Prepping for Christmas on a Budget

Christmas?! Yeah, I know. You just barely sent your kids back to school and it is no time to be thinking about Christmas, right? Wrong! If you want to spend a small fortune on gift giving for this mega-bucks holiday, do it during December. If you want to do it without breaking the bank, start early.

In my normal world, where I know I am not leaving the country before Christmas, I would be about done right now. We thought we might be leaving in the fall and planned to send gifts from our new home. Now we are leaving after Christmas and I am grasping at straws a bit. I can swing it though and if you haven't started your list yet, you can swing it with me.

One thing to take into consideration right off the bat is why we are giving. If you celebrate the commercial Christmas where Santa brings toys to all the children and we buy each other expensive stuff because it is good for the economy, go ahead and keep it up. If you are celebrating Christmas because of Christ this particular paragraph is for you. God gave us the gifts of love, grace, and eternal life through Jesus. We share gifts with each other to remind us of the gifts that God gave us. Keep that in mind as you go forward with your list. Your gifts should be thoughtful and meaningful to the one you are giving it to.

Now that you have taken a moment to sort out your gift giving mentality, lets hop into the frugal giving tips.

1. Nix the Budget!

What?! I know you are thinking I am going to go hog wild, but that is not what I mean. I receive gifts from people who spend a particular amount of money on me. I tend to get one or two thoughtful gifts from them and then a pile of stuff that was purchased to fulfill the budget. When we went through three years of purging our stuff, those things were the bulk of what we were getting rid of. It adds up over the years. It doesn't make that person feel special, just curious as to where they will put the new doodad.

 

2. What Price do You Count?

So you really want to spend a minimum amount? I know some of you feel obligated, I do too with some people. Stop looking at the price you paid for a gift and start looking at the value of it. We often find awesome sale/clearance prices or maybe even something for free. Instead of looking at what we actually paid we look at what the gift is actually worth. If I got a book for free but it normally costs $14.99, look at the $14.99 and give the gift that price mark.

 

3. Consumables Make Great Gifts!

Food, soaps, candles, they get used and then they are gone! The recipient enjoys your gift and it doesn't take up extra space in their home. Win, win!

 

4. Shopping for the Hardest Person.

Do not wait on this one! Always keep this person in the back of your mind. You might still get them a gift at the last minute, but at least you will not have missed an opportunity to get them something that shows you care.

 

5. Someone Wants Something Specific.

It never fails that someone has a gift request. If you want to give them the one thing they want begin looking for it on sale. Our son wanted a specific Lego set for Christmas this year. We found it on clearance at Shopko. Shopko, at least in our area, tends to have crazy stuff on clearance. You just never know what you will find there.

You have my best tips for getting your mentality in the right place. Now it is time to obtain some gifts. Here are some of the ways that I get gifts to give.

1. After Christmas Clearance

It is the best clearance of the entire year! Just remember not to buy things because they cost so little but because they would be perfect for the person you plan on giving it to. A couple extra things for impromptu gifts are ok, but let's not go crazy here.

 

2. Trading

In the past I have done many trades with fellow Etsy shop owners. You never know who will be up for a trade though. If you have a toy, movie, or whatever that you no longer need, there may be someone who is in the same situation and would like to make a trade with you.

 

3. Handmade

Cook, sew, or whittle your way to your next gift. The options for handmade gift giving are pretty much endless. Not only do you make something for less cost, you make something that is one of a kind and may become a beloved family heirloom, or get eaten and that's good too! Just make sure you give yourself enough time to get your projects done. Check out Pinterest for a plethora of DIY ideas.

 

4. Freebies

Yesterday I raved about Money Saving Mom. Last year I signed up for every freebie I could. I got k-cups, tea samples, makeup and more. These I was able to add to small gifts to basically make a little gift basket for people. This year I am doing book reviews for Blogging for Books and Tyndale Blogging Network. I receive a free book in exchange for doing an honest blog review. Some of those books are being gifted forward this Christmas. I share how much I like a book and now someone else will spread the word about it as well.

Do you have some great tips of your own for doing Christmas on a budget? I would love to hear them!

A Month of Meals: Your Questions Answered

Welcome back! Today I am answering your questions about my series on planning your menu on a monthly basis and on a budget. If you missed one of the posts, you can find them here:

Intro and Monthly Menu Planning

The Recipes

The Shopping List

Freezer Cooking Day

 

Were you able to get the BBQ sauce stain out of the table cloth?

Ha ha, yes! We finished all of our food prep after wiping off what we could. Then I coated the stained areas with my Norwex dish soap. I let it sit while I gathered up some other laundry to put in with it. It all went into the laundry with some homemade laundry soap. In the end you can't even tell it happened. I started freezer cooking at 5:00am on the weekend so it was all back to normal before my parents even got up.

What was your menu like on $100 a month?

I relied heavily on the dollar a day meals website. Unfortunately, the site is no longer up. We had soup 4 nights a week and nearly every meal was accompanied by homemade bread or biscuits. I spent a lot of time cooking in those days. We also weren't gluten free then and that made a huge difference.

Were all the recipes a hit with the family?

All but one went over well. The Italian chicken with potatoes and green beans was not our favorite. It was a bit sour, like eating an entire bag of salt and vinegar chips, which I love. It won't be making it onto another menu. The rest were fantastic.

Have more questions? I would be happy to answer them!

A Month of Meals: The Recipes

Yesterday we looked at planning the menu. Today I am sharing all the recipes I am using for my menu. I love getting recipes from Pinterest and many of these recipes are from there. You can follow me on Pinterest here.

The first 6 recipes can be found at Stacy Makes Cents. I used chicken tenderloins instead of breasts and did one for each of us in each bag. We aren't big meat eaters. It would be easy to swap out chicken for other types of meat as well. There is no cooking involved in the meal prep and we have loved 4 out of 4 of them that we have already tried.The Hawaiian BBQ Chicken comes from Six Sister's Stuff. They have fantastic recipes! I have tried several of them. We will be serving this dish over rice in our monthly menu.

Baked Ziti is from Amusing Foodie. I half the recipe for our family and use gluten free pasta of course. I also use cottage cheese instead of Ricotta.

That last 3 are family originals. I haven't made them in a long time so I don't have any pictures. They are super quick and easy though.

Corny Chicken

Ingredients (all to desired quantity):

Chicken

Corn

Salt

Pepper

 

In a sprayed casserole dish put chicken. Top with corn. Season with salt and pepper. Bake on 350* for 30 minutes or till chicken is done. Enjoy!

For freezer cooking simply toss everything into a bag and freeze.

 

Beef and Broccoli with Pasta

Ingredients:

1 lb cooked hamburger (I will be splitting 3 pounds between the 4 freezer bags that require hamburger)

1/2 bag frozen broccoli

2 T olive oil

garlic to taste

1/2 box of pasta

 

Toss everything but the pasta into the bag to freeze. Bake at 350* for 30 minutes or till hot. Cook pasta and toss with a bit of olive oil and season with salt and pepper if desired. Toss pasta with the broccoli and beef and serve. Great with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

 

 

Mermaid Hair Casserole

Ingredients:

1 lb cooked hamburger

1/2 bag frozen sliced green beans

1/2 jar spaghetti sauce

Pasta or rice to serve over

 

Toss the hamburger, beans, and sauce into freezer bags to freeze. Bake at 350* for 30 minutes or heat on the stove top. Serve over rice or pasta. This dish is named for the stringy green hair of the mermaids in Harry Potter.

 

Our lunch and breakfast meals don't have recipes. We really just wing it on those. Tomorrow we put together the shopping list, see the prices, and take a look at the grand total.

Have any questions? Feel free to ask in the comments or share some of your favorite recipes on a budget.

You can find the rest of the series here.

A Month of Meals: Intro and Monthly Menu Planning

Welcome to the first of a week long series on menu planning and grocery budgeting. Today I am going to give an intro and share how I go about planning our meals a month at a time. Tomorrow I will be sharing the recipes I will be using for my 4 week menu. Thursday we'll focus on the grocery list and shopping. Friday is all about freezer cooking. Saturday I will be posting a review, answers to questions in the comments section, or social media, and a link back to all the posts in case you missed one.

Our food budget has been low for a long time. Our budget is currently at $300 but has been as low as $100. Some things to take into account if you want lower your food budget:

• Don't buy boxed or frozen meals. They are costly, filled with junk, and also wastefully packaged


• Be prepared to cook from scratch.


• Stop serving "family" style. By dishing the plates in advance you can make sure everyone has appropriate serving sizes and you can pack up leftovers if you intend to split a meal into two or more meals.


• Is someone still hungry? Instead of adding seconds, add a salad or apple slices with peanut butter.


• Don't plan a different meal for each day of the month.

Right now our family has some unique needs. Yes, we are gluten free, but that is not what I am talking about. We are living with my parents while we wait to go on mission in Montreal. My mom is a bit territorial over the kitchen so we need to be able to get in and out as quickly as possible. There is limited food storage space too. Plus my mom usually cooks dinner for us but when she doesn't I end up finding out at supper time. While it is true that we personally won't be using all of this month's meals this month, we will keep them stored in the freezer for the month or two that Adam will not be working before our leave date. All these things I kept in mind as I began looking for meals to add to our menu. So, let's get started planning the menu!

I planned a 4 week menu for September. For us it starts today and goes to the last day of the month. That means we need 28 suppers, 28 lunches, and 28 breakfasts. That sounds a bit daunting, I know. When you stop trying to think of 28 different meals for each, it gets better. Variety is great but it is also expensive and time consuming. On a normal basis, I would make a new menu each month. We keep the meals that we aren't tired of to the next month and add new ones. We'll start with supper because it has the most variety. You will notice that some of the recipes make enough for 2 meals for our family of three and I have taken that into account.

Supper

 

Make 2 of each.

 

Pesto Chicken and Green Beans: 2 meals

Mexican Chicken Taco Stuffing: 4 meals

Pineapple Chicken Stir Fry: 4 meals

Ranch Chicken and Potatoes: 2 meals

Italian Chicken Stir Fry: 2 meals

Italian Chicken and Potatoes: 2 meals

Hawaiian BBQ Chicken: 4 meals

Corny Chicken: 2 meals

Baked Ziti: 2 meals

Mermaid Hair Casserole: 2 meals

Beef and Broccoli Pasta: 2 meals

 

All but the ziti will be included in freezer cooking.

 

 

Lunch

 

Onigiri (rice balls) 3 days per week: 12 meals

Tuna Quesadillas 3 days per week: 12 meals

Leftovers once per week: 4 meals

 

Leftovers may include left over, reheat, meals or any food that is close to date. Mix and match and turn it into something new.

 

 

Breakfast

 

Donuts once per week: 4 meals

Oatmeal 6 days per week: 24 meals

Cereal 6 days per week: 24 meals

We are not huge breakfast people. We usually add peanut butter or fruit to our oatmeal. Lunch is a busy kitchen time here so I tend to do onigiri, which can be made in advance or quesadillas which are super fast to make. Donuts with hot chocolate are a special treat on Friday mornings. It is important to budget in something special. This isn't some crazy diet and it shouldn't be a punishment. We really look forward to Friday mornings and we make it a special family time.

That seems to be it. We have all the meals planned for the whole month. The next step is to get all of our recipes together and I will see you tomorrow for that!

Have questions about planning the menu? Ask them in the comments and I will make sure to get them answered!

You can find the rest of the series here.

February Menu

I thought I would share with you all what our meal plan is for the month. Each week is the same and we do all of our shopping once per month. Adam does bring more home over the course of the month, like milk and other items that don't last a whole month. This month our grocery list cost us right around $150. We had a small amount of items left from the last month but we did need to buy most of them. So here is the menu...

Sundays
Lunch: Mac and Cheese (we always add to it or change it in some way)
Supper: Slow Cooker Lasagna (This meal lasts 3 weeks for us, leftovers get frozen)

Mondays
Lunch: Soup (we have 3 soups left over from last month and I will make a new soup from what we have laying around for the last 2 weeks)
Supper: Ramen noodle spaghetti

Tuesdays
Lunch: Tuna and Cheese Quesadillas
Supper: Hawaiian BBQ Chicken (This meal lasts 3 weeks for us, leftovers get frozen)

Wednesdays
Lunch: Grilled Cheese
Supper: Buffalo Chicken Lasagna (This meal lasts 3 weeks for us, leftovers get frozen)

Thursdays
Lunch: Mac and Cheese
Supper: Slow Cooker Cheesy ham potatoes (new recipe, but should last at least 2 meals)

Fridays
Lunch: Poor Mans Meal
Supper: Slow cooker Beef and Black eyed pea soup (new recipe again, but should last 3 meals)

Saturdays
PIZZA! This is the day our whole family looks forward to! We make a huge pizza from scratch and eat the whole thing between lunch and supper. Jayne makes his own too, although he has decided that he likes making bread sticks for everyone to share now.

Our menu this month has the most flavor variety of any of our menus. I am really excited to try the many new recipes. I will give you links to some of our recipes we will be using below...

Six Sister's Stuff:
Slow Cooker Lasagna
Hawaiian BBQ Chicken (slow cooker)
Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Lasagna

Depression Cooking With Clara
Poor Man's Meal
(Clara has some great frugal recipes and you learn a little about the depression while you watch her cook)

September Goals

It is a new month again! I love the fall, even if most of the month is "technically" still summer. We have a lot of big changes happening this month and it is going to mean a lot of work and planning. So here are my big 3 for the month...

* Research some new recipes to add to our menu planning to help get our food budget down, we have worked our way up to about $175 each month. We would like to get it back down to the $110 mark that it was at last winter.

* Start planning holiday gifts. We will be on a tight budget again this year, but we will be able to spend time with our families this year becasue I will no longer be working and that will be a great gift for us all!

* Begin work on the holiday season at The Crazy Elephant. With me being a work at home mom very soon, I need to put a huge focus on my shop as a source of income. I will have more time to work on it now and can treat it like my job, something I have wanted to be able to do for a while now. I will be working on Etsy's holiday boot camp toward the end of the month and I want to work hard to make it successful for me.

In case you have not caught it by now, I will be staying home very soon. We have been working on this goal for 5 years now and it is comming up. Our car's brake line broke on Saturday. We can't fix it till tomorrow at the earliest, but the cost of fixing it and time we can fix it will have a big impact on when I am done at work. In the meantime I am going to focus on my goals and look forward to personal success!

What are your goals this month? Share in the comments and inspire someone!

Stretch It: Entertainment

I am going to keep this relatively short as it is over 90 degrees and I don't have A/C (a great way to save money, but slightly uncomfortable).

Having fun doesn't have to cost a lot. Sometimes it can take a little looking to find some activities, but it is worth it and occasionally it means trying something new. Every area has its own events and places so I will share a few of the things we have done in our area that are free or low cost.

In our town: We did many things for summerfest that were all free, we did not spend a dime while we were there. We have been attending the public library's presentations about countries of the world (2pm on Wednesdays), There are other periodic, mostly holiday related activities that we have done too. Plus there is always fishing, biking, walking, hiking, parks, and any other way you can enjoy the outdoors...ooh, how about sledding, I would love to think about sledding right about now ; )

In our surrounding area: Austin has the Spam museum, free to all and we are going there tomorrow (post soon after). Rochester has free entry to the art center for Olmsted residents. We have done ____ days events in other towns before, Like Rolling Stone days where I sit at my Crazy Elephant booth and Adam takes Jayne to all the fun events and parks. We have seen movies at the public library in Rochester and they also have walk through exhibits on occasion. The local movie theaters have free movies quite often too, you just have to see what is playing and when. Think bank is also giving out tickets for an evening at the zoo, so make sure to keep up on goodies at your bank, you never know what kinds of fun events they might have cooked up. And if you want to hit a zoo close by, you can hit Oxbow Park.

Within 2 hours of our house: The Como Zoo is free and I especially love the conservatory. We get a yearly membership at the MN Zoo. It is a great bargain for how much we visit and we get discounts on other zoos throughout the country. The history museum in St Paul is free and educational. The children's museum is free on the 3rd Sunday of every month (thanks to Target, who pays for all admissions). It is quite busy on those days, but still fun and your kids will probably pass out in the car on the way home.

I know there are probably a lot of things that I missed. Take some time to look around and you might find something you never thought you would try, or even something that you never thought you would do because it was too expensive, turns out to be a great deal if you time it right. Share some of the things that you love to do in the comment section. Maybe it will be just the idea someone else was looking for!