Stay frugal during the holiday season
photo by tinywhitelights
This holiday season, many families are avoiding advertising and consumerism and are opting for a simpler celebration. Some call it an old-fashioned or homespun holiday, but the common thread is the desire to set reasonable expectations and budgets, and get back to basics.
The following are frugal holiday strategies from readers.
TOSS THE ADS: I don’t allow catalogs to enter our home during the holiday season. Most of our gifts are handmade. There is something special about watching the children make gifts for their daddy or whispering with daddy about what they are making for me. When they do buy a gift, they go to the dollar store.
We don’t rent or buy any new holiday movies. We watch the oldies on television. We aren’t putting lights outside. Instead, we’re putting up a few more decorations inside so we can enjoy them all day long. I stopped sending out seasonal cards, too.
We purchase our turkey long before the holiday, when it is on sale, and I save breadcrumbs for making my stuffing for the turkey rather than buy boxed stuffing. — C.J., Canada
FRUGAL SIMPLICITY: I’m making homemade gifts. I will only use the decorations I already have or can make with items in my craft area. I’m making gingerbread houses and cookies with the kids. I will give each child a certain amount of money because they love to shop at post-holiday sales. We will volunteer somewhere as a family and will continue our annual pilgrimage to see all of the decorations in the neighborhoods around us. — Yankeegal, Maine
SECONDHAND AND DISCOUNT SHOPPING: I shopped flea markets, yard sales, dollar stores and did a lot of swapping and trading. — Tracey, Pennsylvania
SAYING NO: We participate in as few gift exchanges as possible. Sometimes that involves saying no to party invites. I don’t like to be out and busy every weekend, so we’re choosy about which parties we attend. — Ewokgirl, Texas
GIFT STASH: I went through my gift box the other day and matched gifts to recipients. I have almost everything already from shopping throughout the year and regifting. For people I don’t have gifts for, I’ll make homemade chocolates and flavored nuts. — Peanut, e-mail
PLAN AHEAD: I put away $20 a month throughout the year to avoid having a big expense at the end of the year. –Emjo, e-mail
SIMPLE SPOUSE GIFTS: My husband and I only fill each other’s stockings. — Pkellyc, Connecticut
FRUGAL BARGAIN HUNTING: I looked online and found cheap magazine subscriptions, so guess what everyone is getting this year? — Kittyrose, via forums
PARE DOWN: Two years ago, I decided to quit doing and giving out of a sense of obligation. I basically cut out all of the pain-in-the-butt individuals. Saves us money, time and heartache. — Frugalwitch, Alabama
FREE SAMPLES: I saved samples I received this year and created mini-grooming kits. Teachers are getting baskets bought at Goodwill filled with school supplies that I bought when they were on clearance. — Stephanie, e-mail
FOCUS ON FOOD, FAMILY AND FUN: We host a holiday party for the family each year. (This could be a potluck.) We do not exchange gifts. It’s all about the family, food and desserts, decorations, music and a lit fireplace. — Stacey, e-mail
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We cut out all the extra presents. We told family that we did not want any gifts from them and we would not be sending out any. We limited the kids gifts by asking Santa for one gift from the list, and having one gift from us. We are each only buying one gift for eachother and then filling stockings. For the stockings we are filling them with things we need replenished but have put off due to the holidays coming, plus a couple of small treats. To see our friends we just had a potluck at our house with a gift exchange game ($10 limit/gift). That way we all had fun but it was inexpensive and the focus was on visiting. I have pared down my baking to a few favourites, rather than baking everything like previous years. We saved up some of our shopping points and redeemed tham on bonus points day to “purchase” most of the stocking stuff for free. I will not be buying anymore wrapping paper. When we use up the surplus from last year we will use what we find around the house and the kids can decorate it.
Friends recently remodeled their kitchen. The previous flooring was made of slate. They had pieces cut into various sizes for me, and they gave them to me FREE! They just wanted rid of them. I drill holes in the top for hanging, and paint/stencil them as “welcome” signs. They’re a hit for gifts!
Saving during Christmas time:
Adult name exchange
Then we put all childrens name in a hat and the number adults will be divided by the number of children in the hat….for example, we have 5 adults 15 children so each adult will choose 3 names out of the hat…so a total of 4 gifts for a family that has total of 27 family members.
Plus Micheals had 40% coupon every Sunday in newspaper and I buy the craft kits for children. And Micheals reciept will print a coupon for the following week too…
Local fabric store had 40 to 50% coupon on fabic and I make 5 tote bags out of 1 yard of material normally $8 full price duct cloth material then I buy novelity cotton pattern too. I try to go early to get the store coupon I take 2 and purchase both materials…
It works for holiday birthdays too.
To keep from dipping into our regular cash on hand, or heaven forbid, our savings, I do online surveys through out the year with several different companies. It is fun and around the middle of October, I cash in all my points for either a check or gift cards. It has proved to be invaluable this year especially. Also, I make as many gifts myself as I can.
Melissa,
Could you email me or let me know how to get started with online surveys? Which ones do you do?
Thanks!!
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