Christmas gift ideas | Hot money saving tools

Finding Christmas gift ideas is simple if you arm yourself with the right tools. It’s easy to get carried away at Christmas chomping down on Xmas mince tarts and getting tangled up in tinsel. Fun, frivolous and festive antics like this cost money once accumulated over time.

How about a simple trip to the mall at Christmas?

This action is certain to reduce the hard-earned cash in your wallet and may give you debt-doldrums once you are home and have unravelled yourself from the experience.

Christmas gift ideas are cheap if you arm yourself with the right tools!

A person needs to be particular about budgeting at Christmas and this involves arming oneself with the right Christmas toolbox to get the job done.

Here’s are some items you should put in your Christmas toolbox:

1. A calculator or one on your mobile.
2. A budget and budgeting app to record your Xmas spend.
3. A Xmas gift recipient list – so you don’t overspend. (And by the way – cull it now. Cut the thing in half and be ruthless!)
4. Willpower! Don’t get sucked into all that marketing. Put your blinkers on while out shopping.
5. A goal to enjoy the first week of the New Year with money!

Christmas gift ideas come cheap if you consider the big picture

The goal is to get so good at Christmas shopping, that you’ll be sitting on a stool with a platter of blue cheese and crackers ready to greet Santa when he slips down the chimney.

The key is organisation!

Here are my hot gift-buying tips for stashing cash at Christmas time:

1. Shop straight after Christmas to grab bargains.
2. Shop at the end of summer.
3. Shop at the Boxing Day sales.
4. Put away a little post-Christmas fund for buying up big for next year.
5. Go to toy sales when they are on during the year.
6. During a spring clean re-gift new looking items you may have lying around the house.
7. Keep a cupboard of cheap gifts on hand. Wrap them up and mark them with an age/ gender for those people who bring gifts when you’ve not thought to buy one in return.
8. Pick up generic gifts on sale throughout the year. These gifts should be for any age or use. Put them in the cupboard too.

Want more cheap Christmas gift ideas?

Read more and reap the benefits of all these great Christmas goodies!

Save money on gifts and at Christmas

Save money on gifts at Christmas, Find free and cheap gifts for friends and family. Learn how to make eco-friendly gifts. Discover nifty ways to save money on groceries at Christmas, as well as shopping and planning tips for saving time, money and sanity.

More Christmas gift ideas! Cheat sheets for saving time and money at Christmas

• 20+ wicked ways to save on wrapping
• 30 totally FREE gift ideas for Christmas
• 40 cheap and happy eco-friendly gifts
• 25 cool ways to save on cards
• 30+ devious ways to save on Christmas decorations
• 75 smart shopping and budgeting tips for Christmas
• 340+ brilliant budget gift ideas

Cheat sheets for things to do at Christmas

• 50 things to do in your community this Christmas
• 50 things to do indoors this Christmas
• 20+ things to do in the garden this Christmas
• 45 things to do in your region this Christmas

Printables for planning a money-saving Christmas

• Christmas Budget Blank
• Christmas Budget Filled
• Christmas Card List Planner
• Christmas Countdown Planner Filled
• Christmas Countdown Planner Blank
• Christmas Meals Planner
• Christmas Day Planner
• Christmas Itinerary Planner
• Christmas Gifts Planner
• Christmas Holiday Planner

Read more to access hundreds of time and money saving cheat sheets & printables! Get more cheap Christmas gift ideas!