Frugal Christmas - Inspiration Day

A lot of people are trying to do Christmas this year on less, so I thought I would help out with a list of possible gifts less than $10 which could work either as a stocking stuffer or a main gift for someone.

1. Candles. I love candles and love getting them as a gift. If unsure if someone can handle scents go for an unscented one. As a bonus unscented ones generally cost less and you can find good candles at most box stores cheaper than you can a gift shop. Add an inexpensive holder and some ribbon. Craft fairs often have handmade candles for less than $10. Better yet, if you are talented make some.

2. Food. Bake some cookies or cake, canned specialty food (my mother gives hubby canned smoked oysters as a treat every year), chocolates or candies, or special teas or coffee. Buy a re-us able container or basket and fill it full for a lovely gift. I have seen dried soups given away in pretty jars or baskets full of ingredients to make cookies with a cutter or two thrown in. Give away your homemade jam...be imaginative.

3. Socks. No one wants socks for Christmas? Wrong. Special woolly socks for that man in your life, colorful toe socks for the teen in your life.

4. Slippers. For those that would not like socks slippers might do the trick. Not all slippers fall into the under $10 category but if you shop well there are some that do.

5. Hand lotion or soaps. Many stores stock these items around Christmas at very reasonable prices. I happen to be a lover of Bath and Body Works (especially their scented candles) and you can usually buy two or three items in their store for less than $10.

6. Scarf or mittens. I actually bought my 15 year old Stepdaughter a fashion scarf this Christmas as part of her gift as she wears one almost every day. I paid $7.99 and it was purchased at a fair trade store. Infinity scarfs are popular this year - although not every scarf fall under the $10 mark many do. If you are talented and can knit or crochet the materials would cost less than $10 to make.

7. Vintage gift. For those vintage lovers in your family find out what they collect and add a piece to the collection. Vintage cookbooks, kitchen items, pyrex, most can be found for less than $10 even at an antique store.

8. A book. For the kindle lover, an Amazon gift card. You can buy these electronically and present them the code in an envelope to buy whatever they want. Or if the person on your list is an old fashioned book lover like me visit a used bookstore to get a couple of their favorite titles. My stepdaughter will be receiving $10 in free amazon.ca GCs that I got using Swagbucks for part of her gift but you can also purchase them online. $10 goes further in digital books than physical ones unless you buy used.

9. Fishing Flies. I throw this one in as my Mother is a professional fly tier (yes, really, my Stepfather taught her before he passed away) and you can buy beautiful hand tied flies and get several for less than $10. She often packages several different ones up and sells them at Christmas in $10 boxes at her flea market. Or if your fisher is not a fly fisherman, buy some lures.

10. Movie night package. 2 packages of microwave popcorn and an inexpensive DVD and you have movie night.

11. Kitchen gadget. Any specialty kitchen store has tons of small items for less than $10. Buy something unique!

12. Stationary and stamps. For the old fashioned letter writer, stationary and stamps. A very practical and appreciated gift, especially popular with seniors.

I have also come across some inspirational links to share:

1. TEN FREE AND ALMOST FREE CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS from one of my favorite bloggers, The Nonconsumer Advocate

2. Need wrapping ideas? Try out another favorite wrapping blogger OLDER AND WISOR (ps she can spell, Wisor is her last name). She has many many blog posts devoted to inexpensive wrapping so I have linked to her blog versus a specific post.

3. Pinterest. I am not a Pinterest groupie but do have a Pinterest account for those times when I need inspiration. Check out their ideas for CHEAP CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS and RECYCLED CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS.

4. From Budget 101.com FRUGAL GAG GIFTS. My favorite is a Poor Woman's Boob Job (two balloons with instructions).

Feel free to add you own ideas! Cheers (or should I say HO HO HO!)

Vintage Christmas

First of all, I did not fall off the No More Christmas Crap campaign. I have gazed longingly at baubles and pretties as the stores stock their shelves with Christmas goodies - but not given in to the commercialization. Then came the trip to the thrift store this week - temptation!

Under Section 2 and 7 these items were not purchased brand new but found in a most grubby thrift store and purchased at a fraction of retail cost. Yes, I really don't need them, but I collect vintage Christmas ornaments and have been scouring ETSY and EBAY to steer hubby in that direction for my Christmas present. He shall now have to look at something else as I found all the ornaments below - plus brand new Christmas paper napkins for $1.97. I have no idea how they came to that price as this particular thrift store does not tag items with prices. I had to dig through six boxes to find these mercury glass ornaments - American Picker style. They don't even bother to place some items on shelves at this store, it is a real mess including broken and dirty items mixed in. No wonder I love going there as I find something great every time.

First I found the icicle. I knew it was vintage and where there is one - there must be other vintage goodness!

Save Money - Join The No More Christmas Crap Campaign

Two years ago I came to a realization that I could both save money and make Christmas a little bit less commercial by refraining from buying anymore Christmas crap (decorations, cards, wrapping materials). It definitely takes some creativity to continue this campaign on year 3. See the original post HERE.

The original campaign guidelines:
1. Use up what I have
2. Recycle
3. Get creative when I run low or run out by using alternatives we already have


Today I have expanded the guidelines and am opening up the campaign for anyone who wants to join.

The No More Christmas Crap Guidelines:

1. Save your money strictly for gifts and food items for the Christmas entertaining season. This also means if you want to buy Christmas crap for another person as a gift - it is permitted. I am not crafty so generally buy presents or gift cards. If you make gifts you would be permitted to buy supplies under this guideline.

2. If you feel you must buy some Christmas decorations - they should be obtained free (freecycle, nature, family) or purchased second hand at garage sales or thrift stores to pay a fraction of retail cost. Our local thrift stores have a great selection of decorations, lights, and even Christmas bows, wrapping and bags. Nature is also a great supplier - leaves, branches, shells, driftwood, get your CREATIVE on. Here on Vancouver Island we have wild holly which I intend to cut and bring indoors to make the season more festive.

3. After Christmas each year recycle wrappings, bows, baubles, baskets, and ribbons for use the following year. Re-make Christmas cards into gift tags. Re-use all gift bags. Obviously if this is your first year you will have to plan to do this. The easiest way is the day you open presents get a fresh garbage bag, gather all the wrappings and put them in one bag. Stash it somewhere safe until you can sort it after Christmas when you have time - no food garbage allowed in this bag. See last year's post HERE on what I have been able to recycle.

Throughout the year save ribbon, packing materials, boxes, wrapping paper and bags for use. I have practised this for three years now and have no intent on buying any more NEW wrapping paper or bows EVER! If you are consciously thinking ahead on saving these items, you will be surprised at what you end up with at the end of the year. On your first year of the campaign try and use up what you have - or buy at thrift stores.

4. You are permitted to attend Christmas related functions - even when they cost money. Last year to get a Christmas fix hubby and I took my stepdaughter to Edmonton's Festival of Trees (photo above is from that day). It was beautiful. I felt absolutely no need to buy anything there afterwards nor rush out and try and copy. Christmas at our house is mishmash of items collected over a lifetime. We all enjoyed the day - this Campaign is not about being Scrooge, just about taking some of the commercialization out of Christmas.

5. If you just completely fall in love with something Christmas related - make it known to those who are buying you gifts as receiving Christmas crap as a gift is allowed.


6. If you get invited to a Christmas party that you need a dressy outfit for - use what you already have, borrow something from a friend or family member, or buy it second hand at a thrift store or consignment store. Save your money!

7. The Out. If one hopes of complying with this campaign there has to be at least one GET OUT OF JAIL FREE card. If you must - you are permitted to buy one single new item valued at less than $15 CAD. Last year - I bought 50 holiday themed paper napkins as had a very large family to feed and don't have enough cloth napkins. This cost me $2.99. This year I am likely to buy the same thing. This might also include a package of reduced wrapping paper after Christmas for next year's campaign or that special something handmade off of ETSY.

Prior to the campaign I was always frugal at Christmas but since the campaign have saved at least $100 over the past two years by using these guidelines. If you like the campaign but want to tweak it for yourself - by all means do!

Please post your name below - at anytime - to join up. Don't feel guilty if you already have bought a stash of Christmas crap this year - the campaign starts TODAY forward!

Joining The Thrifty Home's Penny Pinching Party to Spread the word.

The C Word

Yes, Christmas is just over two months away. Using your frequent point programs to supplement your Christmas giving is an excellent way to reduce the cost of Christmas - but many of these programs must be redeemed now so that you receive your gifts in time for Christmas. This year is our tightest year financially in the last ten as we are paying expenses on two homes, child support on three children and both work out of the home for hubbys new company which after ten months is just now paying our bills. As my mother says, "every little bit counts" and anything I can get at reduced cost or by freebie for Christmas is one less dollar that comes out of our pocket.



Swagbucks (click the link if you wish to join)
I like swagbucks because you can take a poll a day to earn a buck, find secret codes, watch videos, do surveys or by far the easiest - use their searchbar for your every day internet searches. I really don't enjoy surveys so mainly use the searchbar and take the polls. So far this year I am up to $45 in amazon.ca gift certificates (each country has access to different gift cards, Canada is more limited than USA) and generally earn $5 per month or more. They rarely email you so are not spammers and are extremely easy to use. After three years they have my loyalty. My stepdaughter is a big kindle reader so she is getting some giftcards for her to buy books from Amazon.ca as part of her presents this year.

We belong to airline programs and although we use all of those points ourselves to see family and for business if you don't need your points many of these programs offer gift cards apart from airline tickets.

I belong to five different grocery store point programs and intend to redeem those points for goodies for stockings and to reduce our grocery requirement in the month of december.

Planning saves money so get out your point cards and have a browse - I guarantee you will save money this way!

Recycling and Packing Up Christmas

Today I am having a marathon session of packing up all our decorations so they will be Vancouver Island move ready. This involves slightly more time than a normal packup as everything must be tagged, and rubbermaid containers (purchased in our last move 4 years ago) carefully packed to 100% capacity.

I still am on the "purchase no more Christmas crap campaign" so when we opened our presents this year I carefully gathered all the wrappings, bows and ribbons in a garbage bag to be sorted out today - if you decide to do this understand this is best done well after Christmas when there is no stress involved. Yes, a few items get crunched but you can still save a lot of wrappings to be reused.

For our recycling bins: plastic was carefully separated as was non-foil paper - 90% of the garbage bag full of discarded material is recycled this way.

For the garbage: foil Christmas wrap which still makes it way into our house but as a result of finding we cannot recycle these I would not suggest any buy foil wrapping papers if possible. There are greener options.

For us to reuse: All of the below, some of which were recycled from last year. The blue gift bag was purchased at the dollar store about five years ago and has made it through the last five Christmases still in great shape. The tags I made out of Christmas cards - the ones I made last year were mostly used up this year.

To Take to the Salvation Army or Goodwill: Two baskets (I would have kept these if we weren't moving but baskets are extremely cheap at thrift stores to rebuy)

Not only is this a way to save money every Christmas on not having to purchase items to decorate presents with - you are helping put less waste into landfills.

I bought one thing this Christmas: package of 50 Christmas paper napkins as I entertained family on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. These were $2.99 and will be recycled in my green bin. Yes, the same as last year, my only deviance from the "buy no more Christmas crap campaign".

Do you recycle anything from Christmas wrappings?

Post Christmas Recovery

My Christmas guest has just departed, all the gifts have been given and I am having a pj afternoon - no more cooking or entertaining to be done.

December is a strange time. All year I carefully keep to my grocery budget and use coupons and plan meals. December I blew the grocery budget (but will be held accountable by taking my December overage off January grocery budget) and have to shop up a storm to complete all the gift giving lists. I really feel like I have a post Christmas spending hangover. Fortunately we have no credit card hangovers - we charge everthing to the credit cards (for the points) but immediately pay them off so there is no debt. I am just a little sick of shopping, eating and cooking at the moment. Do you ever feel that way?

My mind is on packing and purging for the upcoming move. The weekend before Christmas hubby managed to sell the final piece of workout equipment we had up for sale on Kijiji $275.

It was purchased used for more ($500) but hubby got three solid years of use (and yes, he actually did use it as well as his son who recently got into working out). It is a bit of a boat anchor as weighted about 500 lbs so there was no way we were taking it in our move (nor do we have the room for it). We have worked it into our budget to both join a gym which will be easier to keep up a regular workout routine as it is too easy to do other things when you work out at home.

Over the New Years weekend I will carefully pack away all the Christmas decorations that will be mover ready. I did downsize some Christmas decorations this year, but realized some of the decorations meant more to us than we realized. I will purge other items that have no meaning to make up for it. It is difficult downsizing to a home half your current size - but also liberating.

Even if you are not moving consider a post-Christmas purge! Give away at least 10% more than entered your house in the month of December. Sell it on ebay, hold a garage sale, list it on Craigs List or Kijiji or Freecycle or give it to friends or Goodwill. I guarantee it will make you feel better about your space.

A Little Bit of Love From Living Rich On The Cheap!

From Christmas

I hope you and your families enjoy peace, health and happiness this Christmas. Happy Holidays!

Christmas Preparations Underway

Wallymart Tree with All The Christmas Crap On

I thought I would share some photos of vintage Christmas ornaments that my Mom gave me - they were used on my Grandparent's tree and the three are between 40-60 years old. Nothing that valuable but I love owning something that has gone through three generations.

Although I love Christmas, sometimes the speed of life in December leaves a little bit to be desired. Every day this week I try and get one more thing marked off the list.

This week:

Mailed the very last of the Canadian Christmas Cards

Baked two maraschino cherry loaves - one of which crumbled so cannot be given away but still tastes good, the other turned out good and is in the freezer to give away at Christmas.

Went thrifting and to lunch with a friend - I only bought one glass Santa container to give fudge away in. It was a lovely day but traffic was terrible so we were limited on thrifting time.

Made a batch of fudge which did not exactly turn out but tastes great - the marshmellows didn't melt properly so small bits of white can still be seen - but it is darn tasty - I added cinnamin and even my hubby likes it (he is not big on sweets and normally says no to fudge) I am 100% certain my twelve year old nephew who is receiving some will not care in the least what it looks like.

Bought most of the rest of the presents with only 10% of gifts remaining to be purchased.

Wrapped most of the gifts and put non-stocking gifts under the tree.

Bought the turkey, special sweet pickles and onions, and some of the ingredients for our two big meal days.

This weekend I have to clean out the guest room and add fresh sheets as my Mother is coming to visit us and take the younger kids shopping for those gifts they have left to buy.

Best of all? I just heard I am hosting all 12 of us on Christmas Eve this year - good thing it falls on a Saturday! I have wanted this for a while and finally my mother in law has handed over the reins. When we move away my sister in law will be handed the honor. A non meat traditional Ukrainian Christmas Eve (it really falls in January but we celebrate it in December like everyone else). We have a fold up table that holds six that has been waiting to be used for just such an occasion.

There are traditional dishes like:
Perogies(Vrenyky or pyrohy) - dough pockets filled with potato, or potato and cheddar cheese,or kapusta (sauerkraut), or cottage cheese, and cheddar cheese,or kapusta (sauerkraut), or in our family sometimes filled with salmon

Holubtsi - Ukrainian cabbage rolls which normally can be filled with ground meat, rice, or sour kraut covered in tomato sauce but for Christmas eve we eat the meatless kind

Borscht - Ukrainian beet soup. My mother-in-law makes incredible borscht, even I love it (I hate beets).

Kutya is a Christmas eve mixture of cooked wheat, poppyseed,and honey, served cold as a thick slightly liquid mixture - this is my absolute favorite. One cannot eat too much though as the wheat berries swell and will give you a tummy ache. It kind of tastes like pudding. Our wheat berries come from the family farm.

And of course, Horilka which is also known as Vodka which is drank on every special occasion.

I am finding it hard to stay within the food budget this month - I will try but this may be the one month it is blown as I am entertaining large crowds and can't stand busy stores so am spending less time hunting the food deals down.

November Grocery & Coupon Tally & Festival of Trees

We took my stepdaughter to the Festival of Trees this weekend where all the proceeds go to a charitable hospital foundation. The crowds were large but we enjoyed ourselves.

Birds and feathers were a popular theme as well as black and white trees.

(look closely, those are peacock feathers)


One of the biggest attractions was this tree made of plastic zip ties - over 40,000 were used in the construction.

Onto November results:

November Food Budget (Thrifty Plan) $426.57 plus surplus from October budget
$1.05=$427.62

Actual $427.24. Woohoo made budget with .38 to spare which is added to December's Budget

Coupons used $28.68
Coupons year to date used $487.90

Meat including products that included meat(like soup): $71.40
Even lower than last month but I still managed to stock up-the cupboards are fuller at the end of this month than last knowing we will be here for at least four months I managed to stock up a little. I got a great deal mid-month on pork tenderloin for $18 that was then cut into portions for 7 porkchop meals for two in the freezer. I also bought 20lbs of potatoes and 10lbs of onions which are inexpensive staples good to have on hand.

This month I will be looking for sales on Turkey, shrimp and chocolate chips.

I had several apples that were starting to get soft so made a nice batch of apple crisp last week. I threw in some raisins and sweetened dried cranberries I had on hand - it was a hit.

My Amish friendship cinnamin loaf (see previous post here)turned out great - but no photos as it is 98% eaten. I have started another batch to bake in 8 days time.

I did manage to sneak back to Goodwill and pick up the four Andy Warhol butterfly dishes(as mentioned in previous post) for $1.98 for all four (I left tags on as proof!)The are safely tucked away in a box packed for Vancouver Island.

I found another item to take to Goodwill this week: Oversized wreath (2' x 2') which is simply too big to pay to ship to another Province. No, this one is far too big for the front door to replace the one wrecked by the wind last week. This used to go over our downstairs fireplace mantle. One less piece of Christmas crap to deal with and hopefully some crafter will pick it up on the cheap (originally bought at Michaels with a 50% off coupon of course)
.

The house is decorated, over half of the Christmas shopping is completed and the Christmas cards were sent out. Now I can relax a little bit.

Link of the Day - Home-made Mini Bottle Brush Christmas Trees

Check this out. I would be so easy to make this project using a bit of fake Christmas Garland and wine corks or use real grenery or bare wood branches. What a great family project and have each person create decorations using other recycled material. I have previously featured unconsumption.com here but this is one of my favorite ideas. They have a whole series on what to do with wine corks called "It’s wine o’clock (somewhere)".

Unconsumption: Cork Cleverness Post

The Decorating Marches On - and Wreath Massacre II

Well, this weekend was a frenzy of activity:
1. Put up Christmas tree - minus ornaments waiting for kids to come over Friday to decorate
2. Decorate mantle with fake greenery and Christmas Balls
3. A small amount of speed Christmas shopping took place
4. Daily feeding and stirring of my yeast for friendship loaf
5. Put up lights on pine tree in front of house and two lit small trees that go either side of garage
6. Attended a work related Christmas Party without buying anything new to wear (Yay! No cooking night!)

We had yet another windstorm this week with Hurricane force winds a few hours from here in Calgary - this is the aftermath of the much smaller winds we had here: Remember the wreath that got blown off my front door last week that was carefully glued back together? Well, nature finished it off this weekend - one less piece of Christmas crap I have to worry about downsizing. I saved the bow and a few pinecones and red pieces for some future wreath but had to toss the rest. No, there will be no new wreath purchased for my door this Christmas - I think I am just going to put the bow back up.

I still have to start my Christmas cards and have yet to do any wrapping but am finally feeling like I have a better handle on Christmas plans than I did a few days ago.

I did sneak into Sally Ann this weekend and bought a loaf pan as needed another for Saturday when my friendship loaves are ready to bake. $1.99.

I have done a lot of thinking and next year the "no more Christmas crap campaign" will change. I love lights and we are sorely short on them for exterior decorating. Next years campaign will be to buy"only used Christmas Crap". I still see no need to ever buy new wrapping again as can easily collect bows, packing paper and boxes for that purpose throughout the year. There are about 200 Christmas cards that Ipurchased several years ago for .97 cents (original price $16.99 a box)still awaiting use so will have to see how long I can stretch those.

And finally,yes that is a fake $40 Walmart Christmas tree, purchased two years ago on sale when I cut myself on our 20 year old ancient fake tree. I love real trees but hate the idea of cutting down a tree for the purpose of decoration. Maybe down the road I can look at a live option like a small potted cedar. For now our fake wally tree it is.

How are your Christmas plans coming?

The Gift of Friendship Loaf Starter

(my red sharpie pen remarks for the rest of the family)
A friend at work gave me this gift of friendship 10 day loaf starter today.

The recipe for the starter can be found here:

allrecipes.com
Amish Friendship Loaf Starter

My friends version adds a combination of 4 tea spoons of cinnamin and 1/2 a cup of brown sugar in layers at time of baking(day 10) making it a Cinnamin Loaf. There are many variations and I may try a cranberry orange version as well as it is a combination of ingredients I love.

I am on Day 1 and this gift is just what I needed to kickstart a somewhat lagging Christmas Spirit. Other than repairing my 10 lb wreath that was blown off the front door (50 km winds this week) with some of hubbys tile glue (all that I had on hand and it worked great) and watching a couple of Christmas movies I have done little to make Christmas at our house. I did manage to decorate the window sill but am still not sure where to put our little buddy screwy reindeer that hubby insisted I fish out of the Goodwill box this weekend. I think the sill could use a few cuts of pine boughs but I will wait to add those for a couple of weeks as our house will dry it out too fast and we don't want a fire hazard near the candles.

I have decided before this loaf is ready to bake(10 days) I will:

1. Mail all my Christmas cards to American and Canadian family members and friends

2. Put up Christmas tree (but wait on decorating until the kids weekend so they can put all the decorations on). The lights will help me get motivated. I think they are one of my favorite parts of Christmas. We don't have a "decorator tree". All our ornaments have some meaning including a few ornaments from the 1930s that were my grandmothers. Others are some that the kids (now 14, 16, 18 and 20) made when they were younger. There are even some I made as a teenager. I will also decorate my mantle and hang the Christmas balls in every window like I do every year.

3. Wrap the presents we already have purchased. We have done about 30% of the shopping so far. I have several wrapping sessions as we have a large family so like to spread it out plus like seeing some gifts under the Christmas tree. I have a few gift bags from stores that I need to alter into Christmas bags but in the spirit of the "no more Christmas Crap pledge" I promise not to purchase any crafting supplies and use only what I have in the house. Frugal habits often causes creativity as a side effect.

4. Do some baking including loafs from the above Starter. I don't do much Christmas baking, usually one batch of sugar cookies as the younger kids still enjoy decorating them and one batch of fudge. This year I will add a loaf or two to the mix.

5. Go shopping in my pantry for items to take to the food bank - I always buy on sale so this is a great way to give this time of year.

I like to have almost everything done by the 10th of December so I can relax and enjoy the Christmas spirit of the holidays. I have already recorded a bunch of television shows and movies (key PVR words: Christmas, holidays)to watch. My Mom is flying in from Vancouver Island late on the 23rd of December for a few days. We gather and have a no-meat Ukrainian Christmas Eve with hubby's family, my Mom and the kids(although the true Ukrainian Christmas is in the New Year) and then have an extremely quiet Christmas day - just me, hubby and my Mom as the kids are off to spend Christmas day with their Mom. We sit around in our robes, drink Baileys spiked tea and coffee, and smell the turkey cooking, stuff ourselves, and watch a movie after dinnerwards. Sounds nice, doesn't it?

My apologies for the quality of recent photos - but I go to work in the dark and come home to the dark therefore no great daylight shots with natural light for several months to come.

Happy Thanksgiving to all Our American Friends today - Plus I would like to say welcome to some recent followers of my blog - I am up to 9!

A New Win! And a Freebie Too!

courtesy Graphics Fairy

This week I received a couple of great items in the mail:
$50 Gift Certificate for Winners Fashion for Less Contest online instant win. I won this about two months ago but as with all wins do not believe it until I see it so waited on sharing this until now. This gift card will be saved for next year when we are taking time off. I have not been entering many contests lately but each time you win something big or small it motivates you to start entering again.

Freebie this week:
Travel size sample of Fresh Infusions Lady Speed Stick plus $1 off coupon

Finally, a peek at how I decorate our bedroom window every year with lights. Remember this ikea light wreath that was rescued from being thrown out last year after one whole string died(original post here)? I restrung the wreath and when the light is on you cannot tell. No point in throwing it out - still one of my favorites. I have done very little Christmas decorating yet (usually almost done by now) as this week has been busy with property inspections, legal papers, couriering deposits and making sure the purchase of our new home goes through smoothly. Today I actually went shopping in real stores (non-thrift stores) for some Christmas gifts and the line ups were crazy already!

Time to Start Thinking About Christmas!

Art courtesy of graphicsfairy.blogspot.com

We are almost two months away from Christmas - time to start thinking about the Christmas Budget. This year Hubby and I are spending about half of what we normally do on each other and saving the rest for our move. We are planning on spending the same amount as in the past for family: two widowed mothers, four kids, and three nephews.

This year my intent is to simplify Christmas and continue year two of the "No More Christmas Crap" way of living.

Last year I realized I had far too much of everything Christmas. You may be interested in reading the original post here. That means in the next three weeks I hope to cut my Christmas crap down by half and donate the rest to Goodwill or Salvation Army (just before Christmas when they can easily sell this stuff).

The "Buy No More Christmas Crap" rules:
1. Use up what I have
2. Recycle (I went through the after-Christmas wrapper trash last year and separated re-usable bows and sparklies and have been saving bags, bows and ribbons all year that enter the house on other gifts or wrapping)
3. Get creative when I run low or run out by using alternatives we already have.

This morning I had some serious energy to purge so gathered together together some items to give away:

Christmas stocking and extra tree skirt
Box of miscellaneous items and a couple more Halloween Decorations
Bag of clothes and extra blankets

Our families love movies so I ordered eight movie passes for Cineplex Odeon using some Aeroplan points that a pair each will be added to the kids stockings. They have not arrived yet but I am confident they will be here by December.

Do you need to order some goodies for Christmas using points or freebies? Time to order now!