Having An Affordable Christmas

Those of you who start to worry about the holidays or that sometimes wait until the last minute to shop, I have decided to share some of my secrets as a single parent.

First I will start with my children. I have created a rule that they are to receive 5-10 little gifts, 2 medium gifts, and 1 large gifts which covers all the entertainment wants they have.

The little gifts are normally from Dollar Tree or one of the many dollar stores in the area. I do this to save money but also because I do not expect these toys to last long. They are cheap and are great gifts to satisfy their holiday craving for having plenty of gifts under the tree. My boys still enjoy these toys also and this is a blessing for me.

The medium toys usually come from Wal-Mart or Kmart. These toys can not exceed $15 in price. This allows for them to have an item that is going to last a little longer and something they will be interested in for more than that day.

For the large toys, they boys usually choose game systems or games for their game systems. I shop online for these deals. I mainly shop with JJ Games because they have affordable rate, free shipping for orders over $50, and they have an excellent support team.

After I have all the toys out of the way, I get the boys new school uniforms, a couple new everyday outfits, and at least two pairs of shoes.

Once all my shopping is done, it is time to take them to the store to shop for each other. They are required to buy at least 1- $5 gift and 1- $10 gifts for each of their brothers. This adds another 8 gifts under the tree since there are three of them.

For my family, I have to make a decision as to whether to get gifts for the household or individually. I will post my secrets for this at a later date :)