The 123456 Rule
Have you ever counted how many gifts you give to all the gals in your life every year? Let's add them up.

Maybe the total will surprise you...or maybe not. Either way, it'll give you a better feel for the massive amount of time you probably spend sitting around or cruising the internet trying to think up what gifts you're going to get them next. Fortunately though, there's a more efficient approach to this job...and it starts with identifying what kinds of gals you're dealing with. According to the 123456 rule, each of them fits into one of the following categories, broken down by the occasions for which you'll be buying her gifts.

The 6-gift gal
Wife/girlfriend (who is also a mother)
-  Mother's Day
-  Christmas
-  Birthday
-  Valentine's Day
-  Anniversary
-  Just because

The 5-gift gal 
Wife/girlfriend (who is not a mother)
-  Christmas
-  Birthday
-  Valentine's Day
-  Anniversary
-  Just because

The 4-gift gal 
Daughter
-  Christmas
-  Birthday
-  Two "just because" gifts

The 3-gift gal 
Mother or grandmother
-  Mother's Day
-  Christmas
-  Birthday
-  Just because

The 2-gift gal 
Other relative (sister, aunt, cousin, niece)
-  Christmas
-  Birthday

The 1-gift gal 
Coworker or acquaintance
-  Christmas

ADD THEM UP
So, how many times per year are you having to go hunt down gifts? Remember to include your in-laws if you have any. Also, adjust your numbers accordingly if you don't celebrate some of these things, or if you've got something else that you celebrate.

So if you've got a girlfriend, no children, and no other gals to buy for...then you've got to come up with about 5 gifts for her each year.

But if you have a wife, daughter, and sister...then you're digging around each year for about 11 gifts for these gals.

How about a wife, daughter, niece, mother, and a coworker? That's 16 gifts annually.

Plus, these totals don't include any gifts that you're buying for guys (like sons and brothers). And if you have a really large family, well...good luck.

SET UP A SYSTEM
Your goal is to turn the tedious chore of finding gifts into a simple task that you can repeatedly handle in as little time as possible. In other words, approach the job of finding gifts like you would approach repairing something in your home.

You keep your tools organized in a toolbox so you can quickly find the ones you need for any given job, right? Then when you've finished the repair, aren't you glad that you knocked it out in a short time? And aren't you proud that you know what you're doing...and of your well-done finished product?

This type of organized approach is what we need in order to tackle your gals' gifts.

ORGANIZE YOUR RESOURCES
When you're obligated to buy a bunch of gifts year in and year out, you really need to make things easy on yourself. Pick out some go-to resources (websites) that you can access on a regular basis for fresh ideas.

These sites should be able to provide you with both time-tested ideas and more current ideas for your gals' gifts. Of course we recommend our own gift list (which we're always updating) but you might find some other useful online gift guides as well.

Bookmark all of these sites and keep them organized in one place. (The last thing you want is to lose track of these sites and have to search them out all over again.) Now each time you need a gift in the future, check these resources first.

There's no need to run aimlessly around town trying to figure out a good gift on the fly. Besides, the "driving about" method rarely produces great results. Go hit the malls as a "last resort" if you need to...but only after exhausting your internet sources.

LAST THOUGHT
Knowing how many gifts you've got to deliver year after year makes you realize how much time you actually spend on this stuff. If you want to make things easy on yourself, set up a system and follow it consistently.