1. Always shop with a list of names, spending limit, and ideas. Stick to your list and don’t be dazzled into impulse spending by store displays.
2. Stick to your budget. If you’ve budgeted $25 for Cousin Joe and you can’t find a sweater under $30, move over to accessories and maybe grab him some gloves. If you go even $5 off your budget per person it will add up quickly!
3. If you shop early in the season and discover later that an item you bought has been discounted, take it back to the store. As long as you have the receipt, chances are they’ll refund you the difference.
4. Buy gift cards for the hard to shop for people in your life. Teens, grandparents, and even cranky uncles can always find a way to use the gift card in their favourite stores.
5. If your budget is really tight this year, give a homemade gift like cookies or a gift of your time, such as volunteering to babysit or mow an elderly neighbour’s lawn.
6. A family photo album or your family history on dvd is a great and invaluable present for a elderly, housebound or out of town relative
7. For large or extended families put everyone’s name in a hate and have each family member draw a name and buy a gift for that one person.
8. Limit your gift list. If you prefer not to exchange gifts with a friend, neighbour, or co-worker this year, just say so. It’s very likely that she’s trying to pare down her Christmas list too!

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One of my favourite lunches is the often overlooked egg salad sandwich. Both of my kids have always loved egg salad and I try to keep things interesting by changing it around. Depending on where you live a dozen large eggs can be bought for anywhere from $1 to $4 which makes the humble egg salad sandwich well within our frugal budget.

Depending on how you like your egg texture (chunky or fine) you can either smash the eggs by hand with a fork, by grating on a box grater, or by pulsing 2-3 times in your food processor. I usually cook up 12 to 18 large eggs and mix up a large bowl of egg salad to keep on hand in the fridge for lunches and snacks.

To keep things interesting you can make your egg salad sandwich on multigrain bread, bagel, bun, english muffin, stuffed inside a pita pocket, wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla, wrapped in a large lettuce leaf, or even stuff the egg salad into a hollowed out tomato or sweet pepper half.
I make my sandwiches with lettuce and often a thin slice of tomato or cucumber or a slice of cheese.

My basic egg salad has eggs, mayo, a dash of dijon mustard, finely diced celery and finely sliced green onion with a dash of pepper.

Variations:
1. Curried egg salad – instead of dijon mustard I use a pinch or two of packaged curry powder – you can omit the celery and green onion or leave in for extra flavour 2. Carrot egg salad – I replace the celery and green onion with grated carrot and a few sunflower seeds. Omit the mustard or replace with a sweet honey mustard.
3. Cucumber egg salad – I replace the celery and green onion with finely diced cucumber and replace the mustard with a dash or two of ranch dressing.
4. Pesto egg salad – replace the mustard with a teaspoon of pesto sauce. Omit the celery and green onion.
5. Dilled egg salad – replace the mustard, celery and green onion with diced dill pickle or dill pickle relish.
6. Relish egg salad – replace the mustard, celery and green onion with your favourite relish – try a sweet corn relish or onion relish.
7. Hummus egg salad – replace the mayo and mustard with hummus
8. Olive egg salad – replace the celery and green onion with finely diced green olives
9.  Bacon and egg salad – replace celery with some crumbled bacon or bacon bits. Omit mustard.
10.  Cheesy egg salad – replace mustard and green onion with the shredded cheese of your choice: swiss, cheddar, asiago, etc.
11. Ham and egg salad – replace celery with finely diced cooked ham
12. Sundried tomato and egg salad – replace mustard, celery and green onion with finely diced sundried tomato
The variations on egg salad are virtually endless. What are some of your favourites?