Beautiful Gifts without Sticker Shock

I love Christmas. I love to see the children excited and filled with anticipation. To me it is the one time of the year when everyone comes together filled with good will. I love to have my tree exploding with gifts. I want the recipient of my gift to like it, and I try to get everyone in my family something. Sometimes this seems like an impossible feat. I pull it off every year and I do not go in debt or break myself to do it. I start early, sometimes as early as June, but at the latest, in August. First, I buy my nieces and nephew presents. Then, I buy for my Mom and my brothers. After that, I get their wives and my close cousins and a few gifts for the people I work with. Closer to Christmas, I buy for my immediate family. I shop the clearance section first, and then the discount stores. I rarely ever pay full price. I don't usually do black Friday either, not that it is not a good deal, I just don't like shopping in a crowd of people. This is how I start. The included picture is an example of 11 presents that I got for about $26.oo. That is about $2.37 per gift. I got these at Rugged Warehouse and their stores are located in the southeast. This is also where I buy most of my clothes at a 70% off discount on name brands. If you don't have a store near you then you can go to the distributors website. The first one is http://www.toogoodgourmet.com/. Go to their site and register, then click wholesale orders and choose the specials. You have to purchase at least 2 cases, but the prices are spectacular for the quality of gifts. The other site is http://www.pelicanbayltd.com/ and it has beautifully packaged items for as low as $3.95 with no minimum purchase requirements. Check out the teachers gift for $4.95. It is a good deal. Let me know of any other places with good deal like this so I can share with others.

How to Afford a Memorable Christmas-The Ornaments

I hate that Christmas has become so commercialized over the years. That is never what Christmas was suppose to be about. It is suppose to be about family, about being thankful, and for those of you who believe, most importantly about our Lord. No matter how you stack it, Christmas cost money. For some of us, it turns in to our most expensive headaches, one that usually cost us our much needed income tax refund in January. This post will give you some ideas on how to build on your Christmas decorating each and every year. Here are some of the ornaments that are on my tree. When I was young and first starting out, I had a collection of cheap and sometimes scratched up ornaments that I put on my tree, that with lots of tinsel to fill it in, and of course some strung popcorn. I would see some of the most beautiful trees and think that I could never afford that, then I came up with a plan. Each year when the retailers start putting out the Christmas decorations I began expanding on my ornament collection. Yes at first I continued to use those old ornaments, but I would incorporate that in with the new ones I would get. I admit that I am a Walmart junky, so I start there. I get paid every 2 weeks, so when I get paid and do my grocery shopping I will stop by and pick up 1 or 2 very nice ornaments. I always try to get something that will go with any theme and I get something that will go with whatever color I am building on. I try to get big ornaments so that they will fill in a good size area and when I first started this I put those on the side of the tree facing the room. After Christmas, I would go to the sales and I bought my first ornament holder box. It took a few years to fill it up, but I do this every year. Also, grab a few of those big glitter ornaments. They are very inexpensive, but mixed in with the pricier ones they look fabulous. Just pick up 1 or 2 each Christmas and over the years you will have built up a substantial collection.