Many times we want to give someone a special gift, but our budgets are limited.  Gift baskets can make nice gifts without costing a lot of money.  Of course, you will need to make them yourself.

Here is a gift basket that I recently helped my mom make for a birthday present. Included in this gift basket is a mug with matching plate, two boxes of tea, a devotional book, $10 Target gift card, and some peppermints.

Even making this gift basket yourself, you could easily spend $50 or more on these items. Here are some tips on spending less:

1)  Look for used baskets that are in good condition.  You can find these at yard sales and thrift stores. 

2)  Shop for clearanced items.  Believe it or not, the coffee mug and plate were purchased at Marshall’s for only a few dollars.

3)  Use coupons to purchase food items.  You can combine a sale with a coupon to get boxes of tea or other items very inexpensively.

4)  Check out the selection at your local close-out or dollar store.  Sometimes theses stores get in close-out items that you can get at a fraction of the normal cost. 

5)  Use your prescription promotion coupons to receive gift cards which can be used in the gift basket or to purchase items to include the basket.  The card shown here was free because of a prescription promotion.

6)  Purchase clearanced ribbon or reuse ribbon from gifts you have received.  The ribbon shown here was purchased for about 75% off and only a small portion of the roll was used for this gift.

7)  Shred your own filler paper or purchase it at a dollar store.  You can shred colorful paper to go inside the bottom of your basket or you can purchase some for $1.  You will only need about half of the bag.

8)  Purchase the gift bag at the dollar store.  The dollar store where I shopped had two gift bags in a package for $1 which was half the price of the discount store.

9)  Use craft store coupons.  Your gift recipient may enjoy craft items, but you can purchase other items at craft stores.  Notepads, picture frames, flowers, and decorations are just a few examples.

10)  Add some baked goodies.  Just about everyone enjoys homemade treats.  Add some to a basket for an inexpensive personal touch.

What ways do you save money on gifts?

images (c) Karen Weideman

Guest post by Katelyn Thomas

You’ve started a garden to save money, not to spend it! Who knew that it could be such a costly operation? Mulch, soil, fertilizer…the list seems to go on and on. Before you shell out a lot of cash, you may want to try thrifty alternatives for some items. Here are a few things I do to make gardening frugal:

• Make friends with a farmer. If you know a farmer, paying for expensive fertilizers will be a thing of the past. I asked my neighbor if I could buy a wheelbarrow of aged cow manure and he dropped an entire backhoe load of manure in for me and wouldn’t take a dime. Even if you pay for manure, odds are that it will be cheaper than the stuff that comes in bags at the store. (Make sure it is aged, though. Fresh manure can burn your plants right up!)
• Swap plants with friends and neighbors. I found a good price on parsley - a four pack for $2. I split it with the rest of the family. I also gave away over 30 of my prolific strawberry plants. They hopped out of their bed to grow in the path. In return, I’ll get help digging out a few big things I need to move. In years past, I’ve gotten tomato seedlings, peppers and a ton of perennials.
• Use cardboard and newspaper. I lay cardboard on my temporary vegetable garden paths before I put down a layer of mulch. This way, I can make the layer of mulch a lot shallower and still keep weeds at bay.
• Collect leaves in the fall and chop them up with your mulcher or by running over them with a mower. (Make sure there aren’t any sticks, first.) Chopping leaves gives you a head start on leaf mold, which sounds unpleasant, but is rich crumbly stuff that plants love. This can replace expensive bags of hummus.
• Head to a real farmer’s market. We have one of those overpriced markets where plant nurseries set up booths, but there’s also a local market at the local auctioneer’s barn every Monday. That market is filled with booths of veggie plants that are downright cheap.

Katelyn’s first love is holidays, but she also enjoys living a thrifty lifestyle and has been gardening frugally for many years.

image (c) Linette Gerlach

Each year we have the same two problems: 

1) My daughter outgrows almost all of her pants in the length. 

2)  It’s hard to find shorts that are long enough.

What is the deal with short shorts anyway????

This year, I decided to take some of her old jeans and try to make shorts out of them.

I cut the jeans right above the spot where she had wore out the knees.  I was just going to roll them up,but decided they might unravel so I had my mom put a stitch in the bottom.

Ta-da. Now we have cute shorts that are long enough and they didn’t cost us any money.   Reusing old pants is a great way to save money on your summer wardrobe. 

You might also like this video on making maternity pants from old jeans.

images (c) Karen Weideman

I had to take the cat to the vet today ($$$$$, sigh) and stopped in Food Lion for a few things.  They have some of their Kellogg’s cereals buy 1 get 1 free.   What makes this deal so great is that the $1 Kellogg’s coupons are still on the shelves.  Save $1 on each box of Kellogg’s cereal.   Combine a coupon with a bogo opportunity and you can save big!

There is a limit of 2 free boxes per transaction.  I did two transactions so that I could get 8 boxes of cereal.   With the buy 1 get 1 free sale and the $1 coupon, the cereal ends up being around $.67-$.75 per box.  Isn’t that great?!?  With our family of five, we go through a lot of cereal. 

The cereals that are on sale are Kellogg’s Special K varieties, Apple Jacks, Fruit Loops, and Rice Krispy treats. 

Another stockpile opportunity is applesauce.  The Food Lion applesauce and the Whitehouse High School Musical applesauce is buy 1 get 1 free.  This makes the applesauce $1.10-$1.25 each.

By the way, I had to drive back out again to pick the cat up from the vet and I stopped in Food Lion again for 4 more boxes of cereal.  I got 2 boxes of Special K, 1 box of Fruit Loops, and 1 box of Rice Krispies for $2.89, including tax!  This means I bought 12 boxes of cereal today.  My husband says they’re going to change my name from Thrifty Mommy to Cereal Mommy.  lol

*There is also a $1 Kellogg’s coupon in the April 5th Red Plum coupon insert of the paper.

Enjoy the savings! 

image by Karen Weideman

There have been lots of great printable coupons lately.  Here are a few more useful ones.

$1 off Coffee Mate Powder or Liquid Creamer - use the back button to print the coupon twice

$1.50 off any Woolite Products

$.75 off Spray ‘N Wash with Resolve Power 

$1 and $2 off Seventh Generation

$1.50 off any Resolve Carpet Cleaner

$1.50 off No Nonsense product

The Goodlife Recipe for dogs and cats - $1 off Snacks and Treats, $3 off Wholesome Recipes

Cesar Canine Cuisine - buy 2 entrees get 1 free

Coupons from Home Solutions - $4 off Lysol Neutra Air Freshmatic Air Treatment Product, $1 off Lysol Neutra Air Sanitizing Spray, $2 off 2 Rid-X Septic System Treatment Products, $.75 off d-CON product, $.50 Electrasol, $1.50 off Air Wick Hidden Pleasures Scented Oil Warmer, $1 off 2 Air Wick Aqua Essences Scented Oils Refills, $3 off I-Motion Starter Kit, $3 Air Wick Lumin’ Air Starter Kit, $.50 Air Wick Stick-ups, $3 off Air Wick Scented Oil X-Press Warmer with Scented Oil Refill Purchase, $1.50 off Air Wick Decosphere Air Freshener, $4 off Freshmatic Ultra Starter Kit, $4 off Freshmatic Mini Automatic Spray, $1 off 2 Air Wick Aerosol, $.50 off Air Wick Airfresh, $.75 off Jet Dry Rinse Agent or Turbo Dry

Coupons.com - $.55 off Betty Crock frosting, $1 off V8 juice, $.45 off Betty Crock muffin mix, $.50 off Betty Crocker Cookie Mix, $.75 off Huggies wipes, $1 off Yoplait Yo-Plus, and many more

Have you found any printable coupons lately?  Please leave a link below.  Thanks.  Happy saving!

image from coffee-mate

Lately it seems that printable coupons have become very popular.  There have been coupons for more popular products and the coupon values are higher.  Some of my recent favorite coupons are $5 and $3 off Huggies products, $1 off Quaker oatmeal, $.55 off Pop-Tarts, and my most favorite is the Johnson’s coupons.

It seems the printable coupon competition is soaring, but that’s good news for the thrifty.  Here are some recent coupons I found from coupons.com. 

• $1  Scott tissue
• $1 Quaker oatmeal (has been on sale lately for $2.50)
• $1 McCormick extract or food coloring (just in time for your spring baking)
• $2 Dry Idea
• $5 Hasbro Sorry! game
• $5 Hasbro Guess Who? game
• $1.50 Dove Cream Oil Body Wash
• $.35 Pillsbury Crescent dinner rolls

Have you found any great printable coupons lately?

image from coupons.com

I had to take J to a doctor’s appointment this week.  We passed by Harris Teeter and I suddenly remembered that they were having triple coupons.  Then I was so mad at myself because I didn’t bring my coupons (was driving hubby’s car).  Harris Teeter is 30 minutes from my house. 

After the appointment, I decided to take a walk through Harris Teeter to see what their specials were, without the triple coupon savings.  I found several great deals.  I picked up some cube steak, stew meat, boneless chicken, and deli meats and cheese.  All were good prices. 

Then I wandered down the cereal aisle.  Harris Teeter had their Kellogg’s Mini Wheats buy one get one free.  On the shelves were SmartSource coupons to save $1 on 1 box.  Woohoo!  I bought 6 boxes.  The boxes were normally $3.75 each, so I was able to get 2 boxes for $3.75 minus the $2 in coupons.  That made the cereal $.88 per box.  Wow! 

I was happy to get the cereal for $.88 per box, but things got better after I paid.  At the end of my purchase, I was handed two coupons, each for a free gallon of milk.  They were compliments of Kellogg’s.  It was some kind of reward system which I think gave one free gallon of milk for every three Kellogg’s item purchased.  I asked the cashier if I could leave my cart sitting next to her checkout while I went back to get the milk.  We can always use milk in our house and I wasn’t sure when I’d be able to make another trip to Harris Teeter.

That means I got 6 boxes of Kellogg’s cereal and 2 gallons of milk for only $5.25!!!

I managed to make another trip to Harris Teeter this week with my coupons and saved a bunch.  This time I purchased 6 more boxes of cereal, but it did not print out any more milk coupons.  I’m guessing there must be a limit.  Even without the milk, it is still a great buy and good stockpiling opportunity.

Good luck everyone.

image by Karen Weideman

On March 24, donate a non-perishable food item and receive a scoop for $1! Enjoy your favorite flavor AND help others in need. All donations will be supplied to your community’s local food bank.  Visit the Ben & Jerry’s website to find a Scoop Shop near you.

As with all promotions, I recommend calling your local store to see if they are participating.

image from ben & jerry’s

Hello everyone.  If you’re a regular reader, then you may be wondering what’s going on around here.   Thrifty Mommy is now part of b5media’s lifestyle portal, Blisstree.

We may be at a new location and have a new look, but don’t worry; we will continue to help you save money.  Thrifty Mommy will still provide you with coupons, tips, strategies, recipes, sales, and many other ways to save you time and money.  Feel free to leave a comment letting us know any topics you’d like tackled.

We look forward to many more great conversations with you.

Image: istockphoto

From time to time, I get asked to do an interview.  A new one is up at Thrifty Townsonites.  In case you’re interested, you may want to drop by for a little light reading. 

Thanks.