Cheapskate tips for frugal Christmas decorating

You’ll get to know very quickly that I’m what might be called a spendthrift….I wrote a little about it here.

It’s not that I don’t like to have nice things, but I have just sorted through waaaay to many estates in my day to know first hand that it doesn’t matter what you spend on something up front….at the back end, it’s all worth nothing.

I’d rather use my money for finer pursuits, for things that don’t serve myself.

So, when it comes to seeing all the cutesy things in the stores for Christmas decorating, I have to really question each and every purchase…..( I wrote about that process here ).

I picked up this really cute centerpiece at the neighbourhood senior’s center Thrift Shop – I paid $2.99 for it, and it already had all the great nativity figurines on it.  The center, however, was still bare.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to fill it with candles or what ….

On a treasure hunt through my local Value Village I found the perfect thing….and it was only $1.99!  Can you guess what it’s original purpose was??

It’s a covered cheese board!  I was so excited!  I mean A BUCK-NINETY-NINE!!!!

I’ve now had visions of all the covered cheeseboards I will be able to pick up at garage sales for a quarter this summer….I think I’ll be finding some more decorative uses for these!  I’ve seen so many shabby chic-cers using them for nests / birds etc.  Oh the possibilities!  I just get so excited about REPURPOSING!

I am Older than my Mother

On my 37th year, 38th week and 5th day, I became older than my Mother….

…how do you sift through a lifetime of ‘firsts’ that she wasn’t a part of?
…how do you pick up lost pieces with people who were important to her?
…how do you rationalize the thoughts of what she wished for her children and her life?

It’s an oddly suspended place to live. I’m carrying her years of prayers, hopes and dreams…carrying her ambitions-that-could-never-be; her longings-for-things-not-yet-hers.

I’m feeling her heartache, I’m feeling my heart break for the things that broke hers.

I’m feeling like I’m responsible for unfinished conversations, unfinished prayers, unfinished connections.

I don’t yet live with the joy she modeled for me. I don’t yet live with the contentedness she demonstrated.

I’ve lived trapped in a world of self-protection and selfishness. I’ve spent a lifetime trying to achieve in order to prove myself.  I’m so happy I surrendered to the REPURPOSING.  I guess I just had to live longer to learn some of the things she already knew.

It is a daily challenge to give up parts of who I always thought I was…( more truthfully, the parts of who I had created myself to be…)…and to live in a new way that simply surrenders.   Surrenders to the knowing that it’s not all up to me, that I’m taken care of before I breathe my first breath of the day…

For all the things I will never know…for all of the things she will never see…for all that I don’t have to control, I give thanks.

I choose to live in thankfulness and gratitude for second chances, for do-overs, for redemption.

I choose life in a way that holds it loosely and learns to respond to gentle whispers and perfect timing.

I honor my Mother, her life, her legacy, her first love.

What Works for Me – Wednesday

Every Wednesday, Shannon at ‘Rocks in my Dryer’ hosts a blogging carnival where anyone who wants to join in can leave a tip or helpful hint for everyone else.  This is the first time I’ve participated!

My tip for this week involves Laundry Softener / Dryer Sheets.  I’ve not liked the perfuminess of bounce for some time, and I hate how expensive dryer sheets of any kind are.  For a long time, I was tearing my Costco sheets in half and that seemed to still work pretty well.

I found this ‘greener’ brand at the Drug Store and I hate it….

….I think I might try to exercise their Product Guarantee, but they likely won’t honor it without a receipt, and really, who keeps the receipts for those sorts of things??  I’ll probably try anyways…maybe they’ll let me trade even up on something else.

However, in my quest for all things greener, I decided to try one of the ‘recipes’ out there for homemade fabric softener.  So here is what I tried last week for the first time:

It was easy now that I have all that old hair conditioner sitting around!

I taped the ‘recipe’ right onto the top of the pail so I don’t have to go looking for it.

It seemed to work fairly well on the umpteen loads of laundry that I processed last week.  One or two sticky socks but I was mildly amused and pleased with the outcome.

Anyhew, that’s what is workin’ for me!

Repurposing something old into something new

Here’s a quick little project I threw together using two old sweaters and some scraps of fabric leftover from making two boys’ robes last Christmas.

Quick and easy, I just pieced together the sweater squares and sewed a strip of the camoflauge fabric on the backside.  It is super soft and very warm…!

So look around your closet, any old sweaters needing a new lease on life?  You could do this without a sewing machine!

FAB Finds at the THRIFT STORE

I am thinking I’ll take one post per week and share some of the fab finds that I pick up….I’m always scouring for things and even I am amazed at some of the things I find.

Take for instance this:

Can I get a woweeeeeeeee????  This is a fine vintage leather bomber jacket!  See all details here.

Then, just a mere few moments later, I stumbled on these:

So 80’s, so UNWORN, so great!  See all details here.

Oh how I wish I could get paid to just scrounge through junk all day….something makes me very happy about finding things that someone else has thought was trash, was no good, was finished.  I enjoy the feeling of helping these things resurface to find other people who are willing to think outside of the Mass-produced-big-box mindset and live on the creative /dare to be different side.

Why do I do what I do?  Read This.

I’ve added a Poll to this posting – take 1/2 a second and answer it wouldja?

A Repurposed Garland

I was inspired by Nesting Place to work on some things around my house for Christmas.

I am so done with cheap ‘evergreen’ garlands like this:

I’ve attached lights, I’ve doubled them up (the one in the picture is actually two twisted together), I’ve put ribbons through them, I’ve nested ornaments in them….and never been happy.

So when Nesting Place featured her updated version, I thought to my self, “self, that’s something YOU CAN DO!”

I stopped off at my local dollar store ( that’s not really a DOLLAR store, but I guess since everything ends in $.00 they can call it that), and picked up these:

After a few snip-snips ( with my good paper scissors I might add….yikes), I ended up with this:

I’m pretty happy!  When I dig out my white lights, I’ll add those too, and I’ll see what else I have kicking around the house, ’cause you know, I hate to go BUY anything….I wanna first see what I can use from around the house.  (disclaimer:  yes, I did spend $4.50 on the picks that I cut up for this….I figured that was alot less than buying new garlands!)

I’m pleased, very pleased….

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here is something else we put together last night while watching ‘Survivor’(…poor Randy, he had it coming…)

…easy peasy….

The Choice

Unarguably, many of the little and big things in life are brought about by one thing…..our choice.

We choose every day the kind of wife we will be.  We choose every day the kind of mom we will be.

We choose how to fill our 1440 minutes each day.

We choose where each dollar goes….

I want today’s post to be a very practical thing you can refer to when it comes to choosing things which come into your home and your life.

Ask yourself these questions:

1)  Do I need this?

“qualifier:  yes…even ask this question about food, toiletries and cleaning products”

2)  What is it replacing?

“qualifier:  did I just use something up, and need a replacement, or is there a more practical replacement I can choose….or do I need it at all?  Have I just become accustomed to having it?”

3)  Could I be making a better choice?

“qualifier:  now here is where those of you who think frugal = cheap may be surprised.  Sometimes the better choice costs more”

4)   Can I wait?  Do I need this today?

“qualifier:  you might be amazed at how long you can put off a purchase instead of giving in to immediate gratification”

Here’s a link to a lady who has decided to use what is in her cupboards and freezer instead of just trying to fill them up each week….her grocery budget is $60 / week for a family of 4.

5)  Am I buying this to impress someone else?  Do I think I need this to make my home, me, my kids etc. look a certain way?

“qualifier: If I lived in the woods, and nobody was visiting for 6 months, would I need this?  Do I feel like less of a mother / wife / homemaker if my home doesn’t look a certain way?”

6)  When I die, is this going to add value to my estate?

“qualifier:  this one is from personal experience….I’ve handled enough estate sales / garage sales to know that our stuff is worth bubkus, nadda, zip”

7)  What will happen to this when I am done with it?  Can it be recycled or will it end up in a landfill?

“qualifier:  to say I’ll give it to charity’ is not really a good option…the person buying it from the resale shop will probably not give as much thought to recycling it as you will”

Those are just a few of the questions I’ve learned to ask myself when making decisions about where my next dollar goes.  Amazingly, since working on this ( and it is work…!), I’ve found I have more money available to be generous, to give to charity, to save and to pay off debt!  It really, really works.

The hard part is the discipline of sticking with it.  The hard part is not worrying what friends and family think of my choices.  They are MY choices.  I feel comfortable with them, I know it’s for the right reason.

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I’ve been emailed that some of you don’t know how to leave a comment….you just need to look right below the post, and look for where it says ‘ (#) Comments‘ and click on it.

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For my friend who emailed me and asked “so are you becoming a minimalist hippy?”……

Nope.  Would a hippy wear these…????

(Qualifier:  these are all about me baby, all about me…!)

Frugal Christmas Baking

It’s the time of year when we feel like doing some extra special baking, but this year….many people are feeling the need to cut back a little…to not spend quite so much on some of the extras.

That’s where this recipe comes in.  So simple.  So cheap.  Dontcha just want to eat the picture?

This is pretty enough for take-alongs, pot-lucks and bake sales!  And believe, me, the taste is absolutely decadent!

Our Favourite Lemon Loaf ( recipezaar )

1/2 c butter, margarine or shortening ( mmmm…butter…)

1 c sugar

2 eggs

1/2 c milk ( 2%)

1 1/2 c all purpose flour

1 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

1 lemon, rind of

Glaze

1 lemon, juice of

1/4 c sugar

Prep:

combine lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan

Stir and heat till sugar is dissolved

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In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar

Add eggs, one at a time, beating until creamy

Blend in milk

In another bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt and lemon rind.

Pour into batter

Stir to moisten

Scrape into greased 9×5″ loaf pan

Bake in 350 degree oven for 55 to 60 minutes

Cool in pan for 5 minutes

Remove to rack and while still hot, poke holes into it with a toothpick, and spoon glaze evenly all over.

Cool.

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oooooh…so good and freezes well too!

Supper Solution in a Bag…..really?

In my own little fight against consumerism, I find myself weirdly attracted to the odd and the questionable on our store shelves.

Take this little number:

Really?

a Crock-pot solution?

I thought crock-pot cooking ALREADY WAS a solution….?

I mean this lady has a whole website about using her crock-pot every day FOR A YEAR!  The recipe sites are full of crock-pot recipes that take practically no time to prepare.  I wonder what this little ’solution’ costs vs. it’s ‘home-made’ counterpart?

I think, at the very least, crock-pot cooking should be the very basic of what we all learn to cook at home, from scratch.  At least it’s a start.   I didn’t look at the ingredients, but I betcha there is some not-so-good-stuff in there .  To make something like this our ’solution’ is not the answer.

The ’solution’ includes….eating more whole foods…

…eating more home prepared foods so we know what’s in it….

…eating more local food so we know where it was grown and under what conditions….

…growing more of our own food….

now THOSE are solutions!

Here is a recipe that I found just this morning that I’ll be whipping up in my crock-pot…

( from winter 2008 inspired )

Slow Cooker Coq au Vin Recipe

Serves 8, Prep time: 20 minutes, Total time: 320 minutes

Recipe Ingredients

3 lbs	chicken pieces or 1 whole chicken cut into 8 pieces	1.5 kg
1/2 tsp	each salt and pepper	2 mL
1/3 cup	all-purpose flour	75 mL
2 tsp	vegetable oil	10 mL
1/4 cup	chopped bacon	60 mL
1	onion, chopped
1 cup	chopped Compliments Organic Celery Hearts	250 mL
4	Compliments Organic Carrots, chopped into 1-inch (2.5 cm) pieces
2 cups	whole small white mushrooms	500 mL
1 1/2 cups	dry red wine	375 mL
1 cup	Compliments Chicken Broth, 30% Less Sodium	250 mL
1/4 cup	tomato paste	60 mL
3	cloves garlic, minced
6	sprigs fresh parsley

Recipe Directions

1. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper and shake in 1/4 cup (60 mL) of the flour to coat. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sear chicken pieces on both sides; place in slow cooker. In same skillet, add bacon, onion and celery and sauté until bacon begins to brown, about 5 min. Transfer to slow cooker; add carrots and mushrooms.
2. Whisk together wine, broth, tomato paste, garlic and remaining flour. Stir into skillet and bring to a boil; add to slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 5 hours or until chicken is fully cooked. Serve with sprigs of parsley.

Nutritional Analysis per Serving:

Energy:	230 calories
Protein:	19.0 g
Fat:	12.0 g
Carbohydrates:	12.0 g

Taking the No-Poo challenge…

Well, it’s been about two weeks on the No Poo experiment.

For someone who has very fine hair, but LOTS of it, it took me some convincing that I wouldn’t be dealing with a flat droopy mess every morning.

Other than a bit of static (which is normal this time of year anyways..) I’d have to say that it seems to be working!  I haven’t washed my hair since yesterday ( with water….) at the gym and it’s still going strong with body and bounce…(ugh, ignore the end of day face y’all…)

I would never have that much body and bounce on a regular routine….

I haven’t had to fight too many heeby jeeby moments…it helps that I can just put my hair up….but I figure I’ll keep going a week or two more, just to find out where my hair normalizes.

Why go No-Poo?

I figure it this way…..somebody, somewhere said we need to spend money (and MORE money) on our hair.  What did people’s hair look like when they were only washing it once per week (or less) and using homemade lye soap ( or nothing)?  Sure..maybe hairstyles were different, but nonetheless, there is a lie out there that says all our solutions have to come from the next PRODUCT.  I’m just on a quest to knock down which of those lies I can…to see how things can be done differently.

Honestly, I can afford the shampoo.  That’s not really the point.

The point is…what have we been led to believe that isn’t necessarily true?

What can we do differently and be just as happy doing?  What lies out there are stealing our money, our time, our focus from better things?

I know one thing for sure.  My body does not need to be absorbing any more chemicals than necessary…

I’ve already switched to a crystal deodorant about two years ago.  It’s not normal either, and you have to get used to it, but I feel so much better knowing that I’m not loading my body full of toxins…

It’s all a part of the repurposing of me.

EDIT:  Here is two days later – still going strong…

update:  two weeks later.…here’s a morning shot. (Nov 27)  Why does my son not think it’s wierd when I ask him to take a picture of me to update my blog at 8 in the morning while still in my pjs?….as captured by an 8-year-old…!