Wedding Gift Palooza - Where to Buy and How to Save Money

As you may or may not have heard from the Guinness Book of World Records, I've been invited to 9....NINE...weddings this summer.  Unfortunately, I can't go to them all as my calendar (and checking account) both have a finite amount of days, and dollars in them.  But of course, I want to get presents for all the newlyweds - but how to get them, without spending all of my hard earned money?  (I don't think my mother's suggestion of making them baskets of all my free toiletries is quite appropriate for these events!  Ha)

After seeing where everyone is registered, and determining the price of the gift you want to purchase, I make a list of all of the places I need go, and see which wedding registrys match up so I can combine my shopping adventures (might as well save time too!).

My BIGGEST suggestion, try (if possible) to go to Bed, Bath and Beyond.  If you don't know this, they have about a billion 20% off one item coupons floating around (usually in the ads of the Sunday paper). 

If you have 5 items, you can use 5 of those coupons and so on.  AND they accept expired coupons, forever!  So if you want to get a $50 gift, you can find your item, and use a coupon, so you actually would only pay $40!  Huzzah.  I know that my future sister-in-law specifically switched some of their items to their Bed, Bath and Beyond so that her guests could save some extra cash, which is awesome!

What if they aren't registered there?  Now this is something I just learned to do recently, thanks to my mama.  If you find a gift CHEAPER somewhere else (where they aren't registered), you can just call where they ARE registered, and ask them to remove it from the registry.  Amazing.  So if they are registered at Macy's, and you find the dishes cheaper at Kohl's, you can buy it at Kohl's, then call Macy's to ask them to remove it from the registry.  Who knew?!

Of course, always watch your paper for coupons - often Macy's has great sales and coupons in the paper.  And it NEVER hurts to ask when you are checking out if there are any coupons out there that you are missing.  Often, the cashier will have something that may give you a small discount!

And of course, if you are ever buying anything online, always search for codes, and get cash back :)

For shower gifts and smaller, personalized items, I recommend looking for cute things on Etsy! 

I'd love to hear any other great ideas for ways to save!