I plan my summer holiday meals around the produce we get from our Community Supported Agriculture share. This weekend we'll be having a peach and blackberry crisp.
We have a fire in the firepit, and make smores. Time of year does not matter!
For birthdays, we make a treasure hunt for the gift- I leave limerick clues on tea dyed and crumpled paper that lead to the next spot to be searched for a clue, and eventually the gift is found! It can take 45 min of guessing, laughing, and running around!
The birthday person gets to pick their favorite meal we make for dinner, and I make a cake (from on-sale mix and frosting) that is special and new each time. I am an artist, so last years cake was a life sized strato-caster cake for my son, but I've made everything from Spongebob, to Mickey, to portraits, to basket weave shower cakes.
And for my teens b-day, nothing beats the reverse side of a large roll of wrapping paper as a table cloth, and dollar store crayons. The kids draw hilarious things, and my daughter won't throw hers away!
Be aware that getting in the nooks and crannies pretty much obliterates the antique value. It makes the silver look very clean, and new. It is akin to refinishing an old piece of furniture and destroying the antique value added by the wear and patina. If you like the way the design is emphasized by the aging process, then use traditional silver cream, and rub, rub, rub! It's a matter of preference.
I might use this posted method for my contemporary silver plate serving utensils, but never for great grandma's silverware. Anyway- pretty cool! I have seen this done, but never remembered how to do it. Thanks!
If you own a Miata, you HAVE to bookmark Miata.net. Serious car enthusiasts and experts have pretty much every question you might need to ask already answered on that site, and it's free! Anything from the gap for spark plugs for a 1997 (I looked it up last week) to step by step instructions for re-covering the seats (with pictures and tool lists!), it's there. With the huge resource of the Net out there, I wouldn't be surprised if there are similar sites for just about any make and model.
I like the muffin idea except for the waste of energy heating up the oven for one muffin at a time. I try to be both frugal and environmentally conscious. I don't own a toaster oven, so I'd rather make an entire batch of muffins and freeze them to defrost one at a time.
Because I'm also health-conscious, I do use a breadmaker (again, don't heat the entire oven for one loaf of bread) set on a timer to make white whole wheat bread that's molasses sweetened and has ground flaxseed for some extra nutrition. Nothing beats waking up in the morning to the smell of fresh-baked bread and freshly brewed coffee!!
We're going to celebrate by going to a comedy club that regularly gives out free tickets and gives the birthday girl/boy a free ticket as well as a $25 voucher for subscribing to their loyalty mailing list.
We also have a restaurant.com gift cards that we had bought for $3 a pop during their 70% off sale a couple of weekends ago.
That's not too shabby for a night out with friends who want to celebrate the unconventional way with free drinks or food for the night.
I find that it helps to tear the foil up in smaller pieces and swish the silver (plus tarnish, which is silver + sulfur), aluminum, and baking soda around so that all of those ions get in touch and react. (The baking soda and water connect the aluminum and silver. The aluminum grabs the sulfur in the tarnish and leaves the silver on your silver piece.) I also prefer to do this in a big pyrex bowl so that I can see what I'm doing and don't have to think about what my pan is made out of.
We do many of the things others do: potluck, dollar store, stock up in the off season, etc. The most important part of any holiday is spending time with family and friends. Pick a couple of traditions and stick with them year after year and that is what the kids will remember.
Oh, so many ways!
Potlucks, make-your-own decorations, using regular dishes rather than buying paper ones, entertainment = stereo speakers hooked up to a CD player or computer, fun games like obstacle courses or board/card games... the list goes on and on! I don't think I've spent more than $50 for a big party for years (including food!)
Cooked my birthday dinner on the barbarque of prime rib, saves money by not eating out and super family time!!!! With teens of 16 & 18, that was the best birthday gift!!!
We celebrate by going out to eat (with a coupon)! Our big celebration is when my husband comes back from deploment and we get to pay cash to bring our kids to Disney!
Whenever I feel like "treating" myself..I go out to "First Friday"...There is usually free wine and cheeze and fruit..Its free to look at the artwork..!Doesnt cost me a dime..!
Potlucks for family gatherings..for birthday gatherings, we bake the cake and make all food homemade & buy all decorations at dollar stores. All our birthday games are homemade, too.
Budgets should not be something that we only keep at home though. Budgets become extremely powerful when we have an updated copy with us at all times that we can refer to when we want to spend and update when we have bought something.
There is one step that budget articles fail to mention--the data gathering stage. In order to make a budget in the first place, you have to have data about your spending. Therefore, if you want to make a budget, but don't know quite how yet, the best thing to do is just to record all your expenses. The more data you have, the more realistic the budget will be. Also, the longer you have collected data, the better you will be able to plan for unexpected surprise expenses.
If you have kept utility bills or any other kinds of bills for a year or more, you will have an easier time collecting this data. Make a spreadsheet of that information. Find out your average costs for a month.
If you use a credit card a lot, can you easily find out how much you spent on gas or groceries? Can you use your bank statements to add up how much you spent on clothes? Can you figure out how much you spend to fix your car or finance your car?
All that information is going to come in handy in making your budget.
Another question people have when they collect that information is how much they should set their monthly budgeted amount for. For example, should they really tighten the purse strings and set the food amount at the minimum amount, or should they make it so loose that they never have to worry about how much is spent? My personal opinion is that the amount should be right at the monthly average. This makes it loose enough that it feels possible to stick with, but is tight enough that it still requires discipline to be careful. The point of the budget is to keep spending within one's means, but it has the peripheral advantages of keeping expenses at a predictable level and gives some incentive to look for cheaper alternatives.
These are great tools to use when you absolutely must win an argument. I'd also like to add a paraphrased bit from Dale Carnegie - the surefire way to win an argument is to avoid one :-)
We sign up for all the birthday clubs at our favorite restaurants and they usually send a coupon for a free entree or dessert. It makes for a fun, but frugal, birthday celebration out.
We celebrate by taking turns paying for everyone when we go out to dinner. We also gather at someone's house and bring food in occasionally. We don't get hung up on super-expensive, fancy food, decorations, etc. Most of our family and friends are very like-minded and frugal, so we don't have to worry about going overboard to impress each other.
You also live in a university town, right? In such places, cultural events are much cheaper than in the big city. I would love to live in NYC, but opera, plays, etc are very expensive.
I plan my summer holiday meals around the produce we get from our Community Supported Agriculture share. This weekend we'll be having a peach and blackberry crisp.
We have a fire in the firepit, and make smores. Time of year does not matter!
For birthdays, we make a treasure hunt for the gift- I leave limerick clues on tea dyed and crumpled paper that lead to the next spot to be searched for a clue, and eventually the gift is found! It can take 45 min of guessing, laughing, and running around!
The birthday person gets to pick their favorite meal we make for dinner, and I make a cake (from on-sale mix and frosting) that is special and new each time. I am an artist, so last years cake was a life sized strato-caster cake for my son, but I've made everything from Spongebob, to Mickey, to portraits, to basket weave shower cakes.
And for my teens b-day, nothing beats the reverse side of a large roll of wrapping paper as a table cloth, and dollar store crayons. The kids draw hilarious things, and my daughter won't throw hers away!
Be aware that getting in the nooks and crannies pretty much obliterates the antique value. It makes the silver look very clean, and new. It is akin to refinishing an old piece of furniture and destroying the antique value added by the wear and patina. If you like the way the design is emphasized by the aging process, then use traditional silver cream, and rub, rub, rub! It's a matter of preference.
I might use this posted method for my contemporary silver plate serving utensils, but never for great grandma's silverware. Anyway- pretty cool! I have seen this done, but never remembered how to do it. Thanks!
If you own a Miata, you HAVE to bookmark Miata.net. Serious car enthusiasts and experts have pretty much every question you might need to ask already answered on that site, and it's free! Anything from the gap for spark plugs for a 1997 (I looked it up last week) to step by step instructions for re-covering the seats (with pictures and tool lists!), it's there. With the huge resource of the Net out there, I wouldn't be surprised if there are similar sites for just about any make and model.
I like the muffin idea except for the waste of energy heating up the oven for one muffin at a time. I try to be both frugal and environmentally conscious. I don't own a toaster oven, so I'd rather make an entire batch of muffins and freeze them to defrost one at a time.
Because I'm also health-conscious, I do use a breadmaker (again, don't heat the entire oven for one loaf of bread) set on a timer to make white whole wheat bread that's molasses sweetened and has ground flaxseed for some extra nutrition. Nothing beats waking up in the morning to the smell of fresh-baked bread and freshly brewed coffee!!
Thanks, those are useful tips!
We're going to celebrate by going to a comedy club that regularly gives out free tickets and gives the birthday girl/boy a free ticket as well as a $25 voucher for subscribing to their loyalty mailing list.
We also have a restaurant.com gift cards that we had bought for $3 a pop during their 70% off sale a couple of weekends ago.
That's not too shabby for a night out with friends who want to celebrate the unconventional way with free drinks or food for the night.
I find that it helps to tear the foil up in smaller pieces and swish the silver (plus tarnish, which is silver + sulfur), aluminum, and baking soda around so that all of those ions get in touch and react. (The baking soda and water connect the aluminum and silver. The aluminum grabs the sulfur in the tarnish and leaves the silver on your silver piece.) I also prefer to do this in a big pyrex bowl so that I can see what I'm doing and don't have to think about what my pan is made out of.
Yes but for those who pay more than $7.00 a book in Canada it's worth it. For instance I paid almost $200.00 for my Psychology Text Book. (:
We do many of the things others do: potluck, dollar store, stock up in the off season, etc. The most important part of any holiday is spending time with family and friends. Pick a couple of traditions and stick with them year after year and that is what the kids will remember.
A great compilation as always, Ashley. I particularly enjoyed the article on crazy alternative investments. Insightful and hilarious at the same time.
;-)
Oh, so many ways!
Potlucks, make-your-own decorations, using regular dishes rather than buying paper ones, entertainment = stereo speakers hooked up to a CD player or computer, fun games like obstacle courses or board/card games... the list goes on and on! I don't think I've spent more than $50 for a big party for years (including food!)
Cooked my birthday dinner on the barbarque of prime rib, saves money by not eating out and super family time!!!! With teens of 16 & 18, that was the best birthday gift!!!
We celebrate by going out to eat (with a coupon)! Our big celebration is when my husband comes back from deploment and we get to pay cash to bring our kids to Disney!
Whenever I feel like "treating" myself..I go out to "First Friday"...There is usually free wine and cheeze and fruit..Its free to look at the artwork..!Doesnt cost me a dime..!
Potlucks for family gatherings..for birthday gatherings, we bake the cake and make all food homemade & buy all decorations at dollar stores. All our birthday games are homemade, too.
Budgets should not be something that we only keep at home though. Budgets become extremely powerful when we have an updated copy with us at all times that we can refer to when we want to spend and update when we have bought something.
There is one step that budget articles fail to mention--the data gathering stage. In order to make a budget in the first place, you have to have data about your spending. Therefore, if you want to make a budget, but don't know quite how yet, the best thing to do is just to record all your expenses. The more data you have, the more realistic the budget will be. Also, the longer you have collected data, the better you will be able to plan for unexpected surprise expenses.
If you have kept utility bills or any other kinds of bills for a year or more, you will have an easier time collecting this data. Make a spreadsheet of that information. Find out your average costs for a month.
If you use a credit card a lot, can you easily find out how much you spent on gas or groceries? Can you use your bank statements to add up how much you spent on clothes? Can you figure out how much you spend to fix your car or finance your car?
All that information is going to come in handy in making your budget.
Another question people have when they collect that information is how much they should set their monthly budgeted amount for. For example, should they really tighten the purse strings and set the food amount at the minimum amount, or should they make it so loose that they never have to worry about how much is spent? My personal opinion is that the amount should be right at the monthly average. This makes it loose enough that it feels possible to stick with, but is tight enough that it still requires discipline to be careful. The point of the budget is to keep spending within one's means, but it has the peripheral advantages of keeping expenses at a predictable level and gives some incentive to look for cheaper alternatives.
These are great tools to use when you absolutely must win an argument. I'd also like to add a paraphrased bit from Dale Carnegie - the surefire way to win an argument is to avoid one :-)
We sign up for all the birthday clubs at our favorite restaurants and they usually send a coupon for a free entree or dessert. It makes for a fun, but frugal, birthday celebration out.
My problem is, I am a very disorganized person and I always, without fail, lose that cloth. But they do work well.
We celebrate by taking turns paying for everyone when we go out to dinner. We also gather at someone's house and bring food in occasionally. We don't get hung up on super-expensive, fancy food, decorations, etc. Most of our family and friends are very like-minded and frugal, so we don't have to worry about going overboard to impress each other.
Tweeted: https://twitter.com/#!/janettwokay/status/86168875653271553
I'm a fan of yours on Facebook (janet janet)
I celebrate frugally by buying items in bulk.
You also live in a university town, right? In such places, cultural events are much cheaper than in the big city. I would love to live in NYC, but opera, plays, etc are very expensive.