Frugal Patti

MyPoints.com (formerly BonusMail) has been around for quite a while. I’ve personally been a member since 1997, and earning gift certificates. In the program you earn points by doing various tasks, and then trade them for a variety of gift certificates of your choice. Most of my points have been earned by reading an advertisement email and clicking on a link to go to a certain web page. You can also earn points for using their grocery store coupons, searching the web with their search engine, purchasing from many web sites (through links on their web site), and many others ways. I strongly urge everyone to sign up and start earning points toward some great gift certificates. They come in very handy to make the household finances go farther and/or for gifts.

Although I’ve been able to find great buys at thrift stores all year around. January is the best month to take time out for your thrift store shopping. At the end of each year, people typically are looking for every last charitable contribution that can amass before the end of the year. As people are becoming more careful with their money, the charitable contributions for last year are even more important, and you can take advantage of this. This is a great opportunity to take advantage of especially given the trend that started last year of fewer contributions to thrift stores. As finances started becoming more troubled, the contributions (and quality of the contributions) became less. Take some time and browse the thrift store offerings this January.

Today (and during the next week) is a great time to pick up some things (at highly reduced prices) to use in the next months or year. Many regularly shop the day after Christmas for next year’s Christmas ornaments, decorations, wrapping, cards, etc.

By thinking more creatively, you can make these saving go even farther. Many nice gift packs (that are only out during the holidays) are now at least 50% off. Depending on the items they contain, these make great gifts during the next months and years. Grocery stores will be liquidating there remaining baking items they stocked up on for the holidays. This is a great time to stock up on them. Also, think of stocking up on solid colored items. Red wrapping, candles and candle holders can be used for Valentine’s Day. Red paper plates are great for summer BBQ’s. Also, green decorations can be used for St. Patrick’s Day. And, any solid wrapping paper can be used for birthdays

Yesterday I braved the rapids and actually headed to the mall for a few last minute gifts the weekend before Christmas. This is something I rarely do, since I typically have everything wrapped and am enjoying filling the house with the smell of Christmas baking. I was pleasantly surprised to find both stores that I planned to visit were offering great sales. At Godiva, everything I bought was on the 25% off table of Christmas gifts (they don’t want to be left with any Christmas decorated boxes after the holiday is over). I was able to buy more and larger gifts than I normally would, and still spend less. As an added bonus, I also received a $10 gift certificate to be used in January. At Bath and Body Works, the sales on gift baskets were great also perfect for my needs. I had two remaining gifts to buy and these were exactly what I needed at 30% off. I left the mall in far less than an hour, gifts in tow, and money saved.

Many people are behind on their Christmas (or other holiday) duties. Even through we may have forgotten someone from that massive gift list and no longer have time to send a gift, there are still options that will arrive in time. Many companies now will email gift certificates to the gift recipient with your greeting and/or allow you to print it on your printer to give. These instant gifts can be a life saver for our fast paced lives. My favorite is Amazon due to their wide variety of products. I think anyone would be able to find a gift they enjoy. Another good option is Netflix for DVD rentals. I hope these tips help with your last minute shopping.

Freecycling is not as well known as it should be, especially in our economic situation. But, it is such a logical solution to many current issues we face. Too often we discard items that are still in good shape and working condition. The best known alternative to filling our landfills with usable goods is recycling. Recycling, even though it’s a great alternative may not be the best, since large amounts of energy are typically needed for the process. Reusing all that we can is our best solution. Freecycling is a great tool to find those that can use your no longer needed item(s), and to find items that others no longer need that you can use. Just as the old saying goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” This is so true, and the process is quite easy also.

Register at Freecycle.org for a group (or groups) in your area. After you are registered, you can make requests and offers. What a great way to help others, yourself, and the environment.

Making smart shopping choices are even more important in today’s economy and this (often trying) holiday season. After you have chosen the item(s) that you want to purchase (Amazon.com is a great place to read reviews on a wide variety of items to help with this choice), there are a number of web sites now available that can help you search for the best price on that item. Three web sites that you can use for this are PriceSpider.com, PriceProtectr.com, and PriceGrabber.com. By using these sites you will be able to easily and quickly research and find the best price for the item(s) you’ve chosen to buy anyway. It’s always helpful to make our money go as far as we can!