Saving on gifts

One way we save a LOT of money (I estimate that this saves us around $400 a year) is to buy gifts in bulk! STOCK UP!

I know during any given year there will be about 10 friends that I will want to buy a gift for, there will be 1-4 teachers that I feel like I need to give something to for either Christmas or a special holiday, family members, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, and last but not LEAST ... CHRISTMAS! I know as of January 1st what to expect "gift wise" for the year.

So... here is what I do. I don't go HUNTING for the bargains, but if I FIND ONE, I grab my envelope marked "GIFTS" and I stock up.

Bath and Body works is a GREAT place to do this. And not just for friends, family and teachers, but also for your childs gifts to hand out at parties. Those cute little hand sanitizers in the neat holders are a WONDERFUL gift. Assuming they are not on sale, the sanitizer itself runs around $3.50. The cute little holders are between $4-8 dollars. BUT when you catch them on sale you can do what I did! Which was buy 5 sanitizers and 5 holders. That is so helpful for those MANY birthday parties my daughter gets invited to. I spent $18.00 on ALL of those. They were on sale PLUS I had a $10 off coupon if I spent over $25. What a DEAL! And now when those invitations come in I don't think "GREAT, another birthday party to buy something for..." I let Ava pick out which one she wants to give her friend. I let her pick them out which made her feel special to get to select gifts for her friends!

Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Kirklands--all great places to pick up super inexpensive picture frames and candles. When they run sales, BUY THEM! I'm not saying go CRAZY or anything, but buy up some for teachers, co-workers, etc, so that when you DO have an occasion where you need to have a gift handy you don't have the task of going shopping and spending more than you should.

AND LET'S FACE IT... when we shop for someone else we tend to pick up one for them and ONE FOR US! By shopping like this it's easier to not get caught in that trap of buying one for ourself!

This is just yet another way to stock up and SAVE MONEY!

Share yours with me at cararoxanne02@aol.com!