Tag Archives: frugal holidays

New traditions for my favorite frugal holiday

Photo by rick

pumpkin pieBeing newly wed is so much fun at the holidays. It’s so fun combining traditions from each of our families, adapting them to suit us, and creating our own. We’re building our own family history starting now.

Last year we ate a traditional meal on Thanksgiving Day, but the holiday really ended there. Because I worked in retail, I had to head back to work early the next morning and throughout the weekend. No fun. :(

This year is our first opportunity to enjoy the entire holiday weekend. So we’re thinking about the kinds of traditions we’d like to begin.

For starters, there’s turkey and pumpkin pie and a whole day devoted to cooking and eating. Of course.

But then what?

We won’t be home for Thanksgiving, but that’s fine. If we lived closer to home, we’d be spending the day with family anyway.

On Friday, we’ll cook our own Thanksgiving meal this year. I like the idea of staying home all day and watching movies. Normal weekends are so jam packed with errands and cleaning and everything I have no time to do during the week. Since Friday is a freebie day off, the idea of lying around all day in comfy clothes appeals to me.

When I was a kid, we usually ate another Thanksgiving meal on Friday every year. We went to my grandma’s for Thanksgiving Day, but my mom loved cooking for Thanksgiving so much that she liked to make her own meal on Friday. I can see us doing the same thing in the future.

Saturday night we have tickets to a holiday show. I thought that would be a fun way to kick off the season, and they only cost $10 each. We decided to skip our monthly restaurant meal this month and use that money for the tickets.

We’ll spend Saturday afternoon decorating our apartment for the holidays, putting up the tree and the lights and eating Friday’s leftovers. Then we’ll head out for the show.

I’ve always felt like the Christmas season really only begins after Thanksgiving is over. That’s why the holiday is so much fun. We get to celebrate Thanksgiving and the beginning of the Christmas season all in one weekend. :)

How about you? What are you favorite Thanksgiving traditions?

TGIF Link Round Up: Countdown to Thanksgiving Edition

Photo by dongkwan

Thanksgiving dinnerLess 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:

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

Frugal ways to give back this holiday season

As tight as our budget has been, I’ve always recognized how good we really had it. Even when our financial situation was at its worst, we always managed to make ends meet. We never came up short for rent, there was always plenty of food on the table, and most importantly we had our health and each other. Life has been pretty good to us so far.

That’s why even during our toughest times, we’ve always looked for ways to give back, particularly to those less fortunate that we are.

I know how it is, though. When you’re struggling to get by, it can be really hard to make room in the budget for charity.

Frugality is about finding ways to live well and give more to the world around you without spending a lot of money. There’s no reason that charity should cost a lot of money, either. Using the same principals you use to stretch your income, you can find frugal ways to give back.

I hope you’ll consider contributing to one of these worthwhile charities or programs in your area this holiday season. Here’s how you can do it without breaking your own budget.

Shop smart for canned foods.

Frugals are masters at stretching a buck in the grocery store. Consider using your coupons, circulars, and grocery know-how to get a bargain on canned food and non-perishables for a local food drive.

Clear some space in your coat closet.

What better way to clear the clutter from your coat closet than by donating to a coat drive? Your gently used coat could make a huge difference for a homeless or impoverished family this year, and it costs you nothing.

Volunteer your time.

If you’re really struggling this season, consider making time to volunteer at a soup kitchen or any charitable organization in need of your help. Giving a few hours on your day off costs very little, but it could make a big difference.

Make it a team effort.

Many churches, schools, and community groups work together for adopt-a-family programs, bake sales, and other fundraisers. The expense isn’t that great if you’re one of several people contributing. If your church or community group doesn’t already participate, volunteer the time to organize a program yourself.

Remember: No donation is too small.

Don’t assume that what you can afford to give isn’t enough. Even if you can only spare $5, I guarantee that no charitable organization will balk at your gift.

If you’re wondering where to send it, here are three of my favorite charities:

Ronald McDonald House

American Cancer Society

Doctors Without Borders

Did I leave something out? Please leave a comment with your favorite charitable program or organization! Let’s all find a way to give back this season!

I just earned $8 for buying $57 worth of toys

Photo by .bean

Christmas giftWhew. I got a lot of Christmas shopping done this weekend. Well, not a LOT since we’re not buying a lot, but I’m about 75% finished with my list.

This year we decided to cut our shopping list down to our parents and our 5 nieces and nephews. Unfortunately, we have huge families, and we don’t a lot of money in our budget for gifts (or anything other than bills, debt, and savings, really). I’ll do some baking for my sisters in the spirit of the season, but we just couldn’t afford to shop for everyone.

In true frugal holiday spirit, I found a way to get a great deal on toys for my nieces and nephews.

I redeemed about 7,500 MyPoints for a $50 Amazon gift card. (Have you joined MyPoints yet? If not, email me so I can send you a referral link! I’d love to get some points for telling you about it! :))

I found 4 of the 5 toys we need at Amazon. We bought one of the toys last month when we came across something that we knew one of my nephews would love. I made sure everything shipped directly from Amazon, so all the toys qualify for free shipping since my total was over $25.

My total came to $57. I used my Amazon gift code to bring the total to $7 and some change.

Here’s the best part: Right now, Amazon is offering a free subscription to Cookie magazine when you spend $25 on toys. (Thanks Kacie at Sense to Save for letting me know about this!) According to the promo information, you can pass on the subscription and request a $15 rebate instead. I should be receiving an email about it in the next few days. According to the promo, all I have to do is send a form along with my order confirmation to Amazon and they’ll send my $15.

If it works out, I’ll actually end up earning $8 on this transaction. Even if it doesn’t work, I bought Christmas presents for all 5 of my nieces and nephews for just $7. Not too bad considering I got $57 worth of great toys. :)

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Planning a frugal Thanksgiving for two

Photo by dennissylvesterhurd

Thanksgiving turkeyWith the election over (thank goodness!), we’re all turning our attention to Thanksgiving, which is now exactly three weeks away. (Where did the time go?)

I’m no exception. Tony and I won’t be traveling for Thanksgiving. We’re making a big trip to see family for Christmas, so we’ll be home in North Carolina enjoying a quiet holiday. We may invite a culinary-challenged friend or two if any of Tony’s classmates stay behind and want to join us. If not, it’ll be just the two of us.

That doesn’t mean we’re not cooking a Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings, though. My amateur chef husband wouldn’t miss roasting a turkey for the world. We had the most wonderful holiday last year. We invited a friend over for dinner and enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast. The leftovers lasted days. I’m looking forward to continuing our tradition of a low-key, no-stress Thanksgiving holiday cooking and eating good food, watching movies, and relaxing.

Last night we began preparing by putting together our Thanksgiving menu. We’ll be making all the traditional dishes, including turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry dressing, stuffing, greenbean casserole, fresh bread, and pumpkin pie. It’s a lot of food for two people, but we plan to eat nothing but leftovers all weekend. :)

Last year we didn’t roast a whole turkey. Instead, we bought a small bone-in turkey breast. I highly recommend that you do the same if your dinner party will be small.

To reduce the impact on our budget, we’ll be spreading out purchases for the menu over the next few weeks. At some point in the next week or two, I’m expecting a big sale on turkey at the grocery store. We’ll pick up our turkey then, and pick up an item or two for the meal on every shopping trip in the coming weeks.

Here’s how some of the bloggers from my reader are preparing for the holiday:

How are you preparing?

Time to start planning for Christmas

Photo by mysza

Last night, Tony and I went over our budget and plans for Christmas. The holiday stress has definitely begun.

Though we have a large extended family, we have to keep our gift list short this year because our travel expenses will be high. Not only are we paying for gas, we’ll have to stop overnight at a hotel on the way there.

I’m also going to have to take a couple days off unpaid because I haven’t accrued enough vacation time. I’ll have to factor that into our budget.

We considered using only the vacation time I have, but we don’t know when we’ll be able to make it back to Indiana to see our families again. Last year we stayed here. Since we’re splitting our time between two families, we really need a couple extra days to cover our driving and make sure we have plenty of time to spend with everyone.

My family doesn’t do a massive gift exchange. We’re all pretty much on the same page as far as gifts go, so this shouldn’t be a problem. Besides, I’m sure if my sisters had to choose between receiving a gift in the mail and having us there for Christmas, they’d choose the visit. Instead of shopping, I’ll bake some treats, wrap them up, and bring them along as gifts.

I have five nieces and nephews who are 5 years old and under. We’ve included a little money in our budget for them, so we’ll be shopping for some toys. We like to do it since we don’t have any kids of our own yet. A little holiday toy shopping is fun! Besides, the expense isn’t that great when they’re this young.

We pained over what to do about our parents. Finally, we came up with a fun idea. We’re going to build North Carolina-themed gift baskets filled with local treats. We haven’t decided exactly what’s going in them, but we’ll spend the next few weeks shopping and filling them up. We’ll put a lot of effort and thought into them, but not a lot of money. I think that’s a fair trade.

I’m relieved to have the ball rolling. I probably won’t start shopping until next month when I can build it into my budget, but coming up with a budget and gift ideas is half the battle.