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The holiday season brings heart-warming memories -- but it can also leave a hole in your wallet.
So Bankrate wants to play Santa and hand out some cash in a frugal holiday tips contest!
Tell us how you make the holidays special without overspending. Your frugal holiday tip can be about anything from cooking and gift-giving to decorating and entertaining.
We'll award a $500 grand prize to the person with best frugal, festive tip and a $250 second-place prize.
Bankrate judges will determine the grand prize winner based on the creativity of the frugal holiday tip. The second-place winner will be chosen at random.
Entering is easy, and there are five ways to do it. Some entry methods will earn you more chances to win than others.
You can enter each way, each day! Go ahead and get started:
- Pin an original, awesome frugal holiday tip onto any of your Pinterest boards. Tag @Bankrate and #frugfabholiday in the pin so we can repin it onto our holiday contest board. (Earn 10 entries.)
- Tweet a shout-out to someone you know who has mad holiday savings skills. Just use the "click to tweet" box above. Personalize the tweet by adding your friend's Twitter handle. (Earn 10 entries.)
- Comment on this blog post with a unique money-saving holiday tip. (Earn 10 entries.)
- Tweet this blog post. (Earn five entries.)
- Pin this blog post. (Earn five entries.)
Use the widget below to document your entry. The email you use to sign into the widget or to comment will be the one used to contact winners.
You can read up on the Official Rules here.
Good luck!
UPDATE -- Dec. 20, 2012: Thank you to everyone for participating! We had fun reading everyone's frugal holiday tips!
Our second place winner was Kenia from Texas.
Our grand prize winner was Susan from Florida. Her tip said:
"I buy unique items at ShopGoodwill.com. You never know what you will find AND it all goes to a great cause. Like other auction sites without the mark-ups."
Congratulations, ladies!
I buy unique items at shopgoodwill.com. You never know what you will find AND it all goes to a great cause. Like other auction sites without the mark-ups.
Buy gift bags to wrap gifts, and save to reuse next year.
Use cashback sites and shop on sites that offer free shipping
Save money during the holidays by making as many homemade gifts as possible.
See above
Host a cookie exchange before the holidays. Invite family and friends to bring over a couple dozen cookies to trade. Saves time, shopping and cleanup.
Gives you a chance to visit before the stress of the holidays arrive!
Pay cash and don't overspend
I save quite a bit of money shopping on Black Friday and Cyber Monday
This tip is sure to help you save more money for buying gifts if you are a senior living on a fixed income! If this is you, do an online search for the Specified Low Income Medicare Beneficiary Program (SLMB)and the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) program. These are little known government programs that help seniors by paying Medicare Part B co-insurance premiums and deductibles. This will free up cash you are currently spending on healthcare for a little Christmas cheer!
Buying things post season is a great way to save money.