Christmas Contemplations-Frugal and otherwise

While my photograhy  skills still need work, I figured I would follow Syd's lead. Although I want some more decorations, I've tried not to go to crazy this year.  Our village has outgrown it's table and next year I will either have to divide it into two sections or come up with another solution.  I've been looking for another piece to add to our town. Unfortunately Department 56 pieces are not cheap-all the above were received as gifts.

Well, my limited entertaining demands are finished.  As I talked about here, these were mainly frugal and low stress events.  In both cases the groups were relaxed and more all about the companionship. Last evening I had eight for lasagna, garlic bread, brussell sprouts, salad, and key lime pie. Oh, and wine, a fair amount of wine. As I've said before, my contribution was the home and the lasagna. I love being able to get out my Christmas wine glasses and dishes and celebrate.  For this reason I usually volunteer for the Christmas dinner. However, I'm glad I only do the entertaining thing twice during the season, and rotate holiday celebrations.  Now I can relax. For the rest of the time, Christmas goodies and dishes are for immediate family and drop ins (although I did volunteer my guest room for Christmas eve if it's needed).

Today I'm enjoying the season and chilling, as the younger generation would say.  Eggnog (which I will have to walk off tomorrow), some mini Quiche appetizers that I forgot I had in my freezer, and the newspaper have kept me busy. Add the football games (Tim Tebow, you're gonna give me a heart attack) and some casual quilting and life is good.  Sometimes the best things in life really are (almost) free

Now I can concentrate on frugal and creative Christmas pastimes such as gift giving and cookie baking.  For me, both of those are stress free-mainly because my family is comfortable with small and homemade gifts and appreciate the little things.  Even though I gift lots of people, I generally find giving to be pretty stress free.  Also, although I shared my $500 holiday plan earlier, I am always trying to be more creativel and frugal. I keep my eyes and ears out for frugal, creative ideas.  Adult men seem to be the most difficult to buy for, even with a list.  In a moment of temporary inspiration today, I found some logos for Avalanche beer, which my brother in law loves.  I copied them to a word program.  Then I printed them out on fabric, and these will be coasters and beer cozies.  I was really  looking for something original to add to his package and this will fit the bill.  I got this idea by looking at these tile coasters-a project  plan to put to good use in my kitchen.  Another frugal Internet visit

When it comes to the kitchen, I try and keep it as low stress as possible. Not sure how many kinds of cookies I will make, but I will do a little each day, using all the stuff I have on hand. Most will be for immediate family. Some will be taken to our large Christmas day get together. Others will be taken to a Christmas event at church, or to my women's party. My goal is also to make some jarred gifts such as Cranberry Walnut conserve, but I'm not sweating the small stuff-if I get there I get there.

All in all as we move into the final days towards Christmas I'm feeling pretty frugal and pretty stress free overall. I'd still like to get in a Nutcracker performance, be it ballet or orchestral-and I'm more than happy to see a local performance. Other than that, days will be spent on book trips, sewing, baking, and planning the post Christmas trip to Denver. Evenings, I'll be reading, drinking more eggnog than I should, and watching as many Christmas films as I can.

It's definitely Christmastime.

Frugal Retirement-My $500 Holiday Update #2

While I in no way have completed my Christmas shopping or cooking, I know my plans and have good knowledge of what I will be making and buying. To that end, I thought it was time for another update.  remember, I allocated $500 for Christmas. That was to include gifts for seventeen family members and my two adult and college aged children. It also included gift exchanges  with two social groups, an Angel child, and cooking and baking  and entertainment requirements.  At the time I gave myself this challenge, I believed that I would be hosting a prime rib Christmas dinner as well.  I am not hosting Christmas, which gives me a lot more leeway in money savings-I would obviously like to end up with money left over

Again I will say that gifting this many people is a concious decision, and that I appreciate that others may have had different choices. Our gifts are often not lare, and are just one part of a whole celebratory season.

In terms of my Christmas expenses, there are really two types of costs.  The first, is out of pocket cost.  That is, the money it cost me now, in cash, to purchase or make a gift.  There is another cost, and while I don't want to call it real cost, I have also figured that into the equation. That is the cost of things I already have in my stockpile/pantry/sewing room that I am using. I guess I will call that the value cost. However, in figuring my Christmas expenses, I am using the first, out of pocket cost figure for my tally.

Adult and kid gifts (not mine) purchased or made (almost all on requested lists) My out of pocket with explanations follow

• Couple one:  Restaurant gift Certificate and short sleeved navy sweater 80.00
• Couple two:  Cowboy coasters and mug rug for him, set of six place mats and napkins in fall tones for her.  Out of pocket cost zero.
• Couple number three:  New house, lifestyle with lots of entertaining.  A large longaberger serving platter I won at a silent auction years ago and never used, still in box. For her, a snowman wall hanging to match her year around collection of snowmen. No out of pocket cost, made from my supplies of fabric and thread
• Couple number four:  $25 Barnes and noble GC for him (cost $15.00 from a group buying site), and coasters, hot pads and kitchen accessories in their colors-red, navy, orange yellow and purple.  No out of pocket cost, supplies again from me.
• Couple number five, in Denver:  Still working, won't go up till the day after Christmas. They are going to commission me to make a quilt for their bed......maybe offer to make something with it for free. Or bring $25.00 worth of stuff from the German deli fresh.
• Couple Number Six, In Seattle:  with a toddler and a newborn, most of what I give them will be to the kids, see below.
• Single Sister in Denver:  No idea as of yet. she is extremely easy and would be happy with a free trip to the local thrift store or gourmet food store and an extra twenty to spend.  Working on it.
• College Age Niece:  I got a twenty dollar gift card from Vera Bradley in my birth month (see why you should get on an email list from your favorite stores?).  I got an onsale wristelt.  No cost.
• College Age Niece:  a like new gourmet cookbook for my chef student.  Cost 3.00
• High School Age Nephew:  He is at that age, who on earth knows.
• Toddler Niece:  have a $10.00 Toys r US gift card, just haven't gotten there yet
• Newborn Nephew:  Set of baby blankets that match.  No cost, fabric from my stash.

My kids $100 each:

•  Thirty something daughter:  book on holistic eating she requested, kitchen utensils and accessories to match her new apartment including a small drying rack, and a set of yoga clothes from target (see below). More but I don't know what yet.  A $25 gift certificate to amazon at no cost to me because I earned it with swag bucks
• Twenty Two Year Old Unemployed Son:  Clothes, clothes and more clothes.  He's lost weight but unfortunately he is six six-that still means a trip to the big and tall store for shirts so they cover his waist and belt. Other stuff when I am done.

Quilting friends:  fabric collections unused from my stash and wrapped with a ribbon.

Women's Group:  Homemade cookies and some kind of canned item-I am thinking cranberry walnut conserve but am not sure yet..........if so I will only have to buy the berries and nuts. Jars, decorative items, and other food ingredients on hand

Baking:  I have no idea how to figure this. My pantry is full of loss leader bags of sugar, brown sugar, flours, chocolates and the like.  Out of pocket cost will be minmal.

Entertaining:  Unsure.  Dinner group will be lasagna. Have whole grain noodles, ground pork and ground beef, tomato sauce. Will need buy the cheeses and garlic bread. Cost minimal.

Angel "Child":  My angel person is a senior who has put a her need as a blender and her wish as an alarm clock. I have allocated $25.00 to outreach and we will see how far it gets me.  See below.

At this point my out of pocket costs are $298 if I have done the math correctly.  That includes the $200 allocated for my children even though it is not all spent.  The budget for couple number one (my in laws) is abnormally high and may come down. I would really like to get them a restaurant gift certificate.  Mom in law wanted a specific sweater and doesnt ask for much. They did so many things for me when I arrived in Texas. I still may be able to get a free restaurant certificate but if not, so be it.

I anticipate future costs to be a maximum $25.00 for the angel child, $50 for Denver gifts, and a small unspecified amount in terms of groceries for entertaining and gifting. Obviously there will be some additional costs and stocking stuffer items but so far I would say I am meeting my goal with ease.

My estimates on costs above are a little uncertain because I have a $10 off 50 certificate for Target. My plan is to get the blender and daughter's yoga clothing there and then add to the pot in terms of kitchen items.  I also have a $10 off $10 certificate for Penney's, a $25 off $25 at Casual Male Big and Tall, and $20.00 off $20.00 at Victoria's Secret.  I still have extreme couponing skills and coupons, grouping buying offers to take advantages and other deals I will be looking out for. I may even find a deal on that gift certificate, lowering costs by $50.00All in all it should be a VERY Merry Christmas.

Note:  at some point I'll figure those real material costs and let you know what I come up with. Since I buy fabric year around on sale, real costs should still be very, very fair.

Frugal Retirement Living: My $500 Holiday Plan

Previously, I mentioned that I was working towards a $500 Christmas holiday. I’ve mentioned that our family (on both sides) has chosen not to get rid of gifts. Rather, we share ideas, needs and wants, and go from there. Gifts range in price from a few dollars on up. I buy for thirteen adults, my son and my daughter and four nieces and nephews ranging from toddlerhood (you read that right) to college age.

Here we are at the beginning of November. I refuse to celebrate Christmas before we’ve seen Thanksgiving. As my son would say, I prefer to celebrate the national holiday and make if not equally as important, at least important in its own right. However, I feel that by planning ahead (sometimes year around), I also free up myself to enjoy both the religious and other aspects of Christmas at my leisure. My original estimate had included hosting a family meal for one side of the family, so I believe that I will come in much, much lower (standing rib roast lives in a place all of its own in terms of price).

How I’m doing this is really not so amazing. I’ve combined deals, free items (not talking samples here), and loss leader shopping. I’ve also used my skills to make some original gifts and decorations. While I’ve not yet done my final total, and still have gifts to organize, I thought I would share some of my gifts and where they came from to make this goal come to fruition.

Some items I’ve gotten by deal shopping or being a “favored customer” Two years ago I signed up as an email customer with Vera Bradley purses. Each year in my birth month, they send me a gift card for twenty dollars off anything they sell. This wristlet was on sale for 19.99 and became a completely free gift to one niece (the one who has twenty purses and dresses up). If I have extra gift cards that I’ve earned, I’ll add a small five dollar gift card to the mix. By doing the same thing with Victoria’s secret I’ve earned a free panty for every month and free bra (stocking stuffers for my daughter). My son is six foot six inches tall. As a result we are registered online and in store as customers to get advance awards of deals. A few times a year we get one that is good for twenty five dollars off anything in the store, and I go to the outlet store and get sale items for free. I’ve also taken advantage of other deals, including those ever appearing ten dollars of ten dollars at JC Penney coupons. I’ve used these for scarves, shawls, individual pieces of jewelry and kitchen towels.

Some of my free low cost gifts have come through earnings and rewards. I’ve earned gift cards from CVS, Penny’s and Amazon (as well as gas cards) through debit card rewards. By using Swag bucks, I’ve earned many many dollars in Amazon cards. These will be used towards gift certificates for members with kindles such as my in-laws (who sure do appreciate the adjustable print sizing).

Another big way I meet my gift giving goal is using my skills and or items already on hand to make gifts (whether those gifts are things or promises of time). While it’s true that I am a quilter (with a large stash of fabric), I do have a few other non-crafty skills that come into play as well. While I don’t enjoy cooking per se, I enjoy baking, and creating various sauces, condiments and such. I enjoy experimenting with flavor combinations. To that end, I’ve four separate barbecue sauces that I will can and give as sets. I’ll also be making such items as pickled cranberries and flavored ice cream toppings. These homemade foods will go into thrift shopped baskets with decorative napkins and a couple other items (thrift shopped ice cream bowls for example), and be made into gifts. Since I buy both canning supplies and pantry items from tomatoes on up at loss leader prices, the cost for these baskets will be a couple dollars.

Since I enjoy writing on occasion, I’ve done my own version of “scrapbooking”. I’ve begun writing down some memories of early times in my kid’s lives or even before. I type this up in nice script on nice paper and mount it. I may add a photo or memento afterwards. These are presented individually rather than in a scrapbook so that they can be framed. I buy the paper with rewards points from my office paper purchases, and may have the additional cost of scanning a photo.

I would be remiss if I didn’t add the crafty quilty items as well. Quilted coasters, sewn spa bags, kindle and ipad covers and baby quilts are all items that will be added to the gift pile. Since I work with fabric on hand, my out of pocket costs will me almost nothing. I do however, keep track labor costs for my own information. Still, these items will cost more than a traditional (often prefab and throwaway gift)

Thrown into this mix will be homemade cookies and candies and other items as yet unnamed. Sometime in the next few weeks, I‘ll figure exact expenses, check my gift list and see where I am in my quest. Meanwhile, I’ve been fortunate to make a big dent, with very little mone

Post Christmas Musings

Yesterday was a lovely (albeit busier than usual) Christmas. I only host the family of thirteen every so often. While it was enjoyable and festive, I’ve taken advantage of today and remained semi horizontal and blanket wrapped much of the day. This has given me time to think a little bit over the pre-Christmas season as well as yesterday. A few musings on Christmas celebrations in general and “Frugal” Christmas specifically:

• Good gifts do not need to be expensive. Even if your family only does store bought gifts, it is possible to find reasonably priced gifts that can appreciated. Gifts DO need to be something that will be used and/or needed. They don’t even need to be a surprise. If more people would realize that, instead of buying “something to wrap”, life would be so much easier. I’ve said before that my family shares gift lists. But if we didn’t I would get together with someone who had a good idea and get a feel for what was needed and used. My best Christmas gift was a small tabletop tea kettle in a color that matches my kitchen-a gift from both children.


• Gifts do not have to be “equal” among friends and family (I will leave others to comment on the workplace). It is not a requirement that children or family members have the same amount of gifts, or that the same amount of money be spent per person.


• It’s the family get together that counts, not necessarily the amount of time, effort or money spent on food. I say this as a woman who is part of a cooking family and who made prime rib and spiral ham yesterday. I have also had years when lasagna has been appropriate for the gathering. A store bought pumpkin pie is not an abomination.


• Family togetherness is improved when everyone takes part in contributing to the meal. Sometimes those of us in the parental generation need to remember that. My children cooked a vegetable and potatoes. One relative brought another veggie, one a pumpkin pie, and two others appetizers. I only baked some cookies, shopped and cooked the beef.


• It’s good to be open to a few new traditions. Greeting every idea with “but that’s not how we do it in this family”, is not helpful. There is a way to continue family traditions while welcoming new ones. None of my Texas in-laws had ever had Yorkshire pudding before, or green beans cooked al dente. Both were received well and devoured. On the other hand, I had never had sautéed spinach until my mother in law introduced me. For years, when my children were young, we had Italian food on Christmas Eve, and opened a gift when we got home. Now, we have appetizers and eggnog. We sleep as late as we want on Christmas. On the other hand, we also always have scrambled eggs and cookies every single Christmas morning.


• Planning reduces stress. A little thinking about Christmas year around (a gift here, a craft made there) makes the month before Christmas much more enjoyable. Admittedly, gift buying in advance for everyone is not reasonable (especially with young children). But I knew my son wore a certain size of Rugby shirt for a full year, and buying them in April did not diminish the value.


• Christmas should not be spent traveling to and fro. Most of our marriage we lived in Washington DC or Germany. One set of in-laws lived in Texas and the other in South Carolina or London. Christmases were either spent in a small fashion (just the four of us) or they were spent at one family or the other. Running between families was not an option, and if we were close enough to do so, I still would not have chosen that option. I tell myself regularly that I will never expect that kind of obligation from my kids when they have their own families.


• Lastly, Christmas did not end yesterday, it just began. Extending the holiday to its proper end eliminates the sudden post-Christmas depression that many people feel, and is a natural lead in to January. My tree and village with all its lights will stay cheerfully in the living room until January 6.


I’m sure more holiday and post-holiday musings will come to me later. I hope your holiday was as relaxed and enjoyable as mine. Happy Christmas to all.

Christmas on a Fixed Income-Gifts From the Heart

A while back, I wrote about the advantage of including some homemade gifts into your Christmas plans.

However, so called “crafty” gifts are just one kind of alternative gift giving. Many alternative gifts require more thought than money, and are welcomed by the recipient. Even if you’ve purchased all of your gifts and are not worried about the money factor, these alternatives create memories. They also give you an opening for so called add on gifts in future years. And for the most part, they don’t involve a huge accumulation of stuff or a misuse of resources. Most of these could be done now for this Christmas, a few may be ideas to jump start next year. A couple appeared on my homemade gift article previously, but apply here as well. At least one is a so called “store bought gift” that is made through alternate means:

• Bequeath a family heirloom to a child or grandchild now, along with a note about how the item was acquired, be it from a family member on a trip or another source. As a matter of fact, do this each year. Why wait to pass on family heirlooms?

• Type a one page letter or story about a family experience that may or not may be remembered by your children or grandchildren. If you feel the need include a small photo. If desired, put it into a journal or sale scrapbook and add another story each season or celebration.

• If you or someone close to you has heirloom photos, copy one and give it to a family member, with a promise to frame it.

• Offer an experience to a grandchild. This may be a day spent making cookies together, going to their favorite place or simply sitting at the tea party table or playing Legos on the floor.

• If you have unshared family recipes, start sharing, use the computer to print out attractive pages with clip art.

• If you’re a cook, promise someone a gift of the month, be it homemade soup, bread, or cookies.

• If you have grandchildren nearby, offer to take the kids for 24 hours, not when mom and dad have an obligation, but when they have no plans and can simply be alone in their own home. While it’s nice to go out, most women at least would rather be in their own homes alone for 24 hours.

• If someone has a collection that you know they will keep in the coming years, search yard sales and thrift stores to add to that collection. One of the things I keep is a tea cup and saucer collection from my grandmother. I am thrilled to get new cups and saucers at any time. Approach this carefully, and make sure the person truly loves the collection.

• If you have a skill that your children or friends do not have, offer to do a specific thing that you know will either not get done or they will have to pay for otherwise. I cannot climb a ladder or even a stepstool because of an injured knee. A family member offering to come and drill and do those things I cannot reach for half a day is a wonderful gift.

• If you know that there is a food that someone loves but doesn’t buy themselves because they think it is to luxurious, get a small amount of that food for them. Alternatively, buy a few things and make a Hickory Farms style basket at half the price.

• Christmas is a religious holiday. Celebrating the twelve days of Christmas (from Christmas Day to 6 January) not only reminds us of that, it’s also a way to extend the holiday for some. Give a spouse, child or family member a small gift each day, ala Advent season. As a matter of fact, if you have an artificial tree, consider leaving your decorations up through the complete Christmas season.

These ideas are just a starting point, but you get the idea. Many of these gifts can be done in half a day. Christmas is not just about giving gifts, is also about creating memories and celebrating a birth. Hopefully some of these suggestions will resonate with you during these last weeks.

Christmas in July...er...August

In my family, we gift everyone at Christmas.  This means thirteen people on my late husband's side of the family, and then eleven or thirteen at my siblings' event in Denver. I am in no way complaining. I like giving gifts and I like getting gifts. The biggest problem of course, has been my adult children (especially the one still at home).  I admit that my husband and I were pretty generous and probably spent more per child than most. We generally ended up making their seasonal clothing replenishment part of Christmas, and they generally got no gifts other than this and birthdays. My children have not asked for much the past few years, but I had trouble adjusting my habits, if you will.

So while I love giving gifts and would not change Christmas in any way, I have had to learn to be creative about acquiring gifts, as well as cutting down on gifts for my immediate family. Fortunately over the years I've been able to develop a few methods for doing this.  First, I make many of my gifts, and secondly, I get gifts for pennies throughout the year.  These are both things that anyone can do.

When it comes to how a acquire gifts for pennies, some of the methods I've  mentioned here already, but I'll share them again. Also, although it is not my intention to ever turn into a coupon or deals site, occasionally I may mention a specific deal  in the future just to share how easy it can be.

As I said before, I sign up online with all the stores and receive free gifts and high value coupons. Secondly, I shop yard sales. While many people think of yard sales for kids stuff, it's not necessarily true.  My brother would love a boys life from the late sixties, when we lived in Hawaii (Something to do with mongoose trapping and the like). I take baskets and clean them and use them for gift baskets. And I can always use more canning jars. The third big thing I do is that I  sign up for every single reward program there is. I shop mainly online and I do so through a portal that gives me cash back.  I take every freebie offered (not the trial sized stuff, but everything else). In the past week I have gotten a free photo book, a free photo collage and a set of photo cards for nothing-and that includes shipping. The very last big thing I do to get good gifts for pennies is that I keep my eyes out for gift card deals. They usually appear mainly at Christmas. Last year, if I bought a hundred dollars in Barnes and Noble gift cards, I got a free 25.00 card. My in laws love to eat out, and last year I got a free $25.00 gift card for buying them a $50.00 gift card from Carrabas.

I need to say that doing these things do NOT take me a lot of time. I'm not tied to my computer all day long. I simply make it a part of my day, usually when I do emails morning and night to also visit a list of about five websites that regularly keep me updated about the deals of the day, and I take advantage of them or not as I see fit. Obviously, this kind of shopping requires a certain basic knowledge of the kinds of gifts that relative want, or at least the stores and restaurants they use. If it's a far away relative, you may have to hope that you have a hint from mom or dad or sister and wait later in the season to shop.

My other primary source for gifts is things I make. Let me say here right off the bat that although I am a quilter, not all of the gifts I give are quilted items, and there are many ways to make gifts. Nice gifts, gifts that your family will be happy to have. We all have skills of some kind that we can use to this purpose. And I don't man just painted magnets here. I am not a gourmet cook by any means. But in previous years I have made flavored sauces for ice cream (raspberry chocolate sauce made with liqueur and chocolate for example) and put them in a decorated basket with garage sale scrounged glasses. This year I am making different flavors of barbecue sauces and doing baskets. I am also not an accomplished scrapbooker, although I have some supplies. My children are going to get cookbooks with family recipes. The computer will be my friend. And as an experiment I am making one large picture frame collage with a map of all of Normandy and the beaches and pictures of our visit there for my son.  I tell you these things only to show that these are the kinds of things that are appreciated, and that most anyone can make. You don't have to be "artistic" or "crafty" to make gifts.

My last source of gifts is one that usually gets only used with my children, and previously with my husband. That's the "coupon" or "permission gift".  I've promised a child a gourmet dinner  of their choosing (there are a few things I can cook!!). I've promised them a day doing something that we both like. When they were younger I gave promises of sleepovers and of staying up late. As for the permissions, for years my husband and I did not give each other gifts, but gave each other "permission" to buy something outside of our normal comfort range that we could not buy for the other person. I would never have been able to choose my husband's new ski boots, for example.

One of the benefit of acquiring gifts this way is obviously financial. My overall expenditure is much less for the same items that someone might purchase as gifts in November and December. The other advantage is peace, for lack of a better word. I don't have to go near a mall or a store after Thanksgiving unless I choose, as a rule. I love Christmas, and in fact I go to a holiday concert every year, as well as Christmas craft fairs and other events. But I choose the time and place, that place is never Walmart, Target or the mall.

Now, I'm off to look for recipes Hot Buttered Rum Mix!