toystore3's Journal

Money Saving Tips For Christmas Shopping

christmas toys - How to Cut Costs On Christmas Gifts

With Christmas just around the corner our thoughts are turning to Christmas

shopping budgets and also how we can spend less or otherwise make our money go

further. With the economy in a slump the Christmas Bonus is a thing of the past for

many of us, in fact we're all dealing with pay cuts or worse still, unemployment. With tight budgets during the holidays, wouldn’t it be nice to know the best way to

spend less yet still keep the spirit of the holiday?

toy store - Here are a few money saving Christmas ideas to help you do exactly that.

1. Produce a list of all the people you buy presents for at Christmas. Search the

internet for ideas and narrow down the list of possible items progressively until you

select your final choices and what they cost. This will be a good place to start

when you do your final, final, price checks. Bear in mind! Don’t forget to take

your list to the mall when you go.

2. Begin shopping early to give yourself lots of time to buy which means you are

not rushed into making purchases on account of loss of time and go over your budget as

a result. It’s also easier to get sitters to mind the little ones while you shop his or her

own shopping won’t get in the way. Shop on weekdays if you can as it is less

crowded and the store staff can have more time to look after you.

3. Quite often you may hear people say they'll hold off until the January

sales to gift themselves as that often brings about savings. Nevertheless the period

between Thanksgiving and xmas may also be the best time to snap up luxury

electronic items as stores slash prices to bring Christmas customers through the door

and very often these prices can be lower than in the January sales as the

competition for custom is much greater prior to Christmas.

4. Try making your Christmas gifts. Everyone loves getting homemade

treats like cookies, fudge or cake. I had an old aunt who baked all sorts of treats

and gifted them at Christmas. Sadly she’s no longer with us and every year we

always talk of her fondly and remember her carefully selected presents. Gifts like these show how

thoughtful and caring you are. Be inventive in how you wrap them, craft shops

have a wealth of boxes and baskets you can decorate and use.

5. Buy an artificial tree rather than a real one. Your initial purchase will be

recouped the tree will last year after year and you don’t have the problem of all

those needles as well as getting rid of the tree afterwards.

6. Coupons and Discount codes. Make the most of sites like

Groupon.com and Livingsocial.com. Each have significant discounts on a whole

host of things enabling you to be imaginative in your selection of gifts while saving you a

pile of cash. Before getting anything on the web look for discount codes at

RetailMeNot.com, SecretPrices.com, and FreeShipping.org to find all of the

available discounts for your store of preference. Use the discount code during the

checkout process to get free shipping in order to save up to 20% or sometimes more.

7. Use discounted gift cards. Would you like $100 of gifts for $80? You

can buy discounted gift cards for many online and offline sellers

like Apple Store, Radio Shack, Sears, Home Depot, and many others.

Discounts are anything from 5%-30% off the face value of the card. Take a look at

GiftCardRescue.com and GiftCards.com to start the ball rolling

8. Come clean. If you can’t afford to give your usual presents this year

don’t be worried to explain your financial restrictions to your family and friends.

Times are tight for all today and they may also welcome spending

limits. Also, if you have close friends who care more about the gift versus giver, you

might choose to take into account whether or not they are friends worth going into debt for.

9. Watch for Food Deals. You'll find often great deals to be enjoyed during the

run up to Christmas in your local food markets. Review the prices from one

retail store to another. Stock up on sale items. While you might not want a whole lot of

of one thing now, you can grab several good value meal choices for during the holidays.

10. Social media can be a great destination to grab discounted items. Most

big stores are on Facebook and Twitter so go try them out and look at their

recent posts to check for offers. You might be surprised what you dig up.

If you follow these money saving ideas you should be able to grab yourself some

real Christmas bargains this year for sure.

toy store

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