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Gift Ideas to Save You Money
Inexpensive Gift Ideas: Article by
Kimberly A. Griffiths, author of "One Paycheck At A
Time"
Want to save $1000 this year for very little
effort? Gift giving is an area where impulse buying is a
frequent occurrence. I was amazed to discover I was spending
over $1500 or more per year for gifts. What have you spent for
gifts in the last 12 months?
In my experience, gifts were often last minute purchases
for which money was no object. I now spend less than $500 per
year for gifts. Take two hours of your life and save yourself
$1000 or more per year on gift giving.
Frugal Gift Ideas
Buy gift-wrap and greeting cards on sale,
or better yet, make them yourself.
Shop for gifts all year long to get the best
price. This may mean you could be buying Christmas cards
in January.
Plant an herb garden for a friend. And,
while you're at it, make one for yourself too.
Treat your partner/spouse to a homemade
spa. Give him/her a gift certificate announcing a full
one-hour body massage and facial. This gift idea is easily
worth over $75!
Organize personal negatives and photographs for
a friend or family member. Create a scrapbook, photo
books, or even Photo CDs.
Make some creative hand puppets for a child if
you have mismatched socks and buttons lying around your home.
Create a care package for a friend who recently
got a new job. In a box or basket put some instant coffee,
tea bags, aspirin, bandages, travel size toothpaste and
toothbrush, along with a coffee cup. If the friend is a
female, add some trial size products such as perfume and
hairspray. If you want to increase the value of the gift,
give a portable umbrella.
Design a similar package for a recent
high-school graduate student who will be entering college.
You may want to even provide a $5 phone card instead of an
umbrella.
Buy movie tickets... a gift where one size fits
all. When movie tickets are purchased in advance from
movie theatres, you can usually get them at half price!
Offer to make dinner for your friends if you're
a good cook.
Give a single friend or elderly family member
freshly frozen dinners for a week.
Mail out holiday cards for an elderly family
member. If you're computer literate, put their address
book into a database so the information can easily be updated.
Make a year's worth of greeting cards and
personalized stationery for someone if you're a bit
crafty. Make enough birthday cards, anniversary cards, and
blank cards for a year's worth of holidays. The
thoughtfulness will go a long way throughout the year.
Help someone else get organized. If the
person you need to give a gift to is an entrepreneur or
extremely disorganized, make a filing system for the upcoming
tax year.
Purchase gift-with-purchase cosmetic/perfume
specials and split the gifts. Usually the gift is nicely
wrapped, generic, and valuable enough to give away for an
upcoming gift in your tickler file.
Budgeting For Gift-Giving
Label 12 manila folders January - December. On
the front of each monthly folder, write the days of the month. Next to the appropriate date on the folder, write in the occasion
for which a gift and/or a card will need to be purchased. Then, write the amount of money you will spend on that gift.
Inevitably, a wedding or birthday will come up that you didn't know
about, so be sure you leave a little money left for these unexpected
occasions.
The key is, don't exceed what you budgeted for each
gift. For example, for Mother's Day, I will write $15 next to
the holiday. I only allocate $400 for the known holidays and
set aside $100 for the unexpected gifts such as a wedding or birth
of a child. You may find that you are unable to budget $500 a
year for gift giving. Just determine what you can afford and STICK
WITH IT. Don't deviate from your budget.
Advance Planning
There are very real benefits to planning your gift-giving in
advance. And, with a little creativity, you can bring your
overall cost down substantially. Because you're prepared, you
can actually enjoy the holidays. You won't feel financially
strapped since you've budgeted for the gifts in advance. Since
you've anticipated the gift-giving occasion, you will undoubtedly
find the gifts on sale. It goes without saying, but the ideas
is, NEVER PAY RETAIL - EVER!
Getting Organized
In a drawer or closet, place the gift ideas files, the greeting cards, gift-wrap and purchased gifts in
chronological order. This is now your tickler file and
shopping list to remind you what holiday is coming up.
