How to Give Great Gifts When Money is Tight

Let's face it, some people simply don't have a lot of extra money sitting around and when the holidays come up, it puts them into a financial bind. But there are alternatives to putting a bundle on your credit cards -- a bundle that it takes you months to pay off -- that will allow you to give great gifts for a fraction of what you might spend otherwise. The key is to think out of the box a bit. Here are some suggestions from MSN Money on how to give great gifts when money is tight. We'll start with their ideas on how you can trim your overall gift costs a bit:

• Agree to exchange cards instead of gifts with friends.
• Have a potluck instead of an elaborate feast that requires you do all the work (and grocery shopping).
• Make do with last year's decorations and clothes, or swap with friends.
• Persuade your extended family to draw names rather than have everyone buy everyone else a gift.
• Boot the adults and give gifts only to the kids.

We've done both of the last two and it has seemed to work. At some point, everyone's just giving gifts because they feel guilty if someone gets them a gift and they don't return a present. But once someone suggests "let's cut back," many people are relieved and happy it was suggested.

Next, MSN Money lists several more ideas to cut holiday spending:

• Cruise the deal sites.
• Use your spare change.
• Check your credit card rewards.
• Sell last year's misfires.
• Scope out your job perks.
• Look for two-for-one deals.
• The gift of photos.
• Regift -- carefully.
• Make a charitable contribution.

There are some really, really good ideas here. Personally, we use the regifting idea quite extensively (I've written about it in Is Re-gifting Okay? and Over Half of Americans Re-Gift, Do You?) and used the two-for-one deals too (buy a magazine subscription and get one to give as a present.)

We also often buy in bulk and get a great deal. Recently, there was a sale of a book we wanted to give to several people on our list. The cost was $12.99 for one book, but they had a quantity discount offer. We bought 15 of them, paid $8 each, had them signed by the author (who was in the store), and got a $5 gift certificate from the store for spending over $100 to boot. Not bad!

So, what other money saving ideas are out there? I'm sure you all have a ton of great suggestions. Please share them in the comments below.

Comments

[trudy]

Or give donations to charity, esp. environmental ones as we hurtle down the parth towards the planet's destruction. This is doing something for the kids and grandkids way more important than the next toy. Plus, you get to take a tax deduction.