I don’t know about you but I absolutely love giving gifts to people – family, friends, kid’s parties, thank you gifts, you name it and I love to give gifts. In fact, I may love giving gifts more than I like getting them. Crazy, I know. The only drawback to this is that giving gifts can get expensive. I like giving really nice gifts, too. I love seeing someone wowed over I gift I gave or a present they received. So for me, this can get really expensive if I am not careful. What does a crazy gift giver like me do to avoid breaking the bank while giving all of these great gifts? I have a gift stash.

A lot of people have food storage or a stockpile. They buy shelf stable food items ahead of time and use them when they need them. They pay a great price now and use it later when it would be more expensive to buy it. This is a concept many people are familiar with and understand. I apply this same principle to gifts. I find great deals on awesome items now that I will use later as great gifts. It is what allows me to give crazy good gifts at discount store prices. It is easy to do and can help you save lots of money. A few tips can make this an easy thing to do.

Decide where you are keeping your gift stash and prepare a place.
This is a huge and very important tip. It is what will make your gift stash work well for you or drive you crazy. Whenever you purchase an item for the gift stash put it right where it goes. Hiding things all over the house leads to lost gifts and gifts being seen by the kids and spouses ahead of time. I have some large plastic totes on a shelf in my garage. The gift items go in the totes the same day I buy them.

Keep an inventory.
I’ll admit I don’t always do this. I will also tell you that it is 100x easier when I actually do keep a quick list of the items in my gift stash. You avoid overbuying and know what you can give before you even start looking through the items in your gift stash.

Know your gift recipient base.
Think about who you give gifts to and the situations in which you’ll be giving them. Think about relatives’ ages and likes. Think about the ages of friends and potential birthday parties. Knowing who you will be giving future gifts to will help you grab those bargains to use as great gifts later.

Know where and how to shop.
Have a favorite item to gift? Do you know when it goes on sale? Do you know where the sale and clearance departments are at your favorite stores? When you are out shopping, take a look at the clearance and sale items. Swing by the toy department and watch for clearance bargains. Don’t forget to shop online for your gifts. There are always great deals on Pinching Your Pennies that would perfect gift stash items.

When you have a really good grasp on building up your gift stash you’ll be great at spotting items for gifting events that are months away. This is why it is important to know your recipient base like I mentioned above. It is easy once you start.

Know your budget.
Don’t spend too much trying to build a gift stash quickly. Stick to all of the above tips and build your gift stash slowly. Overspending and breaking your budget will defeat the purpose of building up a gift stash.

Include giftwrap and cards.
Pretty simple tip but it can save you big. Pick up some extra wrapping paper, gift bags and cards when you see them on great deals or sales. Keep it all together with the gift stash or in another easy to find place.

Have fun and enjoy giving the gifts.
That’s the whole point of creating a gift stash. Enjoy giving your gifts and have fun buying them.