I started out half the year thinking about how to be more frugal with Christmas given we have five kids and three sets of parents. I was losing track of the ways I was going to make this an inexpensive yet nice Christmas so I went to Staples, picked up a cheap handy journal to keep my lists of money making opportunities ranging from surveys, buyer advantage programs, bank debit programs and other opportunities. TwitterMoms and Staples has put together a challenge for moms to share how they are saving money.When I think of Staples, I always rememeber my step son taking the "That was easy" button and blasting it in my ear last year for Christmas. Staples is another great place to pick up some of those high tech gifts or even office supplies or furnishings. An avid printer might appreciate a big supply of cartridges. A hopeless direction finder would love a new GPS (my sister for example)! Not only can you get your presents but you can order wonderful personalized cards, calendars and one of my favorites, gift card holders.
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Looking for more creative ways to save money? 
Zazzle, if you are creative, is a great venue for making items with no costs out of your pocket. I started in the political arena and ventured into other areas such as business cards, children's products and invitations. Not quite a year later, I've made over $2,000 which has been handy for customized photo gifts and cash. This will definitely take care of a few gifts.
Zazzle, if you are creative, is a great venue for making items with no costs out of your pocket. I started in the political arena and ventured into other areas such as business cards, children's products and invitations. Not quite a year later, I've made over $2,000 which has been handy for customized photo gifts and cash. This will definitely take care of a few gifts. My latest real time frugal Christmas deals/buys.
Customized Wine Labels:
Mypoints.com is a quick way to make points to turn into gift cards and more. If you buy a lot on the internet, definitely use this site as the points add up fast! They also offer other incentives to earn points ranging from surveys to games to referrals. The points accumulated will amount to one gift off the book for Christmas in a Macy's gift card! 
My bank offers debit card rewards so whenever we click that debit button, we add on more points. Utilize those cards especially if it's via a free account! These points will knock off two more gifts in the form of two gift cards from The Gap for those hard to buy for teens:
I'm trying the survey route as many bloggers note are worthwhile along with Swagbucks but I haven't quite got the hang of that one so I'll keep moving along as a snail's pace. Take advantage of cosmetic type freebies if you use products such as Clinique or Lancome. They have nice free items that can add up to a nice gift basket:
My employer also provides thank you for a good job points to spend with a company in exchange for gifts. It's been a good year and here is what I'm purchasing as gifts:
I know that one isn't necessarily fair as not everyone gets a perk such as that from their employer but it's to show an opportunity that I could spend on myself but am choosing to use towards making the holiday more frugal.
My Coke Rewards points can add up quickly if you an avid Coke fan as we are. Thanks to TwitterMoms, I took part in an earlier opportunity where I received an additional 500 points which quickly bumped up our Coke addiction points. Not sure what I'll purchase yet but it's looking like a $50 gift card.
This year, I will also bake to save a little from purchasing some of the higher priced YET very good baked items. I posted previously about some really simple but elegant looking from AllYou.com.
Have you ever noticed how many bloggers have giveaways? If you have the time, enter! There are some really nice giveaways and given the volume, you are bound to win something eventually!
