Ways I’m Saving Money This Christmas

We’ve been fighting a nasty flu bug here at our house- so I’ve been struggling to keep up with things! Here’s a quick post on ways I’m saving money for Christmas this year!

• If you shop online use ebates (you get a money back!) or swagbucks (get points to cash out on gift cards)  to get a bigger bang for your buck!
• Cut back! Seriously- do you really need to buy gifts for 40 people? If you can’t afford it you simply can’t afford it! Consider making thoughtful homemade gifts as an alternative!
• Print coupons online!! You can print coupons so easily & save money. I use coupons.com, and Right at Home for Glade coupons (you have to sign up for their newsletter, but their coupons will many times get you free or very cheap candles for gifts!) You can also check out which coupons will be in your Sunday’s paper at Sunday Coupon Preview! (one of my fav sites!)
• We make great use of our credit card rewards. I’ve saved up over $150 in Amazon gift certificates and several free nights at hotels just by using the rewards on our credit cards!
• Have an envelope during the year that you don’t touch. Put a couple bucks in it here & there- you won’t miss it! Use that for your Christmas budget! You’ll be surprised how quickly it adds up!
• I do a lot of online surveys & save all my money from them for Christmas presents as well. A few I use are Opinion Outpost, Synovate, and Pinecone Research. I’ve made easily over $100 doing this. Plus had the opportunity to do several product reviews.
• Through the holidays especially, I keep my eye on sites that offer Daily Deals like Groupon. I LOVE Groupon! You can buy all sorts of gift certificates and special deals for half off!
• Doing a lot of grocery shopping? Consider signing up for a UPromise account. You load your grocery card number or credit card on your account and get money back in a college-savings account for certain brand names.
• Consider giving a membership to the recipient such as a magazine subscription or a children’s book of the month club. The gift will keep giving all year round!
• Save up your gift cards from mail in rebates or sales (such as- free $5 gift card when you buy XYZ) and use those as gifts!
• Don’t go shopping hungry! Seriously- if you go grocery shopping and you see all that fabulous goodies out for the holidays- you’ll be more tempted to buy them!
• Shop in cash. I know, I posted about using my credit card deals, but if you have problems using a credit card because you don’t know how to set a limit, use cash. That way you can only spend so much!

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