As Davey talked about in his recent post, we’ve been thinking about ways to make the holidays more about what is important. To me, this also means cutting back on all the “stuff” and over-spending (I TOTALLY over-spent last year.) So this year, I’ve been especially devoted to cutting back and have been brainstorming all sorts of ways to save. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

Trader's Joes' Holiday Tags

1. Reuse brown paper bags for gift tags. I love Trader Joe’s. This year they printed holiday gift tags all over their brown paper bags – so instead of buying gift tags this year, I’m using these. They are super cute and I love how they look on the gifts. If you don’t have Trader Joe’s where you live, or don’t shop there, you can use plain brown paper bags from your grocer and create cute tags by cutting out different shapes. Decorate the tags with markers, puffy paint, glitter, etc.

Happy Holidays, Davey!

2. Go through what you already have to find something to give to a local charity. It’s important to remember those less fortunate than yourself during the holidays, even when things are tight in your own home. This time of year there are tons of food and present drives. Go through your pantry and find some canned goods you can bring to a food drive. Also, go through your things and your child’s things and find gently used (or never used) items to give to families in need.

Shhhh!

3. Do Secret Santa in a big way. Davey’s side of the family is pretty big (well, compared to my 10 person family – including my extended family) and this year we all decided to do a Secret Santa instead of buying gifts for each family member. We all picked a name and are spending $100 on that one person. This way, we can get each other something nice, rather than spreading it thin to be able to get something for everyone.

Secretsanta.com is a fun site that helps set up a Secret Santa for you!

4. Make “coupon” books for your loved ones. Davey did this for me last year and I loved it. Create a coupon book out of small pieces of paper or cardboard stapled together for someone you love. It can be for anything you want! My coupon book last boasted hand massages, a trip to the movies, a dinner date, and other sweet stuff. It was fun to get and I loved being able to extend Christmas by redeeming my coupons.

I found this cute and easy-to-use site to make your own coupons and print them. Here’s one I did for my stepdaughter.

Easy and cute homemade decorations!

5. Create holiday decorations out of items you already have. This year I wanted to decorate more, but it’s not in our budget to go out and buy a bunch of decorations. Instead I found things I already had around the house. I had these 2 cute lanterns and I filled them with the classic glass ball ornaments in assorted blues and pine cones. I also took a jar I had and filled it with red and green glass ornaments and tied a green ribbon at the top. Another thing my stepdaughter and I did was make our own decorated wreath. Already decorated wreaths can be really expensive so instead we bought a plain wreath (about $5), then added mini ornaments and a cute “Merry Christmas” sign ourselves.

Please share with me another other great ideas you have on ways to save, I can always use tips! I hope you all have a safe, fun, and family-filled holiday and a happy and healthy New Year!

Errin
Go-to-Gal 

For links to all of our holiday themed blogs read Planet Fassa’s Blogs to Get You Through the Holidays!