Ways to save money this Christmas- Part 1

      As you all know, Christmas is coming up and it will be here before you know it. Todays post is about saving money this Christmas. Christmas is probably the most expensive holiday, if you think about it, but its also the most memorable holiday too. Sending cards, buying gifts, decorating. It all costs money. So we're going to tell you the best ways to save money this holiday.


Decorations: First of all, start Christmas-decorating shopping early. Most retail stores start in late November, but others start in early December. It just depends. But you want to get your shopping done early, get it all done and over with. But then again, most stores start marking down prices when it gets really close to Christmas, but its your choice. Here are some ways to save money decorating:

• Buy decorations after Christmas when the prices are super low for the upcoming year. This will save you alot and when Christmas comes the next year you'll be very happy you did so.
• Use pinecones and acorns or other items you find outdoors that won't rot or smell.
• Use popcorn to decorate the tree.
• Decorate cereal and Fed-Ex boxes in wrapping paper and put them by the tree. This gives your house another Christmas-y feeling.

Christmas Cards: Are you a person that loves to send Christmas cards? Its quite nice to send them to people, and to receive them. But really, they cost extra money and you don't have to send them. Here are some ways to still spread the feeling of Christmas but still save money:

• Send letters or postcards. You can still make the letters and postcards as Christmas-y as a Christmas card. You can put stickers on the letter, use glitter, or anything. Another great touch is a border along the edges of the letter. Maybe you can have one of your children draw a candy cone or a snowflake and put it on the front. If you have access to a printer, copy the drawing so you can have the same thing on as much cards as you want. Or, you can write something like: "Merry Christmas! The (Your Familys last name) hope you have a great Christmas!" (P.S you can get some better sayings from previous cards you have received or on the web.) before you copy it, if you don't care sending the same card to different people. But if you would like to say more detailed or personal things to different people, just copy the drawing ONLY  so you can write your own special message.
• Call people. Usually a phone call is more meaningful than a card.
• Don't mail cards if you don't need to. If its for a friend at work, give them the letter/card at work. If its for family, wait until you see them.
• Send free e-cards. They come through email and usually have a link to the website where the person made the card. It also includes music and usually the objects in the card move. Here are some great websites for making e-cards: 123greetings.com, free-e-cards-online.com, e-cards.com, etc. Try google-ing "Free E-Cards".
• Save your Christmas cards so you can use them next year. Why? Cut the tops off of one of your old cards and glue a piece of colorful construction paper to the back and write your Christmas message. You've just made a postcard!
• Buy Christmas cards after Christmas when the price has dropped so you can use them next year.

I                        Thanks for reading this! Part 2 will be posted soon.
                                         Chipotle and Jalapeno