Frugal Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas (A Dad’s Persepctive)

photo credit: Edgar Zuniga Jr.
Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. Do you have your frugal gift giving list in order? Saint Valentine sure had it in for us guys when he decided Valentine’s Day would fall on February 14, less than two months after Christmas. It is a rare occasion when frugality and romance mix, but why not make this Valentine’s Day the year to celebrate frugally with some low-cost, romantic gift ideas. Warning, this is an area where frugality could be harmful to your health, so be sure you are giving these gifts from the heart, not just to save a buck.

Homemade coupon books are an inexpensive way to show your appreciation for loved ones. The design is not as the important as the content here, so don’t fret too much over the type of paper to use, the cover design, etc. Spend your time and energy brainstorming ideas and activities that really make your loved one happy. In a small booklet format, start listing those ideas, one per page. On Valentine’s Day present the homemade coupon book along with the promise to fulfill the coupon when presented. Here are a few ideas that may provide some inspiration:

- Good for One Free Car Wash

- Dad Takes the Kids For One Day

- A One-Hour Massage

- Dad Does the Cooking for One Week

- One “Chick-Flick” Date Night

- Get Out of Doing Dishes for One Week

- Spend One Week With No Television (not eligible for redemption during football season)

Plan a picnic. In some parts of the country the weather is nice enough to plan a picnic by February 14. If not, bring a coat and go anyway. Besides, cold weather usually resorts to snuggling, and that’s a good thing on Valentine’s Day. Pick up an inexpensive basket at a flea market or craft store, and prepare an assortment of your loved one’s favorite snacks at home. The menu could be as simple as some fine cheese with crackers, or homemade mini-sandwiches and a small dessert. A quick search for picnic menu ideas yields some great results. Top it off with an inexpensive bottle of wine, or your beverage of choice. Don’t forget at least two blankets (one for the ground, and one for her). Make this a surprise and add to the suspense. Load up the picnic basket ahead of time and then tell your Valentine to dress warm for a surprise date.

Take a day trip. Schedule a vacation day from the office and surprise her with a short day trip to a regional attraction. Make it a fun date – maybe a visit to an aquarium, musuem, or even the zoo. Plan ahead by ordering tickets in advance, and be on the lookout for any merchants that offer deals if you buy from them (your Valentine doesn’t have to know). Plan to eat lunch and/or dinner before visiting the attraction because food at entertainment venues is nearly as expensive as movie theatre candy.

Bottom line, it is true what they say – it is the thought that counts. You don’t have to go broke showing your Valentine with overly expensive gifts to show your love for them. In fact, gifts from the heart usually mean more to the recipient than something bought at a store, at least they do to us frugal dads.

Article can be found at Frugal Dad: http://frugaldad.com/2008/01/30/frugal-valentines-day-gift-ideas/  

Get it Together One Room at a Time

photo credit: evelynishere

I am sure you have seen the show “Clean Sweep”, or something similar to it. Clean Sweep is a show where people come in and help other people get rid of all the clutter and junk in their homes. Do you feel like your home needs a clean sweep? If so then there is really one good way to do it. One Room at a time until the whole house has been clean swept.

When your house becomes cluttered it becomes very easy to feel overwhelmed. And then trying to decide how to get rid of the clutter become even more discouraging. You begin to look at things around your house and wonder where to even start. Below are some great ideas that should help you start clearing out the clutter.

You want to start by focusing on one room at a time. If you look at the huge big picture you will become easily intimidated by it all. But by cleaning one room at a time you will feel like you are getting something accomplished when you are done with that one room, and they you will be more encouraged to move on to the next room.

You want to start by being prepared. You want trash bags, cardboard boxes, and some storage bins. You need to label three boxes, keep, Donate and Trash. Then each item you pick up in the room you need to decided what you are going to do with it right away.

Make sure you clean off all surfaces and empty out all the drawers. If you are working in a bedroom make sure that you take everything out of the closet. You will have many boxes but don’t concentrateon the number of boxes. Think about one box at a time and decided what you are going to do with each and every item in the box. Then you can move on to the next box.

Clothing: If you love clothing and you wear that certain piece of clothing often put it in the keep box but if you have not worn it in the last six months then you need to donate it. If they are torn and need some repairs you either decided you are going to repair them right away or you throw them in the trash. And move on

Shoes: Do your shoes just as you did your clothing. Keep only the pairs that you wear all the time and get rid of the rest. Each pair you donate or toss in the trash make more room and less clutter.

Papers: You need to take the time to go through all the papers in the room. Start a filing system if you don’t have one. You can start by separating them in large categories and then sub them down from there.

Books: Now this is a hard one depending on who you are and how much you love to read. There are several options what you can do with with these books. You can pass them on to a friend you know loves to read, you can donate them to a local womens club or organization, take them to your local library or take them to paperbackswap.com. Books tend to take up a lot of space.

After you have taken an action on what you are keeping, what you are going to donate, and what you are getting rid of, take the donation box out of the room and load it into the vehicle so you can drop it off the next time you are out. Take the trash to the curb or where every you keep your trash. You need to clean the room from top to bottom. Do some painting if you would like and rearrange the furniture. Put the items that you are keeping back into the room and begin to organize the items as you put them away.

Now once you have completed one room give yourself a break before starting on the next room. Now once you start on the next room do it just as you did the last room. You can even congratulate yourself for a job well done because pretty soon you are going to have control of your house again.

Sewing With Your Children

photo credit: Andres Rueda

Sewing by hand is becoming a lost art. It is something that is often handed down from one generation to the next; it is learned. My daughters (and also my son) are taught by me, I was taught by my mom, who was taught by her mom (my grandmother) and so on… back as far as we can remember.

So, if you are able to sew, try to make time to teach your children, even if it is just enough so that they can sew on a button, mend a pair of socks, or hem a pair of pants. Sewing by hand is one of those things that cannot be learned by just watching; you MUST do it and practice it in order to learn.

If you do not know how to sew, it may be worthwhile to you to find someone that can teach you, even if it is the basics. Even boys can benefit from knowing how to repair their buttons and holes and hems.

The teacher in me is always on a search for the educational value of the things I teach my children. So, what can be learned by learning to sew? First and foremost is hand-eye coordination. Your hands and eyes must work together to thread the needle and complete the task or project. Next, math skills will be used as well. What amount of thread, cloth, buttons, etc. will be needed? You could even help your children to calculate the cost of their projects. Reading and comprehension will be utilized if your children are using a pattern book or project sheet. If a task or project is being done for someone else or as a gift to charity, your children can also learn to care for others and show kindness to bring a little joy to the life of another. All of this from a little needle and thread and some time? Yes!

So, the next time you have something to sew, try to get your children involved. There is much to be learned and you can have some memorable fun in the process.

 

About the author:    Alicia H. Tucker is a homeschool mom of three, after having taught in public schools for over ten years. She has a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and a master’s degree in Education with a focus on Curriculum and Technology. She is a freelance writer and is currently working on writing her first book.

 

Valentine’s Day is Coming Soon… Are You Ready?

photo credit: tonydolor

February always has a way of sneaking up on me. I guess I am just relaxing after the hectic Christmas holiday and then all of a sudden February is here! As fast as it does seem to come each year, it is important not to forget your spouse and also your children on Valentine’s Day. This does not have to be an expensive holiday, but it should be one that you cherish with your loved ones.

Although Valentine’s Day has become a bit commercialized, we do not have to go broke showing our love to those around us. This year, Valentine’s Day falls on a Saturday so you will have more time home with your family that day than you may normally have during the typical week. That gives you even more time together to celebrate!

Trying to be frugal, but not wanting to skimp on showing my husband I love him each year on this day, I have come up with some ideas that have worked in the past. Each year, I make him cards on my computer. One is always serious and lets him know exactly how I feel about him (well… pointing out the things I love about him and not the things that drive me crazy… lol). I also make a silly card as well, something that will make him smile and maybe even laugh. In years past, I have even some up with some funny little gifts to brighten his day. One year, I took a screw and loaded it full of little nuts and washers from the toolbox and made it into a keychain. Then, I attached a note to it that said, “I’m nuts about you.”

For some special Valentine’s Day time with you children (or as a family), it might be fun to make cookies or cupcakes and decorate them. You could also plan a special Valentine’s Day meal that you can all prepare together, including making special placemats and decorations for the table. Whatever you decide to do, have fun with it and enjoy this time with your family as you share how much you love each other!
About the author:    Alicia H. Tucker is a homeschool mom of three, after having taught in public schools for over ten years. She has a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and a master’s degree in Education with a focus on Curriculum and Technology. She is a freelance writer and is currently working on writing her first book.

Planning Your Upcoming Christmas Dinner

photo credit: Harley Qinn

Now that Thanksgiving is over it is time to get together for the second biggest feast of the year. Christmas Dinner is a huge deal in every family. The year you can plan ahead, Plan so that you have more time to spend with your family and less time cooking and running around like you are crazy.

Not only does planning save you time but it can also save you money. During Christmas, families are full of good cheer and a longing to get reconnected. Let the family dinner do just that.

I want to share just a few tips on how to help dinner be a delight instead of a huge disaster.

1. First find out who all will be there for this years Christmas Dinner. Since it is family and if you have planned way ahead and done your inviting, most of your family will probley be coming. But there may be some that have already made plans, have to work, or may even be going out of town. So make sure you double check on who will be attending.
2. Ask everyone to bring something. Don’t try and do it all yourself and if each person brings something that is less you have to cook. I have the people who live close bring warm stuff and the people who live a long ways away bring the cold stuff.
3. Make all the side dishes and dessert before hand. Figure out what you can fix and freeze before hand.
4. Try cooking the turkey early. It takes a few hours for the turkey to cool anyways so get that one out of the way.
5. Serve Buffet style. Let the family serve themselves. Now we already do this so this one was the easiest one for me but if you are used to serving the family then this year try and let them serve themselves.

Planning a Christmas Dinner for your family can be an amazing, wonderful, great time filled with fellowship and love. So use these tips so that you can spend more time with your family and friends.

Save Time And Money By Planning Your Meals

You want more ideas and need help making a list check out List Planit.com

5 Ways to Eat Black Beans for Frugal Moms

photo credit: net_efekt

by Nicole Dean

If you have a family budget worked out, you know how hard it is to stick to it without having some real concrete plans and strategies to stretch your money as far as it will go. Usually, the first area we can squeeze a few extra dollars out of our wallets is on groceries. I’d like to introduce you to your new partner in your frugal endeavor, the black bean.

If you find yourself wandering aimlessly through the aisles of your grocery store, looking for something to make for dinner that won’t break your budget, take a detour over to the black bean display and check out the price. Considering that black beans are loaded with nutrients like protein, iron, calcium, and potassium, and they are high in fiber, and low in fat and sugar, they really offer a lot of bang for your buck. It’s obvious that black beans should be a staple in every household, frugal or not. So, let’s think up a few simple meals to create with your new best friend… the black bean.

1) Easy Bean Soup

Take 1 can each of black beans, navy beans, garbanzo beans, and butter beans, open, drain and set aside. (Yes, you may substitute whatever beans you have on hand.) Now, take a large pot, pour about 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil in, add 1 cup diced onion and 1 cup finely diced celery. Over medium to medium low heat, cook until celery is transparent. Then add 1 clove garlic, crushed, and let cook for a minute or so. Now pour all your beans into the pot along with 1 small can of diced tomatoes, use seasoned tomatoes if you wish, and 1 small can of chicken broth. Cook nice and slow so it’s just simmering for 20 minutes or so. Soup’s on!

2) Multi Bean Salad

Pick your favorite canned beans like, black beans, garbanzo beans, navy beans, butter beans, waxed beans, kidney beans, and any others that you may like to try. Drain and rinse them all very well. Put them in a nice big serving bowl. Add to the salad bowl some chopped onion, celery, chives, fresh parsley, rosemary if you like, thyme, or any other herb on hand. Season by sprinkling a good vinaigrette salad dressing all over and mixing in well. I prefer for this salad Paul Newman’s Balsamic Vinaigrette; it’s reasonably priced and good for a lot of recipes.

3) Simple Black Beans and Taco Sauce

My daughter loves black beans, and loves her taco sauce, too. So, the two just seemed a natural when she put them together in a bowl. Now the whole family is hooked! Just drain and rinse a can of black beans, make sure they’re drained well, then pour into a bowl and mix in some of those leftover packets of taco sauce you have laying around the kitchen. It makes a quick and tasty side dish or snack. This easy treat is worth a try even if you’re a bit skeptical. Once you’re hooked, you may want to try using some hot salsa, but just a little to add flavor, not too much sauce. Don’t forget to put some cheese on top!

4) Black Bean Salad with Cottage Cheese

Quick and simple salads are sometimes the best. In a serving bowl, put about 1 cup of cottage cheese, sprinkle some salt over the top and add a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. Now, drain and rinse a can of black beans, and spoon about 1/2 cup of the black beans over the cottage cheese. Chop up some celery and sprinkle over the top. You now have a snack or side salad that delicious and nutritious, loaded with protein, iron, calcium and fiber.

5) Quick Black Bean Burrito

With just a few items you keep on hand, you can always create a wonderfully classic burrito. Grab a corn or flour tortilla, heat it up if you like, and set it on a plate. Thoroughly drain and rinse a can of black beans. Now you can begin designing your burrito with whatever you have in the kitchen. Lay some black beans on your tortilla, add celery, tomatoes, shredded cheese, onion, leftover rice or even potatoes, diced chicken, sour cream, or any food you have to eat up. I usually prefer a little more black beans with just a few other items for flavor and texture. Just add taco sauce or salsa and dig in.

These recipes are just a few ways to use the wonderful, and versatile black bean. All five of these simple black bean dishes can be tweaked easily by you to show off your individual style and to become your own family favorites.

Nicole Dean is the mostly-sane mom and owner of ShowMomtheMoney.com – a fun and informative website to help moms achieve success working from home. She welcomes you to learn more ways to save money in her Frugal Moms section. Be sure to sign up for her free tutorial for work at home moms.

A Holiday EPlanner I Can’t Live Without

I am addicted to list and writing things by hand.  There I admitted it.  I am probley one of tht biggest list makers you will ever meet.  Seriously most list I have, have list themselves.  I think it is part of the organization freak found in me.

I could not tell you how exicted and happy I was when I found Holiday EPlanner by Listplanit.com.  I seriously could not wait to get my hands on it.  And once it was in my hands I could not wait to get started working on it. Holiday EPlanner had everything I had hoped for, wanted and needed to get my holiday action plan in motion.

Once I had it printed off and safely tucked in my home binder.  I was on a mission.  I started feeling out the pages.  I want to share with you my favorite pages:

• The December Calendar (started writing in important dates on it right away)
• Cards to Send (I got out my list from last year of people who sent us cards and started adding)
• Cards Received ( can’t wait to start receiving cards)
• Wish List (this is an awesome list and I have already started adding to it)
• Gift List (A,B,C) I have already started filling these out
• Holiday Meal Planner (this is awesome because I have already started planning my meal and actually I am going to use it to plan my Thanksgiving meal too)
• Holiday Gifts Received (now why did I not think of that.  This year I get to write down what we received and send out thank you cards)
• Holiday Memories (What a great tradition I can start by writing down my favorite memories every year)
• Holiday coolies and candy planner (this year is my first year I am making cookies and candy so I needed this)
• Advent Activity Planner (this is awesome and she has an example one too.)

Those are just my favorites and there are still tons more that I did not even mention.  I know I know now you are wishing you had one.  Well Listplanit.com has given me permission to give one away.  So all you need to do is GO visit http://listplanit.com and leave me a comment here on  on how much you would love a Holiday EPlanner and how you would use it and on Nov. 21st I will give away a free Holiday EPlanner to One Lucky Person.

43 Days Until Christmas What Are You Doing Today?

I have been starting to get ready for Christmas which means I have started making list, working on christmas presents, putting my thoughts together for the christmas newsletter and all that other fun stuff.  I found an awesome site that is helping me get ready for Christmas.  it is 100 To Christmas and each day they give you a little task to do to get ready for christmas.  Todays task is getting your photo’s together.

So today I am going to start making a list of the photo’s I want to use in the newsletter. Making sure I have a couple for each of the family members.  Decide if I am going to do online and offline newsletter also.

What are you doing today to get ready for Christmas?

Amazing Give Away at the Perfect Time

Just Recently I decided that I was going to go frugal and do it the whole 9 yards, coupons, meal planning, budget, cutting out the extra’s.   I found the most amazing and I have to tell you about it.  I have to win this because it would make my frugal living so much easier.

Here is what Julie who is holding the give away over at Free Birthday Treats Blog has to say about the amazing product she is giving away.

I’m loving this product! Invented by fellow mom entrepreneur, Wendy Krepak, the Card Cubby organizes gift cards, coupons, reward cards, game cards (like Dave & Busters), business cards, frequent flyer or shopper cards and the list goes on. I never realized how many cards I carried around until I pulled them all out of my purse to put them in my Card Cubby. It’s no wonder I can never find anything in there! So this is what I was using before - just for my coupons:

The Card Cubby can even be used as a wallet. Just insert your photo id into the clear pocket and stash the cash and credit cards inside. There is even room for a cell phone, iPod or small digital camera. It’s compact size makes it so easy to carry around by itself or tuck it away inside your purse like I do. It measures 5? wide by 3? tall and holds approximately 80 cards.

Yes, my old coupon organizer was quite an eye sore and I was forever getting frustrated with it because the flap would continually flip back over making it tough to hunt through my coupons inside and the snap to close it broke off long ago. With the Card Cubby the flap is much longer and stays flipped open and the magnetic snap closure easily secures the contents inside.

Can you Believe it she is giving this Cubby Card away to two luck winners….. Want to enter the contest and read more.  Then check out Julies site Free Birthday Treats Blo.

Budget Like Mom

photo credit: brettneilson

Budgeting is truly the turf of most mothers. Aside from the traditional role imposed on mothers as the one who budgets the family finances, mothers have the instincts and foresights on what might happen in the future.

But how do moms really stretch the budget? She neither uses complicated formulas nor magic tricks but simple ingenuity and common sense. Peek in through moms’ secrets in budgeting and learn. Role modeling is a good way to encourage attitude, especially towards money.

1. She clearly knows where all the money goes. Usually it goes to child care apart from the housing, health insurance, food and clothing. It is unlikely for her to cut cost on her children.

2. She studies all options given to her in terms of child care. Before she decides, she examines all aspects like safety, health and education.

3. To understand more, she talks to local child-care specialists and works out schedules with her employer for bonding time with kids.

4. For working moms, it is double the effort. They take care of the house and the children and at the same time work. She incorporates practical ways to accomplish both roles.

• Wearing professional clothes than trendy ones.
• Stays elegant but simple through a combination of basic colors.
• Dry cleaning costs a hefty amount, so, she dons on wash-and-wear clothes.
• Tone down on accessories.
• She engages in a lot of do-it-yourself habits like in cleaning spots and ironing wrinkles in her personal wardrobes.

5. Moms always shop with a list in her hand to keep track of her budget and expenses. She makes sure she does not exceed. Also, she has no time for checking out tempting stuff at the shopping mall.

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