5 Ways to Cut Down Your Gift Giving Costs

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With the holiday season fast approaching, you might already be thinking of ways on how you can cut down your gift giving costs this year. Well, worry not because even if you’re on a tight budget, you can still get your Christmas shopping done with the help of the following tips.

1.       Buy Gifts From Yard Sales

If you just look carefully, you can actually find some unique (and inexpensive) gifts at yard sales. Aside from the usual antiques and old furniture, you’ll also find some brand new cosmetic products and clothing pieces that are sold at reasonable prices. I’ve been shopping gifts from yard sales in our area in Singapore over the years, and I’ve also been saving extra bucks on Christmas gifts in the past years.

2.       Practise Re-Gifting

Received a gift that you didn’t like? Then give it to someone else as a gift. Re-gifting works well with books. If you’re done reading a particular book – and you no longer have any plans of re-reading it – consider giving it to someone else. This won’t only cut down your gift giving costs, it’ll also help you get rid of an unwanted item. Just make sure that the person you’ll be giving the gift to is not the same person who gave it to you.

3.       Opt for Homemade Gifts

Homemade gifts are one of the best gift ideas during Christmas season. Aside from being economical, they’re also special since they’re one of a kind. Homemade gifts, such as baked goodies or handmade keychains and bracelets, are great to give to friends, relatives or your special someone.

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4.       Offer a Gift of Service

If you think that you can’t afford to purchase a gift for a particular person, consider offering a gift of service to them instead. This may include helping them put up their Christmas tree or preparing for their Christmas dinner. If you want, you can also offer a non-holiday related gift of service, such as helping them repair their car or assisting them in remodelling their kitchen. Some people actually prefer receiving a gift of service than any material gifts.

5.       Make Great Use of Rebates and Groupon

There are a lot of online resources available that can save you those extra bucks on your Christmas shopping. Social deal websites like Living Social and Groupon can save you money on any branded items that you’re planning to purchase as a gift. You can also make great use of rebate sites like MrRebates.com and ebates.com, which requires the online retailers to give back a percentage of your total purchase.

Cutting down on your gift giving costs isn’t that difficult. All you need to do is be smart with your purchases, and you’ll certainly be able to cut down your holiday expenses. With that, both you and the person you’ll be giving the gift to will be happy.

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