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How I Spent Only $30 on Holiday Gifts

December 1, 2010 at 8:07 am 6 Comments  

84/365 - So far, so good!Hard to believe, but it’s true.

I spent just $30 this year for holiday gifts for the family. I buy for my parents, my Nana, a family friend, three nephews, one niece, two children and a husband. Each year the amount I can afford to spend for the holidays decreases based on cost of living for us on Long Island. In turn, this means I have had to figure out how to continue to give truly wonderful gifts, but not pay for them.

I know—I didn’t think I could do it either. Shockingly, I’ve figured out tricks to spending less and less each year. I am impressed with my $30 this year, but my goal next year is to knock it down to just $15 for the same amount of people. However, this post is about this year and how I did all my shopping for just $30, so here we go…

First, I redeemed points I earned all through the year at Swagbucks, My Coke Rewards, Pampers, RewardPort and MyPoints. At Pampers I redeemed points for free photo gifts for my parents and Nana. At RewardPort, I redeemed points for gift cards to one of my favorite stores, Target. Over at My Coke Rewards I redeemed a gift card for my husband and so on and so forth.

The biggest redeeming happened at Swagbucks. I get a lot of points from the various ways to earn points such as daily polls, no sign up deals, just checking my daily surveys, doing searches on the internet, watching videos and referring friends. Tons of ways to earn without spending a penny! All of those points were redeemed for gift cards. The gift cards were used to shop with at my favorite stores during sales and with big coupons. Those gift cards were stretched to “infinity and beyond.”

Here’s my huge hint for redeeming points: check to see the best value for redeeming your points. For example: Amazon gift cards are redeemable in values of $5 and it costs less “points” to redeem 4 of them, as opposed to redeeming points for one larger gift card. Just sit down and do your math! I stretch those points to the outer limits and beyond.

Second, I scoured the internet for free offers. I get a lot of them emailed to me from Snapfish, Shutterfly, Vistaprint and other companies that love to do a freebie photobook, or collage. I just pay shipping, which is why this year I paid $30 for gifts. It was for shipping my free gifts to me, not the actual gifts. My family will be getting fabulous photo gifts like calendars, books, pens, post it notes, flip books and re-usable totes!

Finally, holiday cards. I don’t pay for these either. Do you know how many photo places have offers for free cards? Pretty much every one of them. Just keep your eye out, sign up for the various photo companies emails and make sure to fan them on Facebook. I’ve ordered photo cards from everyone, paid nothing and all I will pay for is mailing them. Small price to pay for amazingly beautiful, personal cards.

However, this year, I’m doing something different. I received free stickers from a contest I ran, so I’m making my own with card stock, the stickers and stamps—again, I’ll only pay for postage. I cut down on the postage costs by handing our cards to relatives and friends we see prior to the holidays at family gatherings, or short visits. Just mail out the ones to out of towners!

And that’s how I spent $30 for the holidays this year.

*Pampers link & Swagbucks link are both November Sunflower’s referral links.

Filed Under: Rebates, Shopping Tagged With: Christmas, online deals, Rewards

About November Sunflower

Staci is a Featured Author for New York Inexpensively. Staci is a born and raised Long Islander, married to a born and raised Long Islander, having kids and raising them…that’s right, on Long Island. They have always lived a “frugal life” and always within their means; now she shares all their great information with fellow Long Islanders at November Sunflower.

More from Inexpensively

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  • Simple & Sustainable Holiday Gifts
  • Big Gifts From Small Packages
  • RewardsPoint Earning Sites BEYOND Swag Bucks

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Trackbacks

  1. CBS News: Welcome to the world of Swagbucks | November Sunflower says:
    December 6, 2010 at 7:31 pm

    […] I’m so excited to welcome all you from CBS News! I had such a fun time welcoming Mary and Matt into my home to show them  just a little bit of how I spent just $30 out of my own pocket for Holiday Gifts this year. (You can also read about it on Inexpensively.) […]

    Reply
  2. 31 Day Budget (Day 23): Applying Rebates to Your Budget | Inexpensively Frugal Blog Network says:
    January 23, 2011 at 11:42 am

    […] When the check arrives, cash it before you lose it! Then, it can go back into the original spending category to lower the next month’s budget. Or, you can use all of your rebate money for something specific—save for vacation, buy holiday gifts or add to your emergency savings. Last year, Staci, who blogs her frugal ways at November Sunflower, paid for all of Christmas with rebates & cash back shopping. […]

    Reply
  3. Free Sign up at Swag Bucks, Earn 80 for signing up | November Sunflower says:
    March 24, 2011 at 2:10 pm

    […] your bucks and perhaps you, like me, can spend all your bucks during the holidays and not have to pay any money for gifts this […]

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  4. Earn points, save money | Inexpensively Frugal Blog Network says:
    April 13, 2011 at 8:44 am

    […] giving season will be here before you know it—earn points, redeem for gift cards and spend next to nothing on holiday gifts like I […]

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  5. 5 Tips to Help you Save Money During the Holidays | youngandthrifty.ca says:
    April 23, 2012 at 10:21 am

    […] $25 which ended up being handy for Christmas shopping later on.  Inexpensively shares with us how she only spent $30 on Christmas presents this year (un-friggin-believable!) using points and scouring the internet for […]

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