Are You Going To Have A Frugal Christmas?

I don't have any credit cards. I have to budget my gift giving. I started a little early this year i got my neice and nephew done first. I still need to buy for my brother in law and his other 3 kids. I also have a few others to get for. All in all though I am finished.

We don't even own credit cards anymore. We use cash or gift cards that I have earned only. I shop clearance sales too. I have many people to buy for. I love handmade gifts and I like to make gifts as well. I made something for each of my children this year along with their regular store bought gifts. For example, I made a Jeff Gordon blanket for my 8 year old son because he is his favorite race car driver and asked for Jeff Gordon stuff for Christmas. I have realized that with the costs of materials to make this stuff, sometimes it would be cheaper to just buy one already made. I like to do it though, and they like it too. I made curtains for my 6 year old daughters window (matches the theme of her room)and it would have been less expensive to just buy some, but she is so proud of those curtains! It was worth the few extra dollars. Aside from what the kids make for me at school (which are my favorite gifts to get)I don't really get many other home made gifts.

Virtualy everything we gift is home made. I would always rather receive something that somebody has spent time or though on than something that cost money. This year I'm giving socks and handmade soap mostly, but expect food will also feature highly in the list.

I'm always frugal. Every Christmas I use the gift cards that I've earned and saved up throughout the year from mypoints and a couple other online point programs. I also buy a few things here and there on clearance all year. I've been trying to get my family to exchange homemade gifts for years but so far, I haven't convinced them. I think it's a great idea. One year, along with other gifts, I made Cookie Mixes in a Jar.

With my limited income, villageanne, ALL of my Christmases are frugal, LOL. I have a short list of gift recipients and I also shop throughout the year when items can be purchased at bargain prices. I don't believe in running up huge debts in order to buy gifts for Christmas. I have no problem with receiving homemade gifts. I would love anything anyone thought enough of me to give me.

I don't give out too many gifts. My family is pretty small and they understand I have three children and limited money. I don't have a credit card so I can't spend over what I don't have which means I got to be tight. Which is fine with me. I usually try to get things early and store then but this year I just couldn't get much before hand. I still don't. I do save my freebie finds for stocking stuffers which helps and I do make so stuff like kids cards and crafts.

D don`t like using them , I only have one for emergencies , for bills and other things I just can`t afford at the time , it makes no sense to use one for Xmas ..., only to have to pay it back all year ... It just makes no sense to me at all ...

What does that mean, like going out of your way to buy things that you know you can not afford? I hate Christmas because I can't afford to buy my Grand-children nothing or nothing else.

Hi villageanne Yes this year will be a very frugal Christmas. We dont own a credit card anymore. Because if we did I know I would be using that baby for sure. I absolutely love homemaid gifts. I love to make gifts and give them to some of my family members. They love them too. Merry Christmas my friend!

Annie, I used to use credit cards and my family had the BEST holidays ever. But after they had the BEST, I was stuck with the STRESS and FEAR of not being able to pay for it all afterwards. I just responded to a young woman the other day who was so worried about gifting with December birthdays and Christmas and her children were under 5 and she is now pregnant. I could remember back when all of my children were that small and I was pregnant too. All it took was for me to ask her how many gifts did she actually remember getting when she was 5 years old and that took some stress off her. I also sent her a private message and told her to look you up and start reading your discussions for ways to make things out of nothing! Almost everyone I know is getting some of the product that I sell filled with a layered sand art brownie mix. I also am a rep for a cosmetic company but I don't sell it to anyone, I am just doing it so I can get the samples at discounted prices and give them as gifts. It cost me $10.00 to become a representative and was worth every penny plus more. Even my daughters don't know that I am doing this or they might actually want to order something and I don't want the responsibility of selling something else! LOL! This year has hit everyone in my family pretty hard but the biggest gift will be all of us sitting around the table and sharing the blessing of a great meal together (the traditional lasagna). ~Donna

We use our credit cards because it is easier to keep records. I do not like carrying too much cash around me, but even though I use a card, I do not buy expensive gifts and if I were, I could easily download money from the online banking account. I do not like to receive homemade gifts unless they are well made, and not something that will be finished off in a week or so. So if someone makes me something, be it a craft, candies, or clothes, it had better be good. Candies and cookies homemade or not, I regard as like receiving a box of chocolates in that they soon disappear. What I do is to gradually estimate how much I will need and put that away. It will be easier next year. When I was young, we belonged to a Christmas Club and that helped.

yes most definitely! i have made a few things for christmas and i do the same as you do. i found clothing at a cool store that my teenage daughter likes, they were offering 5 items for $30- and this was in JULY! i bought winter pants for my dad at the end of the season in march! i also go to a lot of thrift stores, it is suprising how many NEW things you can find there! for us, its cash only!

I make a few things,usually crochet mitts ,slippers or pot holders.but we give our children and grandchildren money now that they are older. we just have 1 grandchild that is 10 so he gets a gift maybe this yr he will get money also they like to go shopping on boxing day, and then let us know what we got them for Christmas lol.usually it is something i would have never thought of

in these times, frugality is understandable and seems like the most reasonable decision to be made. most of us are hard up earners. in my case, i see to it that what i earn goes to the most needed expenses and i try to build my savings. but christmas is also about being thankful to those people who touched me. gifts are expressions of being thankful. i think i will spend more on these gifts. and i prefer to buy home-made gifts to make it more personal and different.

We will not be dpending much this year. My boyfriends work went on strike just after we bought our first house, so things are not great for us right now. This will be our first year not spending much. Our kids know that this christmas will be different. I did buy them one big gift with the money I saved up from my vacation pay, other than that there won't be anything else expensive. We nolonger use credit cards at all in our house. We finally paid them off and cut them up. We only buy what we can afford now, we are not going to go into debt over christmas. We are planning on making some homemade gifts this year, though I am not sure what yet. I like recieving homemade gifts. My favorites are the cookie mix jars. In the past I have made my kids pajamas, fleece hats and mitts and last year I made my daughter a stuffed My Little Pony. She loved it. My kids love getting homemade gifts too.

We don't celebrate Christmas, but many of my friends do and they aren't near. So I prefer shopping online and sending them gifts or buying gift certificates for them instead of purchasing things locally and then sending them the gifts. And for shopping online credit card is must so I don't see any difference in using credit card and paying cash for the gifts.

As I am writer, I trade books for gifts whenever possible (earrings, necklaces, soap, and so on). I like getting homemade gifts, but don't make any (accept the books). I use my debit card or cash to buy things I can't barter for. I also buy things all year, so at Christmas it's less of a crunch.

Yes, I have no choice this year, unfortunately and since I've been out of work, I've actually had the time to be able to make things. For my parent's, I made a wreath - but not an ordinary wreath. I used a round piece of cardboard, cut-out and glued to puzzle-pieces that I hand-painted green. I did it in a layered fashion. Then, using Scrabble letters, I put "The Smiths" and then glued some metallic red beads on to look like holly berries. I fancied it up a bit and I've impressed myself with it! For my sister's family, I used old ornaments, those boring ones that are usually red, green, blue or gold made with thread wrapped all around it. I took the thread off and then glued beads of all the same color on them. i thought it would be easier than it turned out to be, but I'm getting there....slowly. I alsways regift items that I don't like/want. Our family always reuses gifts boxes and bags. I don't receive that many homemade gifts, but I always enjoy the ones that I do receive - which are usually from my parents, who seem to be getting creative as they age.

you know people can use credit cards responsibly. my folks have no debt other than their vehicle but that is being paid with zero interest... they purchase everything they can on credit card, keep track on the expenses much like one would use a check register and at the end of the month they pay it off in full. this serves a couple purposes, they do not have to carry much cash around with them and they get a kick back from the credit card company - 5% cash back is pretty good when you buy everything on card and pay it off with no interest. we keep gifts small, though we do not give gifts all year along like some do...if it is not a birthday, Christmas or other celebration and not something needed it is not usually purchased. we do make a good portion of the gifts we give sweaters hat mitten sets dishcloths etc.

I make a lot of home made gifts and for those gifts that are not homemade I pay by cash or debit card. I do not believe in using credit cards. I did at one time, but they took me forever to pay off. I only had three of them and it was hard for me. I usally get gift cards from amazon and use them. I am in the process of launching an online store to sell my crafts and am hoping to use some of that money to help pay off bills and to also save up for a vacation.