I am living on low-income this year and at the moment thinking of how much to spend on xmas gifts is racking my brain as I don’t have a lot of money and it would be a bit easier if anyone knew of a internet site where you could buy cheap gifts or ideas on what to give.
I live in the uk, so preferably somewhere that doesn’t have high international delivery rates.
I will have a look myself but I thought I would ask the community here what you might suggest, also if you can think of anything which I could make instead of buying things that would also be helpful.
thanks
Do you have a cd burner? You could make personal collections of music, games, etc. Used book shops are a good place to look for gifts for people who collect book series or have a special hobby. I have made good deals on books on ebay before, doesn’t ebay have an uk version? I make my own wine, and have the cellar full of cheap gifts.
Well, for a start I would never buy over the internet, because then you can’t check the quality of the product being shipped. Particularly if it’s international, you’d think the risk of damage during shipping would increase. I am quite surprised that you would need the internet if you live in England, where surely there are plenty of shops just a train or bus ride away from most places!
Trust me as a shopaholic on this one - browsing shops in person is a much more thoughtful (and insightful) way of finding presents. On the internet, searches tend to be more specific, whereas in person you can go into a shop and come across something that would have never occured to you to look for otherwise!
Anyway, my ideas for cheap presents: If they’ve ever mentioned regretting not seeing a movie, or missing the end of one, you could buy it for them on DVD. (Same goes for books.) However, I would be wary of 2nd-hand bookshops as it is usually very obvious when books are second-hand and I don’t think someone would really appreciate being given one as a present! Second-hand CDs are much less obvious, though, and you can test them first to make sure they work properly - so that’s an idea! (I get most of my CDs for work from a second-hand boutique and there’s no difference whatsoever).
If they’re female, you could try a nice smelling perfume from The Body Shop (they’re pretty cheap but very nice, and I know they have stores in England because I’ve been there!). Stay away from soaps and hand creams because, seriously, everybody gives soaps and hand creams as presents all the time. Another option is simply a nice bouquet of flowers - you should be able to get one for just 20 dollars or that equivalent in pounds.
