No matter how you slice it, re-gifting is always a tricky topic. Some folks are super gung-ho to re-gift when necessary, others find it terribly tacky, and some people think it’s downright evil.
I however, do not think re-gifting is evil or even slightly bad. WHY hold onto something you’ll never, ever use? Why not give it to someone else who may like it. What’s evil is having all sorts of junk around your house just because you think you’ll hurt someone’s feelings or because you feel obligated to hold onto stuff. That said, one fun activity you can plan …read more

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

Gift Card Rescue allows you to sell your unwanted gift cards for cash or exchange/swap gift cards you’ll never use for another card you will.

There are plenty of these gift card exchange site around, but at this site, customers buy, sell, or exchange gift cards directly with Gift Card Rescue. Which saves time and helps reduce fraud that may occur when you try to sell or exchange gift cards. This company also has a Return/Guarantee policy that helps to provide site users with more peace of mind. Payments for gift card purchases can be made through PayPal or Google Checkout.
There …read more

My sister was just complaining about weddings last week. She’s one of those totally social girls who gets invited to seriously dozens of weddings a year. She notes that even when she’s not in the wedding, those gifts can add up. However, you can save money on wedding gifts, just like anything else.

Set a realistic goal for yourself: IF you’re like my sis and you know that you get invited to dozens of weddings a year set goals at the start of the year to be thrifty. Set an amount that you’ll spend on weddings for the year then RSVP …read more

If you’ve been reading Thrifty Mommy for a while, then you know that I enjoy buying birthday presents for my kids when they are on clearance.  I try to shop around for things I know my children will like, except I don’t have the guilt of paying outrageous prices for their toys and I don’t feel too much of a loss if the item becomes forgotten and ends up in the yard sale.
Alligator Girl’s birthday is July 4th and here’s a look at the cool stuff she got, thanks to her Thrifty Mommy! 

MagNext magnet set – This was …read more

No matter how pretty you wrap it up a bad gift is a bad gift. We’ve all gotten them before and although we sometimes feel bad that we don’t like it, it’s truly a waste of resources and money to keep a dud gift. You’re better off returning it. Here’s how to make it easier…

Check for a receipt. Some people get that not everyone shares their love of heart shaped dishes, and will thus, include a gift receipt in the gift box. If you don’t see a receipt try to figure out where the person got the gift, with a …read more

Group gifting can be an effective way to save some cash when there’s an event, party, holiday, or birthday coming up. Basically group gifting is just like it sounds. Instead of everyone paying for a gift for a particular person or event, everyone chips in and one collective gift is bought. This is not only budget friendly, but resource friendly too. Why get someone a bunch of smaller items they may not want that also waste packaging and materials when one nicer gift could be purchased instead?

Above: Monkey Business group gift idea for an organic baby shower.
Group gift idea:
Great seats …read more

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 …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