Let’s face it: times are pretty tough for most of us in the current economic climate. But we still want to give our friends and family decent gifts – things that they will appreciate. Luckily, with a little bit of thought and a lot of time and effort, you can pick up some great gifts for not very much money at all.
To get you started, here are some suggestions that, with a little luck, could see you get all your gifts for this year for under $100.
The first and most important tip is to keep a note of who you are buying gifts for. You can use a spreadsheet for this or a smartphone app like Eve
ote might be a better choice. That way you can keep track of what you’ve bought and for whom.
You can also use it to make a note of things that your friends and family are interested in so that you can best match your gifts with their hobbies or interests.
The second tip is that you should change your gift buying habits from ‘oh-my-it’s-nearly-Christmas’ to keeping an eye out for bargains all year around. If you do this, you are sure to spot a great offer in, say, March, that would make an ideal birthday gift for your brother’s fortieth birthday in October.
Going one better than these general suggestions, here are five gifts you can buy right now for between $3 and $10 that are actually worth giving:
You can pick up a good, thick oven mitt that is flame resistance up to 600 degrees fahrenheit for less than $4 at CulinaryDepotInc.
Oven mitts are often one of those things that get worn out and rarely get replaced, so the culinary fan in your family will always appreciate a new one.
Ideal for planting herbs or, if the person you are buying them for has only a small apartment, these would make a great windowsill miniature garden. Available from fair trade retailers like Ten Thousand Villages.com.
This combines a pen, a stylus, a laser pointer, an LED flashlight and a UV light into what must be the ideal gift for the geek in your family. And, let’s face it, every family has one.
Nope, don’t buy one of those expensive fruit baskets you can find online or in stores. Make your own – buy the fruit you want from local grocery stores and create your own.
You can pick up polywicker (note: not real wicker) baskets for $2 to $3 each. Fill them with $2 worth of fruit and you have a great gift idea.
OK, so most pedometers are way over $10, but you can get the DMC-03 pedometer for around $6.50 – it counts steps, calories and distance so is a great gift for the fitness and exercise fanatic.
Going beyond specific gifts, you should constantly be on the lookout for special offers, coupons and great deals. Sites like Target, Best Buy and Overstock often have great, limited time deals – so keep an eye on these. Also, I’d suggest using coupon sites like Coupons.com to identify discounts and deals.
If you shop throughout the year, you can really pick up most of your gifts for $100 or less.