Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Black Friday...Continued
| By Lynn Forgy People have been anticipating for weeks, and in some cases months, Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving, the biggest shopping day of the year. Some have their strategies planned out, lists made, budgets tweaked, and their shopping attire laid out and ready for the alarm at 3:00 a.m. (For tips on getting ready, please see my previous post.) For those of you who do not plan to venture out this Friday into the chaos, perhaps you're waiting for Cyber Monday. Then again, maybe you were smart and did all your shopping the day after Christmas last year and you plan on sitting at home on Friday laughing at the rest of the world. If you're like most people, however, you probably haven't even started your Christmas shopping yet. If you haven't, I would suggest taking some time to make a list of who you need to buy presents for and what types of items they would most likely want to receive. Then take a look at the completed list and ask yourself a couple of questions - is there anything on the list that you could make? Buy secondhand? Etc. I know, you're probably thinking that most of your gift recipients want a present that has not been manhandled by previous owners. However, making a committment to yourself that you will not pay for this year's Christmas with plastic but will instead use CASH may make you feel better about giving your boss a gift basket made up with things you've found for $3 at the local Goodwill. Cheap, Frugal, and Free Christmas gift ideas: 1) Gift baskets - baskets can be purchased at yard sales, thrift stores, etc. for very little money ($.50 to $1.00). Trust me when I say that most people will not know that the basket is not brand new. Find a nice looking basket and you have the base for your gift. Fill it with things that you think someone would like - small coffee samples ($1 at Target), a couple of coffee mugs (again, $.50 from Goodwill - just check carefully for chips/marks), cinnamon sticks, a book ($1-$2 from Goodwill), etc. There are so many things you could use to fill a basket that you don't have to purchase brand new. The time you put into making the basket will more than make up for where it came from. 2) Tin of ?? - tins can be bought at thrift stores, etc. Fill the tins with baked goods if you can bake, and if not you can buy a bag of really good candy or chocolates and put them in the tin. Adorn the top of the tin with a big fat bow. 3) Books - if you have a book lover to buy for, why not try a secondhand bookstore? Or you could search Bookmooch.com for a hard-to-find book. 4) Freebies, samples, coupons - these abound on the internet, and in fact this is our theme this Christmas - all gifts must be free. I have a very large bag full of freebies in my closet, just waiting for the Christmas tree to arrive so that they can be wrapped and placed under the tree for Christmas morning. It is important to be mindful of the fact that if you spend more than you budget and plan for, you will have to pay for it later. No one wants to be paying for Christmas months after the fact, so use your imagination and say NO to consumerism! Ignore the commercials - turn off the TV (you'll save money on your electric bill)! |
posted by Krista at 2:24 PM
