what are you going to do?

Some of my gifts are going to be from my garden and from other produce I've been able to buy or have been given. I have made a number of different varieties of jellies and syrups and will give those in gift baskets. I am also making several different kinds of pickles and relishes to give as well.

Coupons. I'm obsessed at the moment. I went to Wal Mart the other day with coupons in hand. I bought: Purina Cat Food, Bertolli Pasta Sauce, Coffee Mate, and a South Beach frozen pizza. It rang up at $11.58, and after the coupons I paid $3.06. If you work on it you can really do some serious saving. Go to http://www.moneysavingmom.com/ for more info. Good luck!

well, i think it is the best to invest in some quality bonds in this period. some companies even pay better interest than banks. so, it is better to be wise and meticulous to utilise the time. make hay while the sun shines. and yes little girl, if you think you have tremendous instincts, then invest in the NASDAQ, share market and make dollars overnight. but be careful. do not be over greedy. okay...

well i do make a lot of stuff for christmas and i am like you, i buy all throughout the year, but i pretty much only buy stuff on sale. i dont spend a lot, its quality, not quantity for me. i start wrapping in october (using wrap i bought on sale of course!)

I am going to do what I did one holiday season and that is knitting and crocheting cute little things that I know my family would like. Also I would hit stores like Dollar Tree and get stocking stuffers. The cool thing about making things is that your family will love it because you put your heart,soul, and energy into what you are making for them.

I am not sure how much I will spend on Christmas shopping, but I have just started shopping. When I have a little bit of extra money, I will buy a gift.

One thing that helps me is a program called MyPoints. I don't know if you belong to it, but it is at www.MyPoints.com. . You get points for reading a few emails a week, but the biggeset beneift comes from shopping online. You go through their website and earn points. For example, Overstock and Barnes and Nobles last had10 points per dollar spent (the last time that I looked). Since it only takes about 1,500 points to get a gift card it can be easy.

By doing my Christmas shopping online last year, I got a $50 gift card for K-Mart, so it was nice getting that extra bonus for items I would have had to buy anyways. I just did my shopping online instead of locally.

Christmas this year will be a challenge for us. I tried to start earlier this year but money has been tight all year and we have not been finding the deals we usualy run in to. We are trying to be more creative this year and make what we can. We are running out of options. It is September already.