Official "Gift Ideas For The Underpaid" Thread

[Time Monkey]

So, for those of us who our in our mid 20's, and only make enough to squeak by month to month with rent, utilities, and bills, and a bi-weekly night out with the fellas, this is the thread for cheap-but-meaningful gift ideas.

I figure, I'll take care of the nieces and nephews decently this year. Maybe some loud obnoxious toys to annoy their parents.

For the adults, a funny card and... Maybe some coupons good for a few hours of no-bitching physical labor to be used on whatever household projects they can't get their worthless kids to help them with?

The 5-dollar DVD bin at WalMart is always fun. Just don't assign them randomly and let your grandmother end up with "I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell".

Coffee cups?

Car wash cards?

A promise to not call from the drunk tank for a ride home for a whole year?

Clean up all the dishes from dinner?

[MJ5150]

I like the cards offering labor idea.

-Mike

[i_got_a_mohawk]

I wouldn't give cards offering labor, knowing my parents, they would just get photocopied!

[sneha1965]

Are these gifts for family or friends?

[BurningSkies]

For our secondary gift giving Mz. Skies and I like to make things for people.

During the summer and fall I make jam and marmalade of different varieties. Those become great gifts and people actually demand and vie for different types.

We also do things like make our own pasta. This year we're giving bags of homemade farfalle (bow ties). We did two flavors, Lemon-Basi,l and Roast Garlic-Roast Habanaro. Bagged in clear plastic bags (craft stores have them) with Christmas ribbon and a hand done tag/label. The total cost on making pasta? two batches was about 10 bucks worth of ingredients and ended up with about 10 bags of pasta.

[Time Monkey]

Originally Posted by sneha1965

Are these gifts for family or friends?

Family. My friends can all K.M.A. haha.

[sneha1965]

Do you happy to live at home? If so, you could make coupons for chores. It's not buying something but could be very useful to them.

[MatticusMania]

I called up my financial institution and got a deferment on this months payment, which freed up enough cash to buy all the gifts I needed. I spent under $50 on my parents & siblings, buying them things I know they would either need or enjoy. Then I spent about $150 on things that would make me, I mean my wife, happy.

[Chebass88]

Here is a tip for next year - save up some money throughout the year, and voila, you will have some cash for Christmas presents.

[BurningSkies]

Originally Posted by Chebass88

Here is a tip for next year - save up some money throughout the year, and voila, you will have some cash for Christmas presents.

Heck, even if you start putting aside money in October/November...

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by BurningSkies

Heck, even if you start putting aside money in October/November...

Thats assuming people have enough overhead cash to save up a couple hundred dollars in a months or two time. Not everyone has that capabillity. As stated in the OP, he is living check to check, and its not always easy to save in situations like that.

[Chebass88]

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

Thats assuming people have enough overhead cash to save up a couple hundred dollars in a months or two time. Not everyone has that capabillity. As stated in the OP, he is living check to check, and its not always easy to save in situations like that.

Perhaps you missed the "biweekly night out with the fellas" bit. There is always the opportunity to save money - even if it is $5/week, which translates to $260/year.

[BurningSkies]

Originally Posted by Chebass88

Perhaps you missed the "biweekly night out with the fellas" bit. There is always the opportunity to save money - even if it is $5/week, which translates to $260/year.

I'm not saying that the OP falls into this category, but I have friends who live paycheck to paycheck and cry poor, but also have take out every night, buy lunch every day at work and spend 5+ bucks on coffee every day.

I too fell into this trap with lunch and coffee for a while, but once you realize how much you're spending it becomes easy to prioritize that stuff (as I'm sipping a free cup of 'work' coffee from the employee kitchen right now...)...

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by Chebass88

Perhaps you missed the "biweekly night out with the fellas" bit. There is always the opportunity to save money - even if it is $5/week, which translates to $260/year.

Hmm, seems I did. A night out every now and then is good for one's sanity, especially when living check to check, but if there is money to spend then there is money to save...

[MJ5150]

I never realized how much I spent on coffee and eating out until I started recording it daily like a diary. I stopped for a little while, but soon forgot about it and went back to my old ways of dining out and coffee.

-Mike

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by MJ5150

I never realized how much I spent on coffee and eating out until I started recording it daily like a diary. I stopped for a little while, but soon forgot about it and went back to my old ways of dining out and coffee.

-Mike

I used to go out for lunch all the time, from a $3 taco bell meal to $6 or $7 eating something a bit nicer.
These days I spend about $3 every 2 weeks eating Tina's burritos for lunch.

[BurningSkies]

Yep. I often make enough dinner to have leftovers for lunch. Also Ms. Skies and I like to make hearty bean soups, etc. to bring with us. Otherwise a loaf of bread and a pound of cold cuts will last a week and your lunches will still be 2$ or less.

[Time Monkey]

the problem with lunch meats is that roommates eat it real fast.

[BurningSkies]

Originally Posted by Time Monkey

the problem with lunch meats is that roommates eat it real fast.

Time to set some boundaries. My roommate won't touch my stuff and I don't touch his.

[Chebass88]

Originally Posted by BurningSkies

Time to set some boundaries. My roommate won't touch my stuff and I don't touch his.

Or get some lock-able thermoses ala Mel Gibson's character in "Conspiracy Theory"