No Christmas Budget

I haven’t been doing a monthly budget update like normal because basically we haven’t been following a budget. Well at least not in my opinion, it’s a very loose budget, we’ve been putting all our extra money into our house fund and now that it’s fully funded we’ll start a new budget in January. (details to come)

Not following a budget is a very weird feeling, one I haven’t adjusted to yet. I feel like we just have money flying out of our savings account. I hate the fact that I don’t really know where everything is or where it’s going. I do, but not as much as I used to. I can’t wait to get back to using a detailed budget again.

Last night I was having a small panic attack about the amount we’ve spent on Christmas shopping this year and decided it was time to total it all up and deal with the damage. With everything else we had going on I didn’t really set a budget, I was just hoping for the best…not a great idea.

Thankfully both my sides of the family happily agreed to a no gift Christmas. We’ll do a small gathering at my Mother’s house and dinner with my Father and younger sister to celebrate with little or no gifts. I wasn’t sure how they’d respond when I mentioned it but both seemed open to the idea and I must admit it has taken so much stress off us. Not having to worry about what will be the perfect gift and how much it will cost. It allows you to enjoy the holiday spirit a little more.

We’re still doing gifts on Matthew’s side but they are very toned down. We’ll be doing a dinner with the whole family but only exchanging gifts with immediately family after. So that leaves me with nine people to purchase gifts for, four adults and five children. As of today we have finished our shopping all for $156.96. So much less than I thought we had spent.

I still need to purchase ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies, but I don’t expect that to cost much. We’ll be giving baskets of cookies to each family during Christmas dinner, both of us will be taking some to work during Christmas week, and I plan to donate a few dozen to our church.

In all this is our most economical Christmas to date. I will definitely be suggesting another no gift Christmas next year. And best of all it looks like my new spending habits are really taking hold, even when I’m not necessarily trying. This could be a life style change after all.

Frugal Gift Wrap

Looking to save some money on gift boxes this year? You have to stop by Frugal living and see her DIY Gift boxes made from an old cereal box.

You can make them in about five minutes and the only supplies you need include a knife and some tape.

They look great, I'm hoping to whip some up this weekend and post the results as part of my cheap gift wrap tutorial.

Friday Find - Crafty Nest

I love this bookcase made from salvaged drawers. I will have to keep my eye out for something like this in the future, we have the perfect spot for some in our office. It's amazing the things people make stuff from.

Make sure to check out the Salvaged bookcase at Crafty Nest.

A Green Christmas

Are you planning a holiday gathering this year? If so don't finalize the details until you have read the Plan a Green Holiday Party article by Plenty Magazine. I've been receiving their magazine on a free subscription and love it. It might be the only publication I actually read cover to cover.

Eco tips in this article run the gambit from a plantable invitation, local food including drinks, party supplies and decorations.

Best of all the author gives you permission to purchase a keg for this years celebration, for those of you just looking for a reason to haul one in the basement. They are considerably more eco friendly as they don't produce waste like cans or bottles. Just make sure your guest are drinking from reusable cups.

This year I'm trying to wrap all of our gifts in some form of "better" wrapping paper. But reading this article has made me think of other places we can make a few changes. One small but needed change we'll be making this year will be serving everyone on real plates, not paper anymore. Why create all that extra waste just so you don't have to do dishes? And if your worried about little Benny dropping the good china pick up a few reusable plastic plates and use them again next year. They sell them very cheap at Wal-Mart with cute holiday designs.

Are you changing anything about your holiday celebrations this year, whether it be to save money or be more green?

A rather boring update

I have no craft this week. Although I did get out to the thrift stores yesterday and found some great items. As soon as I find my silver spray paint we'll be on a roll again. I also purchased 36 forks at Sam's club for an upcoming project. Who knew that Sam's sold bulk silverware? Odd, in my opinion.

I'm also working on a glossary of commonly used terms here at OOW since it has been requested and still working on the header.

With all of this I'm also working a ton of hours and trying to get some Christmas shopping done. I've been so busy I haven't even had time to make a list, and trust me, me without a list is not a good thing. I might whip up a few while at work tonight.

I also won a $50 Wal-mart gift card from The "cent"sible Sawyer. I'm so excited this will make my Christmas shopping a little easier this year. I also need to make a Christmas list (see I'm really behind in my listing).


Now I am off to make my 30 photo Christmas cards for 48 cents. Check out Money Savings methods to find out how you can pick up some cheap cards as well.

Sweeps for the Week 12/1

Here are some of the sweeps for the week. Most of them can be entered daily so make sure to keep checking back for the chance to win more great prices.

Instant Wins
~ Oreo Double Stuff until 12/1
~ Madagascar Movie Sweeps Once per day until 12/11
~ Win a Wii a day Once per day until 12/14
~ Soft Scrub Instant Win
Play until 12/15 (use SOFTSCRUB as free code)and receive a $.50 off coupon
~ Fancast Instant Win Once per day until 12/19
~ Chiquita Instant Win Play until 12/26 (Free code: 4322-2342-1342-4323)
~ Chrysler Drive to go Green
Play once a day until 12/31. You do not need a code
~ Tinker Bell Sweepstakes once per day until 1/31
~ Blue Man Group Instant Win Once per day until 1/31

Just Plain Sweeps
~ Circuit City - Ongoing
~ Woman’s Day Magazine. - Many Ongoing
~ Home Magazine - Many Ongoing
~Enter the Redbook get everything you want Until 1/15. More here

Semi impulse shopping

Normally the impulse buy is my downfall when it comes to shopping, but lately I've been pretty good about waiting on purchases and thinking our buying decision through.

But as many do at some point, I slipped. Yesterday we purchased a new dinning room table. I say it was a semi impulse buy because technically I've been looking for a table for over a year now, but could never find anything I liked in our price range.

That all changed when I saw this




We bought it about five minutes after seeing it. I love the table and the price tag. A cherry pub table and four stools for less than $150. I imagine one day we'll have to buy different chairs, but for now it's perfect. I've seen the same table set at Wal-Mart for over $200 so I think we got a great deal. I'm so excited because now that our debt is paid off the house is finally starting to come together (almost four years after moving in).