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Happy Holidays!

Whatever your faith or tradition celebrations brings, I hope they are filled with joy. I also hope that if your traditions involve gifts, you found some tricks on my blog to keep a little more money in your wallet and still enjoy the giving and celebrations!

From my family to yours, peace and blessings to you!!

Gift Card Deals at your Grocery Store

Keep an eye on your favorite grocery store for deals on gift cards during any 'giving' season. The current deal at my Safeway is 15% off a multi-pack of participating gift cards. In this case it was iTunes, Regal Cinemas, and a few other entertainment-type cards that come in multipacks. Through my Safeway app, I was also able to add an additional 5% discount.

I had intended to get my son one $25 gift card for iTunes, but ended up three $10 cards totaling $30 and I only paid $24. I also earn gas rewards.

Get familiar with the deals, sales cycles, and rewards at your favorites store and then keep watch.

Deals on Apple iPads, iPods and More

Deals on Apple products are few and far between. You have to be very savvy and spend time daily monitoring sites that seek out deals.

I have a trick to save a little extra on those high end electronics that rarely get discounted. First, I find a retailer that sells online. In this case, I've chosen Best Buy.

Then I find the best cash back website. My favorites are Upromise and Ebates. Upromise is connected with Sallie Mae and the cash back earned can be directed towards student loans or college savings. Upromise often has the higher percentage cash back, but I always check both. Today the cash back is 5%.

Next, I order discount gift cards. My favorite sites are CardCash.com and MonsterGiftCard.com. Discounts and supply vary so I always check both. Best Buy discounts average 4-6% off face value.

Let's break it down:

• 1 iPad Air is $499 full retail
• By accessing the Best Buy website via Upromise, I will get 5% cash back on $499. A savings of $24.95.
• I still need to pay the full $499 so I buy enough discount gift cards to cover the purchase.
• If I buy $500 in gift cards at 5% off the face value, I pay $475 for the cards. A savings of $25.
• That's a total savings of $49.95 or 10%. Not bad for a little extra effort.

A couple of other considerations:

• You don't need to pay or wait for shipping. I can order online and select store pickup. I get the 5% from the cash back site and can stop by my local Best Buy to pick up my item that day.
• If you pay sales tax and buy enough gift cards to cover the tax, you will get a discount on the tax as well.
• If you earn miles or other rewards with a favorite credit card, you can use it to buy your gift cards.
• I would still earn rewards at Best Buy for a $499 purchase.

Win, win, win, win, win!!!

Save on Holiday Decorating

Regardless of the holiday or season you're decorating, if you're patient and intentional in your approach, you can get some fabulous decorations for a fraction of the retail price.

Over the years, we collect more and more pieces, until we have a lovely stash to choose from. Instead of an impulse buy where you see something you like prior to the holiday and pick it up at maybe 20% or, heaven forbid, full retail, wait until after the holiday and pick up something new for the following year.

Ya, ya...you've heard this before and probably have done it, but take it a step further now. Today I browsed through the beautiful Christmas decorations at Pier 1 Imports. The store is irrelevant and so is the holiday, this could be applicable any time. I scoped out some terrific items that I would love to add to my collection and I purchased nothing at the store today.

I will, however, visit them again on the 26th. In preparation, I did go online and bought a discount gift card at CardCash.com for 21.5% off the face value of the card. Another favorite discount gift card website is MonsterGiftCard.com. Discounts vary, but today CardCash had the better deal.

I'll use 75% off as my after-holiday discount estimate. Here's how the savings would stack up:

• Retail price $100 @ 75% off brings the price to $25
• Paid with my gift card that was discount 21.5% saves another $7.13
• Amount paid = $17.87 or a total of 82% off

Now you know I'll be checking for coupons too. Fingers crossed that I'll find one!!