Christmas Savings

[annaswan]

I appologize for having not shared these Christmas savings tips sooner in the year - but the Group was just recently started. So jot these down for next year! Great Freebies - I have to tell you, I seriously wonder if these gals have ever put a business out of business by alerting billons of Moms to the great freebies? LOL The website is A Full Cup, and the URL is:

http://www.afullcup.com/upload/cmps_index.php

This one is the best freebie site I have personally ever found. These gals try these themselves before they ever post them - there’s absolutely no strings attached - no spam - no hassle - no surveys - nadda. You don’t even have to join the forum to take advantage of the freebie postings.
1. Click “Forums” Tab - upper left hand side
2. Scroll down to “Completely Free” - and have at it!!
How this saves me money at Christmas is - all year long I send away for every single freebie listed, and by December, I generally have quite a large box of items. These are fantastic stocking stuffers! I also use them to make gift baskets. Get creative - you can even use these for Birthday gifts.

Color Printer Ink is expensive, even if you recycle your cartridges. Instead buy the refillable cartridges and ink that fit your printer at Wal-Mart. You may need to ask someone there for assistance finding the right one. I bought the kit for my HP printer for less than $30 - and I use loads of ink! Once you have the refill kit and ink - make your own Christmas cards and gift tags. You can find many, many free printable templates on the internet - just Google search the words “free printable Christmas cards” and “free printable Christmas gift tags”. Or - turn the kiddos loose with MSPaint, and let them design their own!

One advantage to shopping online is the ability to have items shipped to a different address. When your recipient lives out of state, or far enough away that you’d be looking at mailing or shipping costs to get their gifts to them - you can save this cost by ordering their gift online. Most all online retailers offer you the option to have your purchase shipped to a different address for the same amount that it would cost to have it shipped to you.

Join the Rural Family Living Group?  Visit Rural Family Living and the Rural Living Blog! 

[Mamaoftwingles]

Great Idea!  I also use freebies, I get everything I can sign up for!  Its been breaking my heart that I have been freebie-free for several months now, as we've been planning a move but were not exactly sure when it was going to happen...so I didn't want to take the time to order a freebie and not get it (they are usually not forwarded to a new address).  If its a freebie that I personally can not use (and there are a lot of them, men's deodorant-my dh has a favorite), cologne, different toothpastes, shampoos....stocking stuffers are great ideas for these, but we also give them to our local homeless shelter or food pantries...they are VERY MUCH in need of personal hygeine items this time of year.  We also go to the dollar store and get the big packs of toothbrushes & multipacks of small tubes of toothpaste and things like this to give to the shelters...the shelters break down the packs into individual bags.  Its something small that those of us can do and richly bless many who are not so fortunate.

Hugs, Love, Blessings & Bare Feet,

Jen, Proverbs 31 wife,  home-schoolin', baby-wearin', cloth-diaperin', barefootin', God-fearin', crunchy mama of three miracles!  Daniel & Jonah (7 y.o. Fraternal Twins) & Samuel (3 y.o.)