When you’re perusing lists of ideas for Christmas and birthday gifts, one thing usually stands out: a lot of people suggest that in order to be thrifty and save a little of your hard-earned money, you should make gifts yourself. One problem with that is that they don’t actually save as much money as you think they will – materials can be a lot more expensive than people realise, and the time that it takes to craft is also valuable. If you really want to save some money when you’re crafting, here are some tips to help out…

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Look For Deals

First of all, it’s time to start to look for deals. When you’re buying groceries, you probably look out for buy one get one free offers, so why not do it with your crafting supplies too? When you’re at a crafting store, make sure that you look around for any deals that can help you save a little money. Just make sure that you remember not to buying anything that you really don’t need – it can be easy to be taken in by deals that seem like a great idea when you’re in the store but that are definitely a waste of time and money when you get home. If you see a deal, make sure that you’d buy the items full price anyway – that means that you’re saving money. Otherwise you’re spending unnecessarily! You should also look out for coupons that you can use – for instance, check out today’s top coupons & promo codes at Coupon Sherpa to see if there’s anything you can use there. Look in newspapers and magazines for coupons as well.

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Plan Your Projects

It’s always a good idea to plan your projects so that you can buy your supplies in advance. Of course we all need a little spontaneity in our lives and you need to go with the flow sometimes, but if you’re planning on a big project then it’s a good idea to start planning it a few weeks beforehand. That means that you can do your research to find out the costs for the project so you don’t spend more than you were intending to.

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Remember Your Time Is Valuable

A lot of people think that you craft solely for the love of it, which means that you’re totally happy to do things like make scarves for gifts for friends of friends for free. Even if the cost of materials is given to you, you need to remember that although you love crafting, your skills don’t come for free. They’ve been developed after years of hard work that you’ve poured a lot of time and money into, and as such you deserve to be compensated fairly for it. If you tend to do a lot of crafting for other people in your own time, start charging for it – not only will this help you to invest in more materials to experiment with and improve your skills with, but it could also start to turn a hobby you love into a business to supplement your income.