Five Frugal Things ~ December 1, 2017

Happy December!  I know everyone says it but, can you believe we are in December already?!  This year has flown.

With Christmas looming, I am doing my bit of shopping.  I have never been one to be extravagant with gift giving, usually setting a limit of not more than $100 per person.  Now that my children are older, and decisively more choosy, I buy them gift cards to their favorite places so they can get exactly what they want.  They are much happier with that than receiving gifts they really don't care for.  And I feel letting them choose gifts that they really want is much more "frugal" in the long run because they actually use the item rather than it ending up in the trash. I figure it also alleviates the possibility of them associating any guilt for getting rid of a present their mama or mamaw gave them.  Win, win.

Oh, I still buy little hand picked gifts for their stockings, and I like to gift homemade baked goodies and tins of popcorn and nuts.  Sometimes I might sew or make them things.  I don't think anyone walks away from the tree on Christmas day feeling unloved or unhappy.

All that to say, November and December aren't the frugalist (is that even a word?  If not, now it is, haha!) of months for us in many ways, but I still continue my daily frugal endeavors no matter what month or time of year.  It is just ingrained in me.  (My daughter and I were cracking up this evening at all my penny pinching escapades...I was laughing so hard at myself I had tears streaming down my cheeks!  We have a good time together.)

So, this past week I:

•  bought only a loaf of bread as far as grocery shopping goes, since we are pretty well stocked up in our larder and freezers.  I used to bake our bread until my food processor bowl broke.  I don't knead.  Call me lazy or whatever you want.  I still won't knead.  I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we get a new bread kneading contraption though, since I 've gone through two bread machines & the aforementioned bowl in my breadmaking career.  So...fear not.

•  went to the dollar theater in our area for a mother daughter date.  We like to find inexpensive ways to have a little girl time together on occasion.

•  used Christmas decorations we have on hand to decorate for the season.

•  making a point to hold off on purchases for as long as possible, until a) we absolutely must purchase the item out of necessity, b) I find an item I already have on hand that I can use instead, or c) I decide I can live without the item.

•  froze or finished most of the leftovers from our Thanksgiving meal with minimal waste.  The exceptions were the key lime pie that no one liked, so most of it got thrown away.  It truly pains me to throw out food but it was just not going to get eaten.  I didn't know anyone else that might have liked it or I would have given it away.

 I hope you are finding fun ways of minding your money during this season of indulgence!

Thanks for stopping by! ~TJ