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Shared Nov 20, 2013 comment

Ask The Readers: When is the best time to buy electronics?

Published: by Crystal Paine on November 20, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Today’s question is from Angie:

My daughter is now a freshman in high school and needs a laptop. We want to get her one for Christmas, but our budget is pretty tight.

We probably won’t be able to take advantage of the Black Friday electronic sales because the quantities are always so limited. So I’m wondering, is it better to buy electronics before Black Friday or wait until Black Friday sales and hope that we can get something more affordable?

Do you have a question you’d like to ask Money Saving Mom® readers? Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.

Shared Nov 20, 2013 comment

This Week’s Menu Plan

Published: by Crystal Paine on November 20, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Breakfasts

Oatmeal, Cereal, Eggs, and/or Fruit

Lunches

Mac & cheese, fruit
Snack-y lunch {veggies, cheese, yogurt, fruit, crackers, etc.}
PB&J, carrot sticks, apples
Cheese quesadillas, carrot sticks
Leftovers x 3

Snacks

Fruit/veggies
Popcorn
Boiled eggs
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

Dinners

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Waffles, scrambled eggs, fruit
Dinner with extended family x 2
Blender Pancakes, scrambled eggs, fruit
Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup, fruit, veggies
Cheesy Chicken & Potato Chowder, Peanut Butter & Jelly Muffins, fruit
Dinner out

What’s on your menu this week? Tell us in the comments or leave a link to your menu plan post.

Shared Nov 20, 2013 comment

Gretchen’s Target Shopping Trip: Spent $1.32 for $9.45 worth of products

Published: by Crystal Paine on November 20, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Target Shopping Trip

1 bag (5 lbs) Potatoes – $1.99, used $1/1 Target mobile coupon (text PASTA to 827438) AND 15% off Cartwheel coupon – $0.69 after coupons 1 Jello Pudding – $0.75 AND 1 Cool Whip – $0.99, used $1.50 off Jello and Cool Whip coupon from the November All You magazine – $0.12 each after coupon 1 bag Cranberries – $1.79 – used $1/1 Target mobile coupon (text PASTA to 827438) AND $1/1 printable AND 5% off Cartwheel coupon – Free after coupons 1 Up&Up Mouthwash – $2.14, used $1.75/1 printable – $0.39 after coupon 2 Colgate Toothbrush – $0.94 each, used 2 $1/1 Target printable – Free after coupons Total before coupons: $9.45 Total after coupons: $1.32

Shared Nov 19, 2013 comment

Gretchen’s Walgreens Shopping Trip: $25.78 worth of products for $3.30 out of pocket

Published: by Crystal Paine on November 19, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Walgreens Shopping Trip

2 Suave Body Lotion at $3 – On Sale Buy 1 Get 1 50% off (2/$4.50)
Used 2 $1.50/1 coupon from the 11/17 RedPlum insert
Buy 2 – Get 2,000 points (like $2)

3 Purex (33 loads) Laundry Detergent at $5.99 – On Sale Buy 1 Get 2 Free
Used $1.50/2 printable (no longer available)

1 M&M’s – $0.99 (filler – This was supposed to be $0.58. The manager had already been called up front twice for my coupons and I was in a hurry so I just decided to let it go. I’ll stick it in my Christmas gift stash.)

Used $4.50 Register Rewards from previous shopping trip

Total before coupons, sales and Register Rewards: $25.78

Total with tax ($0.82) after coupons, sales and Register Rewards: $3.30

If you don’t have Register Rewards, you can break this into 2 transactions to not spend as much out of pocket. Buy the Suave Lotion in Transaction #1 and Purex in Transaction #2. Redeem the 2,000 points (earned in your first transaction) in your second transaction. Your total out of pocket would be $3.99 plus tax.

Shared Nov 19, 2013 comment

Freezer Cooking in an Hour: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Waffles, Peanut Butter & Jelly Muffins, and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Published: by Crystal Paine on November 19, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I had a really successful Freezer Cooking in an Hour session last week and I didn’t get a chance to post about it until tonight!

The Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Waffles turned out beautifully and they are SO good.

Definitely a winner recipe — and they freeze well, too!

The Peanut Butter & Jelly Muffins were also a hit. The outside of the muffin is delicious and the inside jelly adds a fun surprise. These would make great lunchbox treats.

And finally, Kathrynne and Silas made the Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies all by themselves. I was quite proud of them for reading and following their very first recipe with almost no help from me.

While I’m not completely sure that they did everything exactly right, the end results were more than edible. And they were incredibly excited that their cookies turned out so well. I was thrilled to see them stepping up and taking on new responsibilities — even though it’s bittersweet to realize that I’m working myself out of a job!

Recipes Made:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Waffles
Peanut Butter & Jelly Muffins
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

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Shared Nov 18, 2013 comment

10 Goals For This Week

Published: by Crystal Paine on November 18, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Last week’s goals:

Family/Marriage/Mothering Goals

~~1. Read 2 chapters of The Magician’s Nephew to Kathrynne. Read 3 chapters of Caddie Woodlawn with Kaitlynn. Read a few picture books with Silas.~~

~~2. Write a love note to Jesse.~~

Personal Goals

3. Work on memorizing & reviewing Romans 1:1-24.

4. Run 8 miles.

5. Read ~~Daring Greatly~~, Leaving Yesterday, Bread & Wine, and What’s So Amazing About Grace?

6. Work for 30 minutes on my embroidery project.

Business Goals

~~7. Write three articles for book launch.~~

~~8. Finalize book launch team.~~

~~9. Write one post for the 52 Ways to Save $100 a Year series.~~

~~10. Put together media information for my book publicity team.~~

This week’s goals:

Family/Marriage/Mothering Goals

1. Read 3 chapters of The Magician’s Nephew to Kathrynne. Finish Caddie Woodlawn with Kaitlynn. Read a few picture books with Silas.

2. Write a love note to Jesse.

3. Play a game with the children.

4. Write thank you notes/birthday cards.

Personal Goals

5. Work on memorizing & reviewing Romans 1:1-24.

6. Run 8 miles.

7. Read Leaving Yesterday, Bread & Wine, and What’s So Amazing About Grace?

8. Work for 30 minutes on my embroidery project.

Business Goals

9. Write handwritten notes to go out with book launch packages.

10. Write one post for the 52 Ways to Save $100 a Year series.

How did you do on last week’s goals? What are your goals for this week? I’d love to have you share your progress on last week’s goals and your goals for this coming week in the comments. Of, if you’ve blogged about it, leave your direct link below. Let’s cheer each other on to live purposeful and productive lives!

You can download a free customizable weekly goal-planning sheet here.

Shared Nov 15, 2013 comment

How I Made Do With What I Had When We Had Unexpected Guests

Published: by Crystal Paine on November 15, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Carissa from Pretty Hungry emailed in the following:

I recently had a unexpected overnight visit from my father and aunt who had to come to town suddenly to care for my sick grandmother. I was delighted to have them stay with us, but I was slightly unprepared food-wise. I had already done our grocery shopping for the week a few days earlier, and unfortunately it had not involved a very extensive spread of breakfast options suitable for company.

We had one box of off-brand cocoa puffs, some eggs, some turkey bacon, a few small slices of Swiss cheese, and some vegetable odds & ends in the crisper. I could definitely see the makings of a decent quiche… except for one problem. I didn’t have any butter to make a pastry crust!

But did I give up and go back to the grocery store? No! Because I remembered something I did have that just might be the perfect substitute for butter… Frozen, reserved sausage fat!

I had been saving reserved fat from breakfast sausage for months in ice cube trays because it’s wonderful to have on hand for sautéing vegetables and making gravy. I have found that saving fat like this really helps me save money because I don’t pull out the expensive bottle of olive oil nearly as often.

I had never tried substituting it for butter in pie crust before, but I had a hunch that frozen sausage fat would taste amazing in a quiche crust and would work just as well as butter. And I was right!

The resulting crust was perfectly flaky with a wonderful savory taste. It was lovely!

Single Pastry Pie Crust

Here is the recipe I created:

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup frozen, cubed sausage fat
4-5 Tablespoon ice cold water

Directions:

In a mini food processor, pulse the flour and salt to combine. Add in the frozen, cubed sausage fat and pulse until incorporated. (Mixture will look like coarse crumbs.)

Add in the water gradually, pulsing until the mixture comes together in a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour.

Roll out to fit the pan of your choice. Transfer to the pan, taking care not to stretch dough. Trim edges and crimp as desired, and bake according to individual recipe directions.

Makes a single pastry crust.

I hope this inspires you to think outside the box before resorting to going over-budget! I LOVE the way reducing our budget has made me more resourceful, more grateful, and more financially aware. And so far, there have been no complaints from my family. 🙂

Shared Nov 15, 2013 comment

Recipe for Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Published: by MSM Team on November 15, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

These delicious pumpkin bars are perfect for fall, or really any time of the year. The fluffy cream cheese frosting is the perfect compliment to the moist pumpkin bars.

I’ve made these several times in the past month, and have gotten rave reviews and recipe requests everywhere I’ve taken them!

These delicious pumpkin bars are perfect for fall! And they're freezer-friendly!

Guest post from Brigette Shevy

You’ll Love This Recipe for Pumpkin Bars

For as long as I can remember, this church cookbook recipe has been a family favorite all year long, but especially during the fall months.

In fact, we like them so much that these delicately flavored sweet-but-not-too-rich bars have been a welcome addition to our Thanksgiving (and Christmas) dessert table on many occasions.

Since these pumpkin bars are easy to throw together and the recipe makes a huge pan, they are perfect for serving to company or bringing to a party.

And… they freeze well too!

Pumpkin Bar Recipe Ingredients

For the Bars:

2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 cups pumpkin (15-ounce can)
1 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (I use ½ teaspoon each ginger and cloves and ¼ teaspoon nutmeg instead)
1 cup chopped nuts, optional (we never use)

For the Frosting:

4 Tablespoons softened butter
8 ounces cream cheese
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon or less milk, if needed

How To Make Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease an 11″ x 16″ jellyroll pan and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, mix sugar, eggs pumpkin, oil, and vanilla with an electric mixer until well blended.

4. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Mix well.

5. Stir in nuts (optional).

6. Pour into greased pan and bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until done.

7. While the batter bakes, mix all frosting ingredients together (adding more or less milk to achieve desired consistency) and set aside.

8. Once the bars are fully cooled, spread frosting overtop.

9. Refrigerate after 2 hours or freeze for later.

Storing this Recipe for Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Here are a few tips for storing your pumpkin bars (if you somehow end up with leftovers!)

Do pumpkin bars have to be refrigerated?

Since the frosting is made with cream cheese, it’s best to refrigerate pumpkin bars after 2 hours. Many people prefer the taste of cold cream cheese frosting as well.

Refrigeration can dry out baked goods, so if you plan to store your bars for more than a few days, they will taste fresher if you freeze them instead.

Can you freeze pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting?

Yes, they freeze beautifully and thaw extremely quickly.

Simply pop the whole pan in the freezer (covered with aluminum foil and/or plastic wrap) and they should be good for a couple of months. And yes, you can freeze the bars already frosted!

You can also freeze individual bars (with frosting) in small containers for a portion-perfect dessert.

When you’re ready to serve the bars, simply remove them from the freezer a couple of hours in advance. It should be incredibly moist, but not soggy (I’ve had excellent results after freezing this recipe).

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe FAQ

How long do pumpkin bars last?

Well, if you can keep people away from eating them long enough, they should easily last for a week or more in the fridge.
That said, they should still taste fresh after a couple of months in the freezer — so you really could make these well in advance!

Can cream cheese frosting sit out overnight?

No, you should refrigerate the frosted bars after 2-3 hours as cream cheese is a dairy product that could spoil.
One benefit of using cream cheese frosting (besides the delicious taste) is that it freezes quite well.

Recipe

Pumpkin Bar Recipe with Cream Cheese Frosting

Author MSM Team

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

Cooling 1

These delicious pumpkin bars are perfect for fall, or really any time of the year. The fluffy cream cheese frosting is the perfect compliment to the moist pumpkin bars.

Ingredients

For the Bars:

2 cups sugar
4 eggs
15 oz. pumpkin puree
1 cup oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

For the Frosting:

4 Tbsp softened butter
8 oz. cream cheese
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar
1 Tabs milk (or as needed)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease an 11″ x 16″ jellyroll pan and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix sugar, eggs pumpkin, oil, and vanilla with an electric mixer until well blended.
Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Mix well.
Stir in nuts (optional).
Pour into greased pan and bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until done.
While the batter bakes, mix all frosting ingredients together (adding more or less milk to achieve desired consistency) and set aside.
Once the bars are fully cooled, spread frosting overtop.
Regrigerate after 2 hours or freeze for later.

Love this recipe?

Make sure to share and save it on your favorite platform below!

Pin Recipe

Brigette is a full-time wife and mother who is blessed with three amazing bundles of energy (ages 6, 4, and 2). She enjoys music, experimenting in the kitchen, homeschooling her children, finding great deals, long-distance running, and anything chocolate.

Shared Nov 14, 2013 comment

How to Be an Online Shopping Ninja (my guest post at DaveRamsey.com!)

Published: by Crystal Paine on November 14, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I’m honored and excited to be guest posting over at DaveRamsey.com today on how to be an online shopping ninja. Here’s a snippet:

Shopping online is not only convenient, but it also saves you money—especially if you’re armed with my secrets for sleuthing out super deals. Here are three of my favorite ways to get the best bang for your buck online:

1. Use a Coupon Code

My husband and I have a policy to never purchase anything without first finding a coupon code to use. I’ve tried a lot of different coupon code websites and I’ve also tried Googling for coupon codes, but in my opinion, nothing compares to RetailMeNot.com. They are the best coupon code website in existence right now.

All you have to do is go to their homepage, search for the store you’re planning to shop from, and ta-da! you have a long list of coupon codes that have been rated by their large community of users. More often than not, I’m able to find at least one coupon code from the long list that works for me. And, for possibly one to two minutes of effort, that coupon code will usually save me at least 10% off my order—sometimes even as much as 25%!

Read the full post here.

If you find it helpful, would you do me a huge favor and share it on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest? I’d love to bless the folks at Dave Ramsey for their kindness to share my post today. Thank you so much!

Shared Nov 14, 2013 comment

Swagbucks Helps Me DIY

Published: by Crystal Paine on November 14, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Today’s Swagbucks success story is from Nikki:

I’ve been a loyal Swagbucks user for several years. I’ve bought Christmas gifts, groceries, and more with the gift cards that I’ve earned in the past. But recently, I’ve turned my focus into DIY projects around the house.

I’m a full-time student, wife, and mother. Needless to say, I’m on a very tight budget.

My husband and I bought our starter home 15 years ago and never moved out. We’ve always lived paycheck to paycheck, and never had money left over to upgrade our house. Fast forward 17 years into our marriage, and now that we’ve learned a lot of things about budgeting and style, we have desire for changes and upgrades, but no budget for it.

That’s where Swagbucks comes in. Swagbucks allows me to buy light fixtures, windows, paint, and more to slowly upgrade my house.

I’m currently remodeling my children’s bathroom and my most recent purchase was a new bath exhaust fan. Because I had a $100 gift card from Swagbucks, I only had to pay $5.93 out of pocket! WOW!

My Daily Swagbucks earning tips:

As soon as I wake up, I start the Swagbucks Mobile TV App.
I have the Swagbucks Toolbar installed on all of my browsers and earn 1 point a day from that.
I take the Daily Poll and NOSO every day.
Search: I search using the Swagbuck tool bar on both my mobile devices & my computer.
Encrave: play some videos & earn those Swagbucks! This feature is only available on a computer.
I always check out Swagbucks Facebook page, Twitter, and Blog for codes that are worth several points.
Shop & Earn: When I buy anything online, I always use the Shop & Earn link. Swagbucks awards vary but you can earn at least 1 swagbuck for every dollar you spend.

It generally takes me 3-4 months to earn 10,000 Swagbucks or a $100 gift card to my local home improvement store. But it is so worth it, when I can walk into my local home improvement store, and buy that big purchase and hardly have to pay anything out of pocket. I’m currently saving up to buy a new bathroom countertop!

photo source

OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!

Click here to download!

Shared Nov 14, 2013 comment

Do It Yourself: Tissue Paper Stained Glass Turkey

Published: by Crystal Paine on November 14, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

HappyClippings.com shows you how to make a homemade tissue paper stained glass turkey.

Do you have a fun and frugal DIY idea to share? I’d love to hear about it! Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.

Shared Nov 13, 2013 comment

Help! We love books, but they are taking over our house!

Published: by Crystal Paine on November 13, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Hi Crystal! I wondered if I could get your insight about children’s books…namely what to do when they are taking over your house! We have SO many books that our kids’ bookshelves are completely full…But we LOVE to read and I would say that we read and love just about every one we have. However, I just feel like the books are taking over their rooms. It’s much better than toys, but still…what to do!? Thanks for your advice -Courtney

I love books, as you probably well know. 🙂 But we actually don’t have shelves and shelves and shelves of them at our house. Why? Because I can’t stand clutter — even book clutter.

I’ve had to be really intentional with this, because otherwise our rooms would be overrun with books, too. Here are some things that help:

1. Define Your Book Boundaries

We have a shelf in the living room where we keep our very favorite books. I have books I’m currently reading in my bedside table drawer. The kids can keep a small stack of books in their room. And we have two large bookshelves in our basement that hold books we haven’t read yet.

Keeping our book boundaries to about three shelves total has really forced me to not collect or hang onto to books we didn’t absolutely love.

2. Only Keep Your Absolute Favorites

I know, I know, this is so hard to do. But if you love books as much as our family does, you have to draw a line somewhere. If a book didn’t radically impact me in some way or just seem overall amazing, I don’t keep it. I just can’t — unless I wanted to have all our walls lined with books. 🙂

3. Swap/Sell or Bless Someone With Your Extras

I love PaperBackSwap — not only because it saves money, but also because it’s a great way to keep your book collection under control. Why? Because you can’t earn book credits unless you get rid of some of your books.

You can also sell your books, though you often won’t make a lot on them. My favorite way to get rid of books is to share them with others. In fact, even if I loved a book and it’s one I’m planning to hang onto, I’d rather loan it out or pass it on to someone else and let them enjoy and be inspired be them than have them sit on my shelf collecting dust.

4. Become Best Friends With the Library

The library is a frugal, minimalist mom’s best friend. 🙂 My kids can check out stacks of books each week and then we can return them all the next week. And provided you return them on time, in the same condition you checked them out in, it’s 100% free.

If your library doesn’t have a great selection, check Inter-Library Loan to see if you can get the titles you’d like through there. It seems they have (or can get) just about any book under the sun.

What are your suggestions for Courtney? I’d love to hear!

Shared Nov 13, 2013 comment

How Our Boys Saved Up & Paid Cash for Their Own Kindles

Published: by Crystal Paine on November 13, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

A testimony from Stephanie at Mrs. Debtfighter

Everyone around my boys seemed to have a Kindle Fire — or their own electronic gadget. And every time they were around any of these people my boys would tell me how they wanted their own.

Finally, over the summer, my husband and I sat them down and had a talk with them. We told them they could have their own Kindles but that they would have to pay for the Kindles themselves.

We wanted them to know and understand that we aren’t just going to buy them something because they really want it. We also felt that they would take better care of them if they had to save up the money and pay.

After two months of hard work, here’s how they saved the money for their Kindles:

1. My oldest son saved birthday money — Granted, this made a huge dent in how much money HE had to save but he still had to give up receiving toys from family.

2. We sold the family iPod — Selling the iPod also made a big dent. My husband and I got the iPhone 4’s last year for $1 each when the iPhone 5 came out. The iPod pretty much became non-existent then so there was no point in hanging on to it.

3. We purged their closets and bookshelves — The boys went through their closets and found items that they did not like anymore and haven’t used in a long time. We listed the items on Craigslist and sold them $5-$15 each. We were able to do the same with books that they outgrew; selling them on Amazon $5-$15 each.

4. We waited for the better version to be on sale — When they began working towards their Kindles I decided to start researching them. The 8GB was $159 and the 16GB was $199. I knew to be able to put more apps and books on the Kindle, we would need the one with bigger memory. While they were saving, the 16GB went on sale for $159; however, they weren’t ready to buy yet. They finished saving the money and we had to wait for them to go on sale again. My older son asked why, and I explained to him that he would have to save $40 more if we didn’t wait. So, he got a little lesson in sales, too!

The excitement and pride on their faces the day the Kindles arrived was priceless! They were so excited to tell their friends (they even shared how they had to sell things to pay for them)!

Stephanie is a mostly-stay-at-home-mom to two boys and wife to her best friend! She blogs about her debt-fighting journey at Mrs. Debtfighter.

Have you saved up and paid cash for something — large or small? Submit your story for possible publication here.

Shared Nov 13, 2013 comment

Ask The Readers: Target’s markdown policy?

Published: by Crystal Paine on November 13, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Today’s question is from Jay:

There are a lot of sites that explain Target’s markdown schedule, but I recently came across some info on Buzz Feed that said:

If the price of a marked down item at Target ends in 8, it will be marked down again. If it ends in a 4, it’s the lowest it will be. (It’s #30 on this list.)

I’ve never see this information posted anywhere else so I’m wondering if it’s true or not? Have you ever seen this before? -Jay

Do you have a question you’d like to ask Money Saving Mom® readers? Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.

Shared Nov 12, 2013 comment

52 Ways to Save $100 Per Year: Have an All-Cash Christmas {Week 36}

Published: by Crystal Paine on November 12, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

By being intentional and planning ahead, you can save a lot of money (and headache!) on Christmas. Follow these steps and you may save as much as $100 on Christmas this year, if not more:

1. Create a Budget

Yes, it’s kind of a no-brainer, but you can’t stick with your Christmas budget if you don’t have a budget in the first place. Sit down this weekend, if at all possible and look at your current expenditures and your income and decide what is a realistic budget amount to set aside for Christmas.

2. Start Saving

The sooner you can start setting aside money for Christmas, the better. Even if all you can manage to squeeze out of your budget is $3 to $5 each paycheck, start setting that aside in a separate fund. Do not allow yourself to touch it for any reason, except to purchase Christmas gifts.

We typically start planning for Christmas spending halfway through the year. Since we use a cash envelope system, we just start socking away most of our gift cash for Christmas. In addition, we also save up our Swagbucks Amazon gift cards to use for Christmas presents. And I keep my eyes open for other ways to earn free gift cards or products that would be good for gifting.

By the time December rolls around, I usually have a nice stash of gift cash plus gift cards to use for gifts and this becomes our Christmas budget. By doing it this way, we don’t have to dip into any of our regular savings or other money to pay for Christmas–we just have to plan ahead and then look for deals to stretch that money as far as possible.

Feeling strapped for cash this Christmas? Be sure to check out my 31 Ways to Earn Extra Cash Before Christmas series for lots of ideas to help shore up your Christmas gift budget over the next few weeks.

3. Make a Plan

After you get your Christmas budget created and you’ve begun setting money aside, it’s time to start planning your gift list! Again, if you can do this early, you’ll have a huge advantage.

Why? Because when you see some amazing rock-bottom bargain deal that would be perfect for someone on your Christmas list, you can snatch it up then and there and cross that person off your list! Not only will you save a lot of money by starting your shopping early, but you’ll also feel so much more organized and relaxed going into December!

There’s a free printable Master Christmas Gift list here you can use to keep track of everyone you plan to buy for and what you’re planning to buy. If you prefer to keep a running total on a spreadsheet, you can download the Excel Christmas Budgeting Worksheet here to help you stay organized and stick with your budget.

4. Use Cash

If you’re at all tempted to go over your written Christmas budget, I highly recommend that you have a cash-only Christmas. Take the money you’ve allotted for your Christmas budget out of the bank in cash and then only use that money to pay for your Christmas gifts. This will force you to carefully evaluate each purchase to make sure it is the best use of your money and it will guarantee you don’t go over-budget.

Since many of the best deals are online, I suggest that you either use Paypal and refund the money to your bank account immediately from your cash envelope or take money from your cash envelopes and purchase gift cards for your online purchases. This is a bit more of a hassle, but it means you don’t have to worry about any staggering credit card bills come January!

5. Keep It Simple

Christmas should not be about impressing people with expensive gifts. If you’re going to give someone a gift, do it to bless them. Meaningful gifts don’t have to be extravagant and costly.

Consider giving experience gifts or handmade gifts as opposed to high-dollar items. Sometimes, the most remembered gifts are those that took time and thought, not money.

How do you save money on Christmas while still making it memorable?

photo credit; photo credit

2hr Cleaning Checklist

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Breakfasts

Lunches

Snacks

Dinners

Target Shopping Trip

Walgreens Shopping Trip

Recipes Made:

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Single Pastry Pie Crust

You’ll Love This Recipe for Pumpkin Bars

Pumpkin Bar Recipe Ingredients

How To Make Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Storing this Recipe for Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Do pumpkin bars have to be refrigerated?

Can you freeze pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting?

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe FAQ

Pumpkin Bar Recipe with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients 1x2x3x

For the Bars:

For the Frosting:

Instructions

Love this recipe?

FREE DOWNLOAD: 60 Meals To Help You Avoid Takeout!

1. Use a Coupon Code

OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!

1. Define Your Book Boundaries

2. Only Keep Your Absolute Favorites

3. Swap/Sell or Bless Someone With Your Extras

4. Become Best Friends With the Library

What are your suggestions for Courtney? I’d love to hear!

1. Create a Budget

2. Start Saving

3. Make a Plan

4. Use Cash

5. Keep It Simple

How do you save money on Christmas while still making it memorable?

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