How Are You Saving Money of Christmas This Year?
By girljar
@girljar (287)
United States
November 19, 2007 3:04pm CST
We are really broke this year, so I am getting really creative with Christmas gifts. I got so excited yesterday, because I was able to knock off 4 people completely from my Christmas list for free! Plus, I got 9 other gifts for free! I belong to MyCokeRewards, where you enter points from Coke products, and you can redeem the points for merchandise. We drink a lot of Diet Coke, plus my bosses give me theirs, both from home and the office, and my mom, my best friend, and her daughter all save them for me, too. I really did get some great gifts: Kodak Photo Calendars (from my photos), Pirates of the Carribean (At World's End) soundtrack CD, Pirates (same) poster, 5 free game rentals from Blockbuster, 5 free movie rentals from Blockbuster, Good Housekeeping subscription, Coke Semi Truck (toy), Golden Compass Uno Game, and 2 digital pets. And the great thing is, they don't even charge shipping!
And, on top of that, I have 3 prescriptions I can get transferred to the local supermarket, and get a $25 gift card for each one, and I get to choose gift cards from a whole bunch of places, so I will get them from restaurants and give them as gifts, too. SWEET!!
I am so excited that I can still give nice gifts, and things I know people will like and use, without having to spend money that I don't have.
What great deals have you found to save on Christmas this year? I'd love to hear what you've got!
1 person likes this
7 responses
@gtargirl (5376)
• United States
20 Nov 07
Hi GirlJar. You got real creative. I'm taking some pointers from you. So those Coke rewards really work huh? I'll have to start doing that. Well, this year my budget for Christmas is a tad bit better than recent years. But I have been procrastinating, even in thinking about what to get. We are making gift baskets though. My daughter works at Starbucks so we've been able to collect bags of coffee and specialized teas. That's as far as we've gotten so far. I keep asking the kids for their wish list--nothing so far. Anyway, have a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas.
@girljar (287)
• United States
22 Nov 07
Yeah, the Coke Rewards is great. We drink a lot of Diet Coke, and like I said, I have several people saving points from me. My boss just brought me in 100 points. And I have gotten merchandise from them before, always with no shipping. I got a shoulder bag/backpack kind of deal from them last year. I actually got 2, one for me and one for my son. I take that thing everywhere with me! I always take it to work with all my stuff in it. It's really very nice. Also, I got a 24 back soft cooler on wheels, and I love that thing! Plus it's got a shoulder strap and handle, so when I go to the beach, I can roll it everwhere until we get to the sand, and since it doesn't roll well on the sand, I can easily carry it on my shoulder. The Starbucks thing is a great idea!
@Lightlord (378)
• Greece
19 Nov 07
I will propably just buy something for my parents and my closest friends so I won't spend much money (I hope so). I will propably spend them after christmas because I have a habbit to buy all the things I love when I have free time. So I will propably anyway be broke with money after holidays.
@dreamy1 (3811)
• United States
19 Nov 07
I don't buy presents so I save a lot of money! I don't celebrate myself not for religious reasons I just don't like how commercial it is. I think you can do a lot of things to celebrate without going into debt to do it. Here's my ideas of how you can save money.
Regift. Go through your closets and see if you can find anything you have that's new that you haven't used that you think someone could use.
Shop at thrift stores ( they also have new stuff)
Make people gift baskets with homemade food (cookies, cupcakes, brownies)
Shop at the dollar stores (you can find nice things there and it's only $1!)
Make personal coupons for services (housecleaning, babysitting, meals, car wash, yard work)
@girljar (287)
• United States
19 Nov 07
Thanks for your response. I agree with you about the commercialization of Christmas. I LOVE shopping at thrift stores! And the dollar store, too. I have thought of the personal coupons thing..I could really make some good ones for hubby...lol. He may not want to open them in front of the kids, though. (HeHe).
@hhhxxccc (222)
• United States
19 Nov 07
I'm only buying my children each a IPHONE for christmas. We are really tapped in money, and i feel that this would give them a little "bragging rights" and give them something they need (a new cell phone)
Hopefully they don't break it though. Those things aren't cheap.
@girljar (287)
• United States
20 Nov 07
Dang! Lucky kids you have there! I am famous for going crazy on my kids for Christmas, but I'm not this year. There isn't a thing they need, so I have put a $200 limit on each of them. I know I am getting an ipod for my daughter, and a portable DVD player for my son. (Walmart has portable DVD players for $50 on Friday). I don't know what else for them, and everybody else will be getting either homemade or very inexpensive gifts.
@kafeixiaozhu (1)
• China
20 Nov 07
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@citrusemma (508)
•
20 Nov 07
As a thrifty student, I'm on an extremely tight budget anyway~
homemade plushies/crafts for the close friends, cookies/cards for everybody else and some homemade things + any beautiful things I can find cheaply in car boot sales etc
It saves a LOT of money and you'll be suprised by how most people prefer personalised, homemade gifts~
they're begging me for plushies all your round, so they'll get them at christmas!
@dianne17k (587)
• Philippines
20 Nov 07
I don't have much money to spend this year on gifts so i decided to get creative as well. I'm trying to learn how to silkscreen on shirts so I i just have buy plain tees by the bulk and just silkscreen different designs on them. For people who aren't that close to me, I'm thinking of just baking them some sugar cookies or some cakes. It's cheaper to make them but it does take up so much time.
