‘It gets earlier every year!’
This is a cry heard in shops all across the country at this time of year. Why? Because this is the month when retailers – especially large supermarket chains – do their level best to draw attention to the fact Christmas is only ‘just around the corner’.
Needless to say, the general reaction to this kind of pre-empted festive advertising hovers somewhere between outrage and incredulity. ‘Christmas? I’ve not even put my patio furniture away yet!’. However, rather than being a solely unwelcome and unwarranted marketing strategy, a festive ‘head’s up’ of this kind can actually serve to benefit some consumers.
Really? How so?
Well, there are some shoppers who still believe that Christmas shopping shouldn’t start until the festive lights in London’s West End have been turned on. Whilst this nod to tradition may seem comforting, it can actually cause consumers to end up paying out more for their Christmas shopping than they need to.
To explain.
Many individuals these days like to exercise their entrepreneurial muscles in order to make themselves a little bit of extra cash in the run up to Christmas. Suffice to say, enterprising people who start their money-making schemes in September or October will be more likely to enjoy greater financial rewards than those who eventually get the ball rolling in November or even December.
Makes sense doesn’t it?
Of course, this begs a rather obvious question: what type of money-making schemes?
The desire to buy ever more Christmas ‘necessities’ along with the need to cut back on overall expenditure has led consumers to try their hand at all kinds of different money-making schemes. Whilst some, like Christmas carolling and office party chaperoning (?) are likely to yield relatively little in the way of financial return; others, such as going to car boot sales and taking advantage of companies that pay straight-up cash for laptops, can be really quite profitable indeed.
Car boot sales
There are a number of reasons why ‘car booting’ can be such a great way to make some extra money in the run up to Christmas. The first is that the change of seasons often causes so-called ‘fair-weather booters’ to stay at home; thereby reducing the number of competitors a seller has to contend with. The second reason is that savvy shoppers often come to boot sales to find cheap Xmas gifts for their not-so-dear relatives, friends, acquaintances and work colleagues. ‘One man’s junk is another man’s treasure’.
Cash for laptops
Seeking out Internet-based companies that recycle laptops for cash can be a very easy and often extremely lucrative way of getting hold of some extra cash for Christmas. Moreover, the fact that selling an unused laptop to one of these companies will ensure it’s potentially harmful components don’t end up anywhere near a landfill site is likely to give environmentally aware individuals a warm – perhaps even festive – feeling inside!
About the author – Bo Heamyan blogs regularly about personal computing and has written extensively about the merits of laptop trade in services for various websites, including LaptopTrade-In.co.uk.
