One of the more difficult things to do as a stay at home mom is to find time to get out without the kids tagging along, especially when they’re younger. It’s bad enough the rest of the year, but when the holiday season comes and you want to get presents for the kids without them catching you at it, things can get pretty difficult. How can you handle all that shopping when you need to watch the kids?

These are just a few of the ways I handle things. It’s not always easy to get time on my own, but something is usually possible eventually.

Shop Online

This one should be obvious these days, but it’s not always easy to keep kids from peeking over your shoulder, nor is it always a replacement for going out and actually seeing the things you want to buy. When you’ve got just a little time and privacy, it’s one of the easiest. Great selection, shipping free from many sites, this stuff can be good.

Amazon is a common favorite because they carry such an amazing range of things. I also have a deep fondness for ThinkGeek. I’d imagine you have your own favorites too.

Shop During School Hours

If the kids go to school and you have a few hours without them, it’s a great time to get your holiday shopping done. It means watching the clock a little, but that’s not usually a major problem.

Have Someone Else Watch the Kids

I love this option. Usually it’s my husband or a grandparent watching the kids to give me time out for holiday shopping. Grandparents are particularly useful if my husband and I want to go out shopping together. It’s fun picking things out with someone else to talk to, after all.

If you don’t have family nearby, see about trading off with friends. Surely you know someone else who has a hard time getting out to shop because of their kids. Make a deal which benefits you both.

Remember Toddlers Don’t Really Understand Everything

I do a lot of my holiday shopping with my toddler in tow, even if it’s for her. I can show her things, even put them into the cart and buy them, and know that by the time I give them to her, she’ll be excited all over again. She also doesn’t yet have the vocabulary to spoil any surprises for her siblings.

Shop Later

One of the presents my kids ask for most often is that I take them shopping after the holidays or a birthday. They love that a big part of their present is time out with me or their father, whoever they pick. A budget is set, the kinds of things I’ll be willing to buy explained, and off we go. Usually there’s ice cream or a movie involved as well. It’s fun and it ensures that whatever is bought is what that child wanted.

I try to make this one on one time, but it can be done with siblings along if desired. Just make it a little extra special.

I took Saturday as a family day. Had some fun watching my son’s soccer game (his team won), then took the kids out shopping for their Halloween costumes. We wanted to get out before the selection was down too far. The older two didn’t want anything I could make myself this year, so I only get to be creative with my youngest’s costume.

Watching the kids shop, though, was kind of like watching someone trying to decide how they’re going to work at home.

1. You don’t always want what you think you want.

My oldest was positive that she would be Cleopatra for Halloween this year. She’d been saying so for months. Instead, she fell utterly in love with a Snow Princess costume. My son was sure he wanted to be Spiderman, but the costume he picked was Optimum Prime.

You can be sure that you know what kind  of work you want to do at home, but just as sure as my kids changed their minds about their Halloween costumes, a little research may change your mind. Keep an open mind as you consider your options.

2. Shop around.

We didn’t just hit the costume shop nearest us for costumes. We started there so that we’d know their prices, but then checked out a few other places. Good thing too, as that saved us $10 on my son’s costume.

A part of finding work you can do from home is looking for the right job or business opportunity. Don’t assume there’s one thing that will work for you. You might find a similar option has better pay, better benefits, a better chance to earn money, or will just be more fun for you. You also improve on your chances of avoiding scams if you shop around a little and get to know what’s more likely to be a legitimate offer.

3. Make sure it’s a good fit.

When my daughter chose her Snow Princess costume, she first grabbed the one right in the front of the rack. She paid no attention to size. It was only when I pointed out another costume that didn’t come in her size that she looked and realized that she had grabbed too small a size. Fortunately, her size was also available.

That work at home job or business you’ve been considering also may not be the perfect fit right off the rack. Make sure you know as much as you can about what you’re getting into so that you don’t have to start your search all over again unless really necessary. Job hunting is tedious, and business hopping is a great way to avoid success if you overdo it.

Of course, sometimes a switch is necessary. What looks good on paper or online isn’t always for you once you get going. Don’t be afraid to try that opportunity on and give it a really good go.

4. Use your imagination.

My oldest is quite imaginative. I usually get comments about that from her teachers, not always in a perfectly positive light. Her Snow Princess costume already has her imagination going. I’ll leave it at that.

Imagination is a great advantage to many of us who work at home. It can help you to think of ways to work at home that others may not have considered. It can help to improve your business or your job performance.

Overdoing it isn’t necessarily a good thing, and you can’t let your imagination take over so much that you never get any real work done. Dreaming of success won’t get you nearly as far as working hard toward success.

5. Make your own.

I get to make at least one of my children’s costumes most years. This year it’s only the costume for my youngest. We bought some silk leaves at Micheal’s, and I’ll be attaching them to a brown hooded top my youngest loves to wear to make her a woodland fairy costume. We got some fake berries and acorns to go along with the leaves. It should be really cute.

When it comes to working at home, remember that you don’t always have to go for the opportunities that are right on the shelf. Don’t stick with the lists of companies that hire people to work at home if you think you can find work elsewhere, or consider freelancing. Don’t assume that the only way to have a home business is to join an opportunity and do it all the way you’re told. Make the work your own. You can improve upon what’s available to you and make a much more interesting home business this way.

6. Decide if you need your own disguise.

Some parents dress up for Halloween, others skip it. What are you going to do?

Online privacy can be a big deal. It’s not so hard if you have a work at home job – your employer needs legitimate information from you for tax reasons, but they shouldn’t be spreading that information all over anyhow.

It’s more difficult if you have a home business online. You have to decide how much personal information you will share.

Some people use a pen name and have private registration on all their websites. Some are fine with a P.O. Box to keep their home address private. Some aren’t at all concerned about using their own names online.

You have to decide what’s right for you. There are a lot of odd people out there and a lot of really nice ones. You have to decide how much you want to maintain your privacy while building a good business. Some find it difficult to deal with a pen name while others wouldn’t go without one. What works for you depends on you and the goals you have for your business.

Most of us like to shop. It’s fun to see all the things you’d love to own, whether it’s new clothes or the latest gadgets. The only problem is that looking often leads to buying, and that’s bad for most budgets. How can you keep your impulse shopping under control.

My own preferred method of handling impulse shopping is to control the impulse part of it. I rarely allow myself to buy on impulse. I have to think about it first.

If you can get past the urge to buy right away, it’s really not too hard. Build the habit of walking away from something you want to buy on impulse. Go look at other things. Maybe even give it a day or several.

The idea is to give yourself time to think if you really need the item or if it’s just a want, and if a want, if it’s worth giving in to that want.

The thing to remember is that pretty much anything you see while out shopping will still be there later. Very few things are all that limited, and most really limited things you might buy on impulse aren’t things you really need. The things you need are more likely to be there day after day, week after week. Even if you don’t buy them right away, they’ll probably be there later.

Coming back to a potential purchase later works pretty well if you have a few options to consider. It’s time to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the things you’re considering. You might find that a feature that attracted you immediately doesn’t matter as much as one you notice with a little more thought.

This even works when it comes to buying snacks when you’re out grocery shopping. This can be good for your grocery budget and your waistline, depending on the kinds of impulse buys you tend to make there. Of course, better yet for controlling your grocery shopping is having a list and sticking to it.

Of course, if impulse shopping is a problem for you, the first step may be finding ways to limit how often you do any sort of shopping that can lead to impulse buys. If you like to just wander shopping malls or online shopping sites, or if you get easily tempted when you see an online review for a product, it helps to find ways to avoid those situations. Look at when you’re getting tempted and how often the temptation is to buy something you’ll be glad you bought in the long run. If you’re getting tempted into far more bad purchases than good, it may be time to find something else to do.

A little patience and a little planning can help you quite a bit when it comes to controlling your impulse shopping habits. What works for you?

It’s that time of year again, and the brick and mortar stores may have beaten you to it. Are you starting up your Christmas promotions?

Brick and mortar stores are doing so already in some locations, and more will do so in the near future. It may feel early, but if you aren’t ready for Christmas now with your online business, you should be thinking about what you’re doing to make the most of the biggest shopping season of the year.

You can start by checking to see which of your shopping pages need to be updated. Are they offering current products?

Next think about what you would like to start promoting this year. Get those pages and/or sites up and running.

Don’t feel as though it’s too early. Lots of people start shopping for the holidays early. There’s no need to miss out on sales just because you feel that it’s strange to be thinking that way already.

I don’t mean for you to decorate your sites all in Christmas colors, of course. And please don’t autoplay Christmas music when people come to your site. There’s plenty of that in the malls. All you really need is to have your sites set up to make some good money for you over the holiday season.

For so many years, the gift card has been the gift of last resort… or sometimes first when you just want an easy solution. But they have disadvantages that are present every year… and potentially more than usual this year.

Gift Card Negatives

1. Companies going under.

If a company files for bankruptcy, they may or may not have to continue honoring their gift cards. It depends on what the court says. Once they close, of course, the card is no good anyhow.

You can try to get around this by only shopping with companies that aren’t currently having going out of business sales, but it’s hard to predict who will be next. The numbers are pretty scary.

2. Some states allow them to expire.

This isn’t allowed in California and several other states, but many states allow companies to put an expiration date on their gift card. Not fair when you think about it, since the company has your money in exchange for a little piece of plastic, but it’s something to be aware of.

3. Fees.

Depending on the rules of the state the card is purchased in, there can be fees as well. Fees for using the card, checking the balance, or even for failing to use the card over a certain time period. Sometimes there’s even a fee for the purchaser in order to activate the card.

4. They can limit options.

If you give someone a gift card, be very sure they can and do enjoy shopping at that particular store. There’s nothing like finding out you have a gift card for a company that doesn’t even exist in your city and doesn’t have an online option.

Then there’s the “sure I can get there, but I hate the selection” problem. Not everyone likes every store.

5. Some people aren’t sure how to handle the balance.

When the card gets down to just a couple of dollars, a lot of people don’t know how to finish it off. It’s easy, but many aren’t comfortable with it.

All you have to do in most stores is give it to the cashier first. They apply the balance to the purchase, then you pay the rest normally. However, many companies count on customers feeling a reluctance to do so, as they get to keep any unspent balances.

6. Some card balances are easily stolen.

Sometimes gift cards on display give away too much of their information. Thieves note this down, then check balances online regularly. When one appears, they spend it online. Make sure the cards you buy hide at least part of the information needed to activate and spend the card.

Gift Card Positives

1. You know the hobby, but not what’s needed.

A gift card can be a great, personal choice if you know someone’s hobby, but not what supplies they need. If you know where they shop, you can get a gift card to that store and they’ll probably be delighted.

2. Easy to send in the mail.

No outrageous shipping fees to send a gift card across the country. On the other hand, you do have to worry about theft. But checks face the same problem in the mail.

3. No waiting for recipient to cash your check.

There’s nothing like finding out that someone took two months or more to cash their holiday gift check. It can really mess up your personal bookkeeping.

4. You can give “experience” gifts.

Very nice when you don’t want to give things. Memberships work in some cases, but if they’re too expensive or unavailable, a gift card for it can work well.

Things to Know Before Buying a Gift Card

1. What state laws apply?

Can the card expire? What about fees?

2. What are the terms and conditions?

Some of these will contradict state law because the same card is sold in many states. You’ll still want to know, so you can figure out what applies.

3. What happens when the purchase is less than the card amount?

Many stores just leave the balance on the card, but a few will give cash back.

4. What happens if the purchase is more than the card amount?

Sometimes this is harder for the store to handle than other times. Some stores will want the gift card first, while others will want it second. If it’s too confusing, the card may be difficult to use.

5. How is the card registered?

This can protect you from gift card thieves who note the information on unsold cards, then try to use them before the legitimate purchaser. If too much of the card information is freely available before purchase, you may end up giving a worthless gift.