Avoiding the excess of Christmas

I sit here wondering what little trinkets and treasures to fill my kids' stockings with this Christmas, and I can't help but wonder... Do we really need more?

More little junk. Clutter. Basically useless items. Things the kids (now 2.5 yrs and 10 months) will play with for five minutes then leave lying on the floor only so I can step on them.

The other issues with buying so much in excess are the cost and environmental impact. I'm not trying to drag ourselves down in debt with loads of Christmas presants. And I hate to think of precious resources being used to create tons of toys and stuff that we don't even need. Don't get me wrong, we're still celebrating and still giving gifts, we're just trimming the excess.

So this year I have decided they are only getting things they need in their stockings. Toys they will actually keep and play with for some time. Maybe some crayons, hair clips and special snacks or lolli-pops. Sorry, but I'm not buying any little plastic trinkets just to fill up a stocking.

They're also only getting a few gifts each from Santa. We are lucky enough to have sooooo many toys (mostly from gifts and yardsales) and they have all the clothes they need as well. So I really can't see the point of buying more just for the heck of it.

A few fun, entertaining, well thought-out, sturdy, engaging and educational toys go much further than a bunch of dollar-store trinkets and cheapo toys that break after twenty minutes.

I'm also not buying any movies or kid's videos. We can watch tons of shows, at any time, and absolutely free, with the On Demand cable package we have. So no need to buy those.

One way we're really cutting back on all the stuff, is by focusing on experiences. Going places, doing things, learning things, seeing sights, meeting people. That kind of stuff. My parents gave the kids an early Christmas gift... a 1 year membership to a local kiddie play place. How awesome is that? We've gone twice with the membership so far and it's been great fun.

As for gifts for hubby, my parents and other adult family members, I'm trying to stick to just getting them useful, practical, but nice gifts. No coffee mugs (does anyone really need more?), no nick knacks, no smelly lotions (really, enough already!), and hopefully nothing that'll be tucked into a drawer and never used.

I'll try and get another post together and lay it out there for you with exactly what gifts I'm giving. Why? I dunno, I always find it interesting to read about what other people are buying. So maybe you will too.

Show me the money... (Weekly Re-Cap)

How much extra money did you earn this week? How much did you save? Here's my weekly re-cap of money/giftcards earned, cash saved by using coupons, and freebies received in the mail.

It's fun to see your savings/earnings amounts all added up. It clearly shows that it's time well spent when you cut coupons, hunt for sales, and make little bits of money here and there. Here's my re-cap for the past week, 11/9/08-11/15/08.

Cash/Checks/Gift Cards Received

$25.00 Kohl's gift card (Cashed in MyPoints)
$40.00 Prepaid Visa card (KitchenAid rebate from my new mixer)
$1.00 Diapers.com Referral (Use code: NOWSAVE5 to take $10 off your first order!)

Coupon Savings

$1.10 Dunkin Donuts
$9.00 MLB.com (Use coupon code: TY2008 to take 15% off ANY order!)
$27.02 Kohls.com (30% off code & free shipping code... now expired)
$34.85 Acme
$20.00 Fashion Bug
$1.70 Soprano's Pizza

Freebies

No freebies received this week.


Total Cash/Checks/Giftcards Received (since 4/27/08): $1,122.15
Total Coupon Savings (since 4/27/08): $1,703.83

Find my previous weekly re-caps here.

Free $10 Amazon Gift Card!!!

Got a bunch of spare change laying around? Cash atleast $40 worth of change at a participating Coinstar machine and you'll get a bonus $10 gift card. You can choose between Amazon.com and several other retailers. So sweet!

We have a huge bottle of change that I'll be cashing in and using the gift cards for some Christmas shopping at Amazon. What a great deal!

Thanks so much to Carrie over at Money Saving Methods for the heads up on this one. You can check out more of the details over at her site.

Additional 25% off AND Free Shipping on all DVDs

DeepDiscount.com already has some fantastic pricing on their DVDs. But they have offered up a coupon code that makes those deals even hotter!

Use code: SUPERSALE to take an additional 25% off their entire selection of DVDs! Code expires 11/23/08.

Oh, and as always, they have free shipping on everything!

New Walgreens $5 off $20 coupon!

Coupons.com has the latest Walgreens coupon at their site! It's a printable for $5 off your purchase of $20. This coupon is good for Friday 11/14/08 and Saturday 11/15/08 only.

KB Toys: Friends & Family Days!

This is a little bit of an advance notice for this deal. But I wanted to make you aware of this incase you had toy shopping to do.

KB Toys is having a Friends & Family promo. It actually takes place on two different days.... this coming Monday 11/17/08 and the following Monday 11/24/08.

They are offering a coupon for an additional 20% off your entire purchase. To take advantage of this promo you need to print the exclusive invitation, which is found here. There are a few exclusions, but not many. See the coupon for the details.

ALSO.... now through 11/25/08, KB Toys has another promotion going. Buy any 3 items, get the 4th free!!! You can mix and match storewide for this, which is just great! As in the deal above, there are just a few exclusions.

So if you hit up KB Toys on either of those two days, you can buy 3 toys, get another for free, and get 20% off on top of that. What a deal!

Can't make it in-store? The internet deal is not quite as good, but it's something, and it'll still save you some money. Click through here to get your coupon code for $5 off your purchase of $100 or more. Expires 12/31/08. They also have over 1,000 items with free shipping.