Early Christmas shopping helps mom save
Although Christmas is more than five months away, the way Sue Hope sees it, it's not to early to start her Christmas shopping.
That attitude has helped her save roughly $500 a year on gifts over the past few years, and its among the means the stay-at-home mother of five children, ages eight through 16, uses to keep a lid on expenses during tighter economic times.
(Jean Lachat/Sun-Times)
"I really start in the summer," said Hope, whose husband Mike, works in construction. "Anytime I see something marked down tremendously, especially candles, nice gifts, toys, I buy them and put them away in a big tupperware bin. I've gotten cosmetic sets for my older daughter and my friends, shampoo sets, really nice name-brand ones, earrings, jewelry, clothing. You name it."
The southwest suburban Homer Glen resident said the gifts are all at least 50 percent off.
"I will buy very nice cards and wrapping paper 75 percent off," she shared. "But the operative word is the timing. You just have to think ahead."
Hope started doing so a few years ago after making some regrettable Christmas purchases.
"When Christmas came and it was like crunch time, it was too overwhelming for me; then I found myself charging everything and I just felt bad about it," she said. "I guess the light bulb went off in my head."
Hope said over the years she's been able to save money because "I'm not too proud to buy things secondhand, like furniture. I feel like I really tastefully have decorated the house, but actually more than half of it is from a second-hand store or a garage sale or an estate sale. I'm not ashamed of that. I've gotten very nice furniture."
Hope says she still treats herself to the beauty shop to get her hair colored.
"I don't do that at home because I don't really know what I'm doing," she said. "But I've found that I extend the life of my hair for about two more weeks because now I'm buying a shampoo that doesn't have sulfate in there like the harsh detergents."
When it comes to doing laundry, she doesn't use fabric softener.
"For $20 I bought four dryer balls that will last two years," she said. "These fluff up the clothes nicely."
This year, with prices rising, she's spending about $30 more a week for gas and $50 a week more on food, she said. Her husband's gas costs are picked up by his employer, which is a big help, she said.
As for food costs, she concedes she's not very organized in keeping track of coupons.
"I'm working on that," she said.
"I do enjoy name brands, and when I do, I try to look for them not at a grocery chain. We have a Menards by our house. They have an excellent pantry there where I've gotten coffee, cereal, salad dressings cookie mixes" for a fraction of the cost she'd pay at big grocery chains, she said.
She also shops at Target and Aldi for snacks and staples, and Jewel for her meat, she said.
"I'm not buying junk like Twinkies and Doritos," she said. "I'm cutting out the junk food. I'm not buying pop. I'm just pushing the water."
Hope added investments she made in some small kitchen appliances are helping her save money, including the purchase of an 18-quart Nesco brand roaster.
"I feel like I really can't screw up a piece of meat," she said. "I can buy a cheaper cut of meat. It will always come out tender."
She also uses a manual food processor to make her own fresh salsa daily and egg and tuna salads, and a blender to make protein breakfast shakes.
"I'm kind of discovering if I make the high protein breakfast for them rather than like a quick bowl of cold cereal, that will hold them longer until lunch time," she said.
What are you doing to make ends meet? Write to psmith@suntimes .com.