Want to avoid holiday shopping stress? Finish it in August like this South Jersey couple.

Under the Christmas tree at Katie and Luis Garcia’s Bellmawr home, dozens of presents sit ready to be gifted, covered in green and red paper with images of sugar cookies, peppermints, and holiday greenery.

Last weekend, as Black Friday participants flocked to the malls and booted up their computers to start their holiday shopping, the couple put the last touches — festive wrap and bags — on their Christmas gifts for about 20 relatives and friends.

Katie Garcia had finished the shopping months ago.

“Christmas is a priority to us,” Garcia said. But “I can’t just be spending thousand and thousands of dollars in two months.”

Every year, the 30-year-old travel consultant makes her first purchases around March, with the goal of finishing her shopping in August. She started the habit about five years ago in an effort to reduce the financial anxiety she used to experience in November and December.

“Not only was it hard on my budget, but it was really stressful,” Garcia said. “Now in December, I’m going away on vacation. … I’m not going to have to worry about what’s wrapped, who I still need to buy for. I’m literally going to be on an island having a drink.”

Most consumers aren’t on Garcia’s level. She’s one of the rare shoppers who manages to buy all her gifts months before the festive season even begins.

This fall, nearly 40% of U.S. consumers said they planned to begin their holiday shopping in November, according to a Shopify-Gallup poll, while 20% would wait until December. Only 14% said they started making purchases before September.

In the Philadelphia region, about 22% of shoppers said they planned to take advantage of October promotions, which include Amazon Prime Days, according to Deloitte’s annual holiday survey, which also found locals plan to spend more on the holidays this year than the national average.

Research on when people finish their shopping is harder to come by. However, the National Retail Federation expects a record amount of holiday spending — a total of at least $957 billion — to occur in November and December.

Garcia was a last-minute shopper in her early 20s. The memories of those late-December trips to the mall make her shudder now.

“Not only was I battling the traffic to get there, but trying to find a parking spot is always terrible,” she said. “Just the stress of getting there is enough to make me nauseous.”

Amid the last-minute rush one year, “I was like ‘This is it.’ I was completely fed up.”

Around the time she and her now-husband, Luis, bought their home, she realized she needed to change how she approached the holidays. Inspired by her mother’s organizational skills and love of Christmas, Garcia knew she wanted to prioritize gift-giving, her “love language,” she said. But she also wanted to make sure they could pay the mortgage and other bills.

The first year she finished her shopping early, “it was so nice,” Garcia said. “During December, I could go out and look at holiday lights and do Christmas things. I wasn’t wasting time at the mall or pushing people at Best Buy for the best TV.”

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For Garcia, spreading out their spending has saved money and stress.

All year, she keeps a list of her phone of potential gifts that her relatives and friends mention in passing, and then takes advantage of summer sales around Memorial Day, Christmas in July, and Labor Day. She saves up store rewards, such as Kohl’s Cash, and credit-card points. Every couple months, she and Luis, an assistant bank manager, sit down with pen and paper and budget, including for holiday spending.

In the summer, she texts her siblings with a joint gift idea for their parents, which the siblings can pay her for in installments of their choosing.

“I want them to be able to go out and do other things” around the holidays, too, Garcia said.

In Havertown, Joanna Everett also loves finding the perfect presents for her loved ones.

“I bought my first gift in July,” said Everett, 62, an accountant who lives in Havertown. “I pride myself on knowing people and getting them good gifts. I try to pick up the thing when I see it because you’ll never remember” closer to the holidays.

Earlier this week, Everett still had a few final gifts to buy, but her core list was checked off, with some presents hiding in her closet for months now.

She prefers spending in “little drips” as opposed to one big spree, she said, and looks forward to not having to run out to any stores close to Christmas.

“I stress more about getting it wrapped than anything,” she said.

Brittany Bronson, 33, of Roxborough, doesn’t start her holiday shopping in the spring or summer. But by August, she does begin putting aside $50 from every paycheck for future holiday purchases.

That way, by the time Black Friday rolls around, the adjunct professor and diversity equity and inclusion specialist has enough saved to buy a few larger experience-related gifts for her 12- and 6-year-old children — such as family zoo memberships or pre-booked tickets for an activity they can enjoy over spring break.

Knowing she has that cash on hand, “it’s less stressful,” she said. “So much less.”

It’s also a strategy recommended by Tyler Young, program manager for Clarifi’s financial empowerment centers, which offer free counseling throughout Philadelphia.

From the financial perspective, it doesn’t matter so much when you buy the gifts, he said, but whether you have a “pillow” of extra cash on hand for the occasion.

“If the capacity is there, opening up a side savings account and adding a set amount of money to that every month so you can spend it in December … that can be your spending budget for the season,” Young said. “Create a goal for what you want to spend during the holiday season and then divide that out across the year.”

But, he added that his clients are not typically in that position: “Most of our clients are just trying to make ends meet on a month-to-month basis.”

» READ MORE: Why some Gen Z Philadelphians and financial experts say to put down the apps and budget by hand

For those living paycheck to paycheck, he doesn’t recommend that strategy, which can divert funds from necessary expenses such as rent or groceries.

Heading into the holidays, Young said many of the people who come into the city’s financial empowerment centers are deciding whether to forego gift-giving altogether, a decision which comes with its own anxiety.

“I really advise our clients to not put themselves in any stressful financial situations because of the holidays,” he said. “Life needs to continue after this.”