If you're like me, a clueless husband come gift-giving time and your wife or girlfriend is like mine, who probably says "oh I don't need anything" when probed for ideas, holidays and birthdays can be super frustrating. What I noticed was that she would, in fact, drop ideas all the time in different ways, but I would often forget and when the holidays rolled around I'd be screwed.

This year I made it a point to write an email to myself with a running list of gift ideas for my wife. Everytime I'd see her get even a little bit excited about something or when she'd get frustrated with something that was outdated and not quite working well anymore... BAM - email to myself.

By October I had like 30 ideas in the hopper and barely had to think about any of it! Bonus points: she will see that you were paying (at least a little bit) of attention - if you're not handsome this is crucial.

This of course applies to relationships of all shapes and sizes - written from the perspective of a formerly clueless husband.