Frugal Mania

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone. Ours’ was blessed and we had a wonderful day together. Of course, my inner frugalista is still shuddering because I spent more than I wanted to, but I did shop smart for things that my family had to have on the table to make their Thanksgiving feel just right. I hope that all of you had an equally blessed Thanksgiving day.

So, it’s on to Hanukkah and Christmas. I’ve already posted a bit about my frugal Christmas gift ideas. When you are shopping, remember that frugal and cheap aren’t the same thing. Frugal brings to mind positive connotation of someone who avoids excess and waste. Cheap incites a negative vibe and is often synonymous with a lack of quality. Don’t buy cheap gifts for your friends and family. In fact, I would so far as to suggest that you not buy gifts at all if you do not have the money to buy or the time to make quality gifts. Quality is not always expensive, however.

You probably already know if you are a smart, frugal person or simply cheap. If you are not sure, however, ask yourself these questions: What do I feel in my heart about spending money on other people? Am I motivated by fear to hold on to money tightly? Do I feel shame for spending money on things that are “wants” instead of needs? Does my thriftiness negatively affect my family?

Spending money is not a bad thing. It is a necessary thing. Being wasteful or buying to excess or spending money on items that are not worth their cost is not smart. The frugal person knows there is a time to spend and a time to save and they do both with a level head.

Where have I been? To busyland and back, that’s where. I’m running to keep up. Fortunately for me soccer season is over for my boys and coach dad. And that reminds me . . . I’m suppose to be calling about basketball sign-ups today. *sigh* The to-do list is never too-done, right? But, alas, Thanksgiving is planned and shopped for. Embarrassingly I overspent by a landslide after adding dishes per request and reviewing portion sizes. I heard on the news this morning that the price of turkey has gone up this year and I agree. I swear my little five-pounder was only around $10.00 last year. Honest! This year it was around $15.00.

So, where’s the menu I promised? Here is what we’re so very blessed to have this year for Thanksgiving dinner:

Turkey
Ham
Macaroni and Cheese
Cornbread Dressing
Sweet Potato Casserole
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
Cranberry Sauce
Two types of rolls
Biscuits
Green Beans
Carrots
Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Cherry Cream Cheese Pie
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cranberry Grape Juice
Cranberry Sierra Mist

This will feed us on Thanksgiving and straight through until the weekend is over. Given what I did and did not have on hand already(such as the turkey brine ingredients that I assumed I had already but did not) I probably spent about $70 on Thanksgiving. That’s four days of meals for five people. We’ll have leftovers of turkey pitas, turkey salad, turkey and ham sandwiches, etc. I also will cook a whole chicken to use in the cornbread dressing, so we’ll have those leftovers as well.

Now, enough talk about the planning and preparing! I’m ready to eat!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you are blessed this entire holiday season.

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Will you be watching any football over the Thanksgiving holiday? We’re big Auburn Tigers fans here and our rival game with the Crimson Tide is Saturday. War Eagle!

This week is budget week on the The View. Each day the ladies will be wearing outfits that cost less than $100. *yawn* Wake me up when you find one for less than $40, shoes and other accessories included. Oh, no, I’m not kidding.

Now I realize that they record the show in New York City and the cost of living is much higher there than here in the South East or other parts of the country, but don’t they have Target there? eBay? Overstock?

I know some of you are thinking, “Buying new? No way! Not when there is a thrift store near!” And I see your point. You can get brand name clothes for pennies at your local thrift store. I have to admit, though, that I have trouble with buying secondhand clothing from people I don’t know. While I would accept hand me down clothes from family members or close friends, I don’t like clothes from the thrift store.

So, I keep it frugal at Target, Goody’s, Overstock, and, yes, even Walmart if I see something cute. I *heart* Old Navy (as you might have guessed if you’ve been reading here long) and the clothes filling my children’s closets are more than half Old Navy brand clothing.

But back to budget week at The View! I can fill my closet with a whole season’s worth of brand new outfits, including shoes (I don’t do jewelry and won’t until my children are older as my toddler loves all things shiny.) for $200. Naturally I am unimpressed with one outfit for under $100.

‘Tis not to be, this thirty dollar Thanksgiving dream of mine. My husband gently told me that he would not appreciate a glazed turkey ham and instead requests “the real thing”. My oldest two sons agree and are looking forward to ham. I also heard “Um, sure. A chicken will be fine instead of a turkey. I mean, it’s not traditional, but, yeah, that’s fine.” Oh, it is SO not fine! So, turkey it is. The ham and turkey alone (small ones, too, since I’m only feeding two adults and three aged 6 and under) will cost me $30! My new goal is somewhere around $60 now but the menu hasn’t been completely nailed down. I hope to do that today and then I’ll post it. I realize that a sixty dollar Thanksgiving is still not expensive if it includes everything from the meats to the desserts, but I’m a little bummed nonetheless. Ah, well, I have to admit that I will certainly enjoy the turkey and ham.

So, what would I have prepared if I only had $30 to spend? Here is the list:

One turkey ham ($2.50 at Walmart) with this glaze (all ingredients on hand–$0)
One whole chicken-3-4lbs ($4.00–Walmart) cooked in the crock pot with various herbs that are on hand.
Cornbread dressing (most ingredients on hand, I’d leave out the celery, use chicken thighs that I have already and purchase eggs–$1.50–the remaining half dozen could be used in other recipes that day. )
Stuffing–My father would die if he knew, but my stuffing comes from a box ($1.50–Great Value) and I add cranberries ($2.00) and pecans ($1.50)
Macaroni and Cheese–1 box of macaroni ($1.00), Cheddar cheese soup ($1.00), 1 lb Colby cheese ($3.50)
Sweet potato casserole–My husband likes this dish prepared without a lot of extras, so ($2.00) for the sweet potatoes and ($1.00) for the pecans, and the butter, vanilla, brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and milk are all regular ingredients in my pantry and fridge.
Green beans with almonds–Frozen,($1.50)
Glazed carrots–carrots on hand, cooked in a sauce of brown sugar and butter.
Homemade bread–I always have the ingredients for homemade bread on hand to pop into my $7-at-the-thrift-store-bread-machine.
Pumpkin pie–Pie shell ($1.00), canned pumpkin ($1.50), other ingredients on hand.
Cherry cream cheese pie–Pie shell ($1.00), cream cheese ($1.00), cherry pie filling ($2.00)

Voila! A complete Thanksgiving meal for less than $30.00!

Turkey Talk!

‘Tis the season to spend money, fa la la la la . . . or not! For frugal folks this time of year is both scary and exhilarating. While it’s fun to find great gifts for next to nothing, there is always the fear that it won’t work out. Let’s be honest, buying all of your gifts from the local dollar store is cheap. Of course, it’s doable, but many of the items are just not gift material. I believe in giving gifts that show good taste and are of good quality. Sure, you find add-ins and supplements to a great gift at the dollar stores, but a nice Christmas present does not consist of two glittery teddy-bear-in-a-Santa-hat figurines and a lavender scented candle from the Dollar Tree.

Still, Christmas gift giving does not have to be costly. Check out some of these ideas for inexpensive Christmas gifts.

1. Give food. For co-workers, teachers, the mail man, etc. try a gift of raw honey in a pretty, decorated jar. Homemade hot cocoa mix in a nicely decorated air-tight container is also a great gift. Cookie mix, pancake mix, a bag of gourmet coffee, a box of nice herbal tea, or a small box of good quality chocolates are also great Christmas gifts.

2. Give books. Remember my post about online book buying clubs? Now would be a good time to join and get several books for a very, very low price. When you are choosing your free or low priced books keep your friends and family in mind and pick books that they would enjoy. Remember to allow time for shipping. When buying Christmas gifts for your children remember that books should be an important part of a child’s life. Children can never have too many books, in my opinion.

3. Make a photo album. This is a great gift idea for grandparents. I made a scrapbook for my mother in law’s birthday one year. I included pictures of my boys alone, together and with her. Print pictures on card stock if this is an otherwise too pricey project.

That’s all I’ve got for today, but I’m keeping my eyes open for more frugal gift giving tips! Feel free to comment with your own.

Good Monday Morning to you! Did you notice the gas prices this weekend. Ugh! They are up, up, up again. Suggesting that my readers buy more efficient cars is silly because many of you are frugal out of necessity and a new car is not in the works right now. Of course, using a bicycle, walking and even public transportation can help your budget. Do those things if you can. I know first hand that sometimes it’s simply not possible to use anything other than a car.

I live 7 miles in one direction from my oldest son’s school and 11 miles in the other direction from my younger sons’ preschool. The grocery store is 11 miles away. While I have two different road options, one is the interstate (high speeds, low gas mileage) and the other is a “through town” route with many starts and stops. So neither route is particularly gas mileage friendly.

Here are some tips for helping gasoline to take you further:

Use cruise control if possible for highway driving.
Drive slowly and gently. Don’t make fast starts or stops. Driving over 60 mph reduces fuel efficiency.
Keep your tires properly inflated and your engine tuned.
Skip the additives that claim to boost your fuel economy. Most don’t really make a significant difference.

This time of year the following issue is, well, a non-issue, but what’s the story on driving with the windows down vs. using the air conditioner? Here is a great article about that debate! It seems that it really depends on fast you are going to be driving. This time of year we are more concerned about how long our cars are idling to warm up, though, aren’t we?

Check out this interesting blog about relationships

I’ve taken a lot of time to examine why I am a frugal minded person. It started out of necessity as I’ve mentioned before. Before it was a necessity, though, I still didn’t understand the need for things such as designer clothing. I’ve found over the years that certain name brand clothing from department stores does fit better, feel better and last longer than, say, clothing from a discount store. I prefer to buy my boys’ clothing from department stores because I know it will last through two or three hand-me-downs since they are close in age. I look for my favorite, tried and true brands for their clothing. I buy play clothes at Walmart, though.

In a world where having the right designer purse and wearing the best designer suit is considered paramount, how do we frugal folks keep our heads on straight? I’d like to think we’ve just got an extra ounce of great character. *sniff* Maybe, though, it’s about what truly makes us happy.

Why do people crave *things*? Probably because they think that in some way those things will enrich their lives. And that may be true! However, I find it is the non-tangibles that enrich my life more than the things I can buy. I won’t deny that it’s nice to be in a place financially where my needs are all meet and most of my wants can be had, too. What is even nicer than that is knowing that I have a three happy children and a husband who make my every day sweeter.89

Life is about relationships and not things. That is why I choose to be frugal.

How about you?

Take a look at this post about an interesting book on wealth.

I hope that you had a great Halloween! I’ve got candy stored for Christmas stockings, Valentine’s Day and Easter. The kids are already over the candy for this holiday, thank goodness.

Up next? Thanksgiving! What’s on your menu this year? I’m planning mine now. My goal is to keep Thanksgiving dinner for a family of five under $30. Lucky for me, a small turkey will feed my family and several sides and a few desserts will do the trick.

Another good thing about Thanksgiving that can help with frugality is the fact that when many people get together everyone is usually responsible for one or two items. This provides plenty of food but keeps the cost per person at a manageable place.

Don’t forget about Thanksgiving sales at the grocery stores this time of year. Stock up on non-perishable sale items that you can
use all year ’round. A turkey dinner in March is not a bad idea!

If you can’t find a good sale on turkey (unlikely, but just in case) use chicken instead. Or, how about a vegetarian Thanksgiving?

This time of year many grocery stores will offer a free turkey to customers who spend a certain amount of money in a certain amount of time at their store. Remember that unless you were already planning to spend this amount, it’s not really a saving situation. It might be cheaper to buy your normal amount of groceries and buy a turkey yourself. If you use this time of year to stock up on certain items, though, you might be able to take advantage of the free turkey. (Or, if you’re feeding three growing boys and a husband who works 80 hours per week!)

When I finish planning my Thanksgiving menu I will post it (with recipes) and we’ll see if I stuck to my $30 goal!

Check out this great food history blog!