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!
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.
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!
I still remember coming home from a day of shopping with a friend to find my home sparkling clean and my children gone. I greeted my husband with a hug and when I saw his face I knew the children were gone not because he had a secret date planed but that something was wrong.
“Call your mom,” were the three words he was able to mutter while holding back tears.
I did and she soon said words no child — no matter what their age — wants to hear, “Honey, the cancer is back, and there is no treatment this time. I have 6 months at best”.
God was gracious, I got more than 6 months to say goodbye. My mom survived over 4 years from the day of her prognosis. She passed away just before her 61st birthday in April of 2007.
The Christmas season after her death was hard. Even though I knew she was passing a few years before it happened, I still couldn’t get over the harsh reality of being left motherless.
I was at a local Mothers of Preschoolers meeting one December morning when a leader announced to the group the location of the church’s giving tree. I went to the tree to look through the children’s names, thinking at least it would get my mind off of grieving for a moment, when I noticed the tags were not just for children but for single moms as well.
I immediately picked up a tag for a single mom. Something about the idea of getting to buy a gift for a mother even though I could no longer get a gift for my own warmed my heart.
I don’t remember all that was on her list, but I do remember one item, a devotional. As I was wrapping up the gift I felt urged to place a thank you note inside the devotional. You see, in giving to someone else, my pain was momentarily eased.
Two gifts were given that day not one.
If you are grieving a loved one this year, I urge you to reach out and give. Churches and organizations across the country offer giving trees like the one I was involved in that year. Many have a table set up at the local mall.
The gifts on these tags are generally not expensive. Many items could be brought down in price with sales and coupons.
Grab a tag of an individual that reminds you of the one you lost, and spend the money you use to spend on gifts for your loved one on these strangers instead.
It’s a great way to honor the memory of those we once cherished and I think you will also discover the healing power of giving… just as I did that Christmas.
Victoria writes at Snail Pace Transformations where she shares her tips on how to purchase items inexpensively, sell things you already own, and shares her love of simple recipes made with simple ingredients.
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy and celebration. Of sharing together, being together, and giving to each other.
But for some of you, Christmas this year won’t be anything like that. Maybe you’ve just lost a child or loved one or your spouse was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Perhaps you are in a really hard place financially or struggling with being unemployed or underemployed. Some of you are likely struggling with broken relationships, deep hurts, and pain unimaginable.
There are those of you of who are likely suffering in silence. Your heart is breaking over a situation, but you can’t talk about it publicly because it involves people near and dear to you.
If you are hurting this Christmas, I just want to let you know that I care about you and would love to pray for you. Please feel free to email me if there’s a way I can pray for you specifically (or just in generalities, if you can’t share the specifics of your hurts right now). I’m not always the best at answering emails promptly, but I do always pray for everyone who writes in to request prayer.
In addition, I wanted to encourage you to consider getting a copy of my friend Rachel’s ebook, 12 Days of Christmas for the Hurting. Rachel has experienced a lot of grief and heartache in her life (read her story here) and she shares openly about the hurt she’s been through and how she’s dealt with it.
Rachel’s ebook is just $0.99 right now on Amazon.com. If you are unable to afford a copy, please email me your Amazon email address and I’ll order you a copy as my Christmas gift to you. It’s the least I can do to reach out to you in the midst of a difficult situation and let you know that someone cares.
{Hugs!} to each of you who are hurting this Christmas season.
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
I cut into a few oranges planning to serve them for lunch yesterday. But all three of them were way past their prime.
So I used two of them to make Homemade Christmas Potpourri (it takes less than two minutes to make! Did you see the recipe here?) and I used the other one to deodorize my garbage disposal. Yes, really.
Just cut the orange in fourths (or smaller pieces if you have an older garbage disposal — you don’t want to risk hurting your disposal!) and stick it down the garbage disposal, turn it on (while the tap water is running, too!), and let it run for 30 seconds or so until it’s completely ground up and washed down.
(Update: Some of my readers suggested adding some ice and baking soda, too, to further help clean and deodorize your garbage disposal — great idea!)
The orange peel cleans the disposal, kills the odors, and leaves your kitchen smelling all fresh and wonderful — all without using any harsh chemicals or elbow grease!
If you don’t have an orange that needs to be disposed of, you can also just use the orange peel or do the same trick with a lemon or lemon peel.
Just because you have a tight budget does not mean you can’t enjoy Christmas. In fact, you might find that you enjoy the holidays even more when you don’t have a lot of money to spend. It forces you to slow down, simplify and get creative.
Give Experiences vs. Expensive Gifts
If you don’t have money in your budget to give your children expensive gifts, that’s OK! Focus your energy on making special memories together.
Check out Christmas movies from the library, listen to Christmas music on the radio or on Pandora, play board games, pop popcorn and make hot cocoa, and drive around and look at Christmas lights. Laugh together, talk together, be together. I promise these are much more important in the long run than being able to afford some high-dollar toy.
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Today’s question is from Ariel:
We have three children ages 3, 2, and 1. We also have extended family that enjoys giving abundantly (a.k.a spoiling!) at Christmas. My husband and I want to encourage our children to live lives of giving and “living on less”, but we don’t want without take the gift-giving opportunity away from our family. Practically speaking though, we have way too many toys.
Besides clothing, books for homeschooling, and art supplies, are there any unique gifts or gift ideas I can suggest to family members?
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!
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!
From November 5 to December 7 (skipping the week of Thanksgiving), every weekday morning at 9 a.m. EST, I’ll be posting the day’s assignment and then every evening at 7 p.m. EST, I’ll be posting my progress and pictures, along with a link-up for you to share your progress and pictures, too.
Day 18 Assignment
::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}
::Set the timer for 15 minutes and vacuum the main living areas of your home.
::Vacuum your carpeted closets. Sweep or mop the floor in those closets without carpet. Remove all items from the closet floor and get rid of clutter, trash, and items that don’t belong in that closet.
Take pictures of your accomplishments and blog about them, if you’d like. And then come back here at 7 p.m. EST to share your progress posts or tell us about your accomplishments in a comment.
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.
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!
Guest post by Alison from Experimental Wifery
When I taught third-grade, I wanted to help my students give something wonderful to their families for the holidays. I didn’t want to encourage half-hearted art projects or cheap, poorly-made presents; my options were limited.
In the end, I assigned my students to spend thirty minutes each night doing something charitable for their families in lieu of homework for a week. They came up with wonderful and creative solutions they loved to share with the class.
One student watched her younger brother brush his teeth so he wouldn’t develop more cavities. Another read to her little sister while her mom cooked dinner. One young woman bragged that she went to bed a whole thirty minutes early one night—which was probably just what her mother needed.
My students took the lesson about charity to heart. During the rest of the year they started canned food drives, wrote letters to soldiers in Afghanistan, and mentored other students on their own initiative. These young girls were already generous, but after they had seen the difference just a little bit of thoughtfulness can make in someone’s day, they wanted to share that generosity with as many people as they could.
From those eight- and nine-year-old girls, I learned that charity really does begin at home. So, especially this time of year, my husband and I try to set an example for our toddler of doing things for each other out of love.
I’ll help my husband carry out the recycling. Later, he’ll give me a short rest to unwind from the day. Our son is even beginning to get the idea himself, freely blowing kisses and giving hugs when it seems like one of us is upset.
Giving to others is a beautiful idea, but sacrifice and charity for strangers can’t make sense to a child who doesn’t see sacrifice and charity at home. Thanks to my third graders, we discovered that a spirit of giving within your family is the one of the greatest gifts we can give to our children—and the world.
Alison blogs about learning to be a better woman and wife at Experimental Wifery. She also teaches English part-time at the Brookewood School in Kensington, MD.
Ready to stress less about money?Start with our FREE 5-Day Budget Makeover!
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
If you missed the Day 17 assignment, you can read it here.
We had another great day today — and my alarm clock actually worked this morning, unlike yesterday! 🙂
I chose to clean out the cupboard right next to the fridge as it is the cup that has become a sort of dumping ground for all sorts of odds and ends in the past two months.
I took everything out and wiped it out.
Guess what I found while cleaning out the cupboard?!? 🙂
Much better!
While I was cleaning out the cupboard, Jesse was teaching the kids how to play Scrabble, with the new game board that we just got from Groupon deal. I sense that there are going to be some rousing Scrabble matches in the near future at our house based upon how the game went down tonight! 🙂
How did you do on Day 17? I’d love to have you share your progress and success with us so we can be inspired. Either post a link to your blog post below or leave a comment with your update.
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
I pulled out oranges for lunch yesterday and found that they were unfit to eat… apparently they’ve been hiding in my fridge drawer for longer than I realized.
The idea struck me almost immediately: I could whip up some homemade Christmas potpourri with these!
Within two minutes, I had some delicious-smelling potpourri simmering on the stove. It made our whole home smell ridiculously good — like I’d been slaving away in the kitchen all day.
In fact, when Jesse got home, he took one whiff and said, “What smells so good?” I kinda hated to disappoint him and tell him it was likely mostly just the potpourri, not some amazing delicacy I’d cooked. 🙂
Homemade Christmas Potpourri
2 oranges (or the peel from 4-5 whole oranges — no need to ruin good oranges if yours aren’t past their prime like mine!)
1 teaspoon cloves (ground or whole)
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2-3 cups water
Cut the oranges in half or fourths, put them in a medium saucepan, sprinkle the spices over them, and pour the water over the spices and oranges. Simmer on low four 4-6 hours. Make sure to check the saucepan occasionally to see if you need to add more water. You could probably also make this in a small crockpot, but I’ve not tried it yet.
December can be a busy, frantic season full of last-minute shopping, parties, baking, gift-wrapping, recitals, and get-togethers. While these things can all be memorable and special, it’s important that we not lose sight of what’s most important at Christmastime: celebrating the birth of our Savior and savoring the moments and memories.
Here are three ways to help you streamline your life and responsibilities so you can enjoy Christmas more this year:
1. Pare down your gift-giving.
Evaluate your gift list: Do you really need to give a gift to your uncle’s neighbor’s dog? I’m pretty sure Fido will survive just fine without another fancy chew toy, so save your money and use it to buy gifts for those you really care about or want to bless.
Creating limits for how many gifts you buy helps to simplify things. I know some families who give their children three gifts in three different categories (such as: something to wear, something to read, and something fun)…
Published: by Crystal Paine on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
My brother-in-law is launching a new app called ChorePro and he’s currently looking for some moms, dads, and caregivers to beta test the new app before it hits the market in early 2013.
ChorePro is a mobile solution for managing household chores that provides easy chore management for the parents, and a rewards system for the kids. Get rid of those cluttered paper charts stuck to the refrigerator and use your mobile phone to manage chores and simplify your life!
Parents easily create chores, setup a schedule, and assign points. Chores will then be listed on a handy preview screen, showing exactly which chores have been completed, and which ones are still left undone. As chores are completed the kids earn points, which can then be redeemed for rewards. The rewards are setup by the parents, and are fully customizable.
How Do I Sign Up to Be a Beta Tester?
ChorePro is currently in development. It will be available for iOS in early 2013, but we are currently looking for early beta testers who are willing to test out the app and provide feedback on it! If you would like to possibly be chosen to be a part of the early beta program, please fill out our survey here.
Or, to sign up for updates, and to be notified when ChorePro is available, sign up 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!
