shopping, gift-wrapping, cards and all the rest of the Christmas craziness and I could use a personal assistant to keep me on track for the entire month of December!

I'm not known as being the most organized mom out there, and my life can get downright disastrous around Christmastime! I've found, however, that a little bit of planning goes a long way in taming the holiday craziness. Thankfully for my family and me, Bank of America has come up with a list of incredibly useful (seriously!) tips to save time during the holidays. Plus, a lot of the tips will definitely help beyond December, and I'm personally planning on putting them to use now and after Christmas! These are a few of my favorites:

  • No more backtracking! A lesser-known “route planner” feature on MapQuest helps you save both time and money by mapping out an entire journey – with multiple stops – all in one convenient step. You can add up to 26 destinations along any route, and the tool gives you the fastest route. Since launching in July, it has saved North Americans more 3.2 million miles!
  • Find a holiday helper: Save time and relieve stress by finding a holiday helper to assist with household chores and last-minute errands. Don’t hesitate to ask your normal sitter, cleaning person or a neighborhood college student who is home for the holiday stretch. And don’t be afraid to delegate household chores to your own children home for winter break!
  • Make sure it's in stock: Nothing wastes more time than driving from store-to-store in search of a specific item. Do yourself a favor and call ahead or better yet check store inventory online before you leave home. Many major e-tailers offer customers the convenience of purchasing items online and then picking them up in-store…some with express pick-up lines.

Even better, Bank of America offers a few great services that help make life easier, and not just around the holidays!

  • Bank on the go: It’s easy to set up mobile banking and secure access to your money wherever you are. Download the mobile banking app and you can check balances, transfer money, pay bills, and locate ATMs.  Sign up for text banking and you’ll be able to send a text message to get your balance instantly in a reply.
  • Make quick and easy deposits: Holiday means a lot of extra work, so eliminate the labor of depositing checks.  With Bank of America’s Deposit Image ATMs, you simply feed checks or cash into the ATM with no envelopes or deposit slips required.  You get images of your checks and a list of cash deposited on your receipt as proof.
  • Save a trip to the bank: Don’t worry about making an extra stop to the bank during all of your holiday shopping.  Keep track of your spending by using Bank of America’s online banking: set up alerts, check balances, and transfer money.

If you're interested in getting more tips for saving time, you can follow @BofA_Tips on Twitter and see those tips in their Twitter stream!

Want to Win a $50 Bank of America Visa Gift Card?

One lucky winner will receive a $50 Bank of America Visa Gift Card!

HOW TO ENTER:

You can enter multiple times for many chances to win! Please take the following steps to enter the contest, and make a separate comment below for each entry (ie., if you are a fan of Baby GoodBuys on Facebook, comment and say so). You have lots of chances to win!

To enter, leave a comment sharing your favorite holiday time-saving tip.

 

 

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The above entry is mandatory. If you’d like additional entries, you may do the following:

  1. Subscribe to the Baby GoodBuys email newsletter: Enter your email address here or in the box below. You must click the confirmation link in the message that's sent to you. All entries will be verified to ensure the email address is confirmed.
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  5. Follow @BabyGoodBuys on Twitter and tweet exactly the following (copy & paste):   I just entered to #win a $50 BofA Visa Gift Card #giveaway! Follow @BabyGoodBuys & visit http://bit.ly/h8X7RU to find out how to enter! You can do this once per day, just leave a separate comment with a link to each day's tweet. (leave your Twitter ID and a link to your tweet in your comment).
  6. Sign up for ShopItToMe.com through this link. (If the email address you're using here is different than the one you're using on Shop It To Me, be sure to let me know the alternate email address in your comment.)

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Contest Details: Contest ends on 12/27/2010. United States residents only. Valid email address is required. All entries without a valid email address will be disqualified. Duplicate, fraudulent and/or invalid entries will be disqualified. Winning email notification must be responded to within 48 hours or that winner will forfeit the prize and a new winner will be selected. Winner will be selected with the And the Winner Is WordPress Plugin. Winner will be notified via email. A screenshot of the winner selection will be saved and provided upon request. Winner’s first name will be posted on this giveaway/contest post. All questions should be directed to babygoodbuys(at) gmail(dot)com.

 

If you are the winner of this giveaway please do not contact the sponsoring company or any other business mentioned with questions about prize fulfillment. All questions should be directed to me at babygoodbuys(at)gmail(dot)com. Contacting anyone other than me may disqualify you from prize fulfillment.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Bank of America and received a Bank of America preloaded gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Comments

  3. I send New Year cards. That way, I don’t have to worry about trying to create, buy, address and send cards during the holiday season.

    It saves a lot of time and stress.

  13. Buy online vs. at stores! A lot of times you can even score free shipping and get the item for half price or more!

  16. My holiday time saver is gift bags! The majority of the gifts I give are “wrapped” in a gift bag!

    The only presents I wrap in wrapping paper are my son’s (he’s two) and my nieces (who are 1, 5 and 7) because it’s fun to watch them unwrap presents. But everyone else gets a gift bag! Then I don’t spend so much time wrapping gifts!

  21. My Favorite time saving holiday (or non-holiday) tip is to leave Clorox wipes in the bathroom for everyone to use when they leave the bathroom. They take one and wipe down the sink, toilet, & edge of tub. Save me from having to clean the bathroom so much which in turn gives me more time to enter giveaways! lol

  23. My favorite time saving trip is to make a list of gifts people would like during the year and start watching and buying when lots of good sales start in July or sooner! Then cross that person off your list and you are done shopping before the holidays even hit!

  25. I use an app on my phone that organizes my lists (birthday, holiday, grocery), appointments, tasks, calendar and other info so it’s all in one place.

  29. I try to finish my christmas shopping at least 5 days before christmas and grocery shopping 3 days before so I don’t have to do it on christmas eve
    tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com

  35. my holiday is planning tip is make a list and plan ahead so that you can get all gifts purchased and wrapped before the last minute. it will definitely save some stress!

  40. ordering online – but am also fighting cancer so no time or energy to walk into store
    tvollowitz at aol dot com

  42. Favorite time saving tip… avoid the crowds at the stores and shop for gifts online. Look for free shipping sales and search for online coupon codes.

  44. My fave time saving tip is shopping online & shipping directly from their site! It saves me from braving the terrible crowds in stores.

    Hope i win! Good luck to everyone. 🙂

    Kenya

  45. My favorite holiday time saving tip is learning to say ‘no’ once in a while. There are so many parties, family gatherings, friend get-togethers etc that happen this time of year, and people tend to feel like they have to strive to attend every single one. We’ve learned we’re much more stressed if we spend all of our time running around and we don’t have as much fun with the people we’re visiting when we’re so tired… so we started cutting down and politely offering to do get-togethers during february or even july! It’s sooo much easier and less stressful — plus we can spread out some of those ‘holiday’ shopping costs!

  53. I “Like” Baby GoodBuys on Facebook @sodahoney facebook name or judy v… and email is included above

  55. I have subscribed to the BabyGoodBuys email news letter and I have clicked the confirmation link that I received in an email. I’m looking forward to receiving your newsletters!

  57. I have 4 children, so shopping for everyone can be overwhelming. So, this year I decided to start extra early. I made notes on what everyone wanted and needed and I used incentives from websites to pay for almost all of our gifts. I also bought “happy meals” for myself when I was alone and kept the toys as stocking stuffers. It’s a week out from Christmas and I am done with my shopping and I didn’t even have to leave the house to do it!

  60. Have hubby help when you can. Delegate some chores to the kiddos they even seem to be more helpful around this time of year 🙂

  65. My favorite holiday time saving tip is to start the shopping early! Especially when things are on sale earlier in the year!

  76. I love to just spend one day doing all the shopping and then the rest of the holidays are just for fun!

  78. We have three birthdays in December. We plan one weekend and celebrate them all on one day. One cake, one dinner and only one day of mess.
    bepoia(at)hotmail(dot)com

  81. I buy start buying presents prior to Thanksgiving! Less presents to purchase during crunch time.

  87. To save time during the holiday I buy paper plates because I don’t own a disher washer and I don’t want to miss out on time with my family. I also like to do most of my shopping online that way I don’t have to stand in long lines.

  90. I usually enlist my mom and mother in law for a wrap a thon. That saves me tons of time. Thank God for family right!

  95. My tip — plan ahead. When I buy gifts throughout the year, I surprisingly am able to get my shopping done early and with little stress.

  96. I just love to shop online. With all the deals this time of year, it is easier to do that, then go out and deal with lines and crowds (unless you like that). It definitely saves time, money, and my sanity. I just fill in little things usually the week of Christmas and spend one day doing that.

  103. My favorite time saving tip is to keep out all the necessary gift wrap (tape, pen, scissors, boxes, gift wrap, bows) in a part of the house that is not used often and just keep it out to wrap a few presents at a time. I’ve found this helps save lots of time by not dragging it all out, finding the right size wrap, etc…

  112. I think shopping online ahead of time is a huge time saver. I like being able to see stuff in stores, but with all the free shipping deals recently… I HATE waiting in line! 🙂

  113. My most time-saving tip is having a spreadsheet of all of the people that I buy gifts for so that I know when I have finished buying gifts for that person. I also note gift ideas on the same spreadsheet so that I don’t feel like I have to remember a million things 🙂
    Thanks for the chance!

  119. My time saver for the Holidays is to actually do Christmas shopping all year long, or at least I have a running list of what I think would make a great present for each person. I bookmark things I like all year and then when I need to find a gift for someone, I already have things in mind.

  121. RSS feed reader subscriber
    (also forgot to mention with my tweet that I’m also following on twitter as SnowflakeDay)

  123. I don’t really have a good time saving tip! This is my third Christmas as a mom, and I’m still figuring things out!

  125. I also subscribe in Google Reader. And I forgot my facebook display name, it’s three5andeight, I think. Thanks!

  128. I do most shopping and all banking online to save time during the busy holiday season!
    tcarolinep at gmail dot com

  134. I am an email subscriber and I “like” you on Facebook. Best time saving tip, pay a neighborhood kid to wrap all of your presents for you. Extra money for them, extra time for me!

  137. My time-saving hint? Do as much shopping/mailing/baking ahead of time as possible. I pick a week, starting in the Fall, for to shop for each family member (I don’t have a large family to buy gifts). The week encompasses researching the gift, shopping for the best price, buying it and wrapping it. If more than one gift, it all gets packed into the same week – nobody gets too many gifts but they are each “special”. By early December, I am usually finished shopping, wrapping and paying for each gift. This definately helps with the January budget as well. I can then concentrate on decorating, baking, cooking, etc. knowing that my gifts are wrapped and hidden away. I also rely on e-cards (there are beautiful e-cards out there, for all ages!) instead of paper cards, and only send paper cards to those folks without email addresses in my file. Holiday life is much easier using these guidelines!

  139. I like to ease into Christmas shopping early without being obsessed with it. I don’t think about it at all until after Halloween, but then in early November I just start keeping my eyes open for gift ideas for family and friends and picking things up as I go along. Then by December I usually only have a couple of gifts left to buy.

  141. I guess my biggest holiday time saver is to make sure I have good list of who we need to buy for and what- helps to keep me on track and save time!

  144. To save time I wrap all gifts in one sitting. Open a new roll of wrapping paper and go to town, then I’m done!

  152. My fave time saving tip is to store your holiday decorations in a container that is either red or is marked so it can be located easily. I currently have my blue bin marked with an old Christmas card attached to the top with tape. This way I can tell which is which since I have lots of the blue bins.

  159. My sister, sister-in-law, cousin, best friend and me like to do our Christmas cookies exchange. We each bake 2 kinds of our favorite holiday cookies and then share a 1/2 dozen of each of our 2 faves with one another so that we each end up with 60 cookies with 10 varieties. I make pfefferneuse cookies and almond crescent cookies. Plus when we meet at one of our homes to exchange cookies we relax and chat over coffee. It’s fun and makes less work for each of us. 🙂

  161. I do a lot of shopping online and I invested in a Roomba vaccum so I don’t have to worry about cleaning my floors during the busy holiday season.

  166. My favorite time sharing tip is to skip the queue at the mall and crowded parking lot, and shop online instead.

  169. I wrap Christmas presents as i buy them to save time,but I also make a list of whats in them because I always forget!

  177. Time-saving tip…..store-bought cookie dough. I know it’s cheating, but it helps when making gift baskets and caroling plates.

  178. My holiday time saving tip is to make sure you schedule, but not over schedule yourself. Make time for the events you want to attend, but don’t spread yourself thin. Make sure you have plenty of time for your family without being stressed!

  186. Always make a list before I go anywhere so I know exactly what I’m looking for and don’t forget anything.

    Thanks

  190. I wrap presents in brown shipping paper and make colorful bows. It saves time and money. And they look great!

  192. Plan ahead and take advantage of all the coupons and discounts through the year… and SHOP ONLINE!!

    Too bad I didn’t take my own advice this year. 😛

  193. I save time by having a baking day with my sister. We bake lots of goodies in no time, and have fun doing it together!

  194. Make cookies ahead for several weeks and freeze them. Then when Christmas comes, you can get them all out and have a wide assortment in no time!

  195. Shopping online saves lots of time and stress for me. It’s easier to find good deals, and you don’t have to go out in the cold and traffic! 🙂

    Thanks for the giveaway!

  203. I buy a lot of gifts on Amazon. And use Amazon Prime. Which gives me 2 days before Christmas. And I don’t have to pay for shipping. Done and done.

  204. I buy alot of gifts online. Saves time and money because I live in a small town and have to drive long distances to get to a big city with all the good stores

  206. Plan ahead and take advantage of all the coupons and discounts through the year… and SHOP ONLINE!!Too bad I didn’t take my own advice this year. 😛

  210. How I save time during the holidays is by shopping for great deals on presents throughout the year. Then my holiday shopping is cut in half at least and I have more time to spend with family. 🙂

  214. How I save time during the holidays is by shopping for great deals on presents throughout the year. Then my holiday shopping is cut in half at least and I have more time to spend with family. 🙂

  216. I do most of our shopping online. Its saves me the stress of dragging the kids from store to store!

  217. i have started shopping for presents online to save gas, waiting in line and dealing with a fussy kid
    nannypanpan at sbcglobal.net

  227. I am a list maker and every weekend, I make a list of errands that I need to run outside of the normal grocery shopping (which is another list). I plan my route to make the best use of gas and time. If I find I need to do something else, I save it for the next weekend trip.

    member(dot)thao(at)gmail.com

  238. We’ve made cookie dough in advance and frozen it so baking cookies on for holiday parties or events don’t take as long.

  242. Whenever I have time I’ll get something done (cooked, chopped, etc) in the kitchen and freeze it for later use. These hectic days I have been just adding a couple of ingredients to those pre-made meals and dinner is ready in 20 minutes…

  244. Best method of saving time, don’t live in FL! All of the old people move here from everywhere else. For the longest time I thought people from out of state were horrible at driving. They were always causing the traffic. Turns out they just retire here. So please, don’t move to FL when you retire. It screws everyone over down here. Takes hours to drive everywhere. Internet is a MUST for saving time.

  245. Mandatory: My tip is to shop for gift wrap/bags/accessories after the holidays when it’s marked down – then you’re ready for next year and don’t have to run out last minute to wrap your gifts when it’s crowded and full-price 🙂

    rachelsgiveaways at gmail dot com

  255. I find making a list of people, possible gifts, and keeping a budget really helps make my holiday shopping faster. Happy shopping!

  258. my tip: get it done early! As soon as it gets cold out I know to start thinking about Christmas shopping.

  260. My time saving tip is to shop online (get free shipping deals on Cyber Monday – after Thanksgiving)

  261. Here’s my favorite time-saving holiday tip. When flying for the Holidays, bring along some address labels with your name and home address on them. When it comes time to fill out any baggage forms or tags, instead of taking the time to fill in every line, simply slap an address label on there and you’re good to go!! Thanks for the chance!!

  263. I like wrapping presents as I get them so they don’t all
    pile up on me or get misplaced & forgotten! barb g. directorylanesuperstore(at)gmail.com

  271. I buy online it is cheaper and I make out my shopping list before I go to the store and do all my errands in one trip. Save gas and money.

  286. Best time saving tip is to start in November for shopping or making of gifts. so that when early December rolls around, you are done! Plus it extends the holiday season and leaves you more time to enjoy the season!

    stormibays at hotmail dot com

  291. My tip is to automate your finances – bill payments and savings to save time especially during the holidays!

  304. I stock up on wrapping paper and bows at deep discount after the holidays and store it for next year, saving me time during next years hectic holiday rush. No need to make last minute trips and fight the crowds and traffic for supplies to wrap a last minute present.

  309. I try to buy holiday gifts throughout the year or online. I can’t deal with the crowds and shopping online just saves so much time!

  330. I did all of my shopping online this year and saved a lot of time and stress!

    skkorman AT bellsouth DOT net

  338. Right after Thanksgiving, we make a whole bunch of cookie batters and freeze them. Then, right before Christmas we can quickly bake cookies for gifts and the Holidays. Making the batter ahead of time saves us so much precious time around the Holidays.
    Thanks so much.
    rickpeggysmith(at)aol(dot)com

  348. I shop for deals online even before Black Friday…and I do a lot of comparison shopping before I purchase!
    rryan324 at hotmail dot com

  353. It takes forever to wrap presents, so I hire a neighbor’s daughter to wrap them for me. Saves me tons of time and gives her a little more spending money for the holidays!

  356. To save time I shop early so when the holidays come Im done and have time for everything else and also shop online at my favorite stores! Great giveaway thank you!
    [email protected] charter.net

  361. I save time by enlisting help! Everyone gets jobs so I don’t have to be overwhelmed and grouchy!

  362. My holiday time saving tip is to shop online for gifts. It really saves a lot of travel time!

    priscilla(dot)a(dot)escobar(at)gmail(dot)com

  368. I definetly save time (and money) by doing a lot of my shopping on-line. I look for deals where shipping is free and use ebates so that I get a little extra back…and by shopping online I’m not so tempted with “impulse buying” and I save money on gas.

    Thanks for the giveaway!
    Happy New Year!

  369. I shop online to save time, money, and quite possibly lives by keeping me out of the stores while they are so busy.

  372. I shop for bargins all year around this saves me time and money since I don’t have to go during peak the season.

  373. My biggest time saving tip is to shop online. I was able to comparison shop without having to run around. Not only did I save time but saved gas money too.

  379. subscribe by email from heartsnflowers72 at gmail.com

    if I win please email me at

    itsjustme62613 at gmail.com

  381. My favorite time saving tip is to research your purchases online before going to the store so that you can spend less time in the store battling the crowds.

  399. I do lots of baking before the holidays get so busy and fill the freezer up. I also do by Christmas shopping in November or better yet I pick thinks up all year and hold put them away in the closet.

  403. I do gift bags, shop online and get kids to shop for me when they work at a store and get an employee discoumt!

  404. I make up a detailed gift list at the beginning of November and try to complete shopping for it no later than the end of November. This leaves me cool and happy and able to avoid the crowds during December.

  405. Wrap the presents as they come in instead of waiting until the last minute and you will save yourself a lot of stress and time.

  407. One time saving tip that I do is to wake up early to take care of things. It’s a great time to be uninterrupted and get things done!

    Thanks for the giveaway!

  416. I get up more than two hours earlier than the rest of my family, and do a lot of stuff. Then, when they finally get up, I can sit and have a leisurely cup of coffee with them instead of having to rush around.
    Alicia Webster
    [email protected]

  430. We try to combine grocery trips, shopping trips, and meal making to minimize the amount of time spent overall.
    chocolatecoffeedog at gmail dot com

  431. Cook as much as possible ahead of time and freeze or splurge and buy already made. I feel like I spend too much time in the kitchen around the holidays if I do not do something different than my normal cooking routine. semtaylor(at)yahoo(dot)com

  455. I save time during the holidays by not accepting all of the party invitations I receive. I am following, liking, joining and subscribing.

  463. if I do my holiday shopping alone, I finish my gift hunt so much quicker without going into other stores I didn’t plan on anyway!

  472. i look for sales and shop throughout the year for gifts and wrap them and that way at christmas time im not running around in a crazed frenzy and i hate large crowds so it saves me time and stress 🙂

  475. My favorite time saving tip is to go to all night stores, such as Walmart, at 3 am. You have no crowds to deal with and often times you get out a LOT quicker.
    michedt (at) gmail (dotcom)

  480. My fave holiday time saving tip is to do whatever you can online! Why waste time running errands all over town when you don’t need to?

  482. My favorite way to save time and money during the holidays is to shop online and have gifts sent directly to friends and family. I save in time by not having to waiting in long lines at the store and post office, and I usually save in money because of the free shipping deals at Amazon.

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