I have a hierarchy as far as the cards I buy:

Kids ~ 2 for $1 (.50) at Dollar Tree. Exception: ds at times. Definitely for kids birthday parties. I also buy the .50 ones for funerals and all occasion cards for people I hardly know (including wedding, birthday, baby, etc.)

For other adults I will go to the .49 card and party outlet and get cards.

Family gets .99 cards from card and party outlet.

~ I only keep cards from ds, dh and my brother. All other cards get pitched. I'm assuming most people do the same: Why on earth would I spend a lot of money on a da*n card that they are going to throw away? I wish I could get by with no card at all.

Glad you feel that way, I always wondered if I was normal!! I HATE to spend money on card that people will just throw away.

:muahahahah: Ooooooo I love this idea. This is definitely a keeper with me idea wise! Thanks!!!

My walmart doesn't cary the $.48 card any more. I am totally bummed. I did forget about the Dollar Store. I'll have to look there again. I did make my Mother's Day cards this year. I spent way too much last year. I'm not super creative, but they turned out nice. Simple, but nice.

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Blessed beyond measure

I buy a lot of our cards at Hallmark. They have a ton of 99 cent cards and I have their free buyer card so I accumulate points. They always send cupons or special offers for bonus points or run a special where you buy 3 and get the 4th free or something similar. I buy the cards when theres a promotion, accumulate the points, and at the end of the year, they give me a large cupon that usually pays for a box of Christmas Cards and one of their gifts.
Not as frugal as the dollar tree. I didn't realize they had 2 for a dollar. But it's still a decent deal.

-Lucky

Since finding the $$ store cards I rarely ever get them anywhere else. Occasionally I may get one from WalMart, but try to get the $.48 or $.94 ones there too.

The only one I really splurge on is for my Grandma. She is 98 and needs the ones with the real big writing...they usually tend to be more.

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I love to buy cards. I just need to keep myself out of the Hallmark store unless it's a really, really special occasion.

For those of you who are inclined to make your own cards, you can get free envelopes at your local grocery store. I heard about this, but I wanted to find out for myself, so I asked. All those holiday cards -- Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, Easter, etc. -- at the grocery store that don't get sold by that holiday are thrown away. (Can you believe it?!) They throw away the envelopes, too. I spoke to the Hallmark representative for the grocery store where I do most of my shopping, and she saved the envelopes for me from the unsold Easter cards. I have about two dozen envelopes waiting for me to make creative cards to go with them.

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~Jeweled

I am also one of those who can't bring myself to spend lots of money on a card. I usually get them at Dollar General for 2/1.00 or the Buck Stop also 2/1.00. I always find great cards there. I did spend close to 4.00 on an Anniversary card for DH. He always gets me nice cards and we don't buy each other anything, we went out to dinner on a "date" without the kids last Sat. (BONUS-my mom got us a gift card for Applebees and also a card for a free appetizer ) so that was extra nice and we also went out of town and did some shopping. I was at Wal-mart and bought the card there but I kept looking on the back to see what the price was though.LOL

I know most people throw out the cards so I can't see spending lots of $$$ on one especially when they also get a gift. I do keep the cards from DH and the kids.

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~Heather~
Married to Jay
SAHM to Emily 12/23/93, Adam and Aaron 5/14/04

I also can not see spending a lot of money on cards. They are just thrown away. Instead I buy blank cards when ever I find them on clearance. I usually buy the ones that are completely blank, no picture on the front. I then print out a picture of my kids and glue it on. Most of the family loves getting them because they have a recent picture of the kids. I then write a nice message on the inside. They are so simple and fast. My kids love to pick out the pictures for the cards so they get to be involved too. My husband and I don't buy cards for each other either. We have to make our own cards!! They are so much more fun to see what we each come up with. It is so funny to see my husband working so hard to make me a card from construction paper and markers LOL

Sometimes Costco has a big box of very pretty 'handmade' cards for xx amount (can't remember). So the price per each is pretty reasonable. But there are not cards for every occasion in that box, and some that most won't use often (baby, congrats, sympathy). I, too, will shop at Walmart or Dollar Tree for the cheaper cards because I just can't bring myself to spend $4 or more on a card they will most likely throw away! UNLESS it is a very special occasion, then I will splurge. But to me 'splurging' is the card that still costs less than $3! LOL!

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The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket. ~~ Will Rogers