Saving for Christmas – Additional Ideas

I wrote my original “Saving for Christmas” post back in July. Since then I’ve had a few more ideas that I thought I would share with you.


Before we get started talking about the new ideas, I’ll reiterate some of the ways that I mentioned before.

Swagbucks – Excellent way to stick aside some money easily without a lot of effort. Remember from last week though that 1) Ten $5 Amazon gift cards use Swagbucks than one $50 card 2)you can only buy five like gift cards per month 3)it takes up to 14 days to get the cards credited to your account.

Christmas Club – We started ours last year and it’s a fantastic feeling knowing I have that money there for Christmas shopping. Our money will be deposited from our club to our savings on November 1st. I’m not planning on needing all the money so I’ll be able to either save the rest or put towards debt reduction.

Credit card points – This option isn’t for everyone but I do use a credit card that I pay off every two weeks when we get a paycheck. I would actually use it to pay some bills (like our cell phone) that didn’t charge us a credit card fee to help rack up points. However, if you are paying interest on any of your purchases it doesn’t make sense to use the credit card just for the points.

Part time job – Christmas time is a great time to get a part time job if you can work it out with your schedule. Many employers are looking for seasonal helpers and are willing to work around different scheduling needs.

Selling items you no longer need – This is a two-fer, you get to purge items you no longer need and make money! While rummage sale season has come and gone for those of us in the Midwest there are still options for selling your stuff. Look at consignment shops, indoor community rummage sales, Craigslist or bulletin boards at work to sell items that you no longer need. Last year I made $100 selling paperback books at work! Please don’t ask how much I spent on those paperback books!

Selling crafty items - November is a huge time for craft sales.  If you have a particular craft see if you can get a spot at a church or school craft sales (they are typically cheaper) and sell some of your items.  Any thing you could do is open a store on Etsy. 

Here are three new ways that I’ll be paying for some of our Christmas presents.

Saving our change – I know that there are some of you that probably already do this; I’m going to admit that I’m not real diligent about saving my change. We do have a container that we throw pennies in but otherwise I take my change to work for the vending machines. Many times right around Christmas the coin changers (like CoinStar) will offer incentives to cash in your change. If you choose the gift card option they’ll waive the fee and give you a bonus amount (like 10%)on the card. As of yet CoinStar hasn’t announced any incentives but I’m sure there will be some around the holidays. Some of the cards available include: Amazon, JC Penney, Old Navy, CVS and many more.

Taking advantage of rebates – My husband ‘needed’ a new phone this past summer. The phone he wanted happened to have a $100 rebate attached to it. When we received our rebate check we decided to stick it aside and use it for Christmas. We’ll either give the card as is to our son (he’s a college student so he’d appreciate it) or use the card ourselves to buy a present. Many retailers offer rebates on their products, saving them up and sticking them back for Christmas would add up to a nice sum.

Other refunds due – My employer reimburses us for half of our gym membership up to $300. I keep forgetting to file my claim. As soon as I’m done writing this post I’m going to get it done! Do you have any unclaimed money lying around somewhere that you keep putting off? If so get out there, claim and put it aside for Christmas!

Do you have any other ideas for making money to help pay for Christmas?

I'll be linking this up over at Life as Mom