Friday, June 13, 2014

Have You Done Any Christmas Shopping Yet?

There is a certain item that goes on sale from time to time and I had been patiently waiting for that sale to happen.  Finally it did and last week I went down to Bath & Body Works to purchase said item as it is one of the elements for gifts I am putting together for some of my friends this year.  I used my $25 gift card to make my purchase and still had enough left on it to use to purchase a birthday present for my oldest daughter.

Over the past couple of months the girls and I have been stopping periodically at the Harbor Freight hardware store to use up a pile of "Free Item" coupons we had been collecting from the Sunday paper.  I also had a couple that the store had emailed to me.  I wasn't quite sure what exactly we'd be getting at first but it turns out they were giving away some pretty nice items.  Those items have been collected and will become part of a gift for someone pretty special on our gift list as well.

In January there was a really good sale on craft supplies at JoAnn Fabrics plus I had a coupon also good on sale items (they hardly ever have those).  I used it and a gift card I already had to purchase a gift for my oldest daughter.

So far, of my $100 budget, I have spent exactly $0.  I continue to put my $10 aside in an envelope every month and keep my eyes open for good buys and coupons to add additional savings whenever I can. 

So tell me, have you started your Christmas shopping yet?  I'd love to hear about your great bargains.

8 comments:

  1. I'm not sure how much Christmas we'll be having this year - since we moved, bought a house, adopted a dog, got a LOT of furniture, took a pay cut (it's a good thing, though!), and my husband will probably be working.
    But today's frugal thing is we got library cards!

    -molly

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    1. Awesome Molly! Sounds like you've already had Christmas. :) I can tell you we've never regretted getting our library cards. I love that we can borrow DVDs, CDs, games, computer software as well as books. Saves us a ton.

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  2. Not unlike Molly, my family is going through a major transition right now, and Christmas gifts are not even on my radar at this point. Once upon a time I planned for Christmas year-round, but not in the past 5+ years. I'm amazed how much you have gotten done already and how little you have spent - bravo!!!

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    1. Thanks! I've scaled down so much in the past five years. We give smaller gifts and make it more about family and time spent together and take the focus off the gifts. We find we are enjoying the Christmas season so much more than we used to.

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  3. Started Christmas shopping yet? Ha ha ha ha ha!!!!! I start about 3 weeks before Christmas, even though every single year I vow to start earlier. You are an inspiration!

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    1. You and a whole lot of other people in this world. :) Maybe some day you'll start a week earlier. Tee hee.

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  4. The only things i've bought are a couple of Christmas ornaments for the kids as I want to start giving them one each year to hang on the tree on Christmas Eve. Then when they move out they'll have their own collection to bring with them... :)

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