Stockpiling shouldn’t stop with groceries, especially if you have Little Ones in the house.  If you are a Grand parent, Aunt or Uncle you might want to think about stockpiling future gifts for those Little Ones.  We do our best to avoid those last minute need to buy a gift Walmart $19.95+ shopping trip. We have all done it, we have purchased a gift at the last minute and paid full price. Keep an eye out throughout the year, and stockpile those gifts. We stockpile future gifts for The Little One’s friends, teachers, and family members. Here are some tips for stockpiling your gift closet:

• Write down the names of everyone you purchase gifts for throughout the year and hang it in your closet (use a chalk or white board purchased at a garage sale)
• If buying for Little Ones friends write down the ages as well
• Leave space on your list to mark what you gave and when so you will not repeat the same gift
• Keep it generic, avoid boy and girl gifts if you can
• Keep an eye out for gifts that range several years, board games, sidewalk chalk, clay and play dough are great examples of a generic Little One gifts
• Use Swagbucks and MyPoints for gift card gifts for the adults
• Keep an extra supply of generic gifts for unexpected events
• Stockpile small gifts to put together for gift baskets (purchase baskets from a garage sale)
• If you find that you have some leftover gifts that are not age appropriate you can always sell on eBay or donate to charity
• Stock pile your cards, gift bags, wrapping paper and tissue
• Wrapping gifts ahead of time (mark them well) will save you time

Not every gift has to be purchased. Sometimes the best gifts are homemade items. Times have changed and some of your lives may have changed dramatically this year. Taking care of yourself and your family comes before anything on this earth. This includes gift giving, If you are in this situation have the conversation with your family. Suggest or inform that this year you are only buying for The Little Ones or drawing names for gifts. Most families are already doing this and will understand.

A store bought gift will be forgotten and eventually thrown out but creating memories with family and friends is something that will last forever.

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This entry was posted by Frances on Friday, December 17th, 2010 at 9:22 am and is filed under Frugal Fairhope Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.