Do a gift debrief

Figure out what worked and what didn't

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to do a gift debrief. Figure out

(00:21):
what worked and what didn't work in your gift giving
this past holiday season. Make notes to guide you in
the future. So we are now about a month past Christmas.
For those who celebrate Christmas or any other December gift
giving holiday, you may be glad to be done with

(00:43):
major gift giving occasions for the next eleven months, but
a little reflection right now can save future you a
fair amount of stress. If you've got kids, you can
reflect on what they received and what worked and what didn't.
What are they still playing with now one month later?

(01:07):
What turned out to be a dud? Did anything create
a lot of excitement when it was opened? Did other
siblings look wistfully at something or did you misjudge interests?
What about the volume of presents? Was it just right
or was it overwhelming? For other folks in your life.

(01:30):
It might help to write down what you gave and
what you received while these items are still relatively fresh
in your memory. It is easy to find yourself wondering
come November whether you gave your nephew a Duffel bag
last year. Ten months hence, you will know that you
thought about giving him one, but you might not remember

(01:54):
what you decided a month after the holidays, though you
probably still remember ber and you can also see if
that duffel bag is getting any use by this point,
and thus evaluate whether it was a good idea or not.
It can also be easy to forget which friends and

(02:15):
family members you exchanged gifts with, or even cards with.
No one likes the awkward dance when one person gives
a gift and the other doesn't, so write it all down.
If you've still got the holiday cards somewhere, and let's
face it, it is entirely possible that you still do.
Write down the names and addresses in a spreadsheet. Next November,

(02:38):
this will be all good to go. You might also
start creating a list of gift ideas. The upside of
doing this so soon after December is that you can
remember what was a hit for some people and transfer
these ideas to other similar folks. You're new if you

(03:00):
love the Duffel bag, so you buy one next year
for your godson. If one set of older relatives really
liked a digital picture frame, probably another set will like
it next year. If you particularly enjoyed a bottle of
wine from a colleague, well now you've got the name

(03:20):
of a winemaker to order in bulk from for other
people's gifts next year. And if something didn't work out, well,
now you know. I will note that I gave my
husband something I really thought he would love, and as
of a few weeks post Christmas, it was still sitting
there in the room where we opened presents. I thought

(03:43):
it made a lot of sense as a gift, but
I guess he just wasn't as into it as I
imagined he would be. I now know to look in
a different direction for gifts in future years. Santa isn't
the only one who benefits from making the list and
checking it twice. Keeping a list of gifts given or

(04:05):
gifts received helps you make smarter choices in the future,
wasting less money and making people happier in the meantime.
This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
the most of our talk. Hey everybody, I'd love to

(04:31):
hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
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four than breakfast p o D. You can also shoot
me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts. At iHeart media

(04:52):
dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out with all
the letters. Thanks so much, should I look forward to
staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I
heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit
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(05:13):
listen to your favorite shows.