Stretching Your Holiday Spending

Do you plan to taper your Christmas spending this year? It seems several people I’ve talked with are planning to cut back on the amount that they are spending this year. Perhaps it’s cutting back on the number of gifts you give to your family members or how much you’re spending on decor and holiday extras. It’s good to be intentional with your spending and not just buy randomly just because you’ve hit a great sale.

With repurposing and reusing being so popular right now, it’s a great way to stretch your shopping dollars. It’s easy to get sucked in to over buying when all the sales and promos start popping up.

Make a list of who you’re buying for, jot down the amount you want to spend and of course try to stick as closely as you can to this. Making good choices is crucial to not over spending!

Create as many homemade/handmade gifts as you can. There are endless ideas for this. Here are a few,

Create a calendar using photographs you’ve taken, make candles, create a gift basket suited for his/her taste, bake some goodies and put in a cellophane bag tied with a pretty ribbon. Also donating to a charity in someone’s name is a nice way to keep the giving going! Thoughtful gifts don’t have to be expensive. Giving of your time, helping someone out by shopping for them, watching their children so they can go out, driving someone to their appointments, you get the idea!

Instead of buying more Christmas decorations repurpose what you have, change up holiday bows or decor on wreaths, collect greenery clippings and pinecones and use in urns and planters adding a bow or some oversized ornaments that you probably already have. If you love changing your Christmas colors, change out one color instead of the whole theme, much less expensive. Wrap different size boxes in wrapping paper and stack for a simple decor idea. It’s amazing what you can do with things that you already have!

My store Designs by Shell has been keeping me busy! New designs can be found on a huge array of products. Come by for a snoop around and get inspired!

Cartoon Chicken Christmas Ornament	Cartoon Christmas Chicken Gift Tag	Patchwork Christmas Stocking Postage
Jolly Santa Suit Party Invitation	Shirt and Tie Best Teacher Mug	Red Shirt and Tie Luggage Tag

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