Frugal Christmas Shopping Ideas

This article is for those of us going through hard times financially! Many of us have no real budget to buy Christmas presents,so you shop spending a few dollars here and there for the people on your priority list such as grandchildren. Here are some inexpensive ideas both on making gifts and buying them.

Plants from Your Own Cuttings- I have mint and scented geraniums growing in my yard. Next year they will be big enough to take cuttings from. Mint or scented geraniums in a pretty pot make a nice inexpensive present that certain people on your Christmas list might enjoy.

Homemade Crafts - My mom was great at making things and we would not have had much for Christmas if it had not been for her skills at sewing dolls, crafts, and my clothes. You can make some beautiful personalized Christmas cards and Christmas tags from past cards you have received and last years Christmas paper. You can make some pretty wonderful Christmas gifts.

Stocking Fillers: I use unsalted popcorn instead of the expensive nuts I used to fill the socks with. Packages of pop corn also make a little stuffer in the sock. Go to the Dollar Store and get small packages of nuts to put in the sock as part of the little gifts.

Quick Inexpensive Wreath- The stores that sell the trees cut some of the branches off. Ask the guys cutting the trees for those branches. Take a wire coat hanger and bentd it out to make a small wreath form. Attach the greenery to the hanger with ribbon or wire. Then take inexpensive wooden ornaments and decorate the wreath. You can also decorate with holly real or artificial, and colorful Christmas ribbons or other cute decorations. It may not be as fancy as some of them but it looks cute on the door. You can also give this wreath as a gift as well. You can also use that free greenery to decorate a shelf or put in a glass bowl with pine cones. Use your imagination and have fun.

Salvation Army-Goodwill Stores-Thrift Stores:

Every year at least part of my gifts come from second hand stores. I have found some wonderful knick knacks that are great for small gifts and for stocking stuffers. The home made angel decorating our tree came from the Goodwill and she is beautiful. I have an angel carrying a lighted candle that stands three feet high and moves. I could not have afforded to buy her retail. All came from the Goodwill in Denver. I have found books for myself, my adult children and grandchildren that were new.

Every week the thrift shops get a new shipment of new and used children's books, puzzles not even opened, toys, stuffed animals, exercise equipment, and furniture. People donate new Christmas paper, decorations, and cards. New items come in every day that have purchased and not used. Many of these items you can't even tell have been used. Where do our Christmas gifts go that we don't want, they go to the second hand stores.

You can find clothes and shoes new or almost new, tops, slacks, neat baskets that you can make into beautiful Christmas gifts and dolls of almost every kind. Another item easily found at the thrift stores are picture frames. How many of us have pictures in boxed that all need to be put into frames. They also sometimes have some nice paintings as well.

Get to know your various Good Will and Second Hand Stores in your area. They tend to carry different kinds of items and some are better resources than others. Go to the upscale shops in the more expensive parts of town because that is where the rich tend to take their cast offs.

To get the best pick and the best deals, you need to shop the thrift stores every chance you get and go when they first open up in the morning. Sat is a great day because often the thrift stores have sales on sat for 20 to 25 per cent off. I picked up a brand new book shelf for 15 bucks not too long ago and it was already put together. The week after Christmas is another great time to pick up deals. People drop off their gifts that they

Dollar Stores: I buy gift bags, cards, Christmas decorations and lights for a buck a piece. Now beware because many of the so called 99 Cent Stores / 98 Cent Stores have items that are more expensive. Dollar Tree ( CA at least) is one store where true to their name, everything is a dollar.

You can buy neat calendars, school supplies which make good stocking stuffers, pens, gum, office supplies, hair ribbons and ties, all sorts of neat stuffers. They carry food items, cleaning supplies, birthday supplies and gifts, kitchen utensils and dishes, and much more. You would be surprised on how many wealthy people shop there.

5 Dollar Stores: These stores carry a wide range of clothing for the whole family! They also carry some great gifts and household items for you or to be given as gifts.

E Bay is another place to find items for less. First research the cheapest price you can get the item new from a regular store. After you have determined the lowest price there, head for E Bay.

Put in the item in the search bar and it wills you a lot of selections. Go through until you find that same item or similar item in quality.

If the item has days left, just put it on watch. When it is close to the time of the auction closing, see where the price is then.

If the price is too high at this point, then don't bother. If the price is lower than your researched price, wait until the last hour to bid anything. You don't want to run the bid up and let other bidders know you are interested. Wait until the last 5 min of the auction, and then put in your bid. If you are bidding against someone else, only raise the bid to the level you are willing to pay. Don't get emotionally caught up in the bidding and pay more than you intended. This happens a lot with people. Sometimes you will lose the item waiting until the last few minutes but often this strategy does work. Try to pick items where there is no interest. The more bidders there are, the more you will end up paying for the item. Try to bid on items that do not have a beginning reserve price. Pick items back a few pages, where they get less traffic.

Last are the gifts of our time:

Babysitting

Helping someone with housework, errands, or meals,

Taking someone to church or a special event,

Back rubs, honey dos that never got done, fixing something or helping clean up the yard.

Homemade goodies are always welcome but much more expensive this year. Just a tip if you have a store like we do called Smart and Final where restaurants buy their supplies. You can get a better price on chocolate chips, nuts, flour, and the rest of the ingredients at these stores. To find out where a store is in your area call a restaurant and ask them where they buy their food supplies.