5 Unique frugal gift ideas for Christmas or birthdays

Like a lot of people we are trying to avoid the after Christmas sticker shock this. We have been looking for unique frugal gift ideas for Christmas and have had success. The ones that I have found would also be good for birthdays or other occasions. Some of the frugal gift ideas are being recycled from past gifts that my family has received (and liked).

1. A frugal gift of food.
What kind of plate do you need for those baked confections?  Food is a traditional Christmas gift but it has to be placed on something. A trip to the thrift shop for a frugal set of Christmas dishes can solve the problem. The recipient gets a baked treat on a plate that can be used for many holidays to come.

2. Plastic bag door mat.
Recycle used grocery bags by creating a door mat. This crochet project is one unique example of how to recycle  plastic bags to create a doormat. Weaving the bags together is another way to create a frugal gift. Cleaning the mat is simple. All the recipient needs to do it take it outside on a summer day, hose it off and hang it up to dry.

3. Beans
I gotta 'spill the beans' on this one. (Yes, bad pun I know.) A glass jar filled with a soup mix of dried beans is another unique but frugal gift idea. Recycle glass jars that you already have on hand or buy some new but inexpensive jars. Layer the beans for color. Tie with a bow. The soup mix is a unique gift that is perfect for upcoming cold winter nights.

4. Create a calendar

Scary Christmas spending

I just read what the average family spends on Christmas. Forget Halloween and the boogeyman in the closet. This has to be the scariest article ever written. Why? Because it talks about how much the average family spends over the holiday season.

According to the article the average family spends about $800 annually on Christmas gifts. This doesn't count potluck dinners, parties and all those extra little curve balls that the season throws at us. Can you imagine how much the Christmas spending becomes when the extra costs are included? I can and that's where the spending gets even scarier.

Reigning the costs of the holidays is a big deal for us. Not only are we still repairing the car (and trying to get out of debt) but we can't afford an extra $800 for Christmas gifts. We've never gone overboard on gifts and plan to spend about one-third of that amount on all the Christmas expenses.

Don't get me wrong. I love my kids. It that I love them enough to teach them the same money handling habits that I'm just now learning. These lessons should last longer than the electronic gadgets that some people are buying.

More budget Christmas decorating ideas

Frugal Christmas tree decorations
Here are a few more budget Christmas decorating ideas. These are perfect for people who are trying to be frugal.

I put my daughters to work making ornaments out of salt clay. The clay was rolled out and cut with cookie cutters. After the ornaments dried in the oven we painted them with budget craft paint. On top of this we used a mixture of glue thinned with water and added some glitter. A ribbon or ornament hook was all they needed.

Heart shaped ornaments
These cute Christmas ornaments were easily made by using fabric that I already owned. We made several for our Christmas tree and made some more out of the budget holiday material I picked up for the tree skirt. The gave the tree a folksy country look that looked good and fit our nonexistent budget.

Decorating with pine cones
These rank right up there with muslin when it comes to frugal Christmas decorating ideas.  Don't make my mistake. We almost forgot to let them dry overnight. The loose seeds and pine needles reminded us to let them dry.

Shake out any loose seeds or pine needles over newspaper before working with them.

Pine cones can be painted on the tips, made into a wreath or placed in a basket. They are frugal and can be made into Christmas ornaments by running a string between the petals and securing it with a dot of glue. We made a few of each decoration and had good results.

Cookies and snowflakes
Two other frugal Christmas decorating ideas are worth mentioning. Cut paper snowflakes can be placed anywhere and made for nothing. Reuse computer paper, envelopes or junk mail. Almost anything goes.

Another idea is to bake cookies for the Christmas tree. I like to wrap these in plastic wrap and tie securely before placing them on the branches away from the lights. Cookies are synonymous with the holiday season. The wrapped cookies were a frugal Christmas tree decoration and made great budget gifts.

Frugal Christmas decorating ideas for tight budgets

There have been two instances when I have had to put these frugal Christmas decorating ideas to use. Both times involved basement flooding that ruined the decorations. Both times we realized the extent of the problem only a few weeks before Christmas.

Christmas wreath on a
stained glass window.

My worst time was our first Christmas in northeastern North Carolina. We were broke, in debt from moving there and frustrated. Seeing our beautiful decorations were in shambles was a humbling experience. With few resources I hunted down the frugal Christmas decorating ideas that are reading about now.

We made it through without breaking the budget. The kids and Hubby pitched in on the frugal Christmas decorating. It wasn't a holiday that I would want to repeat but we did end up by having a good time.


Muslin Tablecloth
Muslin is a budget cloth that works well for frugal Christmas decorating. I measured the table and bought a couple of extra yards from Wal-Mart. It's inexpensive, easy to paint or color and lends itself to many uses. It took just a few yards of the material to make our tablecloth. I took the extra and cut the rest into strips for another project.

We didn't own a sewing machine then so I used school glue to go along the edge of the material. This kept it from unraveling. The glue washed out later but the budget tablecloth worked perfectly that Christmas. Later on, I was able to hem it appropriately.

Another frugal Christmas decorating idea were our candy canes and muslin strips.

Use free Christmas coloring pages for cheap kids gifts

The huge car repair and holiday season means that I have to be more frugal than ever. Normally, we purchase coloring books or other small books for the kids at church. This year, we are using the free Christmas coloring pages for cheap kids gifts.

I experimented with creating the coloring books today. Instead of looking hokey the coloring books turned out to look pretty cute.  

Searching the internet turned up tons of free Christmas coloring pages. Hubby had some red paper that we made into covers. We were out of staples so I decided to sew the books. 

To me, they ended up with a better look than stapling would have provide. We'll pair the books up with some crayons or a small bag of candy for cheap kids gifts.

In addition to free Christmas coloring pages I also found some word searches. We'll have to create a different cover but these are going to make good cheap gifts for older kids. You can also make your own search or crossword puzzles in a word processor. Just don't forget to provide an answer sheet.

Tomorrow, I'll be honing my new found frugal skills. There is a ton of fabric that is just begging to be turned into homemade gift bags. In addition to the Christmas coloring pages turned books, these bags will add another touch to the cheap kids gifts. Who knows? I may get the hang of this frugal stuff yet. 

How to make a heart shaped ornament

Learning to live a frugal lifestyle is one of the ways that we're lowering our debt load. The principle applies to every area of life. Even holidays are not exempt. Frugal Christmas decorations (like this heart shaped ornament) often involve making crafts from things that you already have one hand. This often means recycling or repurposing by using parts of one item to make another.

In this article I used a curtain panel to create a heart shaped ornament that can be used for Christmas, Valentine's Day or other country decoration. The hearts and easy and quick to make. I made several years ago and plan to make some for my daughter to decorate her home with this year.

From start to finish the heart took less than 30 minutes to create. 

Supplies needed are:

• Curtain panel that won't fray
• Scissors
• Thread
• Sewing machine
• Fabric scraps

Here's how I made this frugal heart shaped Christmas ornament. 

1. Fold the curtain panel with like sides together. 
2. Cut the heart shape in the traditional manner with the fold in the middle.
3. Unfold and place the two pieces that the backs are together. 
4. Place a ribbon or fabric scrap at the top of the heart to form a loop.
5. Using a half-inch seam allowance leave the ribbon in place as you sew around the outside of the heart. 
6. Stop when you have gone 3/4th of the way around the heart.
7. Stuff with soft fabric scraps or other stuffing. 
8. Finish sewing. 
9. Trim threads and hang on the wall to enjoy.

It's easy to turn this heart into a Christmas ornament. Take a permanent marker and write the name of the recipient on the side of it. Holiday appropriate phrases can be used. 

This photo tutorial helps bring it all together.

Coinstar and Starbucks cards without fees

Coinstar and Starbucks cards without fees are a happy combination. Simply gather up your spare change and take it to your nearest kiosk. Dump everything into the Coinstar machine and select the Starbucks gift card option. No fees are involved.

I checked the Coinstar location list on the company website. Sure enough, almost every one of the machines are participating. That's excellent news to me. 

The newer generation will probably feel that this is a match made in heaven. Both of my daughters are addicted to Starbucks coffee and are going to love this promotion. There is no doubt that they will be among the many happy participants of this partnership. 

Several other companies have partnered with Coinstar to offer these no-fee options. I wasn't aware of all the choices until I started checking out the Starbucks promotion. Amazon was already on my radar screen but Lowe's Home Improvement was not. 

My favorite online store and coffee house is on the list. My daughters' favorite coffee house is on there. Hubby's favorite is on the list too. Each of us is going to need our own piggy bank. Otherwise, we'll be fighting over who can get to Coinstar the quickest. 

As a mom, I have an advantage that they don't. Grounding both of the kids simultaneously and hiding Hubby's car keys just might give me that necessary head start. This Coinstar and Starbucks partnership may be interesting. 

How I did Thanksgiving dinner on the cheap

This year, I need to do Thanksgiving dinner on the cheap. The word in the news is that the cost for a Thanksgiving dinner is higher this year than last year. I beg to differ. So far, my food costs for the meal have been much less than last year.

The items below were all purchased on sale. Most of the time I also used a coupon. This combination does wonders to drastically reduce the cost. Our turkey required an additional $35 purchase. Hitting the total wasn't difficult. Several other Thanksgiving dinner items were on sale. Plus, they had the store brand chicken on BOGO. The chicken was a steal and put me over the threshold.

Food Lion

$10 Turkey .59 lb x about 18 lb.

$1.60 Sweet potatoes .27

$2.99 Potatoes 5 lb bag

$2.00 Oil on BOGO plus 2, $1.00 coupons

I already had the rolls (1.19) corn meal (2.49), green beans and corn (total $1.00). These were purchased on a previous sale at Ingles. (I think.)

Kroger

$1.25 cake mixes.

$1.00 medium eggs

$2.00 2 cans of crushed pineapple

Ingles

$2.00 BGOG margarine with coupon

$3.50 Cheese

We're serving at least five people. My total cost for doing Thanksgiving dinner on the cheap is $30.52.

Two things are worth a mention:

Flour is the one item I need that is not on the list. I already had it. It's been in the cupboard for a couple of months. My swiss cheese memory thinks that it was around .80 cents but really, who knows?

Even though I purchased them as a way to do Thanksgiving dinner on the cheap will there are items that be used for multiple meals. These are the potatoes, oil, eggs and margarine. We're also planning on having leftovers from the turkey for several days. These will help stretch the grocery budget a little farther.

So, what are your tips for doing Thanksgiving dinner on the cheap? We all learn from each other on this blog. Let us know how you are cutting costs by leaving a comment below.

Money saving Thanksgiving turkey tip

I picked up a money saving Thanksgiving turkey tip from a friend today. Frankly, I'm jealous about not thinking of this sooner. It's a good thing I have a smart friend! She's also the one who gave me the nudge about couponing.

The tip that she gave me today is to buy the largest turkey you can at the best deal that you can find. Large turkeys have more meat than smaller ones. (Some of the stores are slashing prices or giving incentives. There was a $3 coupon for a Butterball turkey the other day. To use it you had to buy 4 of gravy, dressing and I forgot what else. It was a pretty good deal. Anyway, I digress.)

My friend suggested buying a very large turkey with the discounts that are being offered. She is going to thaw her bird, cut it in half and refreeze it. This way, her family is covered for Thanksgiving and for Christmas. Plus, it's one less thing to stress over during the holidays.

My turkeys are already in the freezer for both holidays. Next year, I'm going to put her money saving tip to use. How about you?

Frugal holiday gifts; dollar tree hurricanes

Getting out of debt means being frugal is every aspect of my life. Even holiday gift giving is not immune. I found this blog article and look forward to giving it a whirl Decor Adventures: Dollar Store Decor. The instructions are clear and easy to follow. These hurricanes are made of a simple candle holder and vase plus a little glue. The glass items can be picked up for $1 each.

The only way that I can see to make this project more frugal is to hit my favorite thrift shop. They have all kinds of glassware. You have to pick and choose carefully. But, if the trip doesn't work out this frugal holiday craft can still be made with dollar store items. It would be hard to go wrong.

Plus, I used to decorate frequently with candles and have a stash of candle holders in the basement. Our current home is too small to use them all. There is no need for the candle holders to languish forlornly when they can be recreated into frugal holiday gifts. Give me a few days to make the thrift shop run and I'll post the results of my candle holders here. It should be fun. :)

3 popular places to find free printable coupons

As the interest in coupons keeps expanding so does the interest in free printable coupon sites. It's always an excellent idea to check the manufacturer websites for the brands you like best. The manufacturer sites frequently have printable coupons, deals or special promotions that you can tap into. 

Some manufacturer and free coupon sites require that you establish an online membership. This isn't a bad idea since it can mean getting advance notice on new products. I almost always suggest signing up your favorite sites and then unsubscribing later if you change your mind. 

GroceryCouponCart.com is one of the free printable coupon sites that I frequent. They send an update every week that tells me what coupons are available. I simply choose the ones that my family will use and click print.

CoolSavings.com also gives me access to free printable coupons on the brand name products that my family uses. After registering, I receive a regular newsletter that lets me know about the deals that are available. Choosing the right ones for my family and printing is an easy process that only takes a few minutes.

Coupons.com is similar to the other sites that offer free printable coupons. There is some overlap each week on what is available on the different sites. This makes it easier to get several coupons on the products that we need.

Most sites will not allow more than one copy of any one coupon to be entered. Some coupons will have their own unique bar code. Since there is some crossover between sites it is on prudent to sign up for newsletters from each. This increases the chances that you'll be able to get a few printable coupons to help save money for your family.

Save money on gas with Wal-Mart gift cards

Save money on gas with WalMart gift cards. Their promotion runs through September 30, 2011. Getting the discount is easy. Use your Walmart gift card, their credit card or reloadable money card. When you pay at the pump the .10 discount is deducted automatically. Full details and a link to participating locations is explained in their press release.

Sam's Club members should take note that the gas savings only applies at participating Walmart gas stations. I made the mistake of thinking that the lower price would apply at Sam's but it didn't. The promotion only works to help us save at Walmart. But hey, that's still a pretty good deal!

As you can imagine my family has saved quite a bit of money this summer. More good news is on the horizon. In autumn, seasonal fluctuations usually help gas prices to fall all over the US.

After the promotion ends it'll be time to go back to checking sites like Gas Buddy to save. The prices seem to be the most reliable of any other sites that I've found in Tennessee. If you know of any other quality links that can help save money on gas please leave a comment below to tell others. In this world we all need to save money where we can.

Coinstar no fee option helps you save money

Until a few days ago I didn't know that Coinstar offers a no fee option. As my blog readers know we're trying to  pay off our bills and save for a wedding. Since many of the items we're looking at are coming from Amazon.com I was tickled to find out about their no fee option.

You may have seen the Coinstar counting machines at the grocery store. Take your bucket of change and pour it in. The machine counts it and returns any duds to you. Then it prints a voucher to be cashed in at the store. The machine takes a little over 9% but a lot of people like the convenience of not having to sort, count and roll the change. With this process you dump, wait a minute and cash out. It's quick and convenient.

Now, it's even better. Coinstar has teamed up with Amazon.com, restaurants, grocery stores and other companies to bring a no fee option. Costs are waived when by choosing the e-certification option on the machine. When your voucher prints the full amount of your coins will appear. Simply use this as you would any other gift certificate at the store you selected.

Coins in a jar add up before you know it. My family used to laugh at me for collecting change. Rolling took forever but it was worth it. Our new sewing machine was paid for with cold hard change and it was my turn to laugh this time.

My next big coin purchase is a tent for my daughter's wedding. We already have the wedding tent picked out. Being able to easily trade my coins in for a Coinstar no fee e-certificate is going to help. I have a long list of things to buy. This is only going to help.