This morning I shared some Christmas money-saving ideas on WBCL. For those of you who weren't able to listen, you can listen to the show here.
Here is a recap with links to some of my favorite places.
For starters, I shared my favorite places to find Christmas gifts. If you're in or around the Fort Wayne area, I highly recommend Darlington Holiday Warehouse. Most of the items are only $1.59 and you can find all kinds of great gifts there. Plus if you sign up for their text club, they'll send you texts that are good for a free item almost every week!
Also, don't overlook all the goodies you can find at the dollar store. While they may not be fabulous on their own, you can use the items to put together a great gift basket or add a few embellishments to make something spectacular.
If you're an online shopper, make sure to start your shopping at Ebates. Ebates offers cashback on your online purchases in the form of a Big Fat Check! Four times a year, you will receive a check in the mail with your cashback totals. Here is my most recent Big Fat Check!
As far as my favorite online retailers goes, I love Amazon for books, movies, and other fun gifts. I mean, where else can you pick up Mustache Earrings
for only $1.13 and have them shipped for FREE? Also, if you're planning on doing Christmas shopping on Amazon, make sure to sign up for your free 30 day trial of Amazon Prime to get free 2 day shipping on most of your purchases.
If you're looking for gifts for kids, Zulily and Mamasource are my go-to places! I also regularly find great deals on toys on Amazon.
DIY Gifts
Here are the ideas I shared this morning. For more fun DIY Gift Ideas, make sure to follow me on Pinterest.
These are the wooden blocks I talked about. I made these for my sister and I think they are quite cute. If you'd like to make your own, you can find a tutorial here. If you use an 8 foot long 4×4 post like I did and you're looking for other fun projects using 4 inch blocks, check out these Seasonal Blocks, Calendar Blocks and these Teacher Blocks. I plan to make them all sometime in the future.
Here are the mustache lollipops I told you about. Aren't' they cute?
I also made these napkin covered flameless candles. They were made using a flameless candle from the dollar store, a decorative napkin, and some mod podge. This picture is after I put the first layer of mod podge on. I have found that they look the best if you use a few coats of mod podge. I don't have a finished project picture. I'm easily distracted and I was so excited by the finished product that I wrapped it up to give as a gift.
I mentioned the Washer Necklaces I've made (another project which I didn't take a picture of the finished project). Check out this great picture from someone who made lots of Washer Necklaces AND took a picture of the finished product.
Planning Ahead for Next Christmas
You can start planning for Christmas now! For starters, make sure to sign up for Swagbucks. The awesome folks at Swagbucks will give you an extra 70 Swagbucks if you sign up using code WBCL. Swagbucks is an online search engine that rewards you for searching! You can redeem your Swagbucks for Amazon gift cards, PayPal cash, and more. It's totally awesome and is a huge contributor to our family Christmas gift each year!
You can also make the most of the after Christmas clearance sales. Pick up Christmas wrapping paper and gift bags for next to nothing after Christmas and hang on to them til next year. I also stocked up on Christmas themed ziploc bags and will be using some of them for some of my Christmas treats this year.
I also regularly hit the clearance sales to stock up on gifts for the upcoming year. You can sometimes find toys for 90% off!
Last but not least, make a list and check it twice. Christmas lists aren't just for Santa. You can make your list on your smart phone or use a piece of paper, but I find that these printable lists and smart phone apps are pretty sweet!
Better Christmas List iPhone App – It's $1.99, but it has all kinds of cool features! It will even help you stick to your budget!
Amazon has lots of great Christmas Planning Apps
for Android users. Make sure to check them out!
Here are some printable Christmas lists that I think are quite cute.
Christmas Gift Ideas and Stocking Stuffer Ideas Printables
One last thing, I know firsthand how stressful this time of year can be if you're struggling financially. I encourage you to read Finding Hope in a Season of Spending.
Thanks again for listening to WBCL. It was such a pleasure to spend time there this morning and I loved being able to share with all of you.
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