Cha-Ching! Christmas Club: Turbo Edition (Day 7)
Cha-Ching! Christmas Club: Turbo Edition (Day 6)
Cha-Ching! Christmas Club: Turbo Edition (Day 5)
Cha-Ching! Christmas Club: Turbo Edition (Day 4)
Cha-Ching! Christmas Club: Turbo Edition (Day 3)
The Results Are In: Did I Achieve My $50 Christmas?!
Update: It’s been a few years since this BIG achievement. While it was an exciting accomplishment (even featured on the Philadelphia abc station), I haven’t tried to duplicate it. Instead, I’ve gathered a community of people who want to “Do Christmas Well” and I’ve created a course called A Stress Free Christmas. We focus not only on saving money, but also on how to make Christmas more meaningful and simple. Click HERE to learn more!
My $50 Christmas – Did It Work?
So I’m guessing you all have been sitting on the edge of your seats for weeks now wondering if I was going to pull off my $50 Christmas. Right?
Well, you can sit back and and take a deep breath because the moment has finally arrived.
The results are in.
Ladies and Gents, I believe I pulled it off! I believe that this Christmas will be my first ever $50 Christmas.
{Insert wild applause here!}
{As well as a sigh of relief after last year’s $50 Christmas FAIL.}
I’ve been making my list and checking it twice and crunching my numbers and unless I suddenly remember that I didn’t buy any gifts for my husband or something, I think we actually even came in under budget! (Which just means that I have a head start on next year’s Cha-Ching Christmas Club!)
I have to say that I think I made some of my family members nervous with this whole crazy idea. It was my turn to buy a present for my older brother Todd this year. He had the hardest time giving me a list. I soon figured out that he just wasn’t sure how he could ask for anything that would fit in such a small budget. I quickly assured him that he had nothing to worry about. My Christmas fund was well stocked with money that was set aside from rebates throughout the year. (I think he breathed a sigh of relief.)
I hope that my ‘crazy idea’ has inspired some of you to make the most of rewards sites and other ‘found money’ throughout the year. I hope you’ve been encouraged that a little creativity can go a long way in stretching your money.
Most importantly, I hope you don’t feel like you need to have a $50 Christmas. Success is measured in attainable goals that you set for yourself based on your circumstances and your needs. If you’ve found creative ways to stretch your budget at all, then I say, “Way to go!” That’s fantastic.
Now enough celebrating. I’ve got some wrapping to do!
***
Update:
Some of you wanted to know more specifics on how I accomplished this goal. I won’t go into every little detail, but I thought I’d give you a general idea of how I made this work for me. Keep in mind that I had a year of planning behind me!
Swag Bucks: I did about half of my shopping using Amazon gift cards that I earned through Swag Bucks. (Those of you signed up through my link helped me out with that. Thanks!)
MyPoints: I used my reward points to get some free Starbucks gift cards!
Pinecone Research: My husband earned $3 per survey and we added that to our stash.
Rue La La, Groupon, Gilt, One Kings Lane: I posted about all of these sites in the past and ways to earn credits for them. Each one of them came in handy for at least one gift this year. (Unfortunately the free credits are no longer available, but you can still earn credits by referring friends!)
Shop It To Me: I earned some Gap gift cards through their referral program and used them to help buy a gift.
Rebates: The money that I set aside from rebates throughout the year covered those gifts that I needed to use cash on. This was probably about a quarter of my shopping.
Drugstore shopping: Shopping at CVS and Rite Aid took care of many of my stocking stuffers this year.
Freebies: A few of the freebies that have come in the mail will also find their way into my sons stockings.
Hallmark Coupon: I even took advantage of the $5 and $10 Hallmark coupons that I posted a while back to buy some fun presents for almost FREE. (Be sure to check your magazines to see if you have any. I believe they don’t expire until 12/24!)
Dr. Oz Giveaway: Remember that crazy Dr. Oz giveaway that had us all frustrated because the sites kept crashing? Well, I kept attempting to win that $50 Target gift card by filling in my information over and over for about an hour while I worked on other things at the computer. I was shocked to later discover that I actually won! That was a fun surprise and definitely helped with my $50 Christmas!
Shopping the sales: And of course, I shopped the sales to stretch our dollars even further!
And finally (and most importantly), we were cautious in what we spent money on this year. We have a few quality items that we got for our boys this year, but we didn’t go overboard.
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Welcome Intelligencer Readers!
If you found me by reading about me in the Intelligencer, welcome to Cha-Ching on a Shoestring!
I know what you are saying: “Christmas on $50? Scrooge has GOT to be her middle name.”
But I really LOVE Christmas. I promise!
You see, last Christmas I decided on a whim that I would combine all the money and gift cards that I had earned from various ‘free money’ sites to attempt a $50 Christmas.
It didn’t happen. Ahem.
But the past is behind me now, and I’ve had a year to plan, save, and strategize.
And I’ve declared THIS the year of the $50 Christmas!
I’m sure you have questions. Like “HOW?” and “WHAT?” and “WHY?” I will be glad to answer any questions that you have!
First, let me encourage you to check out this series that I’ve put together sharing how to save on Christmas: Cha-Ching! Christmas Club: Seven Days to Christmas Savings. You can click through each of the posts below or come back and take it a day at a time, if you prefer.
Day 1: Cha-Ching! Christmas Club: Seven Days to Saving
Day 2: Let the Prep Begin!
Day 3: Making the Most of Freebies
Day 4: Show Me the Money!
Day 5: Saving with Surveys
Day 6: Shopping Strategies
Day 7: Let the Planning Begin!
While it’s highly likely that you will spend more than $50 on Christmas this year, I share tips and deals and coupon codes daily that could help you save hundreds of dollars. Just stick around!
Besides saving money on Christmas, I help my readers save money year round by sharing grocery store deals (click on the dropdown menu at the top) and helping my readers play the Drugstore Game. You can check out how I’ve saved almost $5,000 using coupons in my weekly Cha-Ching Challenge segment. I’d love to help you do the same!
If you’d like to learn more about me and my family:
- Learn even more about how we save money here.
Want to stay in the know on all the latest deals? Then why not sign up for my e-mail newsletter (yes–it’s free!) that will be filled with the day’s hottest freebies and deals and LOTS of Christmas savings! Or if you use a feed reader, subscribe to our RSS feed. You may even want to follow me on Facebook and Twitter.
I hope I can be a resource to help you save thousands of dollars on Christmas and all year round!
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