Related topics: savings, save money, holiday spending, frugal, coupons
How's your gift closet?
Yes, the holidays may be months off. But why wait until the last minute to look for deals?
Besides, birthdays, anniversaries and new babies happen all year long. A gift closet means you're ready for any occasion -- and you don't have to break the bank to build it.
You really can get gifts -- nice ones! -- for a dollar or less. Here's how:
Giving 'important to me'
Post-holiday clearance sales are an obvious choice. California resident Elise Griffith bought $100 worth of on-sale clothes and gift items just before Christmas in order to get a $20 store voucher. At the store's after-Christmas sale she bought six bath sets and three decorative picture frames with the coupon plus $1.74 in cash.
Illinois reader SonyaAnn, who blogs at A Mom, Money, and More, picked up three plush Snoopy dolls and a whimsical Christmas centerpiece for $3.11 total at CVS. Her family's budget is tight, but gift giving "is something that's important to me."
Discounts get deeper as time goes by, so check back often. A couple of weeks after Christmas I bought several cozy baby outfits for 89 cents apiece at Target. At the same sale I got a few board books for about a quarter apiece and a couple of bath-product sets for less than a dollar a pop.
Donna Freedman
Don't forget end-of-season sales online either. Off-season clothes and accessories often go for a song. They may cost more than a dollar, but some aren't much more.
Better than clearance?
Coupons + clearance = frugal nirvana. Using $5-off coupons, a northwestern Ohio reader named Julie got two necklaces, a cheese plate and knife, a pair of music boxes and an Ohio Buckeyes jackknife absolutely free from a Hallmark store.
She got the coupons from magazines, and she didn't pay for those either. Instead, she scored subscriptions from online freebie sites.
Julie has gotten free items such as batteries and a flash drive by recycling ink cartridges at Staples. She once scored a "shoebox full" of card games that cost nothing, thanks to a really good toy sale and some $5-off coupons she found online.
"It stretches your dollars," says Julie, who makes sure "everybody has something to open" at her extended family's annual Christmas gathering.
Recently, J.C. Penney mailed out a coupon for $10 off a purchase of $10 or more. Lynn D., who lives in upstate New York, applied it toward the purchase of two men's zippered sweat shirts, originally $68 but marked down to $8. In other words, one was free, and one cost only $6.
"I always look at clearance tables," Lynn says.
(Gift) card games
If you belong to any gift card reward programs or online survey sites, cash in some points for gift cards to use at post-holiday or end-of-season sales. Sharon A., a Tennessee reader, scored $275 worth with relatively little effort and redeemed two cards to help buy wedding and baby gifts.
Or use gift cards that you've been given. SonyaAnn requests a Cracker Barrel gift card for Christmas each year, just so she can hit the post-holiday sale in the restaurant's gift shop. One year she bought 15 baskets with the gift card and 90 cents cash.
If you received a gift card you can live without, simply re-gift it. I did this three times one Christmas, and the recipients were delighted.
Unwanted cards can be sold on eBay or traded on a gift card swap site. You should be able to get an even-steven swap, but you'll likely get less -- possibly significantly less -- than face value on eBay. However, because you didn't pay for them in the first place you're still ahead, and the money can be used for gift buying.
Is that your best price?
When the yard sale season is in full bloom in late spring and summer, start shopping. I've gotten stationery and card sets, books, candles and other gift items -- some still shrink-wrapped -- for a quarter or 50 cents.
Mugs are ubiquitous at yard sales; in fact, I've seen a few in "free" boxes. You could fill a pretty mug with candy, homemade cookies or the makings for hot drinks. With coupons, I recently spent 50 cents per box for hot chocolate mix and apple spice herbal teabags. This is a nice gift for someone who needs a little pick-me-up.
Thrift shops and rummage sales can also turn up some lovely presents. I once bought a puzzle-happy relative an unopened jigsaw depicting a section of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling. It cost 35 cents plus tax.
