Have yourself a Frugal Little Christmas

... make your wallet smile!

Having a frugal Christmas doesn't mean being cheap it means being wise with your spending choices. It is possible to have a frugal Christmas and also have tons of fun! Trust me we do it at our house and fun is something we definitely do have.

The pressure from retailers and our children and family members can be overwhelming to say the least. Every where we look there is sparkling lights and decorations galore. Even grocery stores become a treasure chest full of offers and sparkling wrapping paper and chocolates.

The problem is that if you really take a look at the offers they are not really bargains or good deals at all. The buy one get one, 1/2 price sale is only good if you need two of the same item otherwise you are draining your purse on something that is not needed. These offers are great if you have a large family but if you don't it isn't really a good deal.

My best advice to stick to your frugal Christmas and most important stick to your budget. Also a frugal Christmas can be fun because it takes the away the taxing shopping away and puts a little creativity back into your life.

The Tree:

The most economical is artificial tree but I know some people love buying and cutting their down their tree every year. For us we use an artificial tree mainly due to allergies. Yep, I am allergic to Christmas trees, talk about humbug!

The Decorations:

So many thrift stores sell Christmas decorations and you can find some real treasures this way. Also if you have small children there is no greater joy then seeing their faces light up when they have made some Christmas decorations and you have proudly displayed them on the Christmas tree. Let's face it even if you don't have small children we all love to colour and what is more fun then spending time together colouring to ornaments for your Christmas tree.

Talk a walk through a forest and grab some pinecones and either dry them out and use them or spray paint them various colours to makes your decor. Add a little glitter to them to help them sparkle up any decor.

A favourite for ornaments among children are dough ornaments or even cinnamon dough ornaments. As a matter of fact this year we were unpacking our Christmas decorations and we found two cinnamon dough ornaments that were over 15 years old and both still smell wonderful and are in great shape. I highly recommend them. (recipe to follow)

For any candles you use... just use plain ones and add a ribbon it really adds a finishing touch. And here is my placemat idea for Christmas. Last year I hosted a table at church where we decorate for the adult Christmas banquet and I didn't have anything that matched so I went out and wrapping paper was on sale at Zellers and I am always on a budget. So I purchased some wrapping paper for $2 and that did 8 placemats for my table and it matched so nicely. I will hunt up the pictures I have of it.

Card & Wrapping tips:

One of my favourite things to do is to go to the local paper and buy the end of roll newsprint. They sell them really cheap. I use it as wrapping paper with some red and green yarn instead of ribbon. If newsprint is left over I just use it for my kids to draw on afterwards. Or if you want to have even more fun get out the pants and stamps and let your children decorate the paper for you.

For cards I recommend making them yourself or using a family picture and printing it and sending it out. I find most people just end up throwing out their cards. I know for my family I don't I keep them and scrapbook them every year.

Gifts:

I know for me, I have entered contests online and ended up winning some amazing gifts for my family. Not to mention these were gifts I by know means could afford to buy for my family. So bonus all the way around. Also if budget is a problem or as I say what budget, I have no money so therefore no real budget but that means I have to be very creative in what I do and can buy.

Making your own gifts from things around the house you already have. Bath bombs, Epsom salts for the tub, hand lotion, personal care items you name it. I watch the sales like crazy to get what I do get on sale and not to mention combine coupons too! Save, save, save!

I almost forgot we limit the number of gifts we give to people. We usually don't buy for the adults because well they really don't need anything and it is not in the budget. Secondly each one of our children only gets 4 gifts, a want, need, something to read and something to wear.

I will post a thread later on frugal gifts.

Making your own Liquid Hand Soap

have found decided to make my own liquid hand soap for fractions of what it costs new. I always use ivory soap because it is cheap usually 99cents or less for 8 to 10 bars of soap I try to make it free with coupons. The cost is in buying some glycerin which is only around $2 for 100ml which means I use about 34cents worth of glycerin to make over 2L of liquid hand soap. I have quite a few people in my house using hand soap daily so this adds up to be quite the saving for only about 8 to 10 minutes of my time.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon Glycerin

1 bar soap

10 cups water

This is the soap all grated and ready to be put into the 10 cups of water along with the glycerin.

I put all the ingredients in a pot on medium/low on the stove to just melt the soap

then I turn off the burner and let it cool so I can put it in containers to store.

Melting the soap only takes minutes to do.

I have saved old containers to reuse over and over.

Next I want to try my hand at making foaming hand soap!

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

• 1 cup borax
• 1 cup washing soda
• 1/2 cup kosher salt

Don't forget to fill rinse agent compartment with white vinegar.

When you do a load use 1 tablespoon of detergent per load

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I am always looking for ways to save money. For years now I have been making my own laundry detergent for fractions of what it costs to buy it even with coupons. Your initial investment is in the ingredients to make the laundry soap and then after that you are in business.

Here is the recipe I use currently:

Each batch yields approximately 32 ounces (between 32-64 loads based on how many Tbsp used per load).

• 1 bar of shaved bar soap (Ivory is what I use it has to be pure soap)
• 1 cup of borax
• 1 cup of washing soda

Thoroughly stir together.

When you do a load use 1 tablespoon of detergent per load.

NOTE: Front-Load Washers

HE front-load washers require “special soap”. Because they use less water, they require soap that is less sudsy. The good news is, this homemade detergent is VERY in low suds.

Frugal Cleaning supplies

Who doesn't love cleaning wipes? They are so convenient but wickedly expensive and full of chemicals even with coupons and trust me if it wasn't for coupons I would have never bought them. The only alternative I could come up with is to make my own.

Homemade cleaning wipes are easy to make, economical, and contain only those cleaning agents you select. Use them in the kitchen, the bathroom, or for cleaning windows.

I remembered reading about making baby wipes some time ago and thought I could do the same with disinfectant wipes. Here's what to do:

• First, find a container. I'm just using the empty container from my old wipes.
• Second, take a roll of paper towels (preferably very strong ones--they may seem expensive compared to the cheap brands, but they will work better and still cost so much less than wipes). Don't forget to use your coupons when buying them and only buy them when they are on sale trust me they go on sale lots. You're going to have to cut it to size for the container you have--probably in half. I would recommend a very sharp bread knife, or an electric one if you have it. My bread knife worked beautifully in conjunction with a bit of ripping.
• Third, make up some disinfectant solution. I would recommend one part disinfectant cleaner to three parts water, and add a few drops of dish soap if you like. Remove tub in the center of the paper towels and have towels feed through the center.
• Pour the cleaner into the container with the paper towels and let it saturate them.

For disinfectant I like to use Vinegar just plain white vinegar it is inexpensive and doesn't contain a ton of chemicals which is really important to me.

As you use the wipes, they will begin to dry out, so add more water and/or cleaning solution as necessary. Allow wipes to stand overnight before continuing to use them after adding more solution.

You may vary the strength of the cleaning solutions as necessary for your household, using more cleaning agents for a stronger wipe, less solution and more water for a milder product.

Sometimes I also add an essential oil like lavendar to make everything smell fresh and clean.

That's all! Pull up the wipes from the middle and enjoy . . . er, well, go clean something.

Can you make it on $1,000/month??

This is just a simple question can you and your family survive on $1,000/month???

I guess I should answer this question...

Yes my family can definitely survive on this amount and how do I know that, well that is what we lived on for a year. Yep still standing and smiling to talk about it. How can this be done... well it takes some creativity and some really keen shopping skills.

My children didn't live without during this year either. They were dressed lovely, fed well and all their needs were met. Of course there was no room for wants that year and really still isn't any room for wants needs only in this house.

I cook from scratch only for my family and I don't buy processed foods unless they are free which really never happens so it saves my family in sodium content and other yucky stuff and also saves my pocket book. I find cooking from scratch really saves my family. At one time we were feeding our family of 6 at the time on $60/week which worked out to $240/month. And the family of six is 4 adults and 1 teen and 1 child.

Things we do to save money:

• no cable (we stream our tv over the internet via boxee box)
• no monthly home phone (magic jack works great over the net and saves us a ton)
• switching to an unlimited internet provider that is half the price we were paying
• make my own laundry detergent (trying Soap Nuts right now though)
• make my own hand soap
• make our own Christmas gifts (most anyway)
• I do enter contests to win various things (Been pretty lucky too)
• drop the over all temperature in our house down a two degrees lower & put on a sweater
• we stay away from using hydro during peak times of the day (ugh, smart meter)
• when running our vehicle we try to do all our errands at one time conserving gas not to mention saving the environment
• haircuts at home
• eating in or bringing our food if we are heading out of town
• Do it yourself for mostly everything (grateful my husband is very handy around the house)
• price matching and coupons (truly have saved the day for us)
• priceline & hotwire for booking hotels (saved us tons with our daughter living in Toronto & one looking for a university to attend next year)

I have also found that not having all the hassle with money and cable that we all tend to connect more as a family. We do a ton of things as a family. We put the things that matter front and center. Our family and friends are important to us. We cultivate these relationships and truly develop friendships taking it up a notch from being just an acquittance.

In this time of limited funds we have enjoyed many activities and lots of people that have come into our life. We are so truly grateful for each day we are here to help make a difference in this world. You don't have to have money to make a difference. Do so with your actions in how you treat others send someone a encouraging text, message or leave them a note letting them no what they mean to you. Invite them for potluck dinner so everyone contributes something easing the burden of the cost from you.

There is so much more but honestly I am tired and it is time for me to call it a night.

Simplifying Christmas

How do you do Christmas?

Or maybe I should ask how do you gift buying?

In the real world which is where I live budgeting is essential. I have to budget everything with our very limited income. So we have a way of doing gift giving for our 4 children and this is how it goes:

• something they WANT
• something they NEED
• something to WEAR
• something to READ

I have found this has really simplified our gift giving at our house. Not just for Christmas but for birthday's as well. It also makes it easy to give others ideas for gifts for your children. I know fir us it does anyway. Their is only one thing that always goes for our house and that is on Christmas eve we all get new jammies and sometimes they are matching. Last year they were!

This also makes purchasing gifts throughout the year really easy since I can keep in mind the want, need, wear and read.

Where to find coupons and Organizing them...

or more like where I find coupons.

I find coupons in my mailbox, in the local market that comes once a week, in the newspaper, on facebook and online at various website.

Some of the websites I go to for coupons are:

• Save.ca
• brandsaver.ca
• websaver.ca
• gocoupons.ca
• not to mention the various product websites
• more coming

Check your stores for tearpads, instore coupons, peelies and in store brochures.

Magazines often have coupons in them but remember to read the coupon as some magazines are from the USA and the coupons can not be used in Canada.

Contact the merchant directly... I get some awesome coupons this way. If you like Chapman's ice cream then email let them know and then ask for a coupon. Most of this can be done via email.

Let your friends know you are collecting coupons... if they are not using the flyers we get with them in maybe they will pass them on to you and your family to use.

Get together with others that use coupons and trade for ones you will not use for ones you will use.

Keeping your coupons organized is very important because if they are not organized you will not use them and using them is the whole point of having them. I used to organize mine in a binder but I have switched to a bag I guess you would say... it is organized into various sections that suit my family like:

• snacks
• breads
• crackers/cookies
• cereal
• dairy
• yogurt
• freezer
• cleaning products
• medicine
• baby
• pet
• you get the idea....

I will have some pictures to post before I post this to the internet I hope... life can get busy but I plan to add pictures. :)

Maximizing your Coupons

I have heard from many people that you only get coupons for items that are normally really expensive and this can be true when you use a coupon on an item at a regular price but trust me I don't use my coupons when things are at regular price. I like to maximize the benefit of using coupons so I wait until it goes on sale. It is easy to wait when you already have a stock pile and you don't need to run out and get the item at a moments notice. (now you see why I have a stock pile)

Read the weekly ads: to compare prices and see where the best deal is.

Match coupons: match the coupons you have to the sales. This is made easier for me by going to a wonderful website that basically does this already for me. smartcanucks.ca It really has been a valuable resource for as far as couponing and finding out when deals are coming up.

Price Match: Some stores will price match as I said previously mentioned... Walmart and NoFrills are good for price matching.

Make a list: I always go with a list in hand so I do not miss any thing and it makes it easier for checking out and handing over my coupons.

Rainchecks: Remember to get a raincheck if they are out of an item so you can still get the deal at a later date.

Very Important Coupon Tip:

• read your coupons and double check the expiry date

Getting through the Check Out.... with coupons and price matching

The check out lane is so important when couponing. I know for me I first put the stuff up that I have no coupons for and will not be price matching.

I always go into the store with a list... a list of items I will be using coupons for and a list of items I will be price matching. Remember to bring your flyers you are price matching too. If you don't bring your flyers you can not price match.

If you are local to me... I am just letting you know that Freshco will only price match two items.. but if you go to Walmart they will price match all flyers for you and No Frills will also. Just a little tip from someone who does a lot of price matching.

As I put the items up I have coupons for... I put the coupon right with the item making the cashiers life a little bit easier if you ask me.. I am always thanked for doing this. I figure if it makes the line go smoother then I will continue to do this.

If I am price matching a few items from a store I put the store flyer on the belt with the items and coupons if I have them also. Again making it easier for the girl ringing me through. I will also say that I always choose non-peak times to shop... so I am not holding the line up at all. It really does help a lot if you do this.

Things will go smoother the more prep you do. That is something I have figured out over the years and I want this process to be as smooth as possible.

Coupons coming out this weekend...

A new SmartSource will be available in newpapers across Canada this coming weekend. Here is a complete list of all the coupons available:

B0G0 Scrubbing Bubbles toilet cleaning gel
$1.50 off Goodnites underwear
$4.00 off any 2 dinners at Red Lobster
$3.00 off at Red Lobster
$1.00 off Purell large
$1.00 off WUB3 or more Purell products
Buy one Glade automatic room spray refill and GO starter kit FREE
$2.00 off on Glade decor scents holder
$1.00 off Glade decor scents refill
$0.50 when you purchase any 2 Glade aerosols
$1.00 off Tresemme
$1.00 off Nature Valley Granola Bars
$1.00 off Fibre 1 bars
$1.00 off Betty Crocker Fruit Flavoured snacks
Lysol No Touch MIR
FINSIH QUANTUM MIR
$1.00 off Noxzema product
$1.00 off Clorox Bleach
$2.00 off any 2 Ziploc brand products
$1.50 off Pullups
$1.00 off Pull-Ups flushable wipes
BOGO Scrubbing Bubbles
$1 off Fantastic Trigger

Not the best assortment but some I will definitely use.

Beginner couponing for Canada and Stock piling

I know couponing in Canada is very different then couponing in the USA. There was a show on TLC called extreme couponing but to me it was WAY over the top.

I have a stock pile so I don't have to run to the store for every little thing when I need it. I only have things in my stock pile that my family will use. I do not stock pile items we won't use. It makes no sense to buy an item because it is really cheap or even free if I will never use it. It is wasteful of my resources and since we are a family of limited resources I choose not to waste them.

Now for creating a stock pile...you only want to buy things when they are on sale or at a really good price. Sales typical cycle on a 3 month rotation or so I have found. As you get couponing you will realize how the cycle works even more. To get the best benefit you want to shop for items when they are sale and try to get enough of them until the next cycle they come on sale.

I also want to stress how important it is to always rotate your stock pile so that the items at the front are the ones that will expire first so it is those that you are grabbing to use first. This will help avoid you tossing out items that have expired. Keep the newer items at the back and keep rotating them forward as you buy more. (hope this makes sense)

As a do stock pile or create it I always think of how much my family will use in a 6 month period and have that on hand and usually not any more than that. This really helped my family when my husband lost his job a few years ago we were able to live off of our stock pile for a long time. Saving our resources for other things needed in our home. (like our mortgage, bills, etc.)

Check out this list:

Brown sugar
Indefinite shelf life, stored in a moistureproof container in a cool, dry place.

Coffee, canned ground
Unopened: 2 years
Opened: 1 month refrigerated

Coffee, gourmet
Beans: 3 weeks in paper bag, longer in vacuum-seal bag (after this time, color or flavor may be affected, but product is still generally safe to consume)
Ground: 1 week in sealed container

Coffee, instant
Unopened: Up to 2 years
Opened: Up to 1 month

Diet soda (and soft drinks in plastic bottles)
Unopened: 3 months from “best by” date.
Opened: Doesn’t spoil, but taste is affected.

Dried pasta
12 months

Frozen dinners
Unopened: 12 to 18 months

Frozen vegetables
Unopened: 18 to 24 months
Opened: 1 month

Honey
Indefinite shelf life

Juice, bottled (apple or cranberry)
Unopened: 8 months from production date
Opened: 7 to 10 days

Ketchup
Unopened: 1 year (after this time, color or flavor may be affected, but product is still generally safe to consume)
Opened or used: 4 to 6 months (after this time, color or flavor may be affected, but product is still generally safe to consume)

Maple syrup, real or imitation
1 year

Maraschino cherries
Unopened: 3 to 4 years
Opened: 2 weeks at room temperature; 6 months refrigerated

Marshmallows
Unopened: 40 weeks
Opened: 3 months

Mayonnaise
Unopened: Indefinitely
Opened: 2 to 3 months from “purchase by” date (after this time, color or flavor may be affected, but product is still generally safe to consume)

Mustard
2 years (after this time, color or flavor may be affected, but product is still generally safe to consume)

Olives, jarred (green with pimento)
Unopened: 3 years
Opened: 3 months

Olive oil
2 years from manufacture date (after this time, color or flavor may be affected, but product is still generally safe to consume)

Peanuts
Unopened: 1 to 2 years unless frozen or refrigerated
Opened: 1 to 2 weeks in airtight container

Peanut butter, natural
9 months

Peanut butter, processed (Jif)
Unopened: 2 years
Opened: 6 months; refrigerate after 3 months

Pickles
Unopened: 18 months
Opened: No conclusive data. Discard if slippery or excessively soft.

Protein bars (PowerBars)
Unopened: 10 to 12 months. Check “best by” date on the package.

Rice, white
2 years from date on box or date of purchase

Salad dressing, bottled
Unopened: 12 months after “best by” date
Opened: 9 months refrigerated

Soda, regular
Unopened: In cans or glass bottles, 9 months from “best by” date
Opened: Doesn’t spoil, but taste is affected

Steak sauce
33 months (after this time, color or flavor may be affected, but product is still generally safe to consume)

Tabasco
5 years, stored in a cool, dry place

Tea bags (Lipton)
Use within 2 years of opening the package

Tuna, canned
Unopened: 1 year from purchase date
Opened: 3 to 4 days, not stored in can

Soy sauce, bottled
Unopened: 2 years
Opened: 3 months (after this time, color or flavor may be affected, but product is still generally safe to consume)

Vinegar
42 months

Worcestershire sauce
Unopened: 5 to 10 years (after this time, color or flavor may be affected, but product is still generally safe to consume)
Opened: 2 years

If you have a payless near you check it out!!!!!

You really need to check it out.... seriously!
I scored some awesome deals for my daughter and me too!!!

They are end of season shoes but ask me if I care... and I can tell you my daughter doesn't care... three pairs for her... thanks to her growth spurt... she needed size 2 now... and a pair for me... because I couldn't pass up the price.

here is what I got:

White shoes for ME (like keds) reg. $32.99
White dress shoes (daughter) reg. $27.99
Copper flats (daughter) reg. $34.99
Brown slip on runners (daughter) reg. $29.99

total reg. $125.26
and I paid.... are you read... $6.43 for all 4 pairs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is less than $1.61 for each pair of shoes!!!! SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!!

*NOTE - I am in Canada, Ontario to be exact!*

Staying on budget

Today I went to Shoppers Drug Mart and Bulk Barn with a very small budget. My budget for today's purchases was $25. I love when I can challenge myself to stay on budget.. and it works. :)

First stop Shoppers Drug Mart... now grant you it was redemption day so that does help me stay on budget.

My purchases:

Swedish Berries (I thought I wasn't at $100)

Christie Crackers 1.99/box

Hershey's candy drops 3.99 ($1 off coupon)

RestorLax 31.99 ($6 off coupon)

Shampoo x2

Hair Spray

Antiperspirant x4 ($6 off coupons)

Waterproof mascara ($2 off coupon)

Lever Soap

Allergy Medicine

Paper Towel

Bacon strips (for the dog)

Milk and more....

$10 Timmies card (Free some deal they were offering)

Total out of pocket - $16.05 (minus $10 gift card) = 6.05

Second stop... Bulk Barn.... In this week's paper and actually I think every week lately they have spend $10 get $3 off.... so we stopped in to treat our girls. Kids have to have treats sometimes too!

The nuts are not for the girls.... oh I had to get the bazooka gum I wanted to read the comics... I loved bazooka joe as a child... anyway.... spent $8.47 here so all in all... I stayed within my $25 shopping budget and I got way more than $25 worth....

I love shopping days like this... my husband was smiling... all the way home with me... he likes when we can shop for so little and get so much.

Building a Frugal Pantry - Part 2

Time to post the contents of my frugal pantry.....

• olive oil & canola oil
• pasta
• dry beans
• lentils
• tomato sauce
• rice
• vinegar
• flour
• broth (various) * I try to make my own as much as possible
• sugar (white & brown)
• baking powder
• baking soda
• vanilla
• cornmeal
• herbs and seasonings
• potatoes
• onions
• condiments (oh do I ever love mustard)
• garlic (I always have a jar of minced garlic in the fridge)

Building a Frugal Pantry - Part 1

I am all for stocking up a pantry of items but I am even more about doing it frugally. In the day and age where everything seems to be going up accept our income I have decided to fill my pantry as frugally as possible. Making it so most everyone can do this without a huge impact on money.

Breakfast ideas:

• Waffles (all ingredients together in a bag ready to go)
• Pancakes
• English muffins
• Bagels
• make my own instant oatmeal
• breakfast burritos

I will be posting recipes I have used to make the following to stock up my pantry I also plan to add pictures so you can see how I store everything.

Make my own instant oatmeal

• 1/4 cup quick oats
• 1 teaspoon milk powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Add about 6 tablespoons of hot water to the oatmeal but we like is thick in this house to add water to preference.

I found an English Muffin recipe I will be trying from The Happy Housewife. This recipe looks so good I can't wait to make them.