Home >> Christmas with no money…
November 13, 2008
This year is the tightest we’ve ever been financially…..EVER! So, my challenge is how to get gifts for everyone without any money…
Well, yesterday I happened to be watching Oprah and she had her tidy-man-guru, Peter Walsh on the show after he’d buzzed around the country helping folks clean up their houses. One fantastic idea was to have a book made of all the kid’s artwork by an online company called snapfish.com.
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AND, for the next 48 hours starting yesterday, all viewers could have a book for free. So….I stayed up waaayyy to late last night and put a book together on line. These are hardbound little books 11 wide X 8.5 tall. I didn’t have time to scan artwork, so I loaded some favorite photos from this past spring, summer and fall. The site is very user friendly and it went fairly quickly. Then, just for doing the book, the site gave away 20 prints for free, so of course I loaded up some more photos and sent in the order. I did have to pay shipping for the book which was 6.99. But what a bargain! Now there’s one gift checked off the list…perhaps for Grandma! One gift down and about 40 to go… there will have to be a lot of thrifting, creativity and scrounging this year! Another idea that I’m doing is getting great used books on amazon and having them shipped to the recipients. There are so many books that can be purchased for .99 plus shipping which still only makes the total around $5 each. A fantastic bargain compared to the price of gift baskets which always end up costing at least $60 each after shipping is added.
Yesterday we went on a bargain-hunting adventure out in Elgin to a place called the ReStore which is run by Habitat for Humanity.
We’ve been given a tight budget to renovate our new apartment, so we’re trying to stretch that money as far as possible. The ReStore is a huge warehouse full of construction materials that may have been left over or ripped out of houses that were renovated. It’s like going into a really inexpensive Home Depot…almost. Stainless steel sinks for $25, or a pedestal sink for $50, wood blinds for $6, a $300 faucet for $50…etc. This week the renovation began with a bang as the celings and cabinets have been ripped out.
So, the fun begins….yes, I have a vision!
Liita
Thanks for the very helpful info on Christmas ideas.. I also would like the free book if I still can get it.. What do I do? Please let me know if there is still time.. We to are very short of funds for Christmas… having trouble getting gifts for the kids let alone anyone else. Its so hard to because Tyler knows we struggle with out all the detail of just how bad it is.. and he says ‘It’s ok mama santa will bring us our presents!’ I think its time we tell him..