Ah, what a reaction. But it's true, you need extra money around Christmas. And I love gift giving, so money is, well--needed. I've done a lot of hand made items over the years that bring me such joy to give. But, again. Money. Maybe less than a store bought item, but it all costs something, even your time. There have been years that Christmas felt more like a burden than a joy. The irony of it all is that Christmas should be a time of celebrating with joy because of the birth of our Savior. But it's easy to lose track of that when you have young children in the home and you have a hard time keeping up without the extra to-do list that Christmas brings.
Can I just encourage you with something? Keep Christmas simple. Enjoy sweet times with family making new traditions, or keeping old traditions. Make handmade things and homemade cookies if that brings you joy. Find free or cheap things to do with your family and maximize your time together doing things that will be remembered and enjoyed. And by all means, don't break the bank. If you don't have the money to spend on gifts, either get creative or just scale everything down. It's okay. You can make a very fun and festive season for your family that they will enjoy if you put forth a bit of effort. And why not pray about it? Ask the Lord what he would want your holiday to look like. Are there people in your community that you could serve as a family? Are there friends that would love to have your time together more than any fancy gift?Are there simple gifts that you could put together that would truly bless someone?
I thought I'd share some of the creative ways that I have stretched our dollars around the holidays. Like I said, I love giving gifts-so I've learned to find a way with many different sized budgets over the years. Some of these ideas could also be done by your children (depending on their age) to help them earn money. We've found it enjoyable to see our kids do something to earn money and then use that money to buy something for their siblings.
#1 Take inventory of what you have-If you are really organized you might have a place in a closet where you set items aside throughout the year for gifts. I for one, do not. But yes, I should do that! But whether you have a gift closet or not, you probably have items around your house you can use for gifts. Think about items for making handmade cards (even up cycle old cards!), clean mason jars to fill with candy or a cookie mix, baskets to fill with baked goods, extra school supplies (such as crayons and markers), etc...
#2 Get rid of old books, CDs and the like-Check your local book store to see if they have a buy back program. If you are in the Seattle area, Half Price Books will give you money for your used books, CDs, DVDs and even current magazines. In the Spokane area Hastings will give you a credit for used books, CDs and DVDs. Another way to get fast cash for books is using Cash4books.com. If you have a smart phone, you can also easily scan the barcode of your book and see if they are buying that book. They send you a shipping label at no cost and you send your book in for cash. It's really easy. I've used this service a lot.You could also use Craigslist for selling media type items.
#3 Recycle. This idea works great for kids. Have them gather newspapers and pop cans from people you know. Have the kids do the work of loading them into bags and into the car as a service. We have a recycling center down the street. I dropped off two half-full bags of newspaper and 1 bag of pop cans and I got $1.07. It doesn't sound like much--but that was just a small amount that I brought in. For a child who sees a dollar as a gift at the dollar store, this is a great way for them to earn extra cash. And it also teaches them a great work ethic.
#4 Use current promotions. Looks for the fine print in ads. Over the black Friday weekend I purchased two gift cards at Rite Aid to use at Home Depot. For each $50 gift card I got a $10+UP reward to use in the store. With the $20 I was able to buy teacher gifts and a few other stocking stuffers that were on my list. We were planning on spending the money at Home Depot anyway as we are finishing our basement. Look around for ways to stretch your money and get rewarded for it! The grocery stores will also often run similar specials such as "buy $150 in Gift Cards and get a coupon for $25 off your groceries at your next visit." I've heard that others have been able to purchase a gift card for a gas station and get the promotion that way.
#5 Look for new items at thrift shops. Simply said, just keep your eyes open. Know what you are willing to pay for an item and what the original cost would be. It's not always the best deal just because it's at a second hand shop, but I've gotten some great deals there. Just recently I had an interesting thing happen. I was looking at a nice Columbia Sweatshirt for my husband at Value Village. As I was looking it over I saw a front chest pocket. I opened the zipper to make sure it was working well, and inside there was a folded $20 bill. I paid $6.50 for the sweatshirt and pocketed the $20 bill. It must have been overlooked by the employees and it was my benefit. Now, you may not find cash--but look for good deals, they are out there!
#6 ING Bank is having some great promotions right now. We started savings accounts for our kids a few years back when they were doing a promotion. The one they are doing now is similar. When you start a savings account for a child, they will get a $10 bonus. Why not open one for your child as a gift? There are also rewards you can get--up to $125 for starting a new checking account. We love ING. The website is really user friendly and they have a higher interest rate than our bank If you ever need to reach customer service it's always a direct connect to talk to a real person and they are very helpful. Check out the promotions on the website here.
#7 Sell your unwanted items on Craigslist. It's so simple to post and ad and I've had great luck in selling items this way. Just make sure you play it safe and only deal with cash and meet in a public place to sell your items.
#8 Use Swagbucks. There are so many easy ways to use this online site to earn rewards that you can cash in for money, amazon gift cards, movie tickets, and many other items. I downloaded the toolbar and each time I use my computer to search anything, I search through the Swagbucks toolbar. I randomly get rewarded with "swag bucks" that I can use to purchase gift cards. Check out Swagbucks here.
Those are a few things I can think of right now. Do you have other similar ideas? Please leave your ideas in the comments sections. I'd love to know how you save money for Christmas!
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