Friday, December 14, 2018

Five Frugal Things

As I sit in my comfy chair and type I look around and realize that I really did down size my Christmas this year-and I'm fine with it. I have one nativity set instead of three, our tree has been downsized to one of those less full models,  and instead of putting out the whole Christmas village, that four houses at one end of my coffee table would do just fine. Some years I put out more, some less, and it really doesn't have much to do with a Christmas week or ten days because we set up the day after Thanksgiving and remove it all Epiphany Sunday. This year by the time we added some large Christmas plants and Christmas quilts everywhere, it feels perfect. Perfect for this year.




1. I'm still on that cleaning out the freezer thing. I have a casserole that is chili with a cornbread topping (It comes from Walmart and before you judge, it is delicious!). I also have a package of really thin sliced chicken breasts-which I tried before we made the commitment to downsize from breasts to tenders because breasts these days are well, huge. I have a package of boneless chicken thighs, one of meatballs and one of stuffed pasta-and that empties my fridge. I see us using the casserole tomorrow (Sugar cookie baking day), and beyond that right now I have no creativity left. In spite of the freezer commitment, I am consider grabbing half a ham for Sunday. Frugal because of frozen leftovers, ham and bean soup and split pea soup!! I have a twenty five dollar Safeway gift card I earned, so the basic few things we need for next week will not be much out of pocket!

2. I sat down today to make a very rough plan for the next week since we drive a week from tomorrow. Other than exercising, church on Sunday and a quick happy hour on Thursday afternoon, I am commitment-less, so I can cook, sew, pack our few needs and perhaps clean a teeny bit. We've been talking about hitting our local mini botanic gardens to see the lights after happy hour and then maybe driving around the neighborhood. Even though my primary goal is a week of calmness, also frugal because well, five dollars to see the lights and five dollars for the margarita, man!

3. I have a great many small pieces of fabric, yarn and other crafting things-leftover fabric from quilting projects, small balls of yarn, old pieces of jeans and such that I cut up planning to use, and partial pieces of scrapbook paper. I spent half a day with Pinterest looking up all the things I could make from said items-be it to sell in the spring, give away or gift or keep for me. I know have a very long list of things I can make with mainly stuff on hand when I am looking to take a break from my big projects. As if, of course, I need more to do!

4. We are all fully committed to the "less than fifty dollar Christmas" this year, even Mom, who usually breaks the rules. 600 bucks a month in tuition payments will do that to a fixed income! Fortunately, the purpose of our trip is to celebrate the holiday and spend the only time of the year that both my offspring have together off. I'll make up for that follow the rules thing by sending Valentines gifts and Easter gifts and Columbus day gifts. I can see it now. "Happy Valentine's Day, here are those pairs of handmade wool socks you've been wanting!".

5. While enjoy lunch and happy hour, and a good concert and the occasional party and cocktail hour, along with other so called "socialization", I've come to realize that given the chance I can be a pretty cheap date. Said as I've just returned from the library with five books, have a good ten shows on each of my watch lists (Netflix and Amazon), and two working projects each in the knitting and sewing area. Never mind a drawing project, a free course that I'm taking out of the house, and baking, lots of baking.

And now, I'm off to enjoy the Christmas lights within my own house, have oxtail stew, pull out the new Jack Reacher novel and set out the butter for Saturday baking.

11 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. I do love it, I just don't have the energy (or the space truthfully) to put twenty houses all in one place never mind all the little guys.

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  2. I've got my village unboxed but havent set it all up as I want yet. Several of my bins didnt get hauled in this year, but still a lot was.

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    1. Good for you. I think I will just choose different houses each year and do a small one from now on, this is so much easier (of course then I have to have somekind of organization for the storage). I am lookingfor a church for my village.

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  3. Dear Barbara, reading your five frugal undertakings brought back to me my commitment to be more frugal this year--2018. I failed miserably.

    And so, with your enthusiasm in mind for being frugal in every aspect of your life, I am renewing my commitment for 2019. For me, much of that will be decluttering my garage and my home. But I can see from your list that there are many other things I can do. You've inspired me.

    I can do more of my own baking and soup-making and use the freezer more. I can stop filling my time with reading--I've been an avid (15 or so books a month) reader all my life--and get back to writing, which has always leant structure to my life. I think that when I lack structure, frugality disappears also. So thank you.

    And may your holiday season be filled with a contentment that settles in the deep center of yourself where Oneness dwells and enriches your life throughout 2019. Peace.

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    1. Thank you so much! But I would be less than honest if I did not say there are MANY more frugal things I could be doing. Especially as I hope for some major travel and want to recession proof my fixed income as much as I can.

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    2. Oh my gosh, I just saw your reading! I dont read that much, but I read a good cople books a week and generally watch a netflix series every two weeks. SoI am very inactive much of the time.

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  4. What a lovely village set up. Four houses is just perfect!!

    God bless.

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  5. Seeing your cute little village photo gave me a tiny little pang in that I just gave our set away a few weeks ago. In my case, holiday decorating feels a bit of a chore compared to years past, and I prefer my energies go elsewhere these days, but I do love seeing these little villages - just in other people's homes, ha!

    My freezer is likewise packed, and yet I'm also going to be picking up a spiral cut ham this week for pretty much the same reasons you described. All those lovely winter soups that can be made with the leftovers are definitely calling my name.

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    1. This is the year I ask my kids which village pieces they want. I expect I will never do more than four houses again and use different ones each year with the small figures. I also have really downsized on the decorating front. I should get my freezer down enough to defrost but I seriously doubt that will happpen before spring.

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  6. Your village is fabulous, even the four buildings and accessories make it a full scene. I can see how setting out 20 buildings would be a lot of work. I am the same with my nutcracker collection, this year I had the energy and desire to put them all on display. Merry Christmas.

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