Frugal Intuition

I have to offer my apologies for being MIA.  The holidays have been zoolike around here, and I am on a major deadline trying to get a class written from scratch for next semester (it begins January 7th).  All my time has been taken up with the composition of lectures, syllabus, tests, etc.  I promise I haven’t forgotten about you, and I will be back on January 1st, ready to begin the new year and help you all meet your goals of becoming more frugal (that is going to be one of your resolutions, right?).  I’m going to be setting up a posting schedule for 2009, and as soon as I figure out what that is, I’ll let you all know so that you don’t check back here needlessly when there isn’t anything new up.  For those of you who have been coming back during my posting hiatus, many thanks, and check back on January 1 (or 2nd, if you’re still recovering from New Year’s Eve).

Cut Christmas trees are big business this time of year.  In our house we always get a cut tree.  This isn’t a decision based on frugality (if you want to be frugal, wait until after Christmas when the nice pre-lit artificial ones are on sale for 80% off), but it’s one of the accepted expenses of the season, one we’re not willing to skimp on.  We usually spend around $30 on a tree each year.  One of the reasons we insist on real trees is the scent.  Pine or fir or cedar or spruce–that unmistakable scent of evergreen is part of what gets us in the holiday mood.

If you’re looking for a last minute way to spruce up your home for the holidays, take a trip to your local Christmas tree lot.  Not to buy a tree (unless that’s what you want to do) but to see about picking up some boughs that have been cut off all the trees sold.  Part of having a live tree is that the lower limbs get cut off to allow the trunk to fit into a stand.  It’s not like the tree places are doing anything with all that greenery.  Whenever we get a tree, I always have them save the branches they cut off our tree and add in some the others.  Most places are happy to do this.  I then use the greenery to make garland, add a festive touch to the top of tall pieces of furniture like china cabinets or the entertainment center, even a little holiday terrarium with a teddy bear and leftover ornaments that wouldn’t fit on the tree.  This is a great way to add a little touch of the holidays to a space and get that sought after scent of evergreen.

Tis the season of office Christmas parties.  There are presently sausage balls and pigs in a blanket calling my name from down the hall. Did someone say homemade cinnamon rolls?

Since someone is inevitably going to beat you to putting rotel on the list of who’s bringing what, you need some other alternatives.   If you don’t want to show up with store bought goodies (and given that I live in the South, that’s a major social faux pas), you want to cook something yourself.  My default Christmas party dish that’s always a crowd pleaser and doesn’t break the bank is taco soup.  It totally saved my butt this morning, as when I came to work, I was convinced the office party is tomorrow.  I was able to race home (I live 2 miles up the road) and throw it together in the crock pot in 20 minutes.  This is a soup that’s made with staples (at least in our house).    It’s a lot of flavor without a lot of time and effort.  It can totally be made the night before or at the last minute.  Buy the store brand sour cream, cheddar cheese, and tortilla chips, and you haven’t exceeded your budget on garnishments either.

In my kitchen that is.  I am officially in holiday baking mode after picking up the last of my baking supplies at the grocery last night.  This is probably the only time of year I ever buy brown sugar, baker’s chocolate, or chocolate chips.  I’ve already been baking my holiday batches of sourdough bread , but now it’s time for cookies.  I found these great little Chinese food style boxes with holiday themes (Santa and snowmen) for $1 apiece to use for my work gifts.  $1 is a bit more than I prefer to pay for packaging but these require no wrapping or bows or tape, so it’s an all in one deal.  They’ll probably only hold 6-8 cookies, which is just fine for saying “hey I’m thinking of you this holiday season” without going overboard.  So the winners of this year’s holiday recipes are (drumroll please….)

Peanut Butter Rudolph Reindeer from Ladies Home Journal.  Seriously, how cute are they?  And how simple?  Kids or non-culinary inclined husbands could totally help with this project.  Better make at least a double batch, as helping hands are going to taste while packing.

The other recipe we’re going to use to wow friends and family are these Simply Sensational Truffles from Kraft.  Easy peasy and totally decadent.  I’m making these for the family get together.  I found mini muffin cups at Target recently for $1.50 (for 100), and I’m going to top them with chopped pecans.

What are your favorite holiday gift recipes?

Well, I’m back from my trip.  I had intended to continue posting on inexpensive Christmas ideas, but that’s not really what’s on my mind tonight.  I’m thinking of debt–as I am usually thinking of debt and all its costs.  You see, you lose so much more than money and interest with debt, particularly in a marriage or relationship in which one party is responsible for the accrual of debt and one has to pay the price.  And pay.  And pay.  The debtor makes promises to change his/her behavior.  And maybe they do for a while.  It becomes easy to slip into trust again because it is natural to want to trust the ones we love.  But that same atmosphere of trust makes it easy to be blind.  Over the years, this has happened a number of times to me.  I love my husband and I want to trust him.  And not only is it an issue of trust, it’s a matter of really, truly not being able to understand the mindset that leads to that kind of debt.  Student debt, mortgages, car loans–these I understand.  Not the rest.  And that’s where debt can become every bit as corrosive and dangerous and hurtful as other addictions like alcoholism or drug use.

Even if the offending party does make the necessary changes–does, truly and honestly stop that behavior, it’s so so hard to deal with.  You may reach a point where trust is built again–only to have it shatter each month when the bills arrive and they aren’t shrinking at a reasonable rate.  I know it makes me want to vomit each time one of the “stupid debt” bills comes in the mail.  Bills with interest rates up to 30%.  Where so little of the payment you can afford actually goes toward paying down the principle. For someone like me, who finds the whole situation so abhorrant, my heart breaks again every month.  It’s exhausting.

To those of you in my shoes, I want you to know, you’re not alone.  There are always others out there in your shoes.  If you need someone to talk to about the strain, you talk to a friend, a pastor.  You can email me.  Support is always there if you need it.

To those of you in the debtor’s shoes, I just want you to think about what effect your behavior has on your loved ones.  And think about what it may cost you other than enormous amounts of interest.  It just might cost you your relationship.

Pardon my absence this week, folks.  I’m out of town visiting family.  While I’ve been here, my news-loving relatives have had on CNN nearly non-stop.  Mostly I try to shield myself from all the negativity (and I’m often criticized for being ill-informed, but happy people live longer and they never tell good news), but last night I couldn’t help but look up as the announcer began talking about Dell.

In response to a myriad of customer complaints that they were unable to understand a word spoken by the customer service representatives, Dell is now offering a service at a charge of $12.95 a month or $99 a year to guarantee customer service from an American.  Yes, we now have to pay extra to speak to someone who actually speaks our native language.  This is one of the most apalling and ridiculous things I have ever heard.  I usually know more about computers than the people at customer service do anyway, and I’m expected to pay extra?  I don’t think so.

This is the kind of thing that makes me appreciate companies who do provide customer service to Americans BY Americans.  Companies like Atmos Gas and whoever it is that puts out the Endnote software.  Nice, polite, incredibly helpful.  They’re the people I don’t mind calling with a problem.  I know there are other companies out there who fall into this category, and I charge all of you to let customer service people know when you’re happy with them.  They hear it litle enough in what is usually a thankless job.

Do you have someone in your life who loves to cook?  Here’s the ideal (and inexpensive) perfect gift.  See, there’s nothing that we foodies love more than trying new flavors.  My current latest obsession is sweet smoked paprika.  To my husband’s chagrin, I’ve been trying it on everything :D  But here’s the scoop…whether you check out the spice aisles of somewhere fancy like Whole Foods or Fresh Market or only have access to your local Kroger or Walmart, groceries are becoming more and more sophisticated in their selection of spices.  So if you get the chance, scope out your favorite cook’s spice rack and see what they don’t have.  Then pick up a jar or packet of something new.  Chances are you’ll find something wonderful for less than $5.  Then let your fingers do the walking and scope out an assortment of recipes online that incorporate that new spice.  There are plenty of online recipe card template s that you can use.  Put all the recipes you collect in the same template for a consistent presentation and wrap it up.  Voila.  If you’re lucky, the receiver will invite you over to dinner!

I made a realization this weekend.  Of all the ornaments I’ve made over the years for friends–I’ve kept almost none for myself.  SO, for this post, I’m going to round up the instructions for various ornaments I’ve made.  Today I’ll focus on the myriad of Christmas cuties you can make with clothespins.  Why?  Because wooden clothespins are cheap, readily available at The Dollar Tree or your other favorite dollar store, and can be made into all sorts of cute stuff.

First up, Clothespin Snowmen.  This one was probably my favorite of all the ornaments I’ve made (as evidenced by the fact that I still actually HAVE some of these).  Instructions can be found here.  These call for spools and wood circles, but when I went to Hobby Lobby to find them, I actually found some sort of wooden beats that by themselves looked like hats, so I got those instead.

Next, the classic Clothespin Reindeer.  You gotta love the googly eyes!

Instructions can be found here.

  These clothespin Santas are sure to please and are easy to make with readily available materials.  Instructions can be found here .

These clothespin soldiers are always cheerful additions to the tree.  And for those of you with family members in the military overseas, you could easily change the paint job to fatigues to make something more personally meaningful.  Instructions can be found here.  I have used this same concept to make little martial artists for my aikido class (yeah, I was the only girl).

If you’re feeling more adventurous and crafty, you could try these clothespin dolls made by Martha Stewart.  I’ve not yet tried these, but they look really cute.  Instructions can be found here.

And finally, for the little angel in your life, a clothespin angel.  Instructions can be found here. 

You can be as simple or as complicated as you like.   Whatever your budget there are clothespin ornaments to fit it and they are always popular gifts.

So my mother in law has requested The List.  As she is the official shopper for most everyone on her side (herself, my father in law, the grandmothers…), each year she requests a Christmas list from us.  My mother, queen of Christmas surprises, is horrified by this practice, but it saves my MIL a lot of stress by providing her with a whole bunch of stuff we want or need instead of leaving her to flounder blindly to figure it out.  Obviously, we don’t get everything on it.  That’s not the point.  But in my years with this family, I have grown to appreciate this tradition, though historically I love surprises.

The thing is, we have a small house.  And as an adult, I’d rather get the practical stuff that I want or need than some other surprise that I probably don’t and will only have to find a place to store (my office is full of junk my mother “surprised” me with that I would never have bought myself and have yet to find a way to get rid of.  What’s on my list this year?  Well for me, I really want another smaller crock pot and these particular shoes from Lands End, some sweaters or fleeces, and some books.  Boring?  Some might say so.  But these are things I want and/or need and will have to buy myself.  Given the state of our budget, it’s a great gift to me not to have to spend the money.

My mom has a hard time with this concept.  She shops throughout the year and picks up stuff she thinks we’ll like.  She asked me last month what my husband would like, and I pointed her to some shoes he loves (he’s already killed one pair).  She said, “But they’re so ugly!”  Mom falls into the classic gift giving blunder–she often won’t buy what someone truly wants because SHE doesn’t like it.  Remember that when you’re shopping, y’all.  Your friends and family members are not necessarily going to want the same thing you do.

And for heaven’s sake, don’t take it personally if the recipient returns it.  My mother got me a truly hideous shirt last year in an effort to add something “hip” to my wardrobe.  It looked like the 70s threw up.  I returned it, bought 3 other plain button down shirts that I wear often.  She had a fit that I didn’t like it and that I bought stuff exactly like what I already had.  Well yeah, I like what I already had.  I hated that shirt.   I promise, it will mean more to the recipient if you think about what they want than what you like.

There are certainly merits to the Surprise! method of Christmas shopping.  If you know your recipient really well and can truly give them something they’ll love–go for it.  But don’t abhor the prospect of a list.  It’s still a surprise to see what you got FROM the list.  And even if it’s not…that’s not all bad either.  I asked for a programmable crock pot last year.  I knew I was getting it.  And you know what?  I absolutely LOVE the thing.  I use it at least twice a week.

What does your family do?  List or surprises?

The post about handmade ornaments is forthcoming after this weekend when I pull all our decorations down and can take pictures of the ones I’ve made in the past.  In it’s stead I offer another inexpensive Christmas gift for those on your list.

Remember back in the day before CDs when mix tapes were a serious sign of love?  If you’re too young to remember that, don’t tell me.  And please, no cracks about the 80s.  Anyway, in our current age of ditigal music, when all computers pretty much come standard with a CD or DVD burner, mix CDs are a fantastic gift.  Two of my alltime favorite CDs were gifts from a close friend of mine–one is a Christmas mix she made me back in college and the other she made for my wedding.  CD-Rs can be bought relatively cheaply at Walmart, and you can easily rip music from your own CDs with Windows Media Player or other free players such as Winamp or GOM .

Then it’s a simple matter of choosing your theme (or artist) and going to town.  The mixes that are the most fun really suit the personality of the recipient, so give it some thought.  Make a list of that person’s favorite songs or songs that make you think of them.  You can fit nearly 80 minutes of audio on a single CD-R, so you’ve got plenty of room to express yourself.

Then play around and make yourself an insert for the case.  There are templates online for the proper size.

Wrap and add a bow or pop it in a gift bag and voila!  You’ve got a personalized and very inexpensive gift that’s going to bring your friend or family member pleasure for years to come.