Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Our nation is reeling after Friday’s tragedy. Many of you have heavy, aching hearts. There is no valid explanation. There is just immense grief.
If you are hurting and feeling hopeless this Christmas due to Friday’s tragedy or other very difficult circumstances in your life, can I encourage you to download a free copy of Rachel’s ebook, 12 Days of Christmas for the Hurting. It will be free through Wednesday (December 19, 2012).
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Welcome to Decembers series on 31 Days of Giving on a Budget. In this series, I’ll be sharing inspiring stories from my readers and posts with practical ways to give — even on a limited income.
If you have a Giving on a Budget story to share of a way you or your family has given to others this year or this holiday season, please email me your story and a picture to go along with it, if possible. I’d love to hear it and possibly share it during this series!
In these uncertain economic times, it’s wonderful to see how many people are finally accepting the benefits of budgeting. I still remember many of the frustrations I felt when we transitioned to living on one income in preparation for our first child.
One of my biggest challenges was reducing the ability to give generously to friends and family. After nine years of marriage to a very frugal accountant, I’ve wised up about the money dedicated to “gifts” in our budget, I have learned how to get creative when giving… and am quite proficient at stretching our dollars.
Here are 7 of my favorite tried-and-true bargain shopping methods:
1. Develop a Gift Stash
I’ve always kept some generic gifts on hand. It began in the form of a box of picture frames, bath soaps, and candles. Gradually, it transformed into a small shelf in my linen closet and is now a large under-the-bed storage bin full of gifts for adults and children of all ages.
One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is that last-minute shopping can cost 2-3 times as much as you could have paid had you planned ahead. Having small items available at a moment’s notice for a hostess gift or a birthday celebration can save you time, money, and stress.
2. Shop the Clearance Sales
One particular Super-Target location in our area always seems to have the best clearance sales. Whenever I am near that side of town, I plan a trip to that store with the sole purpose of roaming the end caps. They often have toys marked 75% off, so I can grab $20 gifts for upcoming birthday parties for $5.
The key to shopping clearance sales is to think ahead. Plan for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and any upcoming birthdays and baby or wedding showers.
3. Think Generic
Don’t get hung up on buying a Hello Kitty present for little Sally Sue because you know it’s her favorite. If you know that Sally Sue’s birthday party is coming up and you see a Hello Kitty item on sale, by all means, get it! But don’t feel trapped into individualizing your gift purchases. You can be generic, while still keeping it thoughtful.
There are lots of easy ideas for generic gifts for kids of all ages including: art supplies, puzzles, dress-up items and board games. I also like to stock up on nice picture frames to fill with our annual family picture and give them to my extended family for Christmas. It’s amazing how much they appreciate a 5×7 picture I printed for $0.50 in a pretty $3 clearance frame!
4. Shop After-Holiday Sales
Personally, I don’t go nuts with this, but I do try to hit a few clearance sales after Christmas each year. Why pay full price for a Christmas ornament in early December when you can pay one-fourth of the price in early January and hold onto it for a year?
Again, keep your eyes open and think ahead: Does your office have a White Elephant gift exchange each Christmas? Would your parents appreciate a picture of your child in an ornament frame? As always, don’t buy clearance items just because they’re a good deal. Give it some thought and have a recipient in mind when you make your purchases.
5. Shop Throughout the Year
We had no income this past Christmas because my husband had recently been laid off, so I was very thankful that I’d stashed a few particular items away throughout the year for our families. I’d found a great doggie gift in July for my brother-in-law at 75% off that I hid under our bed until Christmas, I took advantage of some free photo book offers in September and made books for each set of grandparents, and I had a pair of earrings for my mom that I’d found at a bargain a few months back.
However, don’t forget that you bought items for certain people once the holiday arrives! I suggest putting a sticky note on the item with the recipient’s name and the intended time frame you want to give the gift.
6. Keep a Small Stock of Cards and Gift Wrapping Supplies
I save gift bags from presents I receive and store them in one giant gift bag near a standing box of wrapping paper and ribbons that I’ve bought on clearance. In addition to keeping stocked on wrapping supplies, always have a stack of greeting cards handy.
Before I learned to make my own cards, I used to go to Hallmark every few months with a list of upcoming birthdays and buy several $0.99 cards to have on hand. You can also buy a set of 8 or 10 blank note cards and write “Happy Birthday” inside. No one says you have to buy a card with a poem that someone else wrote! Let’s be honest: people usually throw away their greeting cards, so don’t spend too much money on them.
7. Build it into the Budget
This is so important! None of these ideas will work for you if you haven’t built a line item in your budget specifically for “gifts.” Pretty much everyone buys gifts, whether they can afford them or not… so why not write down an amount that you’d like to spend on certain people for holidays and put it into the budget?
If you use the cash envelope system, put a little money in the gifts envelope each month so you have a pool to pull from when you find a great sale. If your budget is strictly on paper, take some time with your spouse to write out who you plan to buy gifts for, and the amount you’d like to spend.
Having a $50 bouquet of flowers delivered to your mom for her birthday will likely seem excessive once you see the grand total of your gift-giving budget at the end of the year. You can buy her a beautiful bunch for $10 and deliver them by hand and save yourself a lot of money 🙂
Are you beginning to see a common theme here?
Plan ahead!
Put money aside for gifts, intentionally keep your eyes open for good deals, and pretty soon you’ll find you’re able to give generously while staying within your budget!
Katie is a Christian wife and a stay at home mom of 3. She blogs about managing her family, frugal living, cooking, organizing, and all things homemaking at Intentionally by Katie.
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Welcome to December’s series on 31 Days of Giving on a Budget. In this series, I’ll be sharing inspiring stories from my readers and posts with practical ways to give — even on a limited income.
Katrina from The Poorganic Life emailed me sharing a post on a creative giving challenge did in 2011. Here’s a snippet of her post:
During 2010, we as a family decided that we were going to try to increase our generosity by giving away as much as we spent on our consumable items like groceries, paper goods, household supplies, and medicines. We didn’t quite make our goal that first year, SO we decided to up the ante and give away as much as we SAVED in 2011.
Since we typically SAVE more than we spend by shopping sales and couponing, I decided to keep track of all our spending and savings. We wanted to GIVE away at least as much as we consumed.
Read her whole post here to hear how it all turned out and the blessings that resulted from this challenge.
Traditions are a big part of our Christmas celebrations and observances. Just saying that probably stirs up a few images in your head.
My Papaw was a hard worker and Godly man. He had one of the greatest Puritan libraries of anyone I’ve known, and he read every single book in it. At this time of year, his favorite work was ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. He had every single word of it memorized. I love carrying on his tradition by reading it to my children on Christmas Eve. Perhaps over time I can memorize it just like my Papaw.
After leaving the coalmines of West Virginia, my grandparents went to a boarding school where my Papaw was the groundskeeper and my Granny, the cook. The recipe I’m sharing with you today has its roots from the hallowed halls of that boarding school many decades past. The original brownie recipe can beat out any brownie recipe that I know with its perfect chewiness and thick, smooth chocolate icing.
I’ve given the recipe a seasonal twist by adding a peppermint flavor. I also converted the recipe to be free of gluten, dairy, peanut, egg, and so on.
Whatever the traditions in your home, enjoy every minute of them! Pass them on to your children and the friends with whom you share the joy and wonder of Christmas. Perhaps someday they’ll recite ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” with their own children.
1 1/2 cups brown sugar (or cut the sugar in half and replace with honey or maple syrup)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
7 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Icing Ingredients
1 cup powdered sugar (make corn-free powdered sugar by grinding granulated sugar in a coffee bean grinder)
4 Tbsp non-dairy butter/margarine, softened
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla
2-4 Tbsp hot water or non-dairy milk
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk egg or egg replacer in mixing bowl until frothy. Add softened butter (or oil) and applesauce; mix well. Add brown sugar; mix well. Add vanilla and peppermint extracts; mix well.
3. To the wet ingredients, add dry ingredients — brown rice flour, tapioca flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Beat well (batter will be rather thin).
4. Pour batter into a greased 9×13 pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool.
5. While brownies are cooling, chop your peppermints into bite-sized pieces. I used about 18-20 Soft Peppermint Puffs and chopped them with a knife. Set aside.
6. Make icing: Mix together the powdered sugar and cocoa. Add in your softened butter and vanilla; mix together. Slowly add in hot water or milk while stirring. Stir and add in more water until you achieve a creamy icing consistency.
7. Once brownies have cooled, spread icing on top and sprinkle with chopped peppermints. Refrigerate about 30 minutes so chocolate stiffens a little. Remove from refrigerator and serve at room temperature.
To Freeze:
I recommend leaving the brownies as a whole by removing them from the baking dish and wrapping tightly in plastic wrap. You could also leave them in the baking dish and cover tightly then freeze. Do not freeze the icing and peppermints. Remove the brownies from the freezer to thaw. Once thawed, add icing and peppermints.
Enjoy the wonderful flavors of Christmas in this Peppermint Fudge Brownie!
Michelle is blessed to stay home with her three children (ages 10, 7, and 4), while her husband works to provide. When she’s not experimenting with allergy-friendly meals, she’s blogging about it at The Willing Cook. Through the Willing Cook, her hope is that you gain peace of mind in your kitchen (and your pocket book) and are able to serve those you love who suffer with food allergies.
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Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
My heart goes out to all of our readers in Connecticut and everyone else affected so deeply by the tragedy this morning. I was gone almost all of today without my computer or phone and only heard bits and pieces of news. But what I heard was beyond devastating.
I just got home a little while ago and I had some other posts and deals planned to run tonight, but in light of today’s events, I’ve shelved those to share tomorrow or another time.
I’ll be back to regular blogging tomorrow. Tonight, I’d ask you to please join me in praying for all of the families and loved ones who are experiencing incomprehensible pain, shock, and sorrow.
Stacey and Brooke are offering a free chapter from their book, Hope for the Weary Mom, that shares about their personal experience of dealing with the Virginia Tech shootings. If you are hurting tonight, I encourage you to download the free chapter and read it.
My husband and I decided that we wanted to give our daughter an “experience” gift rather than another toy for Christmas this year. (We know the grandparents will make sure there are several toys under the tree!)
I stay home full time and my husband’s job is not high paying. Add to that, they’ve cut everyone’s hours by 25% this entire year, so we are being careful with our budgets.
There is a museum of natural history in a nearby town that has an extraordinary dinosaur exhibit, and our daughter loves dinosaurs. I went to the museum’s website and checked the schedule of upcoming free admission days.
I used my printer to create “tickets” for the three of us to go to the museum on one of the free days. We’re planning to pack a picnic lunch (the museum is adjacent to a lovely park, but also has an indoor dining area where you’re allowed to bring in food) and we will be sure to take our camera and take lots of photos to remember a fun Christmas present! -Laura from Ten Thing Farm
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Guest post from Brigette Shevy
These bars are one of my all-time favorite holiday treats! If you want to meet new people and make new friends, just take a plate of these decadent candy-bar-like cookies to a Christmas party — you will have people begging you for the recipe! They are very rich (which means one pan goes a long way!), indulgent, and an amazing addition to a plate of assorted homemade Christmas goodies.
Even though I generally stick with recipes that use more “pure” ingredients (i.e. less packages and cans), I like these bars so much that I feel they more than justify a once-a-year splurge.
This is a simple, easy-to-throw-together recipe that will keep in the freezer for weeks – which means you can have treats ready at a moment’s notice the entire holiday season.
I will forever be indebted to my husband’s grandma for introducing me to this recipe! She simply called them “Mounds Bars,” but seriously, there is just no comparison between these and the packaged candy bars in the checkout lanes.
Better-Than-Mounds Bars
Makes one 9″ x 13″ pan.
Crust:
1 ½ – 1 ¾ cups graham cracker crumbs
½ cup melted butter
½ cup sugar (I use less than this)
Filling:
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1 package (7 ounces) shredded coconut
Topping:
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (use less if you’re not a chocolate lover!)
1 Tablespoon peanut butter
Directions: For the Crust: Mix graham cracker crumbs, butter and sugar together and press into a 9×13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. For the Filling: Mix the condensed milk and coconut together and carefully spread over hot crust. Bake for another 15 minutes. Cool. For the Topping: In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the chocolate chips and peanut butter. Microwave until melted, stirring every 20-30 seconds. Spread on top of cooled bars. Chill until set.
That’s it!
The only bad thing about taking these bars to holiday parties it that you’ll rarely ever have leftovers!
Brigette is a full-time wife and mother who is blessed with three amazing bundles of energy (ages 5, 3 and 1). She enjoys music, experimenting in the kitchen, homeschooling her children, finding great deals, long-distance running, and anything chocolate.
Most of us have big goals and dreams for our finances, but executing those grand ambitions is easier said than done. Life happens, busyness creeps in, bills need to be paid, setbacks occur . . . the years tick by and somehow we never seem to make any traction on our financial goals.
I’m here to tell you a secret I’ve found for jumpstarting financial success. When I started implementing this a few years ago, I was amazed at the results. For the first time, I wasn’t just coming up with all these big ideas — I was actually following through and getting things done.
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Here are the freebies I’ve gotten over the past few weeks:
Free Twinings Tea samples
Free Nivea sample
Free Cepacol samples
Free Mrs. Dash samples
Free Bon Ami samples
Free Bic razor
Free Yoplait cup of yogurt coupon
Free Airborne samples
Free coffee sample
Free Aveeno samples
What freebies have arrived in your mailbox this week?
By the way, if you want to start getting great freebies in your mailbox, just start signing up for the freebies I post every day that interest you. Within 4-6 weeks, your mailbox will start filling up with great freebies!
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Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
I find a lot of great ideas on Pinterest… but pinning something doesn’t do anything unless I actually, you know, try the idea. So I thought it’d be fun to challenge myself to do at least one Pinterest experiment every week — and blog my results.
I can’t promise that I’ll always have a Pinterest Experiment post up each week, because you know how I sometimes get distracted or on blog tangents. But I’m at least going to try. By the way, you can follow my Pinterest account here, if you’re interested.
These One-Hour Cinnamon Rolls looked promising. And they were fairly easy to make (I used my KitchenAid to mix the dough).
However, I think that my Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls still beat this recipe out by a long shot — and the Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls only take about 20 minutes of actual prep time to make. (You gotta try the Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls if you have already. Trust on this; it’s a winner recipe!)
I was excited to try the Cracker Barrel Pancakes. They were good and hearty, but I still think that our regular pancake recipe is better.
Want to see what ideas I’m thinking of trying next? Check out my Recipes I Want to Try board and my Do It Yourself board for things I’m considering trying next.
Have you tried any ideas or recipes you’ve found on Pinterest this week? If so, how did they turn out for you?
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Welcome to December’s series on 31 Days of Giving on a Budget. In this series, I’ll be sharing inspiring stories from my readers and posts with practical ways to give — even on a limited income.
We had the incredible opportunity of getting to have Chris Seay and his cameraman come to our home for a short visit earlier this year. Chris is a pastor, author, and a man with an amazing heart for the poor. I was so blessed and inspired to meet him and get to hear a little of his heart.
Chris has traveled all over the world to visit those living in poverty. He’s seen suffering beyond what most of us could even begin to fathom (some of the stories he shared just blew my mind!). But he’s not just witnessed the poverty, he is actively seeking to live a life of walking with the poor–sacrificing his own comforts and wants in order to reach out to those in desperate need.
In his book, A Place At the Table, Chris issues a challenge for us to not just talk about the dire needs and poverty around the globe, but for us to actually walk with the poor. His book challenges readers to consider a 40-day fast from excess.
In the short video below, I share about two books that have impacted me recently when it comes to giving and living a simple life and Chris shares more about his heart for the poor:
For more video clips from my interviews with Chris, be sure to check out the following links:
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Today’s question is from Jessica:
I love giving homemade Christmas goodies out to friends and neighbors, but sometimes the ingredients can really add up to be a lot of money. When I’m already spending plenty of money this time of year, it can sometimes be hard to fork over the extra for specialty ingredients.
I wanted to get ideas from other MoneySavingMom.com readers about what Christmas goodies they find to be the most frugal to make and give. I’d love to be able to keep up this tradition with minimal damage to my pocketbook. -Jessica
Do you have a question you’d like to ask Money Saving Mom® readers? Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.
Have you blogged about a Handmade Christmas idea? Submit the link through this form here and we’ll consider sharing it as part of this series during the next 4 weeks!
