Today I thought I’d highlight a few great money saving holiday tips from my readers.

Shopping Tips

From Theresa Shafer

Get a shopping group that finds the best deals.

I shop at one store for all of the groups needs at that store and you shop for me and the rest of the group shop for the other stores. You take your cell phone and communicate with each other to get everything the group wants.

My group is my family with 3 different cars and a flexible shopping plan. If i get done with my first store I see what store I could take from another family member.

No need to run over all the place and waste time. Together we can save a lots of money and time.

From Pamela Callahan

You know those huge crowds of people that shop beginning on Black Friday and pretty much every day after …Well, I have learned that most of those great bargains are also available on the company’s website. This time of year, many of them offer free shipping. Plus, if you do a search for coupon codes and / or promotional codes, you will find that a huge number of retailers have hidden offers where you can receive additional discounts on top of these “doorbuster” savings without leaving the comfort and warmth of home. Some of these discount codes are pretty significant!

Save on Christmas Cards

From Jacob

Instead of greeting cards send postcards. They are very inexpensive and are less to send also. Plus, you can buy blank postcards and put your own design on them to personalize them. Money-saving and unique.

Frugal Gift Tips

From Carol Klabunde

My best money-saving hint for a gift is to cover a box or jar with Christmas paper & put slips of paper in it that say “I love you because…” and then have your kids fill out reasons. Also slips that say I appreciate you because you…”

Grandparents, aunts, uncles, babysitters, brothers & sisters, moms & dads, godparents – just about EVERYONE loves to get these almost free gifts. All it takes is a little paper & a little thought.

From Donna Holmberg

My sister and I both scrapbook, as do several other members of my family and my circle of friends. Each year, we do scrapbook pages for each other as Christmas gifts. In the case of my sister whose husband is in the Air Force and stationed in Germany, we don’t get to see each other alot, so she does a set of pages of her family and sends them to me and I do the same for her. My other sister and brother who also live across the country do the same. For my friends who live near me or my friends who know me but not my family (some are old school friends and such who would have no interest in photos of my family), we send a packet of photos out to each other that we’d like to have used in scrapbook pages, then we ship the completed pages and leftover photos back to arrive just before Christmas. This lets us share each others creativity, enjoy the photos then pass them back, and saves us tons of money and postage for bigger, commercial gifts. Their pages give me ideas for how to complete additional pages for myself that I might not have thought of – sort of artistic inspiration – and they do the same with my pages.

Having a Greener Christmas

From Joanna Smith

My tip for SAVING MONEY as well as making the Holidays Greener is to skip the Christmas gift wrapping entirely. Change things up and have some FUN with your children and your family and have them hunt through the house for the gifts (of course your gift will have a Christmas gift tag on it). If you hide the presents under chairs and beds, in closets, in cupboards or the crisper drawer of the refrigerator, etc. everyone will have a great time. And don’t worry about any missed gifts because if you think you might forget, make a list of where you hid them ahead of time. You will save to much MONEY on not having to purchase any Christmas wrap and ribbon this year AND just think of all the time you will save not having to wrap all those gifts and all the unnecessary paper you will save too! Happy Holidays everyone!

From Lmay

Keep plugged in decorations in mind when contemplating your electric bill. Unplug Christmas lights and decorations (and for that matter, other applicances, etc.) when not in use. So much unused and wasted energy continues to go through those plugs, even when they are in the ‘off’ position, which is a drain on the environment AND on your electricity bill. The US Dept of Energy says that not only do appliances continue to draw electricity while the products are turned off, but in the average home nearly 75% of all electricty used to power electronics is consumed by products that are switched off. Unplugging unused appliances will become a good and easy money-saving habit once you do it enough!

Thanks to everyone who submitted a tip!