Christmas Ideas

It's going to have to be inexpensive gifts for the people on my Christmas list this year, but it's always been my belief that you could make up for not spending too much money on a gift by adding a little extra time and thought to it.

Here are a couple of things I am doing this year.

I made these Christmas potpourri jars with a few of the hundreds of baby food jars I seem to have around the house, but any jar would do. Just fill with potpourri, and then cut a circle of tulle (or any thin fabric), attach it with a rubber band and put a bow around it. Makes for a nice-smelling gift and costs very little.

Another thing I am making for a few people is Caramel Chex Mix. I got this recipe from Simple Girl but have made a few modifications to it:

13 cups rice Chex cereal (13-oz. box)

1-1/2 c. packed brown sugar

3/4 c. butter

1/3 c. light corn syrup

1/3 tsp. baking soda (I know that's an odd measurement; you just have to estimate)

1-1/2 c. plain M&M's (I used Christmas ones for this project)

Heat oven to 250 degrees. Spray a large roasting pan with cooking spray.

Pour the cereal into a bowl.

In a 3-quart saucepan, stir together brown sugar, butter and corn syrup. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture heats to boiling. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in baking soda. Pour over cereal, stirring until evenly coated.

Bake 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes, until coating is set. Cool 5 minutes. Stir in M&M's. Spread on parchment or waxed paper to cool, at least 10 minutes. Store in an airtight container (I use a Ziploc bag).

Yum!

Imagination Library

Cooper loves to be read to. And I love reading to him. Not only is it educational for him, but it's a time to sit in the chair together, to be still, to snuggle and to interact. I have a goal of reading him at least 10 books per day, which we generally reach easily and often exceed.

A great source of books that I have discovered is Imagination Library, an organization started by Dolly Parton, that sends preschool-aged children a free book every month. We have been receiving books since January, and I look forward around the middle of every month to seeing what the next book will be. Cooper is too young to anticipate them or get excited about getting mail, but he very much enjoys having the books read to him.

This is a really cool program, and anyone can sign up on their website. It is only available in areas that have a sponsor, and our area, thankfully, is sponsored by Nissan. My hat goes off to Dolly Parton and the people who make this program possible.

Goodwill

What do you do when you need some new fall clothes but have a very limited budget? Go to Goodwill! I've discovered that they have 99-cent sales on Wednesdays and Sundays, so in the past week I have gotten 1 dress, 1 blouse, 3 sweaters, 2 pairs of pants and 4 T-shirts for $10.89 (there is no tax on used clothing).

Can you tell I like red and black?

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Of course, I will wash everything before I wear it, but it's all clean (no spots) and in good condition. They have dressing rooms there to try things on, so I knew it fit before I bought it.

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I hesitated to post pictures because now when you see me wearing these things you'll know where they came from, but oh well! I'm a bargain shopper and I'm not ashamed!

Soup Bowl

Here's a way to get a really cheap meal every now and then that I learned from my mom and have been doing for years.

I keep a container in my freezer, and every time we have leftovers that I won't likely serve at another meal, that would be suitable for soup, I add them to this container. When the container gets full, I just thaw it out, heat it up, and we have soup for dinner! Add some grilled cheese sandwiches or a loaf of bread machine bread and maybe a salad, and you're all set!

These leftovers can include vegetables, pasta, rice, meat, broth, tomato sauce or any number of other things. While some of the finished products have been better than others, I've never had a batch that was too bad. The only bad thing is that if the soup is really good, you'll probably never be able to duplicate it.

Aldi

Someone told me yesterday that Aldi had their fresh pineapples on sale this week for 99 cents. Well, since I am always on the lookout for a bargain these days, and because I love fresh pineapple, and because that is a really good price for one, I decided to check them out. I hadn't been to Aldi in years.

There are several things you need to know if you are going there:

1) You have to pay a quarter to "rent" a shopping cart (you get it back when you turn your cart back in).

2) The don't take checks or credit cards.

3) They charge 5 cents for grocery bags. You can either buy them, bring your own or just carry your stuff.

I had to run to the bank for money when I got there and saw the "No checks or credit cards" sign. When I got back, a nice lady showed me how to get a shopping cart; then she gave me 2 plastic grocery bags. She could tell I was a first-timer.

They have an oddball selection of things; don't plan to do all your grocery shopping there. The prices were good, but not great. (This comes from someone who is a pro at shopping around to find the best prices on things.) I would say they don't have much on Dollar General Store except maybe a slightly better selection of produce, frozen and dairy foods.

All in all, I will probably go back only if I see another good bargain like the pineapple. And I'll be better prepared next time.

It's Hip to be Cheap

I live on a corner. We have a telephone pole in our front yard. People consider it to be public property and feel free to post their signs on it. Granted, it's not my pole, but it is my yard. I don't mind them putting their signs there as long as they take them down when they are outdated. But that's a "gripe" for another day.Today's blog is about the garage sales (or "yard sales") those signs advertise. This time of year, new garage sale signs appear on the telephone pole every weekend. More than ever before I have noticed cars stopping and reading the signs, then turning around if necessary to head in the direction they point. Shamelessly.

Another thing I have noticed is that Goodwill has become the "cool" place to shop. If people shopped at Goodwill in years past, they didn't talk about it. But now I see blogs, comments on Facebook and hear conversations in which people are bragging about the bargains they got there.

No one is ashamed to be "cheap" anymore. Which is a good thing, I think. Rather than a competition to see who could spend the most money, the competition now seems to be who can get the most for the least money.

The thing about garage sales and Goodwill is, they can't last forever. If the economy continues in its current trend and people continue to buy used merchandise, it will eventually wear out, and there will be no more used merchandise.

Just a thought to ponder.

Stretching a Wedding Budget

I read an article recently that said the average wedding costs about $27,000. Good grief. I think mine cost about a tenth of that.

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I’ve never had expensive taste, which is just as well, because I had a fairly tight budget for my wedding. Thankfully, I have been blessed with a wonderful and also talented group of family and friends who offered their help, which I readily and gratefully accepted.

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Invitations. Most craft stores now sell ready-made wedding invitations that you can print yourself. Of course, they won’t be "engraved," but I thought mine looked pretty good. I embellished them a little by buying some white ribbon and attaching a bow to each one with a glue gun.

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Dress. I started at the expensive wedding dress stores. All the dresses they had were strapless, which was "in" at the time but not my style at all. I just couldn’t see spending $800 or more for a dress I didn’t even like. Then I discovered Memories consignment store in Hermitage. I found a dress that wasn’t strapless that I liked much better. The cost: $200, including dry cleaning beforehand. It had been worn once and looked brand new. Someone loaned me a veil and a tiara. I bought some sandals at Shoe Carnival for about $12, I think. No one saw them anyway. I did my own hair, though I did get some tips from a stylist beforehand.

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Church/Reception. We got married at Don’s church (which I later joined). Because he was a member, the cost was minimal. We had the reception in the fellowship hall there. My family and friends and I came in the day before and decorated it. Don and I picked some songs we both liked and made a CD that we played at our reception. It is something we cherish now, as it brings back memories of our wedding day when we listen to it.
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Catering/Cakes. I was blessed to have my brother who is a chef volunteer to do the catering for me. He knew where to shop for good prices on food. He had several of his friends from work volunteer to help him, including one who made both the bride’s and groom’s cake for me for $8 total. He produced an incredible array of food (with help from the rest of my family), and threw in ice sculptures as an added touch. People are still talking about how good the food was at our reception.

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Photography. My sister-in-law has a friend, Angie, who is an aspiring photographer. She was thrilled at the opportunity to do a wedding. She said she would do it for free, but I paid her for costs, plus a small additional amount. In return she took hundreds of wonderful pictures, which she gave me on CD, so I was able to have as many of them as I wanted reproduced at a low cost.
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Programs. Not a requirement, but I made these on the computer and had them copied for a minimal charge. I folded them myself.

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Flower Girl Dresses. My nieces were a part of it all, and my mom was kind enough to make beautiful dresses for them.

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Flowers. I did pay full price for these but kept them to a minimum.

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Music. We had a friend who is an excellent musician, but who refused to accept payment, play the piano for us. The congregation sang one hymn, and the rest was just piano music.

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We had just over 100 people come to our wedding. When I remember my wedding day, I don’t remember how nice my dress was or how many flowers I had in the church; I remember the people who came from near and far to celebrate with us and the things the pastor (who I had known for many years) said to us. I remember the way everyone pitched in and helped me make it all happen. I remember my niece Gracie, the flower girl, carefully placing each petal on the floor as she walked, and how cute Don’s nephew Daniel, the ring-bearer, looked in his tux. I remember the look on Don’s face when he saw me come in as my dad walked me down the aisle, and the way Don hugged him when he gave me away. I remember being in love but at the same time scared to death as Don and I exchanged vows and pledged our lives to one another.

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Half of all marriages end in divorce today. I’m not saying those who choose more elaborate weddings are necessarily those who will end up divorced, but have we maybe lost sight of what is really important in a wedding and a marriage? If I had it to do again, even if I had an unlimited amount of money to spend, I wouldn’t change one thing about my wedding day. Well okay, maybe I would remember to bring the clips for my hot rollers.

Haircut Time!

Our dogs are cockapoos, which are cocker spaniel/poodle mixes. Because they are part poodle, they shed very little but have to be trimmed about 3 times a year. This would cost upwards of $50/each at a groomer, so I have learned to do it myself. It is no small task.

Nash is by nature more laid back than Dasha, so he is generally more cooperative for this project, though they both fight me when I do their legs and feet. He got to go first.

That wasn’t too bad.


Have you ever tried to take a picture of a dog who won’t be still using a digital camera with a delay?

Don says Nash bears a striking resemblance to Richard Nixon with his hair short. What do you think?

Dasha is a pretty smart dog. She knew what was coming, so she set up camp under the bed.

"Dasha, it’s time for your haircut!"

"Come on, it’ll be fun!"

"Do I have to?"

"Maybe I can hide back here."

"Don’t just stand there taking pictures, Daddy. Save me!"

"Oh, it feels good to be done!"

If I knew how to turn this into yarn, I could knit myself a nice sweater!

Becoming a Tightwad

So, our country may go into a depression. A little scary, but it might not be such a bad thing. I think Americans as a rule are way over-indulgent anyway.

Fortunately for us, things have been tight for a while and we’re getting in some good practice. Don and I have both had our work hours cut recently, so we have already started our own little financial depression. To keep from becoming emotionally depressed as well, I’ve made a sort of game out of it, to see how far we can stretch the few dollars we do have. Here are some of our techniques:

Ways to Save Money on Food/Groceries

1) Skip the individually-wrapped serving sizes of food. You pay a lot just for wrapping.

2) I found out that "real" popcorn popped in oil on the stove or in a popper tastes MUCH better than microwaved anyway!

3) Never pass up free food. Don sometimes even brings home leftovers from the cafeteria at the school where he works.

4) If you see a neighbor with a tree loaded down with apples, pears, nuts, etc. that are going to go bad soon, don’t be ashamed to ask if you can have some of them.

5) Buying a whole chicken is cheaper than buying cut-up pieces, and we can usually get at least 2 meals out of one. If you cook them in the crock pot you can avoid having to cut them up; they just fall apart. Pretty tasty too. The leftovers are good in soup or casseroles.

6) Cook instead of eating out. It's cheaper, and you’ll probably eat healthier anyway!

7) Use any coupons you reasonably can. Yesterday I saved about 10% of my grocery bill with them. I think the Sunday paper is a good investment. It will usually more than pay for itself in coupon savings.

8) Watch for sales at grocery stores. I’m not above going in a store and buying only what’s on sale and then buying the rest of what I need at Wal-Mart. Of course, do this wisely so you don’t spend more on gas driving around from store to store than you actually save.

9) Buy store brands.

10) Buy toiletries and paper goods at Wal-Mart, not grocery stores (unless #8 above applies).

Other Ways to Save Money

1) Never go anywhere. Some days I don’t drive my car at all. Really. If that’s not an option, combine trips. Or walk. Really.

2) Turn off the air conditioning/heat when the weather is nice. Now is a great time, especially since NES is raising their rates by 15%! In more extreme temperatures, raising/lowering the thermostat by even a degree or 2 helps.

3) Enjoy cheap forms of entertainment: take a walk, work a puzzle, play a game, surf the net, catch up on your e-mailing and blog reading, finish that cross-stitch project you started 5 years ago, watch TV or a movie you checked out at the library, read (the library is wonderful if, of course, you can consolidate your trip there with something else. If you live in Davidson County, you can go to their website (http://www.library.nashville.org/) and have any item in their system brought to a location near you).

4) Don’t print things out when you can just read them on the computer screen. Printer ink is ridiculously expensive! I have found it’s just cheaper to get photos processed at Wal-Mart than to print them myself. Did you know if you have digital photos, you can go to walmart.com and send them the photos you want processed, choose sizes and quantities for each one and then go pick them up when they’re ready (when you happen to be going anyway, to buy your groceries and toiletries)?

5) Think before you throw things away. Could you use that piece of aluminum foil or ziplock bag again?

6) Don’t resort to credit cards if you can possibly avoid it. That is a big part of what got many of us into trouble in the first place.

7) Prioritize. What's really important to you? We don't have cable TV, but we do spring for high speed Internet (in this case, AT&T is much cheaper than Comcast).

8) Bargain shop. The Internet is a great resource for comparing prices without having to drive around from store to store. I have found Amazon.com often has the lowest prices on things, and you don’t have to pay postage on a lot of their items. This, of course, is assuming you have any money to spend to begin with.

So you see, saving money doesn’t have to be so bad. At least that's what I'm trying to convince myself of. What are some techniques you use to save money?