How to do Christmas on a (very) tight budget: Play to your strengths

My other posts in this series are right here.

Today's tip on doing Christmas on a (very) tight budget is to play to your strengths. The key to saving money on gifts, I think, is homemade, thoughtful gifts. Do you love to sew? There are many many tutorials for things to sew, from clothes to purses, to baby items. If you own a sewing machine this is a great tip. Unfortunately, I'm not a very big sewer so this tip isn't exactly up my alley.

One thing I do enjoy, however, is very simple projects. In years past I have knitted scarves, and this year I plan to make a pocket scarf (pictures and tutorial to come, when I get my act together!)

However, if I have any strengths, they would be in the kitchen. I enjoy cooking, though I enjoy baking much more. This year I am compiling a book of recipes that I have found online, tried out over the past year and enjoyed. I am including side dishes, main dishes and bakery items in my book. Staples has a really nice presentation binder that I plan on putting my recipes into. I will print the pages off at Staples at a low cost per page, and the whole present will cost less than $10! This is what I consider to be a nice gift, and it will be something a few of my younger family members will be getting, specifically my sister and brother-in-law, another newly married couple.

Playing to your specific strengths will not only make your gift-giving time easier, but it will also mean a little more to the people you are gifting to because it's something that they know you enjoy, it's personal and it's homemade. As always, remember that not everyone wants to receive a personal, homemade gift. Some would much rather have a material object. Use discretion in deciding who to you want to receive your homemade gifts.

You will want to tune in next Tuesday for the last post in this series which will feature a very special guest post by my sister!