Home for the (Stress Free) Holidays: No Debt

Debt is not your friend.

One of the things about debt that bugs me the most, is that the debtor truly is servant to the lender. Whether you are in the corporate world of financing dealing with millions/billions, or have just one small balance on a personal credit card. It's all the same. The lender rules you.

Before you go out and rack up some Christmas bills, please take a moment to think about how you will feel when your January statements come. If things are tight enough now, where Christmas needs to be financed, it's certainly not going to be easier come the new year.

I've had many modest Christmases in my life -- both on the giving and the receiving end. In fact, most Christmases have been that way, but they've all been so wonderful. The older I get, the more I've come to understand that we are more blessed to give than receive. And sometimes, in fact, most of the time the giving doesn't have to cost much at all. How many times do we fret and worry about getting our loved ones just the right gift -- usually something expensive?

I remember last year; for my birthday, my mom wrote me a beautiful letter. She wrote about how happy she was that I waited all those years to marry my George. She knew how difficult it was for me to wait for God's best, but was so happy to finally see me reaping the reward. That letter is one my most treasured possessions.

When my dad was old and beginning to feel his age I used to go visit him. He has always lived with very little in the way of material things and as a young adult I had very little with which to buy a gift for him. Turns out that was okay. Daddy only wanted to spend time with me. He was always so proud of all of us kids -- he just wanted to know we were doing okay and to enjoy our presence.

Those of you with children may wonder how on earth you can provide a nice Christmas without spending a lot of money, especially when the list to Santa is a mile long with expensive gifts. I used to ask for all the popular toys of the day too. But you know what? The gifts are not what I remember (or in my case, not getting the gifts). What I so fondly remember is traipsing out in our old truck to the wood lot to saw down some scraggly Charlie Brown tree and then placing the best side towards the living room and decorating it with all our treasured mismatched ornaments, and the two strands of outdoor lights. We used to make those red and green paper chains and hung them up on the tree and sometimes all around the kitchen. I used to help my dad making wooden rocking horses to sell so that he could buy a little something special for our Christmas. Sometimes we would go to town and sell a pig. Oh, and the Christmas cookies! My mother loves to bake and she's always more than happy to let little hands help. We used to make some delicious frosted sugar cookies and then use the leftover icing to fill graham crackers.

There's no doubt, when we were making all of these memories I so dearly cherish my parents were weary and worried. Yes, they were tired, weary and some years sick with a bad cold, and no money for the doctor. These fun, festive activities took place all they while they were carrying the full load of a busy farm. They were no doubt sick of heart because they could not afford nicer gifts, a better dinner, and something warm for us to wear. It must have hurt their pride something awful to have a box delivered to the front door a couple of weeks before Christmas -- providing what they could not, no matter how hard they worked.

My parents are amazing people; we never knew how hard the holidays were for them. They put on smiling, cheerful faces and gave us the most precious gifts -- their time and their love.

Maybe this winter is a tough one for you. You might be struggling with the loss of a loved one. You or your spouse might be without work. You might be wondering how to pay the heat bills and not lose your home. Whatever it is that's troubling you, I encourage you to talk to God about it. He's here and He cares. Do you remember that old hymn? No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus, it's all true.

In this giving season, let's focus on giving the things that don't cost anything in the monetary sense but are so much more valuable. We can give the very same things our Savior gives us; forgiveness, joy, love, mercy, hope.

A Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you've had a lovely Thanksgiving. George and I had a wonderful time at his cousin's house today. I love holidays; happy sigh.

George is still so very busy with his contracting work and while we are so thankful for the work, sometimes we both wish he could have a little bit of time off now and then. Turns out this was the week we've both been waiting for. This week he came home early on Tuesday, took Wednesday and today off and will come home early tomorrow. It's been such a treat to have him around more.

Yesterday we went into town on a "date" to the dollar store and Tractor Supply and run some errands. I'm still smiling at the thought of how much I looked forward to doing that. We looked all around the dollar store for a pair of reading glasses for him and then browsed all of Tractor Supply and ended up picking up some suet and rawhide. Normally when we go to a store of this type (oh heck, who am I kidding; this is the only kind of store I've been in with George) I trot right behind as George looks over all the tools and picks up work supplies. This time he seemed really interested in making sure I got a chance to look at anything I wanted to. Finally, after enough encouarging I went to look at the country Christmas cards; when I came back, there he was eyeballing the air compressors.

We are blessed beyond belief to not have one of those families that gets bogged down in drama at holiday get-togethers. Oh, wait, let me say that a little more accurately -- we don't usually get together with the more dramatic ones -- that branch of the family tree usually likes to keep to themselves (or in jail). Probably because us non-drama types aren't very exciting : )

Anyway, back to our happy Thanksgiving: one of the aspects about any holiday is the chance to enjoy the fellowship of our family. We're not a family (on my side or George's) that gets together en mass very often. Usually just around the holidays -- and it's so nice to have the opportunity to catch up with everyone at one time. Again, we are so blessed, I think we all actually like each other.

This was my first official holiday meal, since having weight loss surgery in August. For those of you following my updates about how that aspect of my life has been going; you can read more, here.

Tomorrow starts the first day of the Christmas season for us. In the coming week, I'll put up the Christmas decorations, select the 4 varieties of Christmas cookies to bake, update our Christmas card list for personal and business clients (and get started writing those suckers out early), and compile a list of what gifts we are planning to buy this year. This ranks as one of my favorite times of the year.

Our $359 Caledar

We received a very nice calendar yesterday ---- from our propane company. This calendar is filled with the heartwarming, nostalgic artwork of Ken Zylla. I can't wait for the new year so I can hang it up next to my desk.

We also received a $359 bill.

As nice as this calendar is, it's not worth $359. I always dread seeing the propane truck pull up our drive. It usually means a $600 or $700 bill. Each year on the last visit before Christmas, they try to sweeten things up a little by giving us a little calendar and sometimes even a pen. Last year I got a notepad too.

I'm trying to look at this positively. Because we've had such unseasonably warm weather for so many week now, and propane has dropped dramatically in price, the bill is half of what I was expecting.

Here's Where I Tell You All My Failures

I've been enjoying Crystal's work at home mom series tremendously. Today's post is all about failure. Failure's not something we like to talk about much is it? After all, it's nowhere near as thrilling as wild success. It's also a lot more exciting to share our successes rather than our failures.

Being an entrepreneur, I've had my fair share of failures and while failure is definitely not something I enjoy, it is a great learning experience. In all honesty I've learned much more from my failures than I ever have from my successes.

Just for fun, I'll share some of my failures or as I prefer to call them, "Growth Experiences".

I Want to Sell Chickens and Own my Own Bank

Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to run the show (oh, my poor parents!). Seriously I wanted to own/run/manage or lead everything I ran into. I don't mean that egotistically; it never occurred to me to work for other people as an employee. As a young child, I wanted to be a farmers' wife and own a very large, neat as a pin acreage with a wide variety of crops and animals and run it all. In addition I wanted to own a feed store and elevator and make sure everyone had access to the best feed and all the baby chicks they wanted. When Daddy took me to open an account to deposit my egg route money in our small town marble palace bank I wanted to open my own bank. I also had grandiose visions of my egg route being the biggest in the county and being able to support my whole family on it. Now, promise me you are not laughing yourselves silly.


I Want to Own the Best Supermarket, Ever

Then, later, when I started clerking at a grocery store, I had visions of opening my own store one day and knocking out the competition with my superb customer service. Um, yeah, do you have any idea how much capital it takes to start up a grocery store? That never worked out. Failure after failure and here I was only 16.

About the same time I realized that I would need something other than minimum wage to fund all these business ideas that would someday make me a tycoon, so I went to school to study Accounting. I also started studying finance magazines the store owner let me read for free. I did my best to learn all about stocks, finance and money because I planned to become a skilled investor. (Hat tip for you: there are very few skilled investors in this world. I am not one of them. You will get more success from being a consistent saver and investor).

I want to be a Day Trader

In my early 20's I started trading stocks. This was during the heyday of all the new found "day traders". Everyday the tv stations were celebrating a guy or gal that quit their job to be a day trader based on the results of a few months of high returns playing in the stock market during one of the craziest, most exciting times in stock market history. Everything was going up, up and up. The .com bubble was inflating faster than anything I'd ever seen. I wanted in on it. I wanted to quit my job and make big bucks from doing something so exciting, but I was too scared.

The biggest reason I was so scared was because the money never seemed real to me. It was sitting in a bank account that I seldom touched and I almost felt dishonest. I grew up thinking the only way to earn money was by physical effort. As a result the money didn't feel like it was really mine. I was worried that someday it would all just disappear. So, of course I couldn't quit my job.

At the time I felt like a gigantic failure. Here I was cashing in on something big with more money than I had ever dreamed of (which is not a whole lot by most people's standards -- it was just a whole lot to me) and I still had to tell people I was a grocery store clerk. In retrospect, I can't express how thankful I am that things worked out like they did. Betcha there aren't many day traders today.


I Want to be the Next Dave Ramsey

While I was learning about stocks and such I started a tax preparation business and branched of into budget counseling. I charged $50 a pop and was so excited about all the opportunities to help others. I wanted to help everyone set up a budget, pay off debt and start saving for retirement. Looking back I cannot believe grown adults twice my age would have ever paid some 21 year old kid for financial advice. I certainly would be reluctant to do that today! But, I didn't know any better -- being an entrepreneur equips you with courage and boldness if nothing else.

Miraculously the clients came, so I started working. I thought I'd found my life's calling helping people get in better financial shape. Then the fights started. Husbands and wives fought like cats and dogs at my dining room table. Whoa! I had know clue what to do; it bothered me tremendously and it happened often. It's amazing how many fights debt causes. I felt like a world class failure. All I wanted to do was help people, but it felt like I was causing their problems. So, I stopped doing budget counseling. Was anything ever going to work out for me?

I Want to be a Real Estate Tycoon

Oh yes, there's more. We might even need to make this a two part series : ) After cashing in my .com bubble gains I signed on the dotted line for a cute little cape cod style house that needed more help than you can imagine. You can read a little about it here. Once I got some remodeling experience under my belt I wanted to buy every broken down fixer upper there was, and remodel it. I still love this kind of work. I looked for years and could not find any houses that were worth the asking price (even foreclosures). Remember, this was before the bottom fell out of the real estate market. Even junky houses were selling for a mint then; I could not find a single solitary house that would've made a good investment. I felt like I screwed up big time and I would never get a chance to do something I loved.

Now that houses can be bought for a song and a dance, I'm not sure this would be a good business for us to get into. Primarily, because it is a lot of work. Not that George and I are shy of hard work, it's just that we don't have any time to devote to more of it. In order to start another business, we would have to give less attention to our other businesses and they would suffer. Right now that doesn't seem like a good plan.

Dear me, I thought this would be it. But, I've got enough failures for a whole 'nother post! Looking back has been such a good lesson for me today. At the time of each one of these "failures" I remember being so disappointed and feeling like I would never be able to do anything right or be "successful". Now, I can see God's hand in everything. Every single aspect of my life -- even the parts that weren't so great have worked out perfectly. What a good God we serve!

The Brown Time of Year

All the leaves are down, leaving a drab, brown landscape. Until we get some snow to brighten things up I'd better learn to like brown.

The interesting thing is, that late fall is beautiful in it's own unique way. I bet you are wondering why I don't have any interestingly beautiful late fall photos in this post. Well, the fact is, I don't have any at my fingertips. You have to look a little deeper to get some great photos with all the seemingly drab scenery. Spring and summer with their abundance of fresh green splendor just beg for a photograph.

I've been going through my digital photos and this morning and was hit with just how green spring and summer are around here. Such a contrast to what we've got now.

Here's a few photos from around our place in greener times.

10 Ways to De-Stress Your Life

Do you have certain things that just drive you nuts? Things that if you just took a few minutes to get straightened out would simplify your life and make you feel more peaceful?

Here's my list of things that are irritating me and the plan of action to make sure they never irritate me again:



1. Too many banks (or credit unions in this case)

Those of you that remember reading about how I opened 23 bank accounts in order to get all the free money they were giving away last year are probably laughing yourselves silly about now. Ahem. Yes, we deal with too many financial institutions. All of those accounts for the free money have been closed (except for a new one I just opened; too hard to pass up free $ : )What remains are three local credit unions.


We have George's business accounts and our main savings and emergency fund with the credit union he's done business with since forever. Then there is my old credit union with one business account and personal checking and savings -- I can't remember the last time when I routinely received such poor customer service. I can't even stand going into the place -- it bothers me that much. I'm in the process of closing everything out and getting all of our direct deposits switched over to our favorite credit union. You know, the one with the best customer service ever, our mortgage and the other business account.


2. Clip all coupons 1x per week



I'm always snagging a hot new printable coupon. I tend to print these off and tuck them away in my planner, on top of a little stack of papers on my desk or the counter. Then I forget where they are and can never find what I'm looking for when I need it. A month or two after the coupon expires I'm guaranteed to find it in a stack somewhere. To fix this, I made a bottom drawer in a small chest of drawers my "coupons, ads and deals" drawer. All Sunday coupons, ads, my grocery list and printable coupons go in here -- nothing goes into a stack somewhere to expire. On Sunday evenings I clip all the coupons and file them in my coupon organizer.



3. Get, make a new coupon organizer


My coupon organizer is an old taped up envelope box with more tape than box. It's falling apart and coupons fall out half the time. Drives me nuts to even carry this thing around. I'm going to either make or buy a new one.


4. Get gasoline once per week



I used to do this religiously years ago. Some time ago, probably when gas was $4 a gallon I got into the habit of getting it only when I could find it at a cheaper price. Now, I find myself having to get gas at a really inconvenient time so I'm switching back to filling up once a week and keeping my sanity.

5. Have online companies start paying me electronically

Okay, I will readily admit this. When I first started earning an income from blogging I was thrilled. I was so thrilled that I set up all my accounts to pay me with a paper check. At first it was so exciting that I nearly ran screeching into the house with my little paper checks every time one came. Kind of like little kid Christmas morning excitement. Well, now that the checks are monthly and there are several of them; it's kind of a pain in the behind dealing with all these paper checks (although no less exciting). I find myself making several trips to the credit union or atm, when I would rather be doing something else. So, I'm going to set up all my accounts to pay me electronically.

6. Throw away all old/unused make up and beauty products

I don't have a lot of these, probably 10 or so. They've been sitting in my medicine cabinet for 3 years now. I even moved some here from my other house. Why can't I let this junk go?! I guess it feels like I'm not wasting it if I hang on to it.

7. Pay off debt

Oh, how I hate owing money. We've been working towards paying off our mortgage early since we first got it three years ago. I'm not sure why, but lately it's been really bothering us. My husband is going to be slowing down his business in a few years and ease into semi-retirement. We sure aren't thrilled at the idea of holding a mortgage with reduced income. This coming year we purpose to make a concentrated effort to pay it off quicker than we are on target for now. Gosh, I'm excited, scared and nervous all at the same time. While our mortgage is a modest one, it is still a big number to us.

8. Clean the kitchen sink regularly (well more than once a week)

I remember what life was like before I got married. I had a pristine white cast iron sink. It hardly ever needed to be cleaned because I hardly ever used it. Fast forward to married life and a very dirty sink, (and a very grateful wife to a wonderful hubby). A dirty sink is one of those things that bugs me every single time I use the sink, but do I take the 5 minutes and clean it frequently? Guess not, otherwise I wouldn't be adding this to my list. I just took a quick break and cleaned the sink -- boy does that feel good!

9. Set up a plan for handling emails and stick to it

I get hundreds of emails every day. It's a real challenge to not become overwhelmed by them all; as a matter of fact, I can count on one hand the times I don't feel overwhelmed by email. I remember when I got my first professional email. I was so thrilled! Now it has me rolling on the floor laughing/crying at the irony. Now I have so many I wish my inbox would crash and everything would disappear.
Until that happens, I'm going to be heavy handed with the delete key and set up folders for organization and get unsubscribed to as much personal email as I can.


10. Take 10 minutes for me

I'm one of those kind of people that's always doing something. I move from one thing to the next to the next, usually without any kind of a break. When I start to feel stressed out about my workload and life in general I re-evaluate what's going on that's got me so frazzled. Almost every time it's because I'm doing too much, and feeling pressured that it all has to be done right now. Life will not stop if I take a break for a few minutes. Each evening when I get home, I've been trying to take a break for 10 minutes before diving in to what's going on at home and getting supper ready.

Sometimes I sit in the recliner with a cup of tea. Sometimes I lie down on the bed or couch and force myself to not think of anything in particular and let the day roll off me. What a great feeling; it's amazing what 10 minutes of relaxation can do!

Creative Pantry/Freezer Dinners

Goodness, is it even possible for my grocery store to have crummy sales for three weeks in a row?! I'm counting on some very good deals next week. In the meantime, this is yet another week of buying mostly fresh produce and dairy and preparing the bulk of our meals from freezer and pantry items. Here's what we're having:

Sunday

Chili and Cornbread. (For some reason, I'm not in the mood for chili two nights in a row. I froze the leftovers to eat some other night when we want a quick supper)

Monday

Walleye, with lemon and dill, Homemade Mac & Cheese, Garden Salad

Tuesday

Shepherd's Pie, Coleslaw

Wednesday

Oven Fried Pork Chops, Baked Potatoes, Green Beans, Left Over Coleslaw

Thursday

Turkey Dill Sandwiches, Pasta Salad

Friday

Homemade Pizza

A Week in the Life of Me

My, that was a humdinger of a cold last week (bronchitis and strep throat). I'm finally feeling 100% back to my old self today. Boy, you sure don't realize how great it is to feel good every day until you wake up not feeling good.



We are still having unseasonably warm weather, for which I'm thrilled beyond belief. (I suppose typing this jinxed the whole deal; tomorrow we'll probably wake up to snow :) Every day I'm out and about with just a light jacket -- if that. Normally by now I'm fighting the urge to haul out the big puffy 30 below zero coat. It just doesn't seem right to need that much of a coat before December 1st so I brave it with a turtle neck, two sweaters and then the light jacket. Silly, huh?



While I was wallowing around sick and not doing much of anything for the past week, I got a few things done that I'd been putting off for awhile that were driving me nuts. Earlier in the week I started a list of all the little and not so little things in and around our house, businesses and life in general that are not as I would like ie: clutter of all kinds, filing, items we use all the time placed in a less than ideal spot, dusty plants, etc. You know, all those little things that drive you batty every time you notice them, but we don't seem to have the motivation to follow through on correcting the matter? Yeah, I have way too many things like that. I'll put up my list a bit later. I betcha we could all make a list a mile long of the undone things that are driving us nuts.



Here's to a week of getting back on the track of life.

Josh & Anna Duggar

I've been a long time fan of the Duggar's show. Growing up in a large family (although not large at all compared to the Duggars) was a delightful experience and I love watching other large families. Well, okay, this large family. There are some large family shows that just about put me in tears.

For those of you that are fans of the show and like to keep up on their latest adventures, Josh and Anna have updated their website with photos of their daughter, their first year of marriage, the wedding and some other family photos. I had a ball going through all of these. You can see them all here.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday

Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells, Garden Salad, Garlic Toast

Tuesday

Beef, Bean and Cheese Enchilada's topped with tomatoes, salsa, lettuce, onion and sour cream

Wednesday

Smoked Sausage, Homemade mac & cheese, Beets

Thursday

Broiled Lemon, Dill Walleye, Sweet Potato Fries, Broccoli

Friday

Homemade Pizza

Glorious Fall Weekend and Then Some Sickness

This weekend might be our last glorious fall weekend. It was sunny and unseasonably warm -- in the low 60's both days -- just perfect for some outdoor enjoyment. My hubby took his canoe and went fishing. I felt like I was coming down with something so I stayed home. Sure enough, I awoke with a sore throat Sunday morning.

It's Tuesday and I still feel crummy. Things might improve if I could just take my head and neck off my shoulders and put on a new one. The voicemail box for the receptionist at my doctor's office is full. Hmm... that's not a good sign.

In other exciting news I washed my watch. My non-waterproof watch. After getting confirmation from a watch doctor that it would cost more to fix than the watch cost, I ended up tossing into the bathroom vanity door anyway. Why do I do stuff like that? Am I hoping for a miracle healing? Yes, a miracle healing for every broken thing I've stowed away over the years because I can't bear to part with it. Perhaps I do need a new head.

Since there is not a single show worth watching on daytame satellite tv (and we've already watched all the Beverly Hillbillies and Leave it to Beaver we've got) I've been doing other exciting things the past couple of days. Like:

• Clipping coupons and organizing my coupon box

• Shredding old paperwork

• Organizing/Purging all 3 million of my shopper's cards, gift cards, old medical cards, drivers licenses, voter registartion cards, etc.

• Making a list of all the things that I don't do or give enough attention to in and around my life, and house that drives me nuts (like the watch) that would make me feel more peaceful if I did. I'm afraid once this list is done, I'll stick it in a drawer with all the other junk and somebody will get a good laugh when I die. Poor Trixie -- all she ever wanted was to get out from under her clutter; she had to die to get away from it. The file room in Heaven is probably only separated from hell by a milimeter.

• Cuddling up with my fat, lazy beagle. When you're sick, there's nothing better than a beagle that's so lazy he has his own wallow mark in the couch.

• Organizing my digital photos-- this has been fun. I love to look through photos.

Well, I'm off to have a cup of tea and take a nap.

Home for the (Stress Free) Holidays

The holiday season brings numerous occasions for us to gather with friends and family to share fellowship and a meal or some delicious homemade treats. By the 3rd invitation, finding time to make yet another potluck dish or treat for work feels pretty overwhelming!

I love getting together with friends and family to share a bite to eat and all the festivities of the holidays. And, as much as I love to cook and bake, it can be a bit much at times to make our regular meals and foods for special events. After all, I don't want to spend all my time in the kitchen!

One of the ways I make the holiday season a little less stressful is to pick one or two favorite dishes the freeze well to bring to get togethers. I then make up a big batch all at once and pop them in the freezer and take them out as needed.

One of my tried and true freezer recipes is Carrot Cake. Carrot Cake mixes up easily, thaws and serves beautifully. This weekend I made up 4 carrot cakes for the freezer. These 4 should* last me through the season. I'm a little nervous though, my husband saw me frosting them and was eyeing them pretty closely. I might get up one morning and find one half eaten in the fridge.

Here's my recipe for Fabulous Homemade Carrot Cake

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

2 cups sugar

1 cup oil

2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 cups shredded carrot

15 oz can crushed pineapple (well drained)

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Icing

1 8oz pkg cream cheese

1 lb powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla

Enough milk to make spreadable

Cake Instructions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9X13 pan. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and cinnamon. In a large bowl combine sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs; beat well. Stir in flour mixture; mix well. Stir in carrots, pineapple raisins and nuts. Pour batter into pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Cool completely, frost and freeze (or eat).

Icing Instructions:

Soften cream cheese. Beat in vanilla and 2 Tbsp milk. Add powdered sugar. Mix and add in just enough milk to make the icing spreadable as you are mixing.

This post is linked to Tempt my tummy Tuesday and WFMW.

The Beauty of Frugal Grocery Shopping

I normally grocery shop once a week with a budget of $50 for the two of us for each week. I make this money stretch pretty far by mostly picking up the sale items and combining the sale price with coupons when possible. I then use these sale items to keep our pantry and freezer well stocked with the ingredients that we use most often in cooking. With the well stocked pantry and freezer, I can easily whip up a number of our favorite meals without a trip to the store.

Because the last couple of weeks grocery sales haven't been very good I only spent $15 of our grocery money last week for fresh items like milk and produce. This week I estimate spending around $20. That leaves me with me with $65 extra dollars to take advantage of the good specials when they finally do come along. In our area it's pretty rare to go two weeks without many good deals. Maybe the stores are saving them all up for closer to Thanksgiving?

We are not hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year, but I still plan to buy a turkey at the deep discount Thanksgiving prices and prepare it for us to get a couple of good meals and all those yummy leftovers. I'll also use the "extra" grocery money to re-stock some of our canned goods, frozen vegetables and to buy some ground beef and chicken to add to our freezer stores.

How do you prefer to do your grocery shopping? Once a week, every two weeks -- once a month?


Sign up here, for Afullcup.com to find out about the hottest grocery deals and coupons. This is how I find out about some of the better printable coupons and weekly deals.





For more frugal tips, visit Lifeasmom, the home of Frugal Fridays.

Getting Ready to Host Company

The holidays are officially upon us. I really enjoy the holiday season and look forward to hosting a couple of get togethers as well as going to a few hosted by friends and family.

Hosting a get together, especially if you are expecting a large number of people isn't a piece of cake, but there are a few things you can do to keep yourself from getting all stressed out.

Have a plan and work your plan.

As soon as I know I'm having a group come for a get together the first thing I do is plan a menu of tried and true favorite dishes. Once in a while I'll sneak in a tasty new dish after I've given it a trial run and it passed with flying colours. At this time, I'll make note of the amout of food to prepare, what, if anything guests are planning to bring and what serving dishes to use.

Based on this information I make a list of all the ingredients I'll need to shop for in the upcoming weeks. This way I can take advantage of sales and work the expense into my weekly grocery budget instead of going on one big shopping trip and buying half the store. I used to work at a grocery store and the days leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas were the major money makers. You would be surprised at how many people over buy in preparation for a big meal.

Clean the house early.


If your house is filled with cute little urchins that can make a mess of a house in 10 seconds flat, then this advice is not for you. What works for me is to get the house all cleaned up the day before the meal so that way there's no cleaning on the big cooking day. It's a life saver for me! That way on the biggest cooking day of the year for me I only have to focus on cooking. Well, that and maybe setting the table.

During my cleaning time, I also check to make sure I've got plenty of paper products on hand (think tp and kleenex for the bathroom), paper towels, and napkins. I also make sure that I've got plenty of clean guest towels, kitchen towels and dish clothes handy. I don't want to be bogged down doing laundry or stocking the bathroom on a big cooking day.

Plan your clothing.

I like to have whatever we want to wear all ready and laid out ahead of time. That way we can slip into it just before the guests arrive and not risk getting our nice dressy up clothes all messy. I also leave an apron on until just before we sit down to eat. It's always been my good fortune to spill gravy or something on myself just as I'm finishing the last bit of cooking.

Enjoy!

The most important step -- sit down, relax and enjoy your family and the day. This is what you've worked so hard for!

You can sign up here to get a terrific Thanksgiving Recipes cookbook with lots of old and new favorites. Need some coupons to make your holiday dinner cost less? Go here.

Help for Simplifying Your Life

George and I enjoy the simple life -- it is just so much less stressful! Think about it, should every day or most of our days be filled with stress? What kind of a life is that?

Since we got married, we have been working toward simplifying our lives so that we have more time to enjoy really important things in life -- like God, spending time with family, serving others, etc.

Because I'm not an expert by any stretch of the word on this simple living stuff, I'm always willing to hear what someone else is doing to simplify their life. The same life simplifying activities don't always work the same for everyone -- we have to pick and choose what's best for our own situations. But, it's amazing to the how many creative ideas are out there!

Those of you that circulate much in the frugal blog-o-sphere may have seen that blogger, author and simple living expert, Leo Babauta, is giving away free downloads of his ebook, Thriving on Less

I printed this ebook out yesterday and have read the entire thing. It's an inspirational quick read at 27 pages. I really enjoyed it and thought you might too.

Leo says "after simplifying your life, you will realize that a life full of the things you love and value does not cost a lot of money at all."

That's the truth isn't it?

Here are some of Leo's tips that I enjoyed the most:

* Make people a priority.

Leo provides some great examples of how spending time with the people we enjoy does not have to cost money. I remember a few weeks ago when my sister came over to pick up our old kitchen table (that actually used to be hers years ago:) we sat down together for a cup of tea. We were both giddy with excitement at the possibility of spending an uninterrupted hour just visiting. We seldom get a chance to do that and it made our whole week to be able to just enjoy each other for 1 hour.

* Live in the moment.

You can spot people that live in the moment a mile away. I envy people that find living in the moment easy to do. It's always been somewhat a struggle for me. However, my mother has always lived in the moment. Very seldom have I seen her worry about all the stuff that she didn't get done the day before or feel overwhelmed by what needs to be done tomorrow.

As most of you know, my stepfather recently passed away. It's been a tough couple of months and I've been very worried about my Mom. I went to visit Mom a couple of weeks ago. When I arrived she was busy working in the flower beds to plant spring bulbs. The wind was whipping her hair this way and that as she held the shovel and smiled at me. She looked so youthful, so vibrant and so strong. I knew at that very moment, that somehow, some way, she would be okay. She was living in the moment; I could see it in her face. She wasn't thinking about anything else in the world except her flowers.

When we are not burdened with the thoughts of what will tomorrow bring? How will I manage we are free to enjoy today.

* Adopt a minimalist wardrobe.

How many times have you changed your outfit several times before finding the right thing? Do you have a closet full (and then some) of clothes but feel as if you don't have "a thing to wear"? Have you spent a ton of money taking advantage of all those "too good to pass up" sales, but only wear the same few outfits each week?

Personally, this kind of stuff drives me nut, nuts and double nuts. I want to run screaming from my closet and have someone force me to get rid of all the stuff I don't wear. I hate seeing those clothes set there day after day and yet feeling like I just can't get rid of them.

I've found that I'm happiest with my clothing situation when I have a small selection of clothes that I love, fit me well and are well made. Sure they cost more, but I'm also not buying a bunch of junk that I don't were. No clutter in the closet and no clutter in my soul.

Go here to download your free copy of Thriving on Less.

Now, just for fun...

If you could only pick one thing to simplify in your life. What would it be?

Menu Plan Monday

This week was rather slim pickings on grocery store deals in our area, which means I spent $15 on milk, a roast that was on a good sale and fresh produce. This could be one of those good news and bad news situations, but when you keep a well stocked pantry and freezer it's good news and then more good news.

Because we've got the makings for several of our favorite meals ready at hand we will be eating on the cheap this week, with no difference in the quality of our meals. The other good news is now I've got $35 extra dollars to take advantage of the best deals. It's getting to be holiday time and this is when most stores run some fantastic bargains on staples and baking supplies.

Here's what we're eating this week:

Monday

Roast Beef, Potatoes, Beets, Garden Salad

Tuesday

Tuna Noodle Casserole, Broccoli

Wednesday

Reubens, 3 Bean Salad

Thursday

Broiled Fish with Lemon & Dill, Sweet Potato Fries,

Friday

Chicken Fajita Pizza

The Missouri Ruralist Writings of Laura Ingalls Wilder

I've long been a fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder and have been itching to read the columns she wrote for the Missouri Ruralist, before writing the Little House series. I've searched several times on the net for these columns but have only had the luck of finding one or two. Today I came across a link for every column Laura wrote for the Missouri Ruralist. How delightful!

All of these columns are in the public domain, so I am reprinting one of Laura's column's here for your enjoyment.

The Farm Home

By Mrs. A.J. Wilder, Rocky Ridge Farm

The Man of the Place and I were sitting cozily by the fire. The evening lamp was lighted and the day’s papers and the late magazines were scattered over the table. But tho we each held in our hands our favorite publication, we were not reading. We were grumbling about the work we had to do and saying all the things usually said at such times.

“People used to have time to live and enjoy themselves, but there is no time any more for anything but work, work, work.”

Oh, we threshed it all over as everyone does when they get that kind of a grouch and then we sat in silence. I was wishing I had lived in those good old days when people had time for the things they wanted to do.

When The Man of The Place was thinking, I do not know but I was quite surprised at the point at which he had arrived, when he remarked out of the silence, in rather a meek voice,
“I never realized how much work my father did. Why, one winter he sorted 500 bushels of potatoes after supper by lantern light. He sold them for $1.50 a bushel in the spring, too, but he must have got blamed tired of sorting potatoes down cellar every night until he had handled more than 500 bushels of them.”

“What did your mother do while your father was sorting potatoes?” I asked.

“Oh, she sewed and knit,” said The Man of The Place. She made all our clothes, coats and pants, undergarments for father and us boys as well as everything she and the girls wore, and she knit all our socks and mittens—shag mittens for the men folks, do you remember, all fuzzy on the outside? She didn’t have time enough in the day to do all the work and so she sewed and knit at night.”

I looked down at the magazine in my hand and remembered how my mother was always sewing or knitting by the evening lamp. I realized that I never had done so except now and then in cases of emergency.

But The Man Of The Place was still talking. “Mother did all her sewing by hand then,” he said, “and she spun her own yarn and wove her own cloth. Father harvested his grain by hand with a sickle and cut his hay with a scythe. I do wonder how he ever got it done.?

Again we were silent, each busy with our own thoughts. I was counting up the time I give to club work and lodge work and—yes, I’ll admit it—politics. My mother and my mother-in-law had none of these and they do use up a good many hours. Instead of all this, they took time once in a while, from their day and night working to go visit a neighbor for the day.

“Time to enjoy life!” Well, they did enjoy it but it couldn’t have been because they had more time.

Why should we need extra time in which to enjoy ourselves? If we expect to enjoy our live we will have to learn to be joyful in all of it, not just at stated intervals, when we can get time, or when we have nothing else to do.

It may well be that it is not our work that is so hard for us as the dread of it and our often expressed hatred of it. Perhaps it is our spirit and attitude toward life and its conditions that are giving us trouble instead of a shortage of time. Surely the days and nights are as long as they ever were.

A feeling of pleasure in a task seems to shorten it wonderfully and it makes a great difference with the day’s work if we get enjoyment from it instead of looking for all our pleasure altogether apart from it, as seems to be the habit of mind we are more and more growing into.

We find in the goods we buy, from farm implements to clothing that the work of making them is carelessly and slightingly done. Many carpenters, blacksmiths, shoemakers, garment makers and farm hands do not care how their work is done just so quitting time and the pay check comes. Farmers are no different except that they must give more attention to how a thing is done because it is the result only that brings them any return.

It seems that many workmen take no pride or pleasure in their work. It is perhaps partly a result of machine made goods, but it would be much better for us all if we could be more interested in the work of our hands, if we could get back more of the attitude of our mothers toward their handmade garments and of our fathers’ pride in own workmanship. There is an old maxim which I have not heard for years nor thought of in a long, long time. “To sweep a room as to God’s laws, makes that, and the action fine.” We need more of that spirit toward our work.
As I though of my neighbors and myself it seemed to me that we were all slighting our work to get time for a joy ride of one kind or another.

Not that I object to joy riding! The more the merrier, but I’m hoping for a change of mind that will carry the joy into the work as well as the play.

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” surely, and it makes Jill also very dull indeed, but all play and no work would make hoboes of us. So let’s enjoy the work we must do to be respectable.

The Man Of The Place had evidently kept right on thinking of the work his father used to do. “Oh, well,” he said as he rose and lighted the lantern preparatory to making his late round to see that everything was all right at the barns, “I guess we’re not having such a hard time after all. It depends a good deal on how you look at it.”

“Yes,” said I, “Oh yes, indeed! It depends a good deal on how you look at it.

You can read more of Laura's columns here.

All of the Missouri Ruralist columns written by Laura Ingalls Wilder over a 12 year period are available in a book available on Amazon. You can sneak a peak at it here. I'm thinking of using my Swagbucks to treat my mom and sisters to a copy for Christmas.