There seems to be two camps of people this time of year: those who vehemently oppose anything Christmas before Thanksgiving and those who hide or apologize for starting their Christmas celebrations a bit early. I used to be in the second camp. Here is why I no longer hide that I start my Christmas season a bit early. I love Christmas! It is my favorite time of the year. I love Christmas decorating, I love the music, I love the movies, I love buying gifts, I love the baking. I love Christmas. … [Read more...]
The Weather Outside is Frightful
I hope everyone had a great Christmas! We actually haven't had ours yet. It's been crazy.Last Sunday, 12/22, we got a big ice storm here. Since Matt trims trees around the power lines, he was on storm duty all of last week, Christmas included. Abby and I had a little Christmas with my parents on Saturday but we haven't done Santa, had the big meal, etc. We are waiting until Matt can be home.Last night, we got hit with 14" of snow. The coast got more ice. But not as bad as predicted. Last Monday … [Read more...]
Ask the Readers: Frugal Christmas Tips
It's your turn!I'd love to hear how you stretch your Christmas dollar.Do you make all your gifts? Do you have a potluck Christmas dinner? Do you wrap your gifts in newspaper and paper grocery bags?Leave a comment and let me know! … [Read more...]
Frugal Christmas: Christmas Cards
I love sending and receiving Christmas cards. I really enjoy it. I love displaying the cards we receive. Last year I arranged them to look like a Christmas tree. I also love trying to find a cute way to write our Christmas letter.But it is so time consuming not to mention expensive to send cards. Sending 50 cards is $23 in just postage, not counting the cards, paper for a Christmas letter, photos if you add those, etc.With our recent change in income, there was no way we could afford to do cards … [Read more...]
Christmas Expectations
Today is December 3rd. Only 21 days until Christmas. I've been a bit on the depressed side this year. With the change in income, we can't do Christmas as big as we normally do. We never do it too big but this year we are making all the family gifts, purchasing Abby's on sale, and doing nothing for each other.That is the part that is hardest for me. I love trying to get something that Matt will love. I love wondering what he is going to get me. Gifts is my second highest scoring love language … [Read more...]
Time to Start Christmas Gift Shopping and Creating
For our Christmas gift budget, I work really hard to spend no more than $10/person without it seeming cheap and not thoughtful. Sometimes I buy a more expensive item that is on clearance for the budgeted price. We do splurge a little on each other but we don't tend to buy each other birthday gifts, we don't do anniversary gifts, and we don't do anything for Valentine's Day. Christmas is the one time of year we buy gifts for each other so we are allowed to splurge a little. Often we make our … [Read more...]