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Why I Try To Avoid Stocking Up On Deals

By Melissa 6 Comments – The content of this website often contains affiliate links and I may be compensated if you buy through those links (at no cost to you!). Learn more about how we make money. Last edited June 14, 2016.

When I was 17, I was between jobs for a few weeks.

I had quit one job and was interviewing for a new job.  I had $20 to my name.  I was also a bookworm, so when my friend, Meg, and I were at a secondhand bookstore and I saw a book I really wanted, I was tempted to buy the book.

Meg, who was a spendthrift, tried to cajole me into it, but I resisted.  Meg’s mother, who happened to be with us, praised me for my smart money sense.  She said, “You’re smart.  If you don’t have money, you shouldn’t spend it.”

Such basic advice, isn’t it?  Yet, so many of us have forgotten that.

avoid-stocking-up

avoid-stocking-up

The Rationale Behind Stocking Up On Deals

Since the recession in 2008, too many of us are in search of the next great deal.  If we can pay as little as possible for something, we can make our money go further, we rationalize.

Toys are on clearance after Christmas?  Stock up!  They can be future birthday or Christmas presents for the kids or they can be a birthday party gift for a friend’s kid.

Shirts are on sale, buy one, get one free?  Stock up!  You’ll save money because you won’t need to buy shirts for a while.

Kids’ summer clothes are on clearance?  Stock up!  Next year you’ll have their summer wardrobes for a fraction of a price.

In theory, this practice makes sense.  You are being smart with your money because you’re getting things at a much lower cost than they normally retail for.

When Stocking Up Doesn’t Work

The problem is that stocking up doesn’t often work in real life.  Maybe you buy your son size 12 summer clothes for next year because he’s currently in size 10.  But when next summer comes, he’s had a growth spurt and passed size 12 altogether.  Now he wears size 14.

What do you do with all of those clothes you bought for such a great deal?  Turns out the deal actually cost you money because you didn’t need those clothes.  They didn’t even fit your child when the time came to wear them!

Unfortunately, this type of scenario happens way too often when we try to stock up.  Instead we’re left with merchandise that we didn’t use and didn’t need.

Plus, it clutters up our house, so we need to buy storage containers to store the stuff we’re not going to use.  Now our deals are costing us even more money.

What If We Only Bought What We Truly Need?

I’ve been deep in the stock up cycle for 5 or 6 years, thinking I was making smart money moves.  Turns out all I was making was clutter.  That fact hit me over the head when we were packing for a cross country move two years ago.  So much stuff!  So much stuff to somehow get rid of because I didn’t want to pay to ship it across the country.

Now, my attitude has changed.

Now I try to buy on an as-needed basis.  This summer, my daughter needed new shorts.  I didn’t want to pay full price, so I hit up Goodwill and our local consignment shop.  True, we didn’t find everything she needed on our first trip.  But, whenever we passed by those stores while running errands, we stopped in.   Within three weeks, we had her summer wardrobe complete.

There were no items to store for months or years while I waited for her to grow into the items I had already bought.  Plus, she got to pick clothes she liked rather than ones mom had bought on clearance at a rock bottom price.

Because I still shopped secondhand and I bought only what she needed, I didn’t pay any more than I would have had I stocked up.  In fact, I think I spent less because I bought ONLY what she needed.

Rather than stocking up when I see sales, my new motto is to buy on an as needed basis.  I’d prefer to keep the cash in my pocket and my house a little less cluttered.

What about you?  Do you still buy items on clearance and stock up or do you take an as-needed approach?

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Practice An Attitude Of Gratitude To Improve Your Finances

My children and I attended a prayer service at our church the other day.

Before the prayers began, people were allowed to pray for intentions.

The man behind me, easily in his late 70s, said, “Please pray for my 54 year old son who just had a heart attack and a stroke.”

Another woman said, “Please pray for the Johnson family who just lost Joan, who was a mother, wife, sister, aunt.”

And the worst one, “Please pray for Kelly McIntyre who just found out she only has 6 months to live.”

gratitude

gratitude

We Often Don’t Acknowledge How Blessed We Are

At the same time my heart was breaking for these people and their circumstances, I realized immediately how blessed I am to still have my health and my family members around me, who are also healthy.

Isn’t that the most important thing?

Focusing On What You Don’t Have Robs You Of Experiencing Joy For What You Do Have

I also felt a deep embarrassment.

My husband and I live a rather frugal life by choice.  He works full-time, and I work in a very part-time basis from home while homeschooling our kids.  Money is tight, but we make it work.

Just recently, as the kids have gotten involved in more activities, our frugal lifestyle has begun to feel like a burden.

Since we’ve been married, we’ve only had one car.  When we lived in the suburbs of Chicago, this was no problem because my husband took the train and could walk to and from the train station.  Now, we’ve moved to Tucson, AZ, and every day, the kids and I have to drive 30 minutes round trip each morning and evening to drop off and pick up my husband at the bus station.  Sometimes the bus runs late, so at night we could add an additional 15 minutes to our wait.

These trips to the bus station really feel like wasted time, and my husband and I have both uttered more than a passing comment about how nice it would be if we could buy a second car.

But seriously, in the face of the prayer intentions I heard at church, our grumbling sounds like little children’s tantrums.

Honestly, we have what we need.  We have a home, a car, food for our family.  We’re all together, and we’re all healthy.

Everything else is just extra.

Yet, how many of us, just like my husband and I, think life will improve if we can only buy______.

*If I buy a sports car, I’ll make a good impression on my associates.

*If I buy a second car, I won’t have to waste so much time sharing a car with my spouse.

*If I have a bigger house, the kids will have more room to spread out and won’t fight so much.

Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Appreciate What You Do Have

On and on our lists and wants go, while we don’t even realize that for most of us, we already have the things we need.  We are already enormously blessed.

Maybe if we all take the time to practice gratitude, to say thank you for the people and things we already have in our lives, we can stop the endless desire to always want, want, want.

Once that desire is stifled, we will stop needlessly spending, sometimes running up debt while chasing the elusive dream of a “better” life.

As Rick Warren argues, “Instead of focusing on what you don’t have, you should be grateful for what you do have.  Your ‘wants’ will pale in comparison when you realize that what you already have is more than enough.

Too often we think, ‘I have this, but if I get more, I’ll be even happier.’  That’s just not true.  We are taught to be discontent, but we don’t have to be if we focus on what good things we already have.”

Have you had an ah-ha moment, where you suddenly realized just how much you have financially and in other ways?  How do you practice an attitude of gratitude?

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5 Ways To Get Rid Of Unwanted Gifts

By Melissa Leave a Comment – The content of this website often contains affiliate links and I may be compensated if you buy through those links (at no cost to you!). Learn more about how we make money. Last edited January 6, 2017.

Another Christmas has come and gone.  If you’re lucky, you received presents that you wanted and truly appreciated.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case for most of us.  You may have received gifts that are too big, that you don’t like, that you have no interest in. Sound familiar?

If you’re looking at a pile of unwanted gifts that you don’t want and don’t want to store, there are options available.

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sell it on Craigslist, Ebay, local Facebook groups, or any number of websites that purchase your unwanted items.  You may even want to consider Amazon.

“Services like Fulfillment by Amazon. . .will do all the work for you.  With Amazon’s service, you send the goods and the company sells them on your behalf.”  Whitson Gordon, editor-in-chief at lifestyle blog LifeHacker.com “says Amazon takes a small cut of the sale and sends you the rest.  ‘It doesn’t require a lot of work on your part. . .It may not be as lucrative as selling it yourself, but it’s the easiest way to get rid of stuff you don’t want” (Fox Business).  Then, you can use the money to buy yourself a gift you really would like.

Another option if you have tech items that you don’t want is to sell them through a myriad of sites like Gazelle, SellShark, BuyBackWorld or ItemCycle. These sites will give you an offer for what they’ll pay for your item, and you can accept or reject their offer.   Get quotes from several sites and you may just find an offer you want to accept.

Re-gift Them

If you got a nice present that simply isn’t your style or isn’t what you need, consider keeping it to re-gift at a later time.  You could give the gift to someone else and save yourself the expense of buying a present. We have a nice stash of items to re-gift in our storage room that comes in handy because we always have a gift handy to give in the event we forget a birthday or other holiday.

If you choose this strategy, remember to keep track of who gave you the gift so you don’t accidentally re-gift it to them!

Donate Them

There are many, many organizations that will gladly accept your unwanted gifts.

Consider Goodwill, the Salvation Army, or a local women’s shelter.

If your children received toys or clothes that they don’t want or need, consider giving them as a gift when it comes time for a toy drive, usually around Easter and again in December for Christmas.  Women’s shelters are also frequently looking for clothes and other essentials for children.

Exchange Them

Why not have fun with the gifts that you don’t want?  Invite several friends over and ask them to bring their unwanted gifts, too.  Then, everyone can browse through the unwanted gifts and pick the ones they want.

A gift that you hate may be just what your friend is looking for.

As you can see, if you received an unwanted gift this year, you don’t need to simply store it and create clutter in your home.  There are many ways you can get rid of it and put it in the hands of others who could really use and appreciate the gift.

Did you receive any unwanted gifts this year?  If so, what do you plan to do with them?

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Shop Your Service Providers Regularly To See If There’s A Better Deal

By Peter Anderson 2 Comments – The content of this website often contains affiliate links and I may be compensated if you buy through those links (at no cost to you!). Learn more about how we make money. Last edited September 22, 2016.

I wrote a post a few years ago about how my wife and I had saved almost $1600 on our regular monthly expenses.

How did we do that?  We didn’t accept the status quo when it came to what we paid for the services we used.

We looked at everything from our TV service, our internet, our cell and home phone bills, our insurance coverage, and more.  If we were paying a bill every month, we tried to find a way to pay less. In the end we were pretty successful in finding ways to cut our spending.

This summer we decided to take another look at how we could save money on our recurring expenses.

shop-services-to-save

shop-services-to-save

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our cord cutting experience, but we ended up still paying for cable TV because there were several shows that my wife liked to watch that we couldn’t get outside of a cable TV package.  I also liked to watch some sports that weren’t really available outside of cable.

So we were stuck paying $138.82 every month. But the cost didn’t stay there. It quickly went up to $142.28, then $148.98 and $153.60. After 3 years we’re now all the way up $156.02!  That’s over a 10% increase in our cost – and we’re not getting anything additional for the increase. In fact the service has started getting worse over the 3 years.

When Costs Go Up, Find Ways To Save

As we watched our costs go up, we decided to find ways to cut our costs. Here are some things you can do in order to cut costs on services:

  • Ask for a discount: Sometimes you can call your provider and get a discount on your service by getting in on a promotional deal, or by cutting services you’re not using. You can also get a discount sometimes by threatening to cancel.
  • Cut service altogether: If you can’t get a discount, it’s always an option to cut your service altogether.  With all of the over-the-air TV content, you don’t NEED cable TV, right?
  • Move to a new provider: If you have the option of moving to a new provider, often you can take advantage of their new customer promotions, reduced rates, and take advantage of new service offerings.

Cutting Expenses On Our Internet & TV Costs

In our case we called trying to find discounts on Internet and TV service since we didn’t think we had any other options for service.  Our provider basically told us we could cancel certain services (like DVR or HD service), but in the end we would have to sacrifice our level of service for minimal savings.

We didn’t really want to cancel service altogether, but after talking with our next door neighbor we realized that another Internet service provider was now in our neighborhood. We looked into the cost of the new provider, and it was significantly less than what we were paying. Not only that, but the Internet speeds were significantly higher.

We also found that in the ensuing years since we signed up for TV service several streaming cable TV replacement services had launched, services like Sling TV and PlayStation Vue. After doing my research on PlayStation Vue I discovered that we would get essentially all of the same TV stations that we had previously, including my wife’s favorites, and my local sports networks – but at a much lower cost.  It even has a cloud DVR service!

So by switching our service providers we would save a significant amount of money.

internet-speeds

internet-speedsWe went from paying about $155 or so for bundled Internet and TV, to about $90!

  • By switching our Internet provider we went from paying about $80, to about $55. Not only that but our speeds would go from 20 Mbps to 100Mbps+!
  • By switching our TV provider we went from paying about $75, to about $35 and lost nothing that we enjoy watching.

So when it comes down to it just by switching service providers we’re getting better service and saving about $65/month, or $780 a year!  That’s a decent amount of money to be saving!

Moving To New Services Saved Us Hundreds

It can be easy to just go with the flow when it comes to your recurring monthly expenses.  The costs slowly go up over time, and the level of services doesn’t always go up with it. Before you know it you’re vastly overpaying for services you don’t even use that much.

In our situation our costs for Internet and TV went up over 10% within a couple of years.  Simply by shopping around and switching to new providers for both Internet and TV, we were able to save hundreds of dollars every year.

If you take the time to look at ALL of your recurring monthly expenses (not just Internet and TV), you can see just how much the savings can add up to.

Far too often we focus on small savings made my cutting out small expenses here and there, when we could be saving hundreds just by making a few phone calls to switch providers or shop around for a better deal.

After this success I know I’ll be looking at other areas where we can save as well!

Have you found ways to save money on your recurring expenses?  Tell us where you’ve saved in the comments.

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How Do You Handle An Extravagant Gift Giver?

By Melissa 2 Comments – The content of this website often contains affiliate links and I may be compensated if you buy through those links (at no cost to you!). Learn more about how we make money. Last edited December 28, 2015.

Debbie and her husband, Mark, have four kids.  They don’t believe in gifting their children big, expensive gifts.  (Even if they did, it wouldn’t matter because money is tight in Debbie and Mark’s family.  Even though they’re frugal, raising four kids is not cheap.)

Debbie chooses to buy a few gifts each year that she knows her kids will really like.  She buys the gifts throughout the year when she finds good deals.  Some of the gifts are gently used items that she finds at garage sales or secondhand stores.  Santa tends to bring the kids one or two brand new items.

Each year, Debbie hopes for a simple Christmas, but then her in-laws send presents, and her parents bring presents, and the children’s favorite family friend, Judith, gives presents.

Over the years, Debbie and Mark have been able to gently ask their own parents to not give the kids so many presents.  Though it has taken a few years, the grandparents now just give one or two gifts that are reasonably priced and modest.

extravagant-gift-giver

extravagant-gift-giver

Judith, well, Judith is a different story.

Judith is in her sixties, and while she has three kids of her own, she doesn’t have any grandkids.  Judith LOVES Christmas and always has.  To her, it’s not Christmas unless the tree is piled high with expensive, electronic gifts and gadgets.  She routinely spent $1,000 on each of her children’s gifts each year when they were young.

She happily goes over the top at Christmas and saves all year to do so.

Each year, the gifts she gets Debbie and Mark’s kids get more and more extravagant.

This year, Judith is spending nearly $200 on EACH of Debbie and Mark’s children for gifts.

Debbie doesn’t want to hurt Judith’s feelings, and she knows how much joy Judith gets out of gift giving, so Debbie hasn’t said anything to Judith.

Yet, Debbie has a wide range of emotions she feels about Judith giving her kids nicer gifts than she or Santa give the children.

Does this sound familiar?  Do you have a well-meaning person in your life who gives your children more expensive gifts than you can?  If so, you have three basic options.

Compete With The Extravagant Gift Giver

One option is to compete with the extravagant gift giver so your presents are just as nice and as expensive as the gift giver’s.  This isn’t an option for Debbie and Mark because they simply don’t have that much money.  It’s also not an option because they really, really don’t want to spoil their kids on Christmas.

Talk To The Extravagant Gift Giver

Another option is to gently ask the extravagant gift giver to stop giving such over-the-top gifts.  Debbie and Mark have thought of doing this, but they worry about hurting Judith’s feelings.  They know how much Judith loves Christmas and gift giving.  She’s a close family friend, and they don’t want to hurt the relationship.

Alter Your Own Gift Giving Plans

While Debbie and Mark have had some years where they were frustrated by Judith and her extravagant gift giving, they’ve decided over the years to just see the positive in the situation.

They’re thankful that Judith loves their children so much to think of them, and spoil them, at Christmas.

They’ve also decided that since Judith is giving such expensive presents, they don’t have to give their own kids as many gifts.

Sure, it can be frustrating that someone gives your children nicer gifts than you can afford, but in the end, Debbie and Mark decided to be grateful that the Christmas shopping expense is a bit lower this year thanks to Judith and her generosity.

Have you ever had someone who gave your kids more expensive gifts than you?  If so, how did you handle the situation?

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Bible Money Matters

On February 17, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The law provides for a one-time economic recovery payment of $250 to people who get certain types of Federal benefits. I’ve gotten several questions over the past few weeks about that one time payment, and how it works.  There […]

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100 Frugal Gifts You Can Give This Christmas: The Expanded Great Big List Of Homemade, Creative And Frugal Gifts

By Peter Anderson 19 Comments – The content of this website often contains affiliate links and I may be compensated if you buy through those links (at no cost to you!). Learn more about how we make money. Last edited August 25, 2020.

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Christmas is still a ways off, but if you head out to any of your local stores it’s pretty likely they’re about to start stocking their shelves for the Christmas season.

I was at my local Target store this week and now that Halloween is in the past they’re putting up the Christmas tree displays, selling wrapping paper and Christmas gifts galore.

They were even playing Christmas music over the loudspeakers. Everything they do is done in order to make as much money on you and Christmas as they can. That’s understandable – they’re in business to make money.

At our house Christmas is important because it’s a time to celebrate the birth of our savior, a time to enjoy being with our families, and it’s a time to sit back and be thankful for all of the blessings that we’ve been given.

The materialism that has overtaken Christmas in our culture, however, makes it easy to make Christmas be all about the gifts. If you’re not careful it can quickly become the most expensive month of the year.

100-frugal-christmas-gifts

100-frugal-christmas-gifts

If you’re trying to watch how much you spend, it’s important to set a Christmas budget, save up cash for that budget, and then stay within it. Once you’ve set a budget finding gifts that can fit within it or that are a bit more frugal than some other possible choices can be tough. You really have to be creative.   The key, however is to be thoughtful and personal. Here are 10 frugal gifts to start us out:

Today in this post I thought I would expand on a list of frugal Christmas gifts that I put out last year – expanding the list to a nice round number of 110 frugal Christmas gifts. Have your own ideas?  Please feel free to add them in the comments!

NOTE: The frugality of the gifts vary from gift to gift, but I’ve linked some possibilities on Amazon and other sites. You can probably find some cheaper ways to put these things together yourself if you try.

List Of 100+ Frugal Christmas Gifts

  1. Baked goods: I don’t know any guy who wouldn’t love to get a box full of cookies, banana bread and pastries! (Hint: not good for someone on a diet)
  2. Free Internet Access: FreedomPop offers 500MB of Free Internet access on-the-go. They have compact and sleek hotspots – the perfect stocking stuffer. Best of all you’d be giving free internet every month for the rest of their lives.  Most affordable hotspots can be had for $40-50, or less if you find a deal. Full review here.
  3. If you’ve got an old laptop, make a frugal digital picture frame out of it!: At 14-15″ it’ll be bigger than most you buy at the stores, and cheaper since you’ll be using old parts!
  4. Cut the cord kit: Help someone cut the cord on cable TV by buying them a lifetime license to PlayOn online DVR software and a streaming device like the Roku Ultra.
  5. Custom engraved bamboo artcustom-bamboo-art: I used a small business on Etsy to have a custom laser-engraved piece of art created (see it to the right).  Affordable for a custom piece of art!
  6. Personalized Calendars: Most photo processing places will have these personalized calendars you can buy, or pick up pre-made ones in Target’s dollar bins. Get photos of you and the person you’re giving the gift to in each season, and place them in the appropriate month/season of the year!
  7. Themed gift baskets: Give a themed gift basket. For example, a movie night theme basket with microwave popcorn, a movie or two, and some cheapo popcorn buckets from Target dollar bin.
  8. Custom t-shirts: Create your own custom t-shirt for a family member on Cafepress. It can be cheaper than you think!
  9. Scrapbooks: Make a scrapbook for a close friend showing moments you’ve shared together. My wife did this for a friend’s wedding. Very meaningful.
  10. Donation to a local charity: Give to a local charity in someone’s name. Make sure it’s a charity that they would actually give to.
  11. Handmade Christmas ornaments: make personalized Christmas ornaments for your friends and family!
  12. Board Games: buy a board game, a gift that gets the family together and keeps on giving all year long! Even better, if you can find some board games at garage sales or on ebay, create a themed game night gift basket (see above)!
  13. Family history DVD: Put together a family history DVD with photos, written family histories, family tree, video and anything else you can think of.
  14. Framed family picture: Take a picture at a family event, frame it, and give it as a gift!
  15. Coupon Books: Make a personalized coupon book with such favorite coupons as “back rub”, “dinner” or “clean the house”.  Or for parents, give them babysitting coupons!
  16. Make a blanket: make a nice fleece blanket. Instructions here.
  17. Make some custom painted wine glasses: Make some custom painted wine glasses, and then give them along with a bottle of wine. Instructions here.
  18. Give a magazine subscription: My brother loves reading National Geographic and the Economist. We gave him subscriptions as a gift.
  19. Romantic evening gift set: Candles and silk flower petals! Cheap and fun!
  20. Keeping warm gift set: Give a gift set of hat, scarf and gloves. Add long underwear as well if you wish!
  21. Leatherbound journal: buy a nice leatherbound journal at your local Borders or Barnes and Noble. They make for a nice gift. Add a nice pen if you want to pay a little more.
  22. Craft Kit: Put together a crafting kit with things like markers, glitter, scissors, clay, crayons, glue, paper, etc.
  23. Photo Collage: If you’re handy with Photoshop or another image editing software, create a photo collage/montage, print it out and frame it! Or if you don’t have Photoshop, print separate pictures and create a collage.
  24. Movie Tickets: Buy a pair of movie passes or a movie gift card for someone to go see a movie. Not as cheap as it used to be :).
  25. Buy a someone a share in an index fund: Buy a family member a gift card for a brokerage or a share in a total stock market index fund. Then give them a copy of a finance book like Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover (although you may want to stress that you’re giving it because it has helped you. People can get touchy about money related gifts)
  26. Flannel Sheets and PJs: Buy a keeping comfy gift pack with flannel sheets and pajamas!
  27. Coffee lovers gift pack: Buy some gourmet coffee and a personalized coffee cup for the coffee lover on your list.
  28. Set of soaps, towels and soap dish: Put together a nice matching set of hand towel and soap dish, and then give some handmade soaps.
  29. Homemade glycerin soaps with toys inside: Make your own soap for kids that has toys inside. The child has to lather up to get the toy!
  30. Big breakfast gift pack: Put together a gift pack with pancake mix, batter dispenser, syrup and pancake mix-ins.
  31. Puzzle day: Give a gift pack of a puzzle and snacks to eat while you do the puzzle!
  32. BBQ Kit: Get some BBQ sauce from a local source, and add it to a nice BBQ Utensil kit.
  33. Basket of spices and seasonings: Put together a basket of seasonings and spices from a local spice or grocery store. Make sure to get a good mix for cooking, BBQs, etc.
  34. Netflix or Amazon Prime subscription: Pay for someone to have Netflix or Amazon Prime for a couple of months. If they have a connected device, they can even stream movies!
  35. Deck of cards and book of card games: Buy a cheap pack of cards, and a book listing the rules of different card games. Good for hours of fun!
  36. Cheap keychain digital picture viewer: Buy someone a cheap digital picture viewer keychain (around $15?) and fill it with pictures.
  37. Bath time gift pack: Buy a nice wash cloth, some bath oils/beads and even some lotions at your local bath store.
  38. Laser Etched Crystal: Need a unique Christmas gift? Turn any photo into a 3D crystal image. While this isn’t the most frugal option on the list, if you’re looking for something special, you can find something well under $100. Use coupon code BUY3DGIFTS to save 20%.
  39. Botanicals: buy a nice low maintenance plant to brighten up their day, along with a small watering can.
  40. Make a recipe box: If you’re good with wood, make a nice recipe box, and fill it with blank recipe cards.
  41. An appreciation book: Get a nice journal, and write in it to the person about how much you appreciate them, things you love about them, shared moments and experiences and general encouragement. Even add a few photos.
  42. Book gift pack: Find some books on your own shelf that you’ve already read, and put together a gift pack of books
  43. Chocolate attack!: Put together a gift pack with all kinds of chocolate. Hot chocolate, chocolate bars, truffles, etc.
  44. Car wash kit: Put together a kit for washing the car. Can include things like sponge, tire brush, bug remover, car soap, etc.
  45. Regifted items: Did you get a 2nd crock pot last Christmas that you haven’t used? Give it away this Christmas (to someone other than who you received it from)
  46. “That’s a spicy meatball” gift pack: Give them a nice Italian dinner with a pasta bowl, pasta, strainer, fancy olive oil, pasta utensils and even some sauce.
  47. Give your service: Good at cooking? Offer to come over and cook a gourment meal. Are you a designer? Offer your design services for free. Good with computers? Offer free tech support. You get the idea.
  48. Wine and cheese gift pack: Buy a variety of specialty cheeses, crackers and a bottle of wine. Put it together and you have one gourmet evening!
  49. Picnic pack: Put together a picnic pack with a blanket, a basket, some cheap utensils and plates.
  50. Sewing Kit & lessons: put together all the sewing essentials (thread, needles, pins, etc) and then give the person lessons on how to sew.
  51. Gardening gift pack: Buy the person gardening gloves, gardening tools and some seeds. Put them all in a small bucket or watering can.
  52. Handmade jewelry: Make a handmade necklace or bracelet at a local bead or craft store. Give it as a meaningful gift.
  53. Music lover’s delight: give an Amazon MP3 gift card, along with a book about their favorite artist or band
  54. Beer afficionado gift pack: Give a beer mug, snacks and gift card from a local brew pub.
  55. A Birdhouse: Give your loved one of these bluebird houses so they can relax on the porch and watch the colorful avians.
  56. Outdoorsman gift pack: Put together a gift pack with a Leatherman Micra, a pair of choppers, and an aluminum water bottle (or your choice of other outdoor gear)
  57. Used electronics: Have an extra MP3 player and know someone who needs one? Clean up your spare and give it as a gift!
  58. Art lovers gift pack: Get a free photo canvas of one of your favorite photos, along with supplies to hang it. If the person is artistic, put together a gift pack with art supplies!
  59. Give a memory photo book: Give the person a photo book that includes memories of you and that person together.
  60. Active lifestyle gift pack: Put together some small gifts like a BPA free water bottle, workout video or video game and some wristbands. Be careful not to offend anyone with this one. 😉
  61. Accessories: Know someone with the new iPhone? Give them an Iphone accessories pack. Father with a Android phone? Give him his own cell phone accessories.
  62. Host a party: Instead of giving gifts to a large group of friends, invite them over for a Christmas party that you host.
  63. Gingerbread house kit: Give all the things needed to make gingerbread houses, along with recipes for frosting and building instructions. (Best if given before Christmas)
  64. Give the gift of a blog: Know someone who might enjoy blogging? Buy them a domain name, setup their blog and host them on your hosting account if you have one! Buy a copy of my ebook for them!
  65. Give the gift of communication: Know an older member of the family who doesn’t have a cell phone? Buy them a cheap pre-paid phone and a small amount of air time. As cheap as $20-30!
  66. Take someone out to dinner: Take a friend or family member out to dinner at a reasonably priced restaurant on the house!
  67. Tea gift pack: Give a nice teacup along with a selection of teas.
  68. Make a music mix: Purchase some of your favorite music for someone from Itunes and put it on a thumb drive or CD-RW! (no illegal content distribution folks!)
  69. Make a memories CD for a parent: If you’re younger make a memories CD for your mom and dad with photos, audio or video of you talking about good times you’ve shared, and maybe some written memories.
  70. Yard Work Coupons: Have an elderly family member or friend? Make up some nice looking coupons for free yard work or other odd jobs on your computer.
  71. Scrappers gift pack: If you know someone who enjoys scrapbooking, put together a nice canvas bag with scrapbooking materials, and maybe a gift card to Michael’s or other craft store.
  72. Sports gift pack: Know a kid who enjoys sports? Put together a sports gift pack with equipment for several different sports.
  73. Recipe gift pack: Give the gift of several of your favorite recipes, and a gift card to a local grocery store.
  74. Create a memory jar: Have a bunch of friends write down favorite memories of the person receiving the gift – get as many as you can. Then put them all on small pieces of paper, and put them in a decorated jar with the instructions to open one fun memory every day.
  75. Put on a concert: If you’re musically talented, put on a Christmas concert for family and friends. If you want to give to others, go to a local nursing home and play!
  76. Football gift pack: Have someone obsessed with football? Get them a t-shirt for their favorite team, a team blanket for cuddling up and watching games on Sunday and some snacks!
  77. Write a poem: Write a “Where I’m From Poem”, either about yourself for the gift receiver, or about them. Details here.
  78. Custom collage notebook: One year my brother made me a notebook that had a fun photo and magazine clipping collage on the cover. It was creative and I used that notebook for quite a while.
  79. Movie based on a book: Buy someone a book that you enjoyed, as well as the movie based on that book.
  80. A secret hiding spot book: You can make someone a book with a secret hiding spot where they can hide money or their secret identity. Or a slightly less frugal alternative.
  81. Give a retirement planning book: Have someone who is always asking for financial planning advice?  Give a book like “Can I Retire?” from fellow financial blogger Mike Piper.
  82. Children’s imagination kit: Give a child a kit full of things to help them be creative and imaginative.  Things like a sketch book and colored pencils, scissors and paper.  Then make a list of creative ideas of things to do – like use your kit to make tickets to a play, and a  playbill – then give a play!
  83. A Yo-Yo: You can buy a yo-yo for less than $5 on Amazon, but kids will have hours of fun trying to master their new toy. For younger kids, get one of the auto-return yo-yo models for less frustration.
  84. Brand new thrift store finds: Visit your local thrift store.  They often have brand new toys, craft kits and more that were donated by local stores.  Buy something new, at a used price.
  85. Write and illustrate your own children’s story:  Instead of buying a children’s book, write and illustrate your own – and personalize it for the child.
  86. Make a broken crayon t-shirt with your kids:  Use those broken crayons that kids have lying around to make a creative t-shirt for another kid!  Or instead of a t-shirt melt down your crayons and make new crazy color crayons in your own custom mold.
  87. Car emergency kit:   Put together an auto emergency bag for someone’s car that includes a nice flashlight, batteries,  candle, matches, jumper cables, and anything else you can think of.
  88. Teacup candle:  Take that family heirloom teacup and put it to good use by making a teacup candle out of it. Include a story of where the cup came from and why it’s special.
  89. Christmas party games book:  Put together a book of Christmas party games that the giftee can play at their party.
  90. Read a children’s book .MP3/CD: If you’re a grandparent or have kids, get a cheap USB microphone and read a selection of the kid’s favorite books and record them to a CD or set of .MP3s that the children can listen to.  Or buy a few new books and read those.
  91. Brew your own beer and give some away:  I know of one gentleman who brews his own beer, and then gives away growlers of his homebrew for Christmas.
  92. Homemade refrigerator magnets: Make creative magnets for someone’s fridge.  Things like marble magnets, photo magnets or to-do list magnets.
  93. Kids dress-up box: Put together a kids play kit with old jewelry, clothes, wigs or other accessories so that the child can play dress-up.
  94. Good night sleep tight gift set:  Put together a gift package with a cute nightlight and set of books for story time.
  95. Make a marshmallow gun: Boys on your list will love this gift – a DIY marshmallow gun.
  96. Homemade treasure soaps:  Make your own treasure soap for kids on the list with cool treasures (like small rubber toys) encased.
  97. Make your own Jerky:  I’ve actually gotten homemade jerky from a friend for Christmas. It was delicious. Enough said.
  98. A basket of your favorite things:  Go to a store and fill a cheap basket with some of that person’s favorite things. Favorite candy, favorite food, favorite movie or book, etc.
  99. Change jar savings kit:  Give a child a change jar of some sort, with some starter change already in it.  Then teach them about money!
  100. Draw names, give one nice gift:  Our family has done this some years where instead of buying 10 so-so gifts – often for $10-30 each, we’ll buy one nice gift for $50-100 for one family member.  Nice way to save money and have each person get one really nice gift.
  101. Keep in touch kit:  Have an older relative you’d like to keep in touch with more?  Buy them a cheap webcam and install it and Skype for them. Install a free remote desktop software like Logmein.com in order to help them connect if they can’t figure it out.
  102. Wooden toys or gifts: You can go to a woodworking store and buy DIY wooden toy kits, or plans to make your own pretty affordably.  My dad bought me wood one year, then we did the DIY woodworking project together after Christmas.
  103. Bluetooth headphones: You can buy a pair of Bluetooth headphones for $10-20.  With kids playing on their phones and tablets so much these days, the gift will be appreciated by them and their parents for the silence it brings.
  104. Garage sale refurbished items:  Find something cool or vintage at a garage sale, refurbish or turn it into something new and give it as a gift!
  105. Camping gift pack and experience:  Have a kid that loves camping? Put together a small camping gift pack (flashlight, knife, backpack) and then a certificate promising to take them camping when it’s nice out.
  106. Write a nice letter a month:  Write the person a nice personal letter about the things you appreciate about them, then send them another one each month of the year.  In the age of Facebook, it can be nice to receive something besides junk mail when you open the mailbox.
  107. Custom herb-infused olive oil:  Make and give the gift of a custom olive oil infused with the herbs and spices of your choice.
  108. DIY key rack: Make a unique DIY key rack for someone – after all – don’t we all lose our keys at one time or another?
  109. Give a golden ticket: Give a child a “golden ticket” just like Willy Wonka. The ticket can be used for a special day of fun at the zoo, local aquarium, or other attraction or activity of the child’s choice (within reason).
  110. A Groupon experience: Buy the giftee a certificate for some sort of experience from Groupon. Examples: Massage, salon experience, painting lesson.
  111. Save up to 90% or more on your gifts: Save a ton of money on your gifts by using a service like Snagshout. Snagshout allows you to purchase items on Amazon at a reduced price in exchange for an honest review.  Try out the gift, review it, and then give it as a gift while saving money! (Full review of Snagshout) I bought a $75 flashlight for $9.99 on Snagshout – and love it!
  112. Discounted gift cards!: Buy your gift cards at a discount at a site like GiftCardGranny.  For example, when I last checked AMC movie gift cards were sold at a 21% discount!

So there are my 100 ideas for frugal, creative or homemade Christmas gifts. What ideas do you have or have you used in the past? Tell us in the comments!

100 Frugal Gifts You Can Give This Christmas: The Expanded Great Big List Of Homemade, Creative And Frugal Gifts

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Trim Your Expenses Without Cutting Your Lifestyle

By Melissa 2 Comments – The content of this website often contains affiliate links and I may be compensated if you buy through those links (at no cost to you!). Learn more about how we make money. Last edited February 19, 2016.

The first time my husband and I tried to cut our expenses significantly, we were newly married.

I’m not going to lie—our penny pinching made life miserable.

We bought food that we didn’t like because we could get it cheaply with coupons.  We made gross casseroles that used all of our cheap processed foods that we bought.  We slept on a mattress on the floor because we didn’t want to buy a bed frame.

Now, 15 years later, we still like to penny pinch, but we also realize that it’s important to enjoy life.

Thankfully, we’ve found creative strategies to trim our expenses without making life unbearable.

Make Restaurant Food At Home

trim-expenses-not-lifestyle

trim-expenses-not-lifestyle

My husband is Japanese, and we love sushi.  However, with three growing kids, taking the whole family out to eat for a sushi meal easily runs us $100 or more.

Ouch!

But that doesn’t mean we give up our enjoyment of sushi.  Instead, once a month I splurge and buy smoked salmon, avocado, cucumbers, and seaweed. My husband makes the sushi rice, and we have hand rolls.  True, we’d get more variety if we went out to eat, but doing it this way, we only spend around $20 to enjoy sushi instead of $100 or more.

Thanks to Pinterest, there are many restaurant knock off meals you can make from home.  Whether you choose PF Chang’s Mongolian Beef or Red Lobster’s Cheddar Biscuits, you can make the restaurant food you love at home for a fraction of the cost.

Patiently Wait For Clothes To Go On Clearance

I have two daughters who are just 18 months apart.  I buy clothes for the oldest and then hand them down to the youngest.  However, I found that buying cheap clothes from the stores resulted in clothes that wore out before they could be passed down.  That strategy didn’t save me any money.

Now, I often find good quality clothing at garage sales or second hand stores where I can buy the brands I like at a fraction of the retail price.  I’ve also come to adore Hanna Andersson’s quality clothing.  However, I can’t pay full price.  Instead, I wait for their twice a year clearance and buy the clothes when they are 75% off retail.

Keep Track Of Grocery Sales Trends

My kids are starting to eat a lot, as in more at a meal than either my husband or I eat.  It takes a lot of food to fill their growing bodies. One way I do so inexpensively is by keeping track of sales.  Last December, Sprouts sold oranges 4 pounds for $1.  I bought a 40 pound case for $10.  This December, they did the same thing.  Now I know that this is a pattern that I can plan for.

In addition, I’ve learned when Sprout’s puts their meat on clearance.  If I show up sometime around 9 a.m., I can usually get quality meat deeply discounted.  I buy as much as my budget allows and store it in the freezer so that I don’t have to pay full price for meat.

Another strategy I use to save on groceries is to get rainchecks.  Sprout’s rainchecks don’t expire, which is nice.  Recently, they had grass-fed beef on sale for $3.99 a pound.  I bought about 20 pounds worth.  In addition, whenever I was near Sprout’s that week, I stopped by.  Because this sale was so popular, they were often out of beef.  Each time, I got a rain check.  Now, I have four rain checks that I can use at any time to buy low cost, healthy beef.

With a little ingenuity, you can maintain your lifestyle while saving a bundle.

What are your favorite ways to enjoy upscale tastes at a fraction of the cost?

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Frugal Activities That I Don’t Find Worthwhile

By Melissa 5 Comments – The content of this website often contains affiliate links and I may be compensated if you buy through those links (at no cost to you!). Learn more about how we make money. Last edited December 2, 2015.

Most people, even if they don’t consider themselves frugal, have some things that they do to save money and avoid waste.

They do things like tipping the condiment bottle upside down in the refrigerator to get the last few drops or adding a little water to the bottom of the shampoo bottle to get one more wash before throwing the bottle away.

I consider myself relatively frugal.  I routinely tip the condiment bottle upside down and I add a little water to most bottles whether they be shampoo, dish detergent, laundry detergent, etc., to get the last little drops out.  I also do a host of other activities from cooking from scratch, to hanging up laundry, to keeping my air conditioning at 81 degrees in the summer, to name a few.

frugal-activities-not-worthwhile

frugal-activities-not-worthwhile

Over the years, however, I’ve found some frugal activities to not be worth my time.

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