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Buying Christmas Gifts On A Budget

Updated on March 1, 2009

Great Gifts, Little Price Tags

You can become a smart shopper If you can let go of christmas wishlists and focus on buying creative christmas gifts at low prices. There is no reason christmas needs to cost a fortune. Especially during this time when Retail stores are doing anything and everything just to make a sale and get it on their books.

Spending a bit of time in the clearance section of any retail store can turn up new finds and great treasures of creative Christmas gifts. My latest find was a very nice Shuffle board set. Normally priced $69.99, I found this very nice set for $13.99 at Kohls. Shuffleboard may not be everyone things but I have some friends and family that are enjoy outdoor games, some just moving into their first place, and somethat just love to have people over.. I bought 4 of them and each one will go to someone I know will use it. I also found a small lightweight brand name vacuum cleaner.. normally $65 on clearance for $20. I wouldn't normally give a vacuum cleaner as a gift.. but for the couple who just bought their first house, it's all theirs.

For family and friends on your list that you just have to get something for, clearance racks are great but there are some other great options for creative christmas gifts.. Ross, TJ MAxx, and other gret Outlet stores have houseware departments where you can find great small classic items such as picture frames (adding a picture can personalize the gift, adding a picture of yourself for their gift may border on tacky.), cooking oil decorative bottles, painted pottery and more.

Budget Christmas Gifts?

Fall Out Of The $$ Per Person Mindset

We all buy budget christmas gifts differently, but many of us decide how much we want to spend on the individuals on our list and then try hard to stick to that. For your children, your closest friends, and your parents. It's a good rule of thumb. For everyone else, break the cycle.

If you found an amazing budget christmas gift for $16, valued at $30 and you normally spend $25 on the person this budget christmas gift would be for...Aren't you already ahead? You don't NEED to make up the difference and spend $9 more dollars. Put that $9 away. You bought a great gift, worth more then you wanted to spend and you save $9. Spending that $9 would defeat the purpose of saving money by buying outlet and clearance.. Although it would make your spending dollars go further.

Buy Now, Decide Later Who Gets It

My greatest Christmas shopping trick is to buy really nice, really cool items that would be enjoyed by at least 3 people on my Christmas shopping list. Then I decide later who gets it. I've got a really great new bird feeder in my closet that I paid $9 for back in September. The regular price tag was $40. It will either go to a grandparent, at a annual Christmas party as my $15 or less elephant gift for the gift exchange, or maybe even to a co-worker.

The point is, when I am not buy specifically for one person, I can decide later how much I spend on each person, what they are getting, and how much I save. All that just by buying when the deal strikes, not when I'm specifically looking for a gift.

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