A Very Practical, Yet Inexpensive Housewarming Gift

Photo By Amanda

I’m so excited! I have a close family member who is in the process of buying his first home. I think it’s wonderful and I really want to help him get started. He needs furniture and well, pretty much everything.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any extra furniture I can give him right now and don’t exactly have a budget to go out and spend a lot of money. However, after giving it some thought, I came up with a solution for what I can do.

Since I use coupons to get so many household things for free or for very little, I thought the most practical housewarming gift to give would be all the things you have to buy when you move into your first home.

Things like:

Dish Washing Detergent
Laundry Detergent
Paper Towels
Hand Soap
Kleenex
Air Freshener
Misc. Cleaning Supplies
and so on….

Well, I recently started a stash of some of these supplies just for him. I’ll be piling them into a laundry basket to surprise him with it all after he finally gets moved into his house. He’s a very practical and thrifty individual, so I believe he’ll be very grateful for this gift.

What you see in the picture is an example of the kinds of things I’m collecting. I also have a few other things in mind. So far, I’ve only spent about $10 dollars on all the items in the picture, not including the laundry basket. Aren’t coupons great!?!

I love this idea because I can give someone a very useful gift that will save them money from the start and it doesn’t break my budget either. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a win-win situation.

What are your thoughts on this idea? Would you rather give/receive something pretty or something practical?

This post is linked to Frugal Fridays.

Like this post? Share it and Enjoy:

9 Frugal Decorating Tips It happens all the time. I pick up a decorating magazine and see gorgeous designer rooms that cost a fortune....
Tips for Family Vacation Planning, Part 2: Budgeting Welcome back to my vacation planning series. Yesterday in Tips for Family Vacation Planning, Part 1: Deciding Where to Go,...
How Swagbucks Paid for My Kids’ Christmas Gifts A few months ago in my series on couponing, I touched on Swagbucks and how you could get free gift...

Posted on July 24th, 2009 in Money Matters | 6 Comments

6 Comments

Clare says:

July 24, 2009 at 12:29 pm

I do this for a wedding gift as well. My last wedding gift was a laundry basket filled with food basics like spices, baking soda, baking powder etc. I have always had a good response to this type of gift. Clare

Reply
- Amanda says:
  
  July 24, 2009 at 2:15 pm
  
  I was considering doing some kind of basket with those same kinds of things also. I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t be thrilled to get a gift like this. I know I would be. It would be less money out of my pocket on things I’d have to buy otherwise.
  
  I haven’t actually done this yet as a wedding gift, but I’m planning on starting next time I have to get someone a wedding gift.
  
  Reply
Stephanie says:

July 28, 2009 at 1:23 pm

That is definitely an awesome house warming gift! Another thing that I got when we were married was a spice rack that was full of spices. It saved us a lot of money!

My mom make us one of these buckets every year for Christmas and it is such a huge blessing!

Reply
Felicity says:

July 30, 2009 at 7:32 pm

This is a wonderful idea and so practical. I just came across your blog My sister-in-law makes her own Jams and gives all the family a food hamper for Christmas.

I have just started trying to live frugally and have started growing succulants (from ones I already have) as well as some easy to propagate herbs. I plan to put these into Pots and give them to people as gifts. As a side note though: you need to know if people are more indoor our outdoor plant people when giving people plants so as not to burdon them with extra work.

Reply
- Amanda says:
  
  July 31, 2009 at 9:08 am
  
  Knowing whether someone is an outdoor person or not is definitely important. I remember several years ago a neighbor brought me a plant from her flower bed and at that time I had never grown anything or taken care of any plants. I felt really bad because I ended up sitting it on the back deck and letting it die because I didn’t know what to do with it.
  Even with the basket full of household items, I have known some people that might get offended because they didn’t like the brands or just simply because they didn’t get something they would consider a “nicer” gift. I guess it’s just like any other gift, you just have to think about the individual, their personality and their tastes.
  
  Reply
Sadie says:

December 2, 2010 at 11:11 pm

This is a great idea!!! Thanks for sharing!

Reply