I know its not Christmas season, but one thing I realized we can all save lots of money on is to stop buying gifts.Christmas? Birthdays? Anniversaries? Don’t buy ‘em if you don’t need to.Now hear me out before you think I’m a cold hearted jerk.

The reason is simple, have you ever bought a gift just for the sake of having a gift to give?

I’m sure we’ve all done it. Some short notice birthday party of an associate or extended family member. We don’t want to show up empty handed, so we pick up whatever we can. At the end, that gift probably ended up sitting on a shelf somewhere collecting dust. I’ve given out my share of “crap” gifts. Stuff I bought just so I won’t show up empty handed. You usually get those fake enthusiastic look of “Oh wow! COOL present!”

It’s a tough situation though. They invite you to a party, and occasionally some people even hint at gifts. I hate it when people do that. “Sorry Bob, we barely hang out and you want what for your birthday??”

So I try to make it easier for my close friends and families. Whenever my birthday or a gift giving season comes around, I make sure they know I don’t want or need anything – except for their time and company. It’s much better that way, this saves them money so we that we can spend it on more enjoyable things, like activities that we can all do together.

Gift cards and cash are usually more of a sure bet, I guess. That’s what I should have bought, instead of a dart board for my close friend’s birthday. I thought it’ll at least look nice in his room, what with the nice wood cabin that the dart board came in. The stupid part is that my friend eventually moved and he doesn’t have room for it at his new place. Sorry about the crap gift, PD.

Edit: So, any cost saving suggestions on gift giving?

Update: Check out the suggestions and comments from the previous blog.