Are you finished with your Christmas shopping?  Have you started yet?  I am in the middle somewhere.  I have a couple of people to buy a gift for who I’m undecided.  I have a few things I’m waiting for in the mail.  I have a few little things to pick up but have plans to do that on Friday.  I thought I would tell you about a couple of tools that have helped me be really organized for shopping this year.

Amazon Universal Wishlist

First you go to Amazon Universal Wishlist on the www.amazon.com website.  You can create an amazon wishlist and add things to the list from any website.  You can create a separate list for each person in your household if you like.  In Google Chrome there is an extension that adds a little button to the tool bar that makes it really easy.  We have found that family and friends enjoy seeing what is on our wishlist and sometimes that means that you get a present that you’ve been wanting without having to actually show it to the person.  It’s always fun to get someone a present that they really want, right?

Ebates

Ebates is a third party website that offers you cash back for shopping online at specific stores.  All the major stores seem to be participating.  I have already earned about $25 cash back this holiday season.  They have special double cash back days.  It’s really just free money that you get for shopping online through ebates.  It’s very simple.  You set up an account and then open www.ebates.com before you shop.  You search for the store you’re interested in and follow the link to the site.  They keep track of your shopping and add it to your account and you’re paid quarterly.  Who doesn’t love cash back?!

Wunderlist

I use Wunderlist for many things in my life but I have lists set up specifically for Christmas shopping this year.  I  have a list for each child and a list for all the other people in my life I’m buying gifts for.  Wunderlist is both a web based application as well as an app you can add to any apple or droid smartphone device.   You can create lists that have due dates, notes and you can star things for importance.  You can also share your list with another person or group of people and use it collaboratively.  This year how I used the list was to make a list of the presents I would like to buy and then once I purchased them I added a star to the item.  Now if I’m home or away I am able to check my list and see what I need to still purchase or make sure that I don’t make any duplicate purchases.  It would be very simple to add a price in the line so you can keep track of your spending as well.  There are many many shopping list apps but this is an app I use all the time for lists in my life anyway so I liked just using this for my Christmas shopping as well.

Hope these are a few things that might help you in your shopping adventures. I know they are all very important for my shopping this year!