Category — carnivals

Only five more days until our Christmas road trip! I’m really feeling the stress of last minute planning, but I’m doing my best to take it in stride.

I’m really excited for a weekend of frugal holiday fun. I spent last night baking brownies and cookies for a holiday party at my office today. Then tonight Tony and I are seeing “It’s a Wonderful Life” on the big screen for free!

Saturday night we’re having a private Christmas celebration so we can make a yummy Christmas dinner and exchange gifts. Then we’ll spend Sunday doing laundry, packing, cleaning, and doing other last minute preparations for our trip.

Lots to do, but so much to look forward to!

And on to my favorite posts from this week:

• Free From Broke asks is now the right time to buy a house? This buyer’s market makes me wish we could take advantage.

• The Simple Dollar shares some great tips for how to avoid the expensive ups and downs of the holiday season.

• Mrs. Micah shows how not to handle overspending and also offers some helpful tips for damage control.

• Budgets are Sexy shares his rules for cash gifts. It’s so easy to lump cash gifts in with regular money, but I agree with him that it’s important to honor the wishes of the giver and use it for something fun.

• Kacie at Sense to Save has an incredibly helpful and comprehensive list for parents to be of what she’s spent on her baby so far (he’ll be born any day now!). While you’re there, make sure you read her simple tip for weighing packages before you head to the post office.

Now I’m off to enjoy some (hopefully stress-free) holiday cheer. Hope you are, too!

With only 12 days to go until we head out for our holiday vacation, I’ve got a lot on my plate right now. Lots of last minute planning, cleaning, packing, and errands. I’m excited to see friends and family for the first time since the wedding 6 months ago!

I should be able to post daily until Tuesday, December 23 when we leave town. After that I’ll have some posts scheduled, but probably not every day. No biggie, though. I’m sure you’ll all have much better things to do over the holidays than read my blog.

However, if you’re interested in reaching a different audience (or reaching an audience at all if you aren’t already a blogger), I would love to run some guest posts during the week and a half that we’re gone. Just shoot me at email for the details. I’d be more than happy to return the favor sometime when you’re out of town.

But I know we’re all busy, so it’s likely that I’ll end up with some sparse posting over the holidays. C’est la vie. We all need a break sometime, right?

And now my favorites from my Reader:

• Simple Mom offers 10 tips for looking your best. I generally don’t agree with “must-have” lists for clothing, but I have to say, this list from Tim Gunn is pretty close. She also shares some practical, non-wardrobe ideas for looking good.

• The Happy Housewife has been full of great ideas for a simple Christmas lately. Her post on frugal gift wrapping offers some cute tips for wrapping beautiful packages almost for free. She also has a fantastic, fun idea for how to handle the sibling gift exchange.

• Being Frugal shares some tips for frugal personalized gift baskets. I love gift baskets. With some effort and planning, they can save a lot of money.

• Small Notebook is looking forward to simpler gift giving this year. Me too. Gift giving shouldn’t be stressful, especially in this economy. Her tips can help you keep it low key but memorable.

• Cash Money Life shares some practical rules for regifting. With a little tact, your unwanted gifts could make someone else in your life very happy.

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty burned out lately. I can’t wait for vacation, but I’ll have to settle for the weekend in the meantime.

I can’t believe we’re down to 3 weeks until Christmas! Time has been flying by.

The decorations are up, most of my shopping is done, and our plans are all set for our trip to see family. I just can’t believe how soon it’s coming. Despite the fact that everything’s pretty much done, I’m still feeling pretty unprepared for the holidays this year. Like they snuck up on me. Anyone else feel that way?

Tonight we’re going to a holiday party. I’m looking forward to getting all dressed up and enjoying some holiday cheer.

And onto my favorites from my reader this week:

• Emily at Remodeling this Life is slowing down this holiday season. I absolutely agree with her. We’re all so stressed during the holidays, but it should really be the time to slow down and enjoy ourselves.

• Paid Twice writes that spending less than you earn is actually number 2. The first rule of personal finance is planning.

• Christina at Northern Cheapskate shares how you can be generous even if you’re broke. It’s really important this time of year to remember that even when you’re struggling, it’s still important to help others.

• Get Rich Slowly shows how to afford anything (but not everything). It’s so easy to get blinded by all the things we want, that sometimes we forget how easy it could be to get one thing with a little focus and effort.

• Free From Broke shares some advice for last minute year end tax savings.

• On Simplicity offers alternatives to traditional gift giving. In the economy, we should all be thinking outside the box for ways to make the people we love feel special without spending a lot of money.

Hope you’re all enjoying the holiday season so far. Happy Friday!

Photo by dongkwan

Less than a week until Turkey Day! I can’t tell you how excited I am for four days of cooking, eating and relaxing. I absolutely love Thanksgiving.

We have pretty much everything we need for our no-stress frugal Thanksgiving for two. We bought it all in advance. We might have to pick up a thing or two at the grocery store this weekend, but for the most part all that’s left to do is cook and eat! Yum!

For those of you who haven’t finished menu planning and shopping for the holiday, I wanted to share some Thanksgiving recipes/ideas from my Reader this week:

• Frugal Upstate has a huge compilation of favorite Thanksgiving dishes from her readers.

• Money Saving Money and Erin from $5 Dinners shared several great recipes for Thanksgiving on a budget.

• Green Baby Guide has some great ideas for how to save money on holiday groceries.

• Kelly at Almost Frugal Food shares a delicious recipe for Clara’s Pumpkin Nut Cookies. Yum!

• Common Sense with Money featured a great guest post from Jennifer at The Life and Times of the Lady Riposter on Fun and Frugal Thanksgiving Decorations.

• Amy at MotherLoad has some great frugal food storage ideas for sending leftovers home with Thanksgiving guests.

Happy Friday! Yay for a three-day week next week!

This weekend, Tony and I are getting out of the house. I was able to get free tickets to an independent film festival through my work, so we’re spending the weekend watching movies. Usually this type of thing isn’t my cup of tea, but I knew my movie buff husband would love it, so we picked out some movies that look good to both of us. I’m just excited to get out of the house without spending any money.

At some point between film screenings we’ll have to fit in our regular weekend errands, including groceries, the last of our Christmas shopping, and cleaning. Hopefully we’ll have time to get it all done!

It’s been a great week in my reader. Here are some of my favorite posts to kick off the weekend:

• J.D. at Get Rich Slowly has 34 do-it-yourself Christmas gifts. There are lots of great ideas here, and the best part is they seem easy enough that anyone could do them.

• Trent at the Simple Dollar has a compilation of the 25 best money-saving tactics. This is a great place to start if you’re just getting started with the frugal lifestyle.

• Lynnae at Being Frugal shared an interesting guest post from Amy at My Daily Dollars about how blogging helped her save $13,000 without bringing in any direct income. It’s hard to quantify, but I know blogging has helped me save thousands and given me the tools to save thousands more in the future.

• Paid Twice shares five concrete ways to pay yourself first. Saving takes a lot of discipline, but these are surprisingly easy ways to stash a few bucks in savings quickly.

• Simple Mom cools off house fever with a long term plan. We’re already looking ahead to a house purchase even though it’ll be years before we can do it, and having a solid plan in place makes it easier to wait.

• When Emily at Remodeling this Life wants to get away, she looks to her own town for fun tourist activities. Sometimes there’s a lot of frugal fun right under your nose.

• Kelly at Almost Frugal shares a guest post from Nicole at Breaking Even about how losing weight can save you money. It’s amazing how much getting healthy can save, not just in food and bad habits but also in health care costs down the road.

• Penelope Pince at Pecuniarities writes life is too short to sleep on low thread count sheets. I’m constantly asking myself where I should cut corners and what’s worth a little extra money. I think bedding is one of those things that’s worth a little extra money. Of course, if you shop around and look for a deal, you’ll be surprised at how little you pay for high-quality sheets.

Whew! Lots of great posts to read. I’m off to the movies (after work of course). Happy Friday!