Mailing Packages and Cards

Packages

Mail your packages now, early and in plenty of time. This will you save a bunch of money. This may seem obvious but you might be surprised at how many people wait until even the day before Christmas Eve to send things. Don’t pay for express or priority mail. The cost of express or priority mail will eat you alive. Besides saving money, it is so nice to have that done early. Then that will be one less thing to worry about when you get closer to Christmas.

When you send gifts through the mail, think about what are buying. Are they fragile, heavy or very large? None of these are good candidates. Some great things to send through the mail are DVDs, CDs or books (Dining on a Dime hint, hint). These are especially good because they can be shipped media mail which costs quite a bit less.

Cards

Shorten your lists. In the same way you reduced your gift list, you don’t have to send a card to every Tom, Dick and Harry.

Don’t send holiday cards to these people:

Anyone who never sends you a card anymore.
Someone you knew 50 years ago for a few months and with whom the only contact you have had since then is a Christmas card with just their signature.
Anyone who you are buying a gift for. Don’t send a gift and a greeting card. The whole object of giving a gift or a card is to let the person know you care, so you don’t need to do it twice. I do that for birthdays, too. I don’t give a card and a gift– just one or the other.

Finding time to write and mail your greeting cards can be tricky. Keep some with you all of the time. Work on them as you are waiting for the kids after school, when you’re waiting at the doctors office or make it a point to write one or two on your lunch break at work.

Think about sending post cards instead of regular cards. There are lots of cute Christmas post cards available now and it costs less to send them than to send regular letters or greeting cards. You can also use the fronts of old Christmas cards as post cards. You might want to check with your post office on the regulation size of them so you get the correct postage.