Save Money on Christmas Gifts

My Christmas Savings Plan

 
Now that Thanksgiving is safely over with everyone fat and sassy, it is time to turn my attentions to Christmas--especially since December is already here!  I love to give good gifts but I, like everyone it seems, am on a budget.  So here is my financial game plan for Christmas (it has already begun).

1. Make Stuff
2. Use gifts I've collected over the year (enjoy the great deals that you've happened upon or couponed) (Examples: cheap new books, chocolate bars, mugs, paper pads, etc.)
3. Cash in all of my rewards--credit card cash back, Swagbuck earnings, Recycle Bank earnings, BigCrumbs, etc.
4. Use the gift cards / refund cards / etc. + coupons where possible.  
5. Find the best sales possible--gifts for kids can often be fudged
6. If I do have to buy something, I look for items with kickbacks (ex. buy $25 gift card, get a $5 bonus gift card)


My Christmas Gift Break-down:

Parents & Inlaws: mostly gift cards purchased with credit card earnings and kickback deals from earlier, also discounted gifts purchased earlier in the year, also a living social deal to make a photobook--will be a big hit.

Hubby: He would love if I would do something around the house, plan a romantic date, or make a painting for him--he doesn't care much for stuff.  (possibly free)

Kids: Gifts purchased with gift cards I already had, Gifts purchased on great sales with kickbacks (joined the ToysRUs membership and got free $5 to spend--yay!), Gifts purchased on Amazon using credit card cash back and my free prime trial membership for free shipping, I also got a few free gifts for my baby at a consignment shop (sold them my old baby stuff for credit).


My siblings: My siblings are all artists so we do an art-swap for one other person in our family.  This year I have my sister in the Netherlands so shipping is going to be a doozie.  Therefore I am going to make 3 small ceramic dishes to put tea lights on and send those.  I also made a photo book for her of our family reunion (free promo code but $8.50 shipping).  Final cost, about $13.50 + $15? shipping? I'll probably also make some kind of jewelry for my sisters and sister-in-laws with my giant stash of beads.


Hubby's Siblings: Gift cards (I know I'm not too imaginative but that way they can get what they want).  These are Amazon and I haven't found a good way to get them discounted.  For now I'll get them on my credit card (earn cash) and buy them from the grocery store to get fuel points.  At least then I feel I'm getting something.  Luckily my hubby only has 2 siblings. I hope to chance upon something else that their families might like that can make the gifts more personal.

Gift Exchange: Every year a friend of mine has a party with a gift exchange--bring a gift worth $15.  I have a set of 6 different Lindt chocolate bars that I got for free after coupons and I'll find something else to add.  Hmm what goes well with chocolate...


Gifts for Friends: I think I might do bracelets this year.  I have a ginormous stash of beads (that I mentioned earlier) and I make cool ceramic jewelry components, so this could be fun and unique.
 

Gifts for Teachers: I hit this amazing Michael's sale earlier in the year and ended up getting some paper pads and mugs for rediculously low prices.  That'll work.

Mailman: I know it's weird but I really like my mail man.  It'll probably be a $10 gift card for him too. 

That wraps it up for me.  All in all I hope to spend under $300 out of pocket for gifts this year.  We'll see if that works out.  Finally, what I don't spend of my budget, I intend to put into our retirement Roth IRAs.  Any gift cards that I might get from others for Christmas I intend to use only when necessary (and yes, sometimes it is necessary to have a new clothes shopping trip) so that it can help me save money for next years expenses--food, clothing, gifts, etc.  It's like rolling coupons, except rolling gifts.  Yay. 

How much do you spend on Christmas gifts?  Are you able to keep costs low by creative cost-cutting?

Happy Saving!
--Kathy

Extreme Cheapskate Show Thoughts

 I saw the TV show, "Extreme Cheapskate" yesterday for the first time (since I don't get TV service, and it just came onto Netflix).  I was fascinated, encouraged, and slightly repulsed.  I watched all of the episodes in a row.  The cheapskates on there are amazing.  They have no shame.  Having majored in psychology, we talked a lot about what is socially acceptable, and what is not.  These people are definitely walking the line.  First, I love their resolve to save money.  These cheapskates have incredible will power.  They have learned that many things are negotiable.  They appreciate used items (which is a green idea too).  I actually wish we would all reuse more items (although not other people's food).  I also noticed that the individuals featured, had grown some amount of wealth.  Discipline like this to protect yourself in the future, financially, may be smart.  I think that we can all learn some things from this show.  I also like how these people could care less what people think about them (besides their own family).  I think that we would be happier people if we could just find value within ourselves with the encouragement of our family, not relying on the approval of random strangers.  That being said, I think that some of them crossed the line of what is sanitary.  Picking chicken meals out of the garbage left my jaw hanging thinking of all of the microbial problems.  Ewww.  The other major thing I noticed was that these cheapskates were very willing to embarrass or disappoint their family members.  That is a travesty and reveals the selfish side of this type of mentality.  In my opinion, you should be mindful of your loved ones in all that you do, including their feelings.  I found this show to be a bit of a guilty pleasure for me.  It strokes my interest in finding deals but makes me feel "normal" by knowing that I am not so extreme.  What are your thoughts on the show?
Bye for now,
Kathy

Show Your Husband You Love Him - Weekly "Hubby Day"

I have a wonderful husband, and like many of you, I frequently try to make our marriage better.  So, I decided to dedicate one day a week to doing special stuff for him.  There may be a job around the house that has been bothering him, he may need more shirts ironed, he may just need a morale boost like decorating his car or getting special goodies for him.  I've been doing this for several months and, while he often doesn't notice the things that I've done for him (which is fine), sometimes he does and he really appreciates it.  Last Monday I had a supper "Hubby Day" where I was able to do some house maintenance he's been wanting done.  He came home to taped vents, siliconized water spouts, a fixed refrigerator light bulb, I had picked up a book he wanted to give as a gift, and a few other things.  He was blown away.  It was so much fun to see his expression and drag him around the house looking at the things I had done for him. 
I read once that there are 4 ways to show your love:

1. Tokens
2. Touch
3. Acts of Service
4. Affirmations

We each prefer to give and receive love in certain ways.  The trick though, is giving love to individuals in the way they would prefer.  My mother-in-law is a tokens person.  My hubby is an acts of service and affirmations person.  I'm a touch person.  If you can figure out what kind of love the individual would most like, you can use your time best to make them happy. 

Try adding a well-thought-out "Hubby Day" to every week and see what it does for your marriage. 

Free Fall Fun with Kids - Leaf Pile

One of the greatest things about fall is the endless fun that can be had with fallen leaves.  Our backyard is covered in fallen leaves and I knew my kiddos would have a great time jumping in a pile.  Here is my pile:

Here is the wonderful fun we had:

We laughed so much and it was FREE!  So, if your backyard is asking to be raked, make it a fun family event, and let us know how your family liked it.

Bye for now,
Kathy

Discounted Gift Cards

In an effort to make our budget go even farther I've been looking into the option of buying discounted gift cards.  How in the world can you buy discounted gift cards?  Well, it is a growing area of commerce.  This is how it works.

 

Someone will buy a gift card.  Often it is gifted, and the recipient may or may not want to spend money in that store.  If the recipient doesn't want the card, he/she might rather sell it at a loss to get money to use at another store.  The gift card is then resold at a price higher than what was paid, but lower than full retail.  For example, I had about $20 of Macy's credit from a gift I returned.  I don't ever shop at Macy's so I sold it to www.CardCash.com.  I took about a 25% loss.  I then spent the same amount of money to buy a gift card (from the same site) to Michael's (I plan to do some Christmas shopping there).  The Michael's card I bought was discounted at 27%.  So, I got rid of a card I didn't want, got a card I did want, and actually made a little money on the deal.  You may wonder if the retailers are okay with this.  The answer is Yes!  The reason is that the retailers want their gift cards to be exchanged for merchandise, this way they don't "owe merchandise".  Sometimes people hold onto gift cards for years and this is reflected in the retailer's books.  By having a gift card discount site allows gift cards to be used sooner than they might otherwise be. 




Awesome right?  Well, what can you do with this?  If you have a little foresight, you can purchase discounted gift cards in advance and use them instead of cash.  Do you have a date coming up?  Are you planning to go out to dinner and a movie?  Why not buy gift cards for a restaurant and a theater?  Is your old suit falling apart?  Get a gift card for the clothing shop you plan to buy from.  As a couponer I frequent CVS and Target.  Guess what?  You can buy gift cards for these too.  The best part is that you can use a gift card while stacking coupons!  Yay!

 

So, where do you go to buy these gift cards?  A site I like that I recently used for the first time (since www.plasticjungle.com shut down) is www.cardcash.com.  (I sold my Macy's card to them and got my Michael's card from them).  The transaction was quick and easy.  My card came to me in about 2 days.  Another option is www.giftcard.com.  I've never used them, but it looks like a reputable site.  These sites offer many different gift cards, and their discounted rate differs.  CardCash offers Target cards at a 2% discount (right now), and GiftCards.com has Target cards at a 4% discount.  Generally CardCash seems to offer slightly better deals in my opinion.   Each site has a different amount of gift cards available, so if you don't see what you want at one, check out the other.  There are also other websites that do the same thing.




I have yet to get my husband on board with this, but I'm ready.  I would love to know your thoughts on this.  Have you done it and has it worked out for you?  What type of discounted cards do you like to use most? 

Bye for now,
Kathy

Save Money, Cut Cable or Dish

To Dish, or not to Dish, that is the question.  At least it was for us a few months ago.  We don't watch programmed TV very much and we were already at the cheapest (family) plan that Dish Network had.  The total was about $31/month.  Cheap right?  Well, not cheap enough for me.  I had heard about digital antennas but I thought it would be a hassle.  When we finally ended dish, we headed out to Sears to get a box.  It was around $30 and my husband said it was really easy to install.  Now, we get almost all the same channels, some in HD (which Dish said I couldn't get with my cheapo plan), and it costs a whopping $0/month.  Yay!  If you are having this same debate, do it!  Cut it!  You'll be glad you did when your wallet is a little fatter each month.  We do, however, love our Netflix and can't live without it at this point.  So, for $8/month plan, we all (parents and kids) are happy.  We also tried Hulu plus for a free month but decided we couldn't deal with commercials anymore, so we cancelled.  Have you made the big TV cut?  If not, how are you making TV watching economical?
--Kathy

Feeling Grateful

Now that Halloween has successfully passed, it is time to turn our attentions to Thanksgiving.  This is actually one of my top favorite holidays, not for the food, but for the attitude of being thankful.  It reminds me of how grateful I am for family, home, health, friends, and life.  The artist side of me can't help but be inspired by the lovely colors and fallen leaves.  It makes me want to go out and take fall pictures of my kiddos, rake up a giant pile of leaves to jump in, and make a list of things we are grateful for.  I guess my message for today is, remember how lucky you are.  Today is a special one.  Enjoy it.  Happy November!
--Kathy

Coming Soon

This is going to be an awesome website dedicated to having a better family and home life while saving a buck.  I'm always looking for ways to have fun and be creative but I never want to pay full price for anything.  Hopefully I can give you some helpful tips and you can share yours.  I look forward to hearing from you. 
--Kathy