I am so loving all the photo gift specials being offered lately! I’ve received 50 free photo Christmas cards from SeeMore.com, several $15 free gifts from Kodakgallery.com, and now here comes Snapfish.com, offering a free $10 credit for any new signups.

(Now, this is off the record, but I’ve been a member of Snapfish for years, but I just signed up under an alternate email address, and voila, $10 credited to my account.)

I ordered a 12 by 18-inch poster print for my nephew’s girlfriend, and the total was only $2.11 with shipping and tax. I will pick up a diploma frame at the dollar store, and I am done with that gift for less than $3.50 out of pocket!

Other gifts in the $10 range are photo mugs, mouse pads and greeting cards. These are great personalized gifts!

To order, sign up using this link, and then access the web site through the email that is sent to you. Your $10 discount will automatically be deducted at checkout. Gotta love this!

Tip: If your photo resolution is not good enough, use Photoshop or similar to expand the image size. Works great.

Special thanks go out again to the Saving Cents with Sense blog for tipping me off to this great special!

Want to know what will be on sale at Target the day after Thanksgiving? Click here for a leak of the ad flyer.

OK, grab your chestnuts — there are only 68 days left till Christmas! I can hear the “Oh geez!” “Not already!” and “Oh crap!” comments now. But I thought you needed a reminder.

It’s time to draft that Christmas list now, before all the holiday hubbaloo begins. Practicing what I preach, I did mine for this year tonight — 22 people (we have a big family), but I already have 10 gifts out of the way. Yea!

By drafting the list now, you will have a set guideline not only for whom you are buying gifts, but also an opportunity to set a budget per person. This will keep you from spending too much on one person and feeling you need to make it up with the next, as well as spread the bill-paying out over time. The first half of my spending should be paid off this month. My goal is to finish to it all before Thanksgiving this year so that I may devote the holidays to decorating, entertaining, enjoying my friends and family, and generally being relaxed.

But this takes planning. So I am recommending this week you list everyone for whom you wish to buy presents and set a realistic budget. The best part about this is it will allow you to hit those clearance sales, and other online deals before everyone wakes up December 1st and realizes Christmas is 24 days away.

So, ho! ho! ho! Let’s begin the holiday planning early this year and vow to enjoy all that the season brings!

Oh this deal is too hot to let go! Snapfish — the online photo processing site — is offering its 10 most popular photo gift items for 40 pecent off and only through Sept. 25th!

These will make perfect Christmas gifts — and at an incredibly low price! I am gonna be a busy boy for the next few days getting them all together, but this deal is the best I have ever seen at Snapfish.

Here are the 10 items on special (just think — wouldn’t someone on your list love one of these):

If you are looking to give personalized gifts this year — and save money — this is the deal to snag!

To get the discount, just enter the code POSTLABOR on your order prior to Friday, Sept. 25. What you may want to do is ask your friends and family to email you their favorite photo or you may also access their Snapfish accounts to pick your own. Use your scanner, and voila — shopping is done!

Before ordering, you may also wish to check the online code sites I list in this post, and see if you can net even more savings. I would also combine your total order to save on shipping. But, I tell you, this is a great way to get your Christmas shopping done, provide a personalized gift and save a lot of money!

Let’s face it, this will be a different Christmas for most people. Everyone is watching money, and we need to cut back where we can. So this means thinking outside of your normal holiday box.
I’ve been kinda down about this, but when I accepted this fact, everything seemed a tad better. So, let’s all say it: “This Christmas I will think out of the box.”

So, let me give you some strategies for gift-giving (that you have not read online or in Family Circle):

Create a gift basket — A lot of inexpensive little things adds up to one fab-o gift. My sister-in-law last year gave us a movie basket with a $8 DVD, plastic bowl, popcorn, and even popcorn boxes — so clever. How about using all those samples you’ve ordered and creating a Sample City Basket. A little means a lot.

Go shopping at home — I used this tactic last year. I had so many things I had bought because they were a good price and used those for gifts. But look in the garage and the closets and see what you have that you have not been able to use. I’ve also netted numerous bottles of wine as host presents in 2008. Those suckers are going in gift bags, I can tell you now. You might be able to score a couple of gifts — just look around.

I hope these hints and suggestions help. This year doesn’t need to be depressing. Just accept that things will be different, and use the great noggin’ God gave you. Now that I am in my 40s, I am just excited about the joy the season brings — and, guess what, most people you know feel the same. Relax! What’s our mantra? We will have a stress-free holiday season.

Oh man, do I have a deal for you for your holiday shopping — and it’s at Neiman-Marcus!

Have I lost my mind? No! It’s (much less) than $20! Oh, and it includes free shipping and free gift wrap — from Neiman Marcus! Can you believe this?!?

But before I tell you the special, I must insert a commercial for the great blog from which I happened on this deal, and that is SouthernCouponBelle. Traci started her blog a couple months ago. She is well-known on coupon-saving circuits and on Couponmom.com. In fact, she has been featured on TV several times for her great coupon-shopping skills. I highly recommend her site.

At any rate, onto the deal!

CouponBelle found this incredible deal at Neiman-Marcus — Ralph Lauren hand towels half-price with free monogramming for $7.99 each! And, she found the code for free shipping and free gift wrapping! We are talking an incredible gift for $16 from Neiman Marcus! Man, this will surely impress your in-laws, or any other couple you may have on your guest list.

Let me tell you, any good-quality hand towel costs at least $5 at any discount store, but this also includes monogramming, free shipping, and free gift wrap. It doesn’t get better than this!

I’m going to order them for my sisters and brothers and their spouses, and I will be able to offer a wonderful gift at less than $20! Tip: Order gifts separately so they wrap each one for each person or couple. Tip No. 2: If you don’t know their colors, beige or white towels are always a safe bet.

OK, so here are the details:

With the economy in the toilet, this gift will surely make ‘em feel like you spent a bundle! For more holiday shopping tips, click here and for more holiday planning tips, click here.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: I am pissed! I ordered the towels and used the codes (had to call in order for them to go through). Then when I got the email confirmation, they will not do free shipping on monogramed items and will not gift wrap, either. Even though the woman who took my order on the phone confirmed both would happen. Called after I got the email order confirmation (with $11.50 in shipping) and got told by Lola that the order-taker was inexperienced and made not one, but two mistakes! Jerks!

IMPORTANT UPDATE NO. 2 You guys will love this! I emailed customer service last night, and this morning I got an email saying they reversed the delivery charge of $11.50! It was some work, but that $11.50 was nearly the cost of two of the towels. Just goes to show you perserverance pays. But wanted to add, online, I had no problem with the shipping not being charged, so my suggestion is order online, skip the gift wrap, and save yourself the time on the phone.

UPDATE NO. 3! I just got another email from N-M confirming they took off the delivery charge, but had to add in that it was a courtesy and does not apply to monogrammed items. No problem there (that is in the small print) but A) their web site accepted it; and B) the online rep accepted it. … You know me, I thanked them again, and pointed out these facts.

I hope you have a cocktail near, because I am about to break some news to you … I’ll say it slowly:

We-are-less-than-55-days-away-from-Christmas!

Let that sink in (and take a long drink).

My budget is very limited this year — as with most people — so I plan to do the bulk of my shopping online, which gave me the idea for today’s post: Did you know you can get discount and free shipping codes from some very cool web sites?

So before you go online to go shopping, use the search function on these sites and see if you can reap a discount:

You’ll find discounts for such sites as: Kohls, J.C. Penney, Macys, Nike, and Victoria Secret. It’s always worth it to just see if you can net some savings. Hope this tip comes in handy.

Secondly, I love Amazon.com. You can get some great deals here, and if the order adds up to $25, you get free shipping.

But I also wanted to alert you that you can get deals on the new/used merchandise offered by private sellers on Amazon.com. Shipping is a tad slower, so it’s time to order and start saving some money. This is also a great way to get those extra-special gifts that you would otherwise be unable to afford in your budget. I use it all the time and have never been disappointed.

We’re all about saving this year.

Oh, and I have one more great tip! Did you known Home Shopping Network and QVC have online stores? Best part: You can find all the daily specials there, without wading through 15 minutes of descriptions from the TV hosts! (Do those people have perfect nails, or what?)

But I wanted to flag you on a duo of savings spots on each site.

At any rate, hope these tips come in handy as we are now in the holiday season. Rest assured, I will have many tips coming to you over the next (gulp) EIGHT weeks.