I hate pre-lit trees too...I want to decorate my own tree, thank you very much. Plus, the majority of them are in white lights...I like colored lights.
I like real trees...they smell so good, but they make such a huge mess. Plus, I love not spending money on a real tree every year.
I usually put ours up just after Thanksgiving, and take it down whenever I get sick of looking at it.
Shani, I looked online, but didn't see anything that seemed to much of a "savings", even though most of it was already on sale. I hope you can find something that works!!