Merry Christmas from my family to yours! I’ll be taking Christmas Eve and Christmas day off of posting to spend time with my kids, but I’ll be back on Wednesday with my regularly scheduled Publix trip. Have a blessed holiday!
6 Ways to Make This a Cash Holiday!
November 29, 2012 by 1 Comment
Every year when the holiday season hits, it seems as if there is a race to drain our wallets. Don’t succumb! Let’s not use plastic to fund our season this year, and let’s not blow our budgets. It may require us to make some different choices, but it will certainly feel a lot better in January when we aren’t suffering the post-holiday financial hangover!
1) Make a Plan
I cannot stress this enough. Plan your budget, plan your gift giving, plan your event spending, plan your time. When we go into the holidays without a plan, we will become overwhelmed. And overspend. Does that bring you joy? Does it bring others joy? Then don’t do it! Determine what you realistically have to spend and decide how much of that amount you want to spend on gifts, parties, etc. I know it’s hard, but stick to it.
2) Cut Back
It is very important that if you find you don’t have the budget for all you would like to buy or do, that you make careful, conscious decisions of what to cut out. Decide which traditions are important to you and which ones you may be doing simply because you always have. If you buy Nutcracker ballet tickets every year, but your family really isn’t looking forward to going, don’t go. If you have a lot of holiday events you will be attending, don’t buy a new outfit for every event—work with what you have and buy a piece or two to jazz up what you already own. Pare back your holiday meals to the food that actually gets eaten—all too often we are throwing away perfectly good food.
3) Do Less Gift Giving and More Sharing of Time
See if certain friends and family may be willing to forgo the exchanging of gifts this year and instead exchange some quality time. By next year, you may have forgotten the token gift your girlfriend gave you, but my bet is you will remember going to see a free concert in the park with her.
4) Choose a Meaningful Gift
Sometimes we tend to overbuy because we KEEP buying! Choose a gift—ONE gift—that you want to buy someone and then STOP BUYING! It’s so easy to keep picking up little trinkets here and there, but resist the urge. All of those little things do add up rather quickly.
5) Plan Your Meals
November and December seem to fly by, and it becomes so tempting to pick up a pizza here and order in Chinese there. Instead, make a simple weekly meal plan that you can stick to. Even if you are just heating up a frozen pizza, it’s still less expensive than takeout. Plus, one weekly trip to the grocery store has to be a lot less stressful than 7 mad dashes to already packed fast food chains and carry out establishments.
6) Pat Yourself on the Back
It may be hard to not overspend, but you will thank yourself later. And honestly, you’ll feel more at peace with yourself through the holiday season. Take a little time to put your feet up, enjoy a mug of cocoa and congratulate yourself for making positive changes in your spending!
Photo Credit: iClipart
6 Frugal Holiday Decorating Ideas
November 27, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Now that the season is upon us it’s time to start thinking about sprucing up our homes with some seasonal holiday décor. If you’re looking for a few ideas to breathe new life into your seasonal decorating (without breaking the bank), look no further!
1) Go (Ever)Green
Bring the outside in—if you live near a wooded area or have friends with pine trees on their property, you can take a few cut pine branches, tie the end with a festive bow, and hang on your doors to add some holiday cheer on the cheap. You might also display a branch on the fireplace mantel along with some ornaments.
2) New Life for Christmas Ornaments
Do you have any Christmas ornaments that may be chipped or are just more than you want to put on you tree? Display them in a clear glass vase or bowl—the imperfections won’t be visible from inside the glass (or you can turn them so the imperfections can’t be seen), and you get a new, free to you decoration.
3) Pine Cones
Pine cones are a wonderful, inexpensive way to dress up your home for the holidays. Gather them on a nature walk (also free entertainment and exercise) and display them in a pretty basket or vase, spread them across a mantle or group them around the base of some candles (away from the flame, of course) to give your home a rustic holiday feel.
4) Old Sleds
Give an old wooden sled a new lease on life! It doesn’t have to be shiny and perfect to be pretty. Add a large bow or a pine bough to the front of the sled and lean it upright next to your doorway—it’s a fast, festive way to dress up the front of your home.
5) Oldies, But Goodies
Creating old-fashioned strings of popcorn and cranberries is not only quaint, but inexpensive AND a fun way to spend some time with family. Put on some holiday music, sip some eggnog or cider and string til your hearts content! They look so charming hung on trees or woven into garland.
6) Teddy Bears
If you have children (or if you have plush teddy bears around from the days when you USED to have children), there is a good possibility you may have teddy bears tucked away somewhere in your home. Huddle a few together, tie big plaid bows around their necks, and you have an instant nostalgic holiday display!
Photo Credit: iClipart
Frugal Gift Giving Ideas
November 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The holiday gift giving season is getting underway, and for th
ose of us pinching our pennies, this can definitely add stress to our budgets. Let’s use this as an excuse to get creative with our gift giving. Not only can we save some cash, but we can also give memorable gifts!
1) Give the Gift of Time
Sometimes the very best gift is the gift of yourself. Think about the people on your list. What do they like to do? Plan a day to do that WITH them. Do you have a family member who enjoys hiking? Plan a unique day of hiking and enjoy the outdoors together. Do you enjoy cooking? Offer to teach younger family members how to cook. They get new skills and the gift of your time. How about a movie buff? Borrow some DVDs, pop some popcorn and plan a night in.
2) Give your Services
We all have talents, and this is a great way to use them. Whether it’s sewing, babysitting, gardening, or housecleaning, give a “service gift certificate” for your loved ones to enjoy.
3) Preserve Some Memories
It seems we are constantly snapping pictures these days now that cell phones with cameras makes that easy. But what do we DO with all of those photographs? Make a collage of special photos from throughout the year or frame an especially meaningful one and present it with a handwritten note about what those memories have meant to you.
4) Journal It
This is an especially good gift for a parent or child. Find a pretty journal—or create one yourself—and fill it with all the wonderful memories you have of that person. Let that person know how special they have been to you throughout their lives. Let a parent know how they have helped shape who you are and made the holidays memorable for you. Tell your child how happy you were when they came into this world and highlight how you felt during big moments in their lives.
5) Gift Cards
No, a gift card isn’t always as meaningful as some of the previous ideas, but sometimes we get these cards as bonuses with purchases, as rebates or rewards. Save those—watch for expiration dates of course—and use them as easy gifts.
6) Free Samples
Peruse online freebie sites throughout the year, “like” various things on Facebook and redeem coupons for freebies that you get in the mail or in your email. Often you can create a really nice gift from these by putting them into a pretty basket or cute container. This is especially true of health and beauty items—these seem to be plentiful, you can easily make a fun “relaxation” basket from these, and who wouldn’t enjoy getting that as a gift?
The best part is, you give yourself a gift too—the gift of a mailbox NOT filled with holiday bills in January!
Photo Credit: iClipart
After Christmas Cash Giveaway – 2 Winners!
December 28, 2011 by 16 Comments
I am glad that Christmas is over but I’d be much happier to have some cash left over! How about you? Debbie Does Coupons and 23 other fantastic bloggers got together and decided to offer up some cash to refill your pockets after Christmas. There will be (2) winners of this giveaway – (1) will win $180 cash payable through PayPal and (1) will win $60 cash payable through PayPal.
You must be 18 years old or older to enter and have a valid PayPal account. Winners will be chosen within 48 hours of the end of this giveaway and contacted via email. They will have 48 hours to respond with their PayPal email address or a new winner will be picked if there is no response.
Enter to win by filling out the Rafflecopter form below. The more entries you complete, the more chances you have to win!
Lovable Labels Gift Seals & Address Labels Giveaway
December 2, 2011 by 4 Comments
This was so much fun the last time that we decided to do it again! Lovable Labels recently sent me a set of their Holiday Return Address Labels with matching Gift Seals to check out and I absolutely love them. There are six different gorgeous styles to choose, including the three shown above, and I selected the gold ones with the adorable reindeer. They are premium quality, durable labels and I’m very impressed with the weight and glossy look of the ones I received. I can’t wait to use these when we send out our Christmas cards, and I’m excited to also have matching gift seals!
Lovable Labels specializes in extra tough, colorful and fun labels ranging from all kinds of peel and stick labels, to clothing labels, even shoe labels and allergy labels. They help to ensure that your kids stuff doesn’t end up in the lost and found bin! The coolest thing is that their labels are waterproof, dishwasher and microwave safe, washer and dryer safe, sun safe, bleach safe, sunscreen safe and temperature safe.
My kids are sticker and label addicts so I’m definitely hiding my address labels from them, but I’ve got my eye on these great holiday sticker packs that I know they’d be thrilled to find in their stockings!
Now one lucky reader is also going to receive a package of 90 Holiday Return Address Labels with 60 matching Gift Seals! It’s super easy to enter – there are no mandatory entries, just do any or all of the other things on the list that you would like and get additional entries. The giveaway ends at midnight on December 9th, the winner will be randomly selected and announced the next day.
Click ‘more’ below to view the entry form.
Santa Stocking Holder Review & Giveaway
November 18, 2011 by 16 Comments
The nice people at Kirkland’s sent me this gorgeous Santa’s Sleigh Stocking Holder to review and I absolutely love it! This sturdy metal stocking holder is a large 37″ wide by 39 1/2″ high and comes with enough hooks to hold six stockings.
We have a fireplace and we have hung our stockings there in the past but I’m always worried about marring the wood mantel with stocking holders and the kids always pull down the kind of stocking holders that just sit on top. I really dig that we can use this one to display the stockings closer to the Christmas tree and the kids can sneak peeks without pulling everything off the mantel. Of course it is also a fabulous display idea for those without a fireplace too!
The kids are thrilled with the Santa sleigh design and I’m excited to be able to give one away to a lucky reader! There are no mandatory entries, just pick any of the things you’d like to do in the entry form below then click “I did this”! The widget may take a few seconds to load so please be patient.
Click ‘more’ below to view the entry form.
Win $500 in the Cash N 4 Christmas Giveaway
November 16, 2011 by 13 Comments
CASH N 4 CHRISTMAS $500 GIVEAWAY
11/16-11/26
Coupon Frenzy Mom & Debbie Does Coupons have teamed up with 48 other great bloggers to bring you the CASH N 4 CHRISTMAS $500 PAYPAL GIVEAWAY!
Who doesn’t need extra cash for Christmas? Now you have a chance to win some last minute cash to help with those Christmas Expenses. (5) lucky winners will win $100.00 Paypal Cash for a total of $500 prize.
You Must Have a Valid Paypal Account to enter. We will be using Rafflecoptor to enter, make sure you like all of the pages, and do any extra entries there are, for each like you get one entry! The winners will be chosen using Random.Org and contacted within 48 hours AFTER the end of the Giveaway, you will then have 72 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.
From all of Bloggers in the Cash In 4 Christmas Giveaway, We wish you Happy Holidays, and Good Luck to all!
Lovable Labels Giveaway Winner!
November 13, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Thanks so much to everyone who entered out Lovable Labels giveaway! The winner will be receiving their choice of Holiday Return Address Labels with matching Gift Seals. Our winner is Allison, who said ”I’m looking forward to spending time with my family” when asked what she’s looking forward to over the holidays!
Please don’t forget to also enter our Carmex Healing Lotion Package Giveaway – ends 11/19!
Lovable Labels Review & Giveaway
November 4, 2011 by 12 Comments
Just in time for the holidays, I’m excited to bring you this review and giveaway from Lovable Labels! They recently sent me a set of their Holiday Return Address Labels with matching Gift Seals to check out and I absolutely love them. There are six different gorgeous styles to choose, including the three shown above, and I selected the gold ones with the adorable reindeer. They are premium quality, durable labels and I’m very impressed with the weight and glossy look of the ones I received. I can’t wait to use these when we send out our Christmas cards, and I’m excited to also have matching gift seals!
Lovable Labels specializes in extra tough, colorful and fun labels ranging from all kinds of peel and stick labels, to clothing labels, even shoe labels and allergy labels. They help to ensure that your kids stuff doesn’t end up in the lost and found bin! The coolest thing is that their labels are waterproof, dishwasher and microwave safe, washer and dryer safe, sun safe, bleach safe, sunscreen safe and temperature safe.
My kids are sticker and label addicts so I’m definitely hiding my address labels from them, but I’ve got my eye on these great holiday sticker packs that I know they’d be thrilled to find in their stockings!
Now one lucky reader is also going to receive a package of 90 Holiday Return Address Labels with 60 matching Gift Seals! Simply leave a comment on this post telling us something you’re looking forward to this holiday season (food? fun? family? gifts? something else?) then click “I did this” in the form below. Do any or all of the other things on the list that you would like for additional entries. The giveaway ends at midnight on November 12th, the winner will be randomly selected and announced the next day.
Click ‘more’ below to view the entry form.
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