Earlier this week, I posted about some ways to cut out some of your Christmas expenses.  One of the ways listed was to cut down your Christmas gift list.  It’s simply not necessary to buy for every aunt, uncle, and cousin.  That’s not what Christmas is about anyway. 

Tiffany from Stuff Parents Need commented with a great question.
Do you have any tips for how to tactfully remove people from your list? We have a few aunts and uncles that I’d like to stop buying presents for, not because I don’t love them, but because I think us continuing to exchange presents is …read more

The following is a guest post.
So you’ve found a great deal on the perfect gift, but now what? Cards cost a fortune, considering they’re just sheets of cardstock, and normal gift-wrap isn’t so environmentally friendly. Well, here are a variety of ideas, from basic to more involved, to get you started.
Cards and Gift Tags:
The easiest, least expensive thing to do is to buy a gift card pack. I use this for thank you cards and quick notes. Target and other stores often sell big packs of colorful note cards with matching envelopes. I got a set of 200 for $10, …read more

As I am trying to wrangle the toys today, I got to thinking.  My oldest is 3 years old and we haven’t bought her a birthday present yet.  She has a really big extended family so she hasn’t missed out yet.  But I was thinking that instead of getting her a present, we should just keep giving her nice parties.  We would spend the same amount of money and she would still have gifts to open, but I would have one less toy to clean up.  This way, if you are really frugal, you can give your kids a really …read more

For a frugal centerpiece, wrap up some empty boxes and place them in the center of your table.  If you’re really feeling thrifty, then just wrap some that you plan to use for Christmas.  Make sure you use some nice paper and bows.  Easy and inexpensive.
Thanks to LifeTips for the idea.

I just posted The Top 10 Regifting Tips for the Thrifty.  Some of you may not want to regift, but are still looking for uses for your unwanted gifts.  Here are some suggestions for those items:
Give them to those in need.
1.  Donate new, unwanted toys to the Salvation Army, Marines, or some other organization that gives toys to needy children at Christmas.
2.  Use small, new toys to fill up shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. I remember one year my daughter got so many little stuffed animals.  She was too little to know better and I used them to help stuff …read more

 
 
 
    
I don’t drink wine becasue I usually can’t get it past my nose.  However, I am fully aware of the benefits of a glass of red wine a day can have on your cardiovascular system.  And it is great to use as a stain for table cloth napkins and doilies for the holidays – just an FYI.  But what do you do with all the leftover wine corks?  They just junk up yoru trash cans and are pretty useless after they leave the bottle.  Or are they …
I recently came across a wine cork wreath for the holidays.  Now, I …read more