More Frugal Gift Ideas

Here are some more frugal gift ideas from some of my Frugal Readers.

The Grammarphile writes: "Whenever I read magazines, I pull out pages that have interesting backgrounds or pictures or words on them and save them in a folder. I make refrigerator magnets (using the business card-sized magnets), bookmarks, and notecards for people when I need a fun, handmade gift. I'll have to try using some of the magazine pages to make a cool decoupage box! Those little wooden and cardboard boxes are so inexpensive at Michael's and other craft stores."

Not only are the boxes inexpensive at craft stores, both Michael's and JoAnn Fabrics have weekly 40% off coupons good for one item. And, boxes from around the house work great, too. I've even done magazine holders in decoupage.

My sister writes that "this year for the little cousins, I am making Family Memory Games. It is just like the card game Memory only the cards are pictures of family members. Naturally, there are two copies of each picture in the deck. I order the wallet prints from Sam's Club so I automatically get two prints and no further cropping is needed. I'm using heavy double sided printed paper to mount the photos on and I may or may not laminate the cards. I haven't figured out how much each deck will cost, but even after getting some little tins from Michaels' to put the cards in, I don't imagine it will be that much and it will surely be less than what I would have spent otherwise."

I'm sensing a theme here...craft stores (Michael's) are great for the frugal gifter. I'm bummed that my boys are too old to qualify for "little cousin" status. Watch the prices on laminating, that can run up the cost really quickly!

Keep those frugal gift ideas coming! I'll post the best ones in future posts.

Meaningful Holiday Gifts

Christmas is two months from today. Does anyone else shudder in terror at the thought? Trying to figure out Christmas gifts is always a Herculean effort, especially if trying to add smart spending into the mix.

Some of the best holiday gifts are those that don't require money, but require some time. They are more meaningful to the recipient, and especially to the giver, because you have a little more invested than the time it took to shop for it and wrap it up.

Gifts I have given in the past that took more time than money:

• Cross-stitched items such as table runners and holiday decorations (this was BC--before children)
• A recipe book full of favorite recipes collected from family members
• CDs of old family pictures that I scanned and turned into JPGs
• Decoupaged boxes (and initials) made with recycled page-a-day calendar illustrations.

I especially like giving presents to family members that have some significance. Everyone has really enjoyed and used their recipe books. This year, I have a couple of fun Christmas projects in the works. And, no, I won't tell you what they are, as some of the recipients read this blog!

Have you made (or received) a great holiday gift that would fall in this category? I'd love to hear about them. And, after Christmas, I promise to tell you what I made this year.

Christmas for a Family of Five on $50

A friend of mine from church who recently moved to Utah had posted on her blog about her amazingly frugal Christmas and I was so impressed that I asked her to write more about what she did and how, so I could share it with you. She has graciously accepted, and below is her account on how she was able to do Christmas gifts and stockings for her entire family of five. She has two preschoolers (a boy and a girl) and a baby not quite a year old.

Here's her account:

Probably in September I started keeping a close eye on freecycle.com for anything that I thought might be good gifts for my hubby or the kids. I also requested a couple of items on freecycle, and we did get one but the others I didn't really hear anything about. I was able to find something wonderful for each of the kids (a bike helmet for my daughter and an alarm clock for my son, both of which they had asked for and both were in really good condition). I also came across a doll play house and was able to quickly snap that up (I had requested to get emails whenever something was posted so that I would have a better chance of getting an item that was posted).

Another day I took the kids to Deseret Industries with me and let them look around and show me all sorts of toys and things that they liked. Then I went back and got them each something they had requested (and I found something that the baby would like too) and I didn't spend more than $4 total...one of the items was a hard back compilation of 7 Dora the Explorer books which is normally $14 but I got it for 50 cents! So the kids were covered for gifts from us, but of course both Grandmas also asked what they kids might like and we told them of a couple other items they had requested.

My husband and I decided a few months before Christmas that we wanted to make each other gifts and that we could spend up to $10. I had gathered different ideas from friends and knew exactly what I wanted to do. I had an extra blank journal lying around and I started a daily journal for him where each night I would think about the day, think about all the good things he did that day whether it was helping with the dishes, getting the kids ready for bed, taking out the trash, giving me a compliment, anything...and I would write down that experience and tell him how grateful I was for him and how much I love him...each day I did this for 3 months and then the night before Christmas I wrapped it up and gave it to him Christmas morning. And since I didn't spend the $10 on my homemade gift I was able to go buy him a new work shirt from WalMart on Black Friday.

My hubby knows I love to read; in fact, I'm always reading. I have books everywhere and am constantly losing my bookmarks and end up using some part of the book to keep it open which isn't good for the spine binding or the pages. So he found some famous quotes on the benefits/joys of reading, printed them out on nice cardstock paper, and then cut them, laminated them (at Kinkos) and put a ribbon through the top. It was so thoughtful. And then he used a gift card that he had kept from Barnes and Noble and bought me a new book...so he sort of cheated but it was his gift card money that he could do whatever he wanted with so I was okay with that.

As for stockings we decided on $20 all together, so about $5 a person (we didn't include the baby because she doesn't care about stockings or eat candy). I was in charge of stuffing the kids’ and my hubby’s stockings and he did mine. So I was lucky because I had $15 to work with whereas he had $5(but I think he went over a little). My hubby also went out to JC Penney just before Christmas because they were having tons of sales and bought the baby a new sleeper since she just had the one gift that I found at Deseret Industries. I think altogether we spent around $50 for our Christmas this year which is pretty good.

Pretty good? Pretty good?!? I'd call this incredibly impressive.

Getting Back to Frugal Business

Wow, with Christmas and being snowbound for more than a week, things have really gotten away from me, but now that the snow is melting away and the hubby is back at work, it's time to get back into gear. I'm not looking forward to my next heating bill, as we were all at home running the heat at our standard 67 degrees during the very bitter cold and the snowstorms (vs. being at work or school--the kids missed FIVE days--with our furnace set at 63 while we were gone). The snowstorms also forced me to do my grocery shopping at a store that I don't normally shop at, but which was easier to get to (no hills), and boy, did I notice the difference. Talk about sticker shock! I can't wait to get back to Albertson's and Safeway tomorrow.

I'm pleased to report that we spent about $30 less on Christmas this year than we did last year (hey, it's better than spending more). I did a ton of shopping, especially for my hubby, on amazon.com this year. One thing I learned about that is if you see a good sale price on amazon, you have to grab it right then and there, or risk the price going up next time you are out on the website.

I'm finding the after-Christmas sales to be good, and I hope you are too. I've picked up lots of wrapping paper, gift tags, gift bags, wrapping paper, ornaments, small gifts for next year, etc., at prices 50-75% off normal. My best bargain so far has been 6 strings of 25 C9 outdoor lights (red and white ceramic lights) and 12 packages of 4 green C9 replacement bulbs for $19.37 after tax.

Look for more posts from me in the new year as we all try to make our way for as little money as possible in the new economic environment.

Happy New Year!

Gift-buying Strategy

My sister had a great suggestion on my Frugal Holidays post that I wanted to share by putting it in its own post. A woman she knows buys two gifts at a person's birthday, then sets one aside for Christmas. It makes it so the expenses are spread out more throughout the year.

I could see this working really well for a lot of people on my gift list, but not necessarily my kids or hubby, as I would run the risk of all three of them ending up buying themselves the thing I had bought and put away for Christmas. Or for people (like my other sister, and several nieces) whose birthdays are in December. But, for friends, other relatives, etc., I could see it working. It's too late for me to try this theory now, but I am considering giving it a try in 2009.

Frugal Holidays?

With the calendar inching ever closer to November, the holidays, too, are inching ever closer. Does it fill you with dread, too, or just me?

I'll just come right out and say it: I am a miserable failure when it comes to being frugal at the holidays, Christmas particularly. Each year, we sit down and set out a budget of how much we want to spend for each person or family, then we proceed to blow it, despite my efforts to keep us reined in.

I grew up in a household where there was not much under the Christmas tree most years. And, you know what? I have absolutely wonderful, fond memories. Never once did I think that we didn't have enough. My husband, on the other hand, grew up in a household where his parents scrimped and saved throughout the year (have you ever heard of someone not having garbage service because it cost too much?), then went bonkers with Christmas. He, too, has fond memories of Christmas. We've tried to strike a happy medium, but always end up with me feeling like we've spent too much. I then spend most of January being very grumpy about the Christmas bills.

We set some money aside each month for Christmas spending (though we tend to dip into that envelope throughout the year, so there is never quite as much in there as there should be), and of course I shop sales and look for deals, but still. I always find myself wishing we had done better come December 26.

So, Frugal Readers, I turn to you for inspiration. How do you save $$ during the holidays without feeling like a 21st-century version of Ebeneezer Scrooge? Do tell!