Decorating For The Holidays On A Budget (Merrick)

I love decorating for Christmas, but every year I struggle with our small space, the additional cost on top of gifts, and good ideas that aren't tacky.

Despite my past failed attempts, I was determined to come up with something good. So this year I turned to my new best friend, the dollar store. The store closest to me is The Dollar Tree, and they have an excellent selection of Christmas items -- all for only one dollar! So after a little inspiration from blogs, I made my way to the store and picked up a few fun things. Let me show you what I ended up with:

[three ornament packs, two Dollar Tree vases, one vase I already owned, ribbon from Christmas last year, serving platter I already owned]


[half a pack of ornaments, vase I already owned, candle I already owned, ribbon from last year]




[2 Dollar Tree vases, 1/2 a pack of DT ornaments, 2 packs of DT candy canes, ribbon from last year]

[old picture frame, free printable art from a blog]


[vase I already owned, berry branches from my front yard spray painted white and sprinkled with glitter]


I'm really happy with how these decorations turned out. They're classy and pretty, and best of all I spent less than $10 on everything. It is possible to decorating for the holidays without blowing your budget!

How are you saving on your holiday decorations this year?

Gifts That Make a Difference (Carole)

You'll remember a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about being able to spend your money on fun adventures occasionally, because you are usually frugal.

Well, right now I'm writing this post in the beautiful country of Honduras.  My husband, 14 year old son and I have been blessed to be part of a group of 100 doctors and dentists and their older children who have provided medical care and dental work for about 450 young men and women who could never afford it otherwise.  It has been a life-changing experience for all of us.  This is another reason to be frugal: so you can help others.  Possibly it's the best reason.

We've talked about being part of a group like this for over 20 years, and finally were able to make it a reality.  I hope one day each of you has an experience like this in your lives.  This has been a Thanksgiving we will never forget.  In fact, we hope to participate again next year.

It's been a busy 10 days of wonderful service where we truly received more than we gave.  In that same mode, I'm sharing a great post from Get Rich Slowly of truly thoughtful and helpful (and frugal) gifts that can be given during the holiday season.

I hope you enjoy these ideas as much as I did.   

Christmas Gifts That Make a Difference

Grandma probably doesn’t want another scented candle, but she could very well use a ride to the store. Your underemployed nephew would likely prefer a little help filling the pantry instead of a jokey T-shirt. And the sister who’s staying home with her kids may not be able to afford any extras just now. Instead of dropping $40 on a sweater, why not put that money toward a membership to the local museum?

You’ve still got a few weeks to think about Christmas gifts. Make this the year when you pick presents that actually help. I’ve put together a list of items that save the recipient money or fill a specific need. Prices range from as little as $5 to upwards of $50 or more — and some of the suggestions will cost you little except time. . .Read The Article Here

Friday GIVEAWAY! (Merrick)

Since I usually associate months with the holiday that falls in that month, my mind has been on Thanksgiving the last few weeks. And because of Thanksgiving, my thoughts have mainly revolved around gratitude. It's a lovely thing to focus on, don't you think?

So in light of Thanksgiving, I thought it would be nice to share what I am grateful for from a financial standpoint (since that is the purpose of this blog).

Nearly a year ago, and four months before I gave birth to my little boy, I was laid off from my job. It was a tough time for all small businesses, so I completely understood that it was a necessary thing, but that didn't make the blow of losing 1/3 of our income any softer. However, little financial boosts began popping up here and there -- I sold some paintings, my neighbor started paying me to watch her baby, my husband was doing really well at work and his paychecks were bigger than ever, and the list could go on. So despite the cut in our income, our savings have continued to grow over this past year, and I am so grateful for that.

Today we're giving away a copy of Dave Ramsey's book, Financial Peace Revisited. It's a perfect book to have as we approach a new year -- what a better time to reevaluate your finances and get everything in order! To enter, tell us what you are grateful for financially, whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not.

The giveaway will close next Wednesday, November 24th at midnight, and the winner will be announced the following Friday. Good luck!

More Holiday Savings (Merrick)

Every Christmas since I’ve been married, I’ve wanted to send out holiday cards. I love receiving them, seeing updated photos, and reading the letters about the family during the past year. But my husband felt weird about sending them out when it was just the two of us.

This year we added a little boy to our family, so I convinced my husband it was finally time to send out cards. But once I sat down and made a list of people to send them to, calculated in the cost of cards (which ranged from $0.30-1.50 per card), envelopes, and postage (on top of all the other Christmas expenses), it was suddenly getting a little pricey.

So, of course, I went looking for a deal.

After a quick search, I discovered that Winkflash.com was giving away 50 free 4x6 prints (with $0.99 shipping) when you sign up. Then while purchasing ink cartridges at Office Max, I found 50 envelopes for 4x6 cards on sale for $5. I asked my friend if she would take a few family shots of us (which she did for free!), and then I put a little holiday pattern and note on the photo in Photoshop. And for a whopping $5.99 (plus postage), I have holiday cards!


This is not the one we're sending out -- I just whipped this one up as an example. Adding a festive border and some verbiage does not matter when ordering your free 50 prints as long as it's 4x6 and saved as one file, able to be uploaded to Winkflash's site just like a normal photo.

So even if you're cutting back this year, you can still send out holiday cards and not have to worry that it's a big expense.

The Rewards of Being Frugal (Carole)

My girls and I have spent nearly a year sharing our fun (and sometimes clever) frugal ideas with all of you in this blog, and maybe it seems that all we care about is saving money.  Not true!  In fact, the main reason we use coupons, pay off debt, look for the best deal or do without, is so that when we REALLY want to spend money on something important or fun -- we can!  All without fear or regret -- or using a credit card.

For instance, last Saturday was my husband's birthday.  At our house, birthdays are a big deal.  For the first 20+ years of our marriage, a "big deal" meant breakfast in bed, a few brightly wrapped presents, Grannie's homemade cherry chocolate cake, and crepe paper streamers and balloons hung from the kitchen light.  But now that the house is paid off and most of our children are raised, we have really beefed up our celebrations!  For the past 5 years, David and I have flown to Los Angeles, rented a snappy convertible, stayed at the super-ritzy Ritz-Carlton, and spent one delightful evening eating filet mignon and watching world-class magic at The Magic Castle in Hollywood.  For my husband who has loved magic since he was a teenager, this is a dream come true!  In fact, after our first trip, he said, "We could do this trip every year for my birthday for the rest of my life and I would be happy."  And maybe we just will.


This trip is not cheap, as you might have guessed (although, we do fly free with our Rapid Rewards points from Southwest Airlines, and I pre-pay our hotel room which saves us $30/night, and Merrick's darling husband gets us the family discount on our rental car through his job), but even with those deals, this trip costs quite a few pretty little pennies.  But because we watch all of our pennies during the rest of the year, we can take this wonderful trip every October and never think twice.

What would be the point of scrimping and saving, just to end up like Ebenezer Scrooge with piles of money, but no happiness?  That's not the goal at all.  One of our beloved religious leaders,  Russell M. Nelson, once said, "Money is a library card to experience."  We remind ourselves of this often.  You only live once.  Don't squander your precious and hard-earned resources so that you can never have the experiences or things that will have made your life worth living.

This is the whole purpose of being frugal.  This is the whole idea behind this blog:  Be that Frugal Wife, so you can have that Wealthy Life.  Whatever that might mean to you.

Holiday Baking (Carole)

Two weeks ago, when we asked you for your best gift ideas for the holidays, many of you mentioned baking.  That is music to a frugal wife's ears!  All you have to do is find a good recipe, buy your supplies in bulk and heat up the oven.  It's just about that easy.  And think of all the money you'll save on scented candles during the holidays, since your house will already smell like a pumpkin pie is in the oven -- because it is!

Here is one of my favorite holiday recipes that only costs a couple of dollars to make.  From October until New Year's, I make a batch 2 -3 times per week.  These really are that good.  It's adapted from the pumpkin bread recipe in the Williams-Sonoma Muffin cookbook.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins   

1 1/2  cups sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup chocolate chips

I just mix everything together, fill 12 pre-greased (or sprayed) muffin tins and bake at 350 for 15 - 18 minutes.

I've heard that it's been another bad year for the pumpkin crop, so if you are planning to buy canned pumpkin, you probably ought to pick them up soon.  Just to be on the safe side.

Saving During The Holidays and GIVEAWAY (Merrick)

It is very apparent from your comments on the last two posts that many of you are great at saving during the holidays! We're all very impressed!

There are several things that I do to save money on Christmas.

First, I start early. I don't shop all year long, because I just can't think THAT far in advance. But I usually start around July, making a list of things that my family has mentioned, and then I have six months to wait for those items to go on sale, get a coupon, or find something better. And then all my gifts are done (and sometimes wrapped) before December even arrives. No stress for me.

Second, because I'm a spreadsheet fanatic, I write my list of "Gifts To Give" in an Excel spreadsheet with an "estimated cost" and "actual cost" column. I write down how much I think each item will cost, and then as I buy it I write in how much it actually cost (pennies and everything). This gives me a good idea of how much my total spending for Christmas will be before I even buy anything, and lets me know if I have to cut back on something if the total comes over my set budget. Also, if an item comes in over my estimated cost, I can go through my list of other gifts to cut out anything unnecessary or scour for coupons on bigger ticket gifts so that I stay under budget on my total cost.

Third, I repeat gifts every year. Janssen talked about this yesterday and I think it's a great way to save money. Each year for Christmas I give Philip a photobook of the previous years photos. Because I know that I'm giving it to him each year, I spend all year working on it, waiting for sales, and looking for which photobook site has the best deal. I usually do mine through Shutterfly. I have also signed up for their email list so I get notifications of their sales and always order mine when they're 30% off, have free shipping, or some other good deal.

Today we're giving away Dave Ramsey's DVD: Dumping Debt . Whether you're struggling with credit card debt, trying to pay off your car or house, dealing with student loans, or have no debt and are trying to stay away from it, this DVD is for you. Leave a comment telling us about your favorite gift you've ever given, and we'll announce the winner on Monday, October 11.

Good luck!

Gift Giving for the Stressed Gift Giver (Janssen)

Some people are brilliant gift givers (my mom is definitely one of those people). I? Am not a good gift giver. In fact, both my husband and I find gift giving stressful enough that we don't exchange gifts for Christmas, birthdays or anniversaries with each other (best system ever, in my opinion). 

We do, of course, buy gifts for other family and friends. To make this easier on me, we've set up kind of gift "traditions" for various categories of people we buy for.

For instance, every year, we buy one children's book for each of our siblings' families with children (this is a total of six families). I choose one book, buy six copies, wrap them and hand them out. I have all year to find a book I like and think they'll like, I can buy them all at once, and when a particularly good deal comes along from a book retailer, I'm ready to jump on it because I know just what I'm getting those families.


My mom does this too - every year for Father's Day, she gets tickets for my dad to go to a show in Las Vegas with my little brother.

We plan to do what many of you commented on Monday that you do for Christmas with your children - something to read, something to wear, and something to play with.

These categories make my life so much easier and help me not spend a fortune and take advantage of good deals. What's not to love?

The item we're giving away today is a Dave Ramsey DVD called Cash Flow Planning (it's the nuts and bolts of budgeting). Leave a comment telling us what gift you received in the last year that you loved most (don't worry, we won't tell your mom if it wasn't the gift SHE gave you) to entered. On Monday, we'll announce all three winners.

Budgeting Software Giveaway (Carole)

With the holidays just around the corner, we thought it would be fun to have a week full of giveaways!

Today's giveaway is Dave Ramsey's Personal Finance Software, version 5.4.1  -- It appears to work exclusively on a PC, so if you win our random drawing and own a Mac, we'll choose something else for your prize.

On to the topic for the day. . .

Did you know that the average American family spends $935 on Christmas gifts each year?  Considering most families have no savings and live on the very edge of their monthly incomes, this amount typically gets charged to a credit card.  Of course, we frugal folks hate even the idea of putting nearly $1000 on a credit card at the end of each year.  What a terrible way to ring in the new year!


To help us all escape this terrible fate, please take a moment to share with everyone how you and yours keep to your budget through the highly commercialized holiday season.   Even though many of us are frugal, frugal, frugal, we are more than happy to learn a new trick or two.  In fact, it's the reason we love this blog!!