Wishing You a Fabulously Frugal Holiday Season!

Thanks to all the Frugal Club members for another wonderful year of fabulously frugal idea sharing and camaraderie! We've welcomed new faces, been featured in presentations as an award-winning best-practice concept, shared some really great frugal finds and made a few new frugal friends along the way.

At the last meeting of this year, a cookie swap held on Monday, December 6, a small crowd gathered to share holiday-inspired frugal ideas, eggnog, and, best of all, COOKIES! Thanks to all who attended! Next year, perhaps we'll revisit our "re-gifting" party and perhaps have a frugal potluck, too!

Until then, here are a few frugal tips, tricks, and ideas to carry you through the new year!

• For those getting ready to purchase text books for the spring semester, be sure to check out these two sites (and get info from your pals regarding their successful purchases as there are many new options available including “renting” textbooks!): http://www.half.ebay.com/ and http://www.amazon.com/New-Used-Textbooks-Books/b?ie=UTF8&node=465600

• Tracy shared some info regarding a really great newsletter, Debt Proof Living, forwarded to her each month by a relative. Tracy kindly forwarded me a copy of the PDF which I've emailed to the club. If you don't receive a copy, send me a request and I'll be happy to email it again and THANKS, TRACY!

• Regarding the stress often resulting from an over-indulgent holiday season: Something I didn’t share at the meeting but keep hearing about regarding-- Be mindful of your frugal spending this holiday season. Sometimes, our best intentions lead us astray…in the search for the best of the bargains, we may find ourselves purchasing items we really don’t need, but feel we must purchase because of the incredible savings. Do yourself a favor and keep your holiday shopping in-check by having a shopping buddy. When you can’t quite decide if your frugal purchase is an impulse buy, check-in with your pal and get a second opinion. Doing this may very well quell that post-holiday shopping guilt…
  

• Another tip I recently heard on a morning news program (Fox 51, Orlando): Be weary of stocking stuffing bleeding the stuffing dry from your wallet! Consider that you are filling 4 holiday stockings and have amassed a small (and, of course, frugal) mountain of items to “stuff” them with over the last several weeks. We rarely sit down and calculate those items we’ve gathered because they are usually very small-ticket purchases and bought over a considerable time-span. However, you may be shocked when you start adding up that nickel and diming and discover that you’ve racked up anywhere from $30-50 worth of goodies for each, totaling well over $100, just for stockings-and that’s if you are only stuffing 4! A frugal alternative is to stock up on stocking stuffers year-round by saving all those freebie items you get from bargain purchases at pharmacy stores like free battery-operated toothbrushes and free razors and other higher-end cosmetics and personal items and save them as stocking stuffers that have a real use. Many of those stores offer rebates that make items free after initial purchase and value dollars for future purchases. So, when you find yourself at the cash register, try using those savings on the purchases and stuff your holiday stocking with frugal goodies instead!

• Be sure to join (sign-up via email or “like/friend/fan” on Facebook) all those coupon clubs for your favorite retailers for the best coupons and pre-public release deals. Local frugal foodie favorites include Mimi’s (I received some really great buy one get one free coupons and free muffins with purchase coupons this month!) and Chili’s! In addition, retailers like Beall’s, DSW, and many others send extra shopping incentives out during the holidays which could help make that perfect holiday purchase fabulously frugal!

• Be on the look out for one-day deals this holiday season! Many stores (both online and brick and mortar) are offering really competitive "one-day" bargains so search out the web and find the site that offers your preferred links. Here's a local one I found courtesy of Fox 51, Orlando (www.myfoxorlando.com): http://www.myfoxorlando.com/subindex/mornings/deal_of_day

Thanks again to all of our frugal friends and followers and to one and all, I send best wishes for bargain savvy shopping, a fabulously frugal holiday season and a wonderful New Year!

Be well and spend wisely!

C.F.

PS - A Frugal Club meeting schedule for 2011 will be provided as soon as possible after the New Year!