Monthly Archives: October 2012

Saving Money on Christmas Presents

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Christmas is the time of year where families get together, have dinners, exchange gifts and spend time together. Unfortunately the exchanging of gifts part is a lot harder for university students to do since we have zero money to begin with it. Personally I know I need to spend less than I did last year so this post is going to cover some ways to start saving money on christmas presents this year.

One of the things that I definitely recommend is purchasing Christmas presents early, and spread purchases over a period of time. What I did last year, was go on a spending spree way too close to Christmas, panicking about that fact that I needed to get gifts for everyone. This tends to lead to over spending, having a huge credit card bill come new years and the quality of your gifts may not be as you intended.

Some ways to save money

  • Make purchases online. Use eBay, check for coupon codes, online sales. There are usually fewer sales closer to Christmas because retailers know that you will be buying no matter what in December, no matter the price. Take advantage of sales now instead of December. Also when making purchases be conscious of free shipping deals, especially in Ontario we already get killed with taxes, its best to try and get free shipping if possible.
  • Check out some DIY projects on Pinterest if your the crafty type and make a unique present instead. It will definitely be a lot cheaper than purchasing the product yourself.
Keep an eye out for my Twitter feed @cheapstudents I will be posting various deals that I find. Closer to Christmas I will also have another part to this post, so make sure to check it out as well.

Halloween on a Budget

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Halloween tends to be a time where students go out, and drink, and drink…And something that makes it a bit different than any other night out is the additional challenge of coming up with a clever costume. Because this year Halloween falls on a weekday it leaves us with a bit of a problem, the additional issue of coming up with not just 1 but 2 costumes this year all within a student budget.

In most cases you have your go to costume, the one that you are dead set on wearing and it’s your showstopper. But you are slightly troubled by the fact that you may need a second costume for the night Halloween actually falls on as well as trying to pull together the pieces on your main costume as well.

Here are some great ways to save cash while trying to make your costume(s).

  • Purchase accessories off of eBay (check shipping since were pretty close to Halloween now)
  • Check out thrift stores
  • Look for ideas in Halloween stores, but don’t actually buy anything from there, they tend to be overpriced
  • Check out Dollarama for some cheap accessories
  • Make your costume or part of it. Go to a craft store and get supplies (or get cheap supplies from Dollarama as well
  • For additional ideas check out Pinterest, there are usually some great things floating around on there.

For those who struggle to come up with costume ideas..

Check out some awesome and easy last minute costumes. You can often find a lot of what you need for these costumes at one of the places above or even within your own clothes.

http://familycrafts.about.com/od/costumeideas/tp/fastcostume.htm

http://www.ecouterre.com/7-more-last-minute-halloween-costumes-haunting-your-closet/

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What cheap and easy Halloween costumes have you used in the past?