Frugal Café Blog Zone

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on April 26, 2009

By Vicki McClure Davidson * Frugal Café Blog Zone

Yesterday was half-off Saturday at my Goodwill. I scored many cool bargains in used books, clothes, and home and kitchen gadgets (a fabulous portable floor heater for just $3.00 that works like a champ, something we will actually get to use for a brief time during Arizona’s winters).

But my best conquests were wrapping paper and gift bags. I’m well-stocked on Christmas wrap paraphernalia, but desperately needed basic gift wrap for the rest of the year.

I often make my own gift wrap from recycled materials (origami and kirigami items are unique and cheap to make to put on packages or for Christmas ornaments), but there are those times that I’m in a hurry and need a ready-to-go wrapping paper or gift bag. I stubbornly refuse to dig deep into my wallet and spend $3 to $5 for a roll of wrapping paper. Well, I don’t need to now. Low priced to begin with, I scored several “any occasion” and birthday rolls for about 49 cents each. A few of the gift bags set me back about 29 cents each. Gotta keep it cheap in my book… these were better deals than at the dollar stores!

Making your own wrapping paper from recycled materials is a smart way to save money. Read the Frugal Café article: The Rap on Wrap: Get Creative, Get Thrifty with DIY Wrapping Paper from Recycled Materials

One of my favorite, funky DIY sites on YouTube is Threadbanger. Below is their YouTube video of creative ideas on using recycled materials for wrapping presents.

It was originally launched at Christmas time in 2007, but many of ThreadBanger’s ideas, with a bit of modification, would work for year-long gift-giving thriftiness.

It’s never too early to think about saving money at Christmas, so here are some frugal craft articles you might enjoy:

Crafts of Christmas Past… Ripped from the Glossy Pages of Old Magazines
Make Inexpensive Floating Apple Votives, à la Martha Stewart
Budget Crafts: Origami & Kirigami Christmas Ornaments
Recycle & Reuse Holiday Cards

Categories: Conservatism, Frugal Shopping Info, Holidays and Family, Thrifty Advice, Videos, Audio Files
Tags: budget crafts, cheap, Christmas, Christmas gift wrap, Christmas savings, Christmas shopping, Christmas wrap, crafts, diy, frugal, frugal tips, frugality, gift bags, gift wrap, gift wrapping, Goodwill, holiday, kirigami, origami, recycle, save money, saving money, ThreadBanger, thrift, thrifty, video, wrap, wrapping paper, Xmas, YouTube