Frugal Christmas presents

By Value hunter on Dec 12, 2009 | In In real life, Frugal thinking, Thrifty shopping, Dear diary

Christmas presents always present a dilemma for me.
On the one hand, I love giving gifts, it always has to be something that the person wouldn't get all year round, something a bit different (I refuse to buy clothing!) but at the same time I do not want to get some useless tat, that will not be used or just pushed to the back of a drawer or cupboard.
On the other hand, how do I find a frugal gift amongst all those so called "Sales" and "Offers" the shops say they have on, but upon checking, have gone up in price 3 weeks before being "reduced" in an imaginary sale?

This year I am going for the "save hassle" approach for my gifts.

Using my local farmer/butcher, I have negotiated a discount on some joints of meat (you can't do that shopping in a supermarket!) so instead of buying the useless bubble bath that is packed into "gift" packs, I can be both thrifty/frugal, saving time and money for me and the people I am buying gifts for!

A selection of locally cut joints, lamb shanks, fillet steaks, topside, etc. A meat hamper!

Works well for me, because I can combine 3 small presents for a household into one (They are all adults - I wouldn't do this if there were kids) I have negotiated a discount with my butcher and I have saved time and money for the family!
This, so my frugal logic goes, allows the family to not have to worry about rushing around Iceland for frozen meat, they do not have the expense to shell out and they can now spend their money on other things, which has helped them out as well as provided a surprise for them!

Everyone's a winner I think...