Hey, Heatherhead!
Find a Conversation
Hey, Heatherhead!
| Wed, 12-21-2005 - 5:33pm |
Hi, Heather,
I just wanted to let you know how things turned out...remember you were helping me with cheap gift ideas? Well, yesterday i spent about 4 hours baking and so today i gave all five of my daughter's therapists tins (which I got for like 75 cents apiece) filled with peanut buteer kiss cookies, and chocolate tassies, and homemade fudge. I think the cost of all the ingredients was about $15, plus we have some leftover, so that was a bargain.
Tomorrow, i will send pineapple upside down cake and other baked goods, along with a small poinsettia for her teachers.
My goal is to next year make everybody centerpieces, because they are beautiful, and when you have access to trees you can trim (we will be living at my dad's then), they can be made very cheaply (I wanted to get them for my daughter's teachers, but the cheapest one I could find was like $35...and i saw some for $100!!!
I managed to keep most everybody's gifts that we sent out under $15, plus I did my shopping at kohls so i gave my husband the kohls cash to buy my Christmas present. I guess i just have to plan a little better, but my eyes have been opened and i thank you for that!
You know, I was quite disappointed that i could not find canning jars anywhere...it annoyed me because i had thought about buying them when i saw them on clearance a few months back. Anyhow, you have definitely inspired me, and i just wanted to say again how much i appreciate that. we were very close to pulling out the ccs and just saying "what ever", but a little bit more time invested saved us quite a bit.
While i can't say yet that we didn't use the ccs at all, i can defintely say we use them less every year. last year, i was excited because our sebt total did not increase during December, like it usually does..this year I can definitely say that it will go go down.
I have realized another one of my not so good habits....when i was growing up, my mom would send me into the store while she stayed in the car and would tell me to get bananas, but not if they were more than 39 cents/lb, etc. To this day< I still tend to buy more junk food than fruit/veggies, because it is "on sale" Well, yesterday, i bought oranges, apples, bananas, asparagus and a few othe things for like $9...I was thinking WOW! this is cheap. Maybe it wasn't, but then i realized that the lunch i packed for myself probably cost about $1.50, where i would generally spend twice that on lunch. Baby steps for me. Thanks for sharing so many great ideas on this board.
Heather
I just wanted to let you know how things turned out...remember you were helping me with cheap gift ideas? Well, yesterday i spent about 4 hours baking and so today i gave all five of my daughter's therapists tins (which I got for like 75 cents apiece) filled with peanut buteer kiss cookies, and chocolate tassies, and homemade fudge. I think the cost of all the ingredients was about $15, plus we have some leftover, so that was a bargain.
Tomorrow, i will send pineapple upside down cake and other baked goods, along with a small poinsettia for her teachers.
My goal is to next year make everybody centerpieces, because they are beautiful, and when you have access to trees you can trim (we will be living at my dad's then), they can be made very cheaply (I wanted to get them for my daughter's teachers, but the cheapest one I could find was like $35...and i saw some for $100!!!
I managed to keep most everybody's gifts that we sent out under $15, plus I did my shopping at kohls so i gave my husband the kohls cash to buy my Christmas present. I guess i just have to plan a little better, but my eyes have been opened and i thank you for that!
You know, I was quite disappointed that i could not find canning jars anywhere...it annoyed me because i had thought about buying them when i saw them on clearance a few months back. Anyhow, you have definitely inspired me, and i just wanted to say again how much i appreciate that. we were very close to pulling out the ccs and just saying "what ever", but a little bit more time invested saved us quite a bit.
While i can't say yet that we didn't use the ccs at all, i can defintely say we use them less every year. last year, i was excited because our sebt total did not increase during December, like it usually does..this year I can definitely say that it will go go down.
I have realized another one of my not so good habits....when i was growing up, my mom would send me into the store while she stayed in the car and would tell me to get bananas, but not if they were more than 39 cents/lb, etc. To this day< I still tend to buy more junk food than fruit/veggies, because it is "on sale" Well, yesterday, i bought oranges, apples, bananas, asparagus and a few othe things for like $9...I was thinking WOW! this is cheap. Maybe it wasn't, but then i realized that the lunch i packed for myself probably cost about $1.50, where i would generally spend twice that on lunch. Baby steps for me. Thanks for sharing so many great ideas on this board.
Heather

Hi Heather,
Thanks for posting your update! Sounds like you're doing really great--you should be SO proud of yourself. In the U.S., it's extraordinary for a family to get through December without increasing their debt total (unless they're independently wealthy, I suppose--but even then, I think most people overspend).
I think your gift ideas are terrific. I LOVE to get tins of cookies--I'm not all that great at baking, but I love home-baked cookies, so such a treat to have someone else bake them for me!
On an aside, the gentleman who fixes our air conditioner (and who got us a great deal on a really efficient new AC this summer) stopped by last night with a bottle of wine! I was so shocked--and delighted. I always prefer to do business with individuals and small businesses rather than the big companies anyway, and that is one of the reasons. So much more personal!
On the other hand, lol, the whole time we were talking with him I was looking at the crate of wine bottles (he brought in the whole crate and let us choose, because we were his first stop of the night) and thinking, "sheesh, man, you spent $200 on all that--what were you thinking??" LOLOLOL
I LOVE, by the way, your centerpiece idea. What a great gift! I love to see people using the natural resources that are readily available to them. We used pine cones out of our own backyard to make pinecone bird feeders this year. I had planned to use some pine leaves and holly twigs & berries to decorate a raffia wreath I had purchased at a yard sale (for a quarter), but I never got around to it.
Anyway, I'm so glad my post was of help to you, and it was so sweet of you to take the time to say so. I have been fairly scarce around here lately (insanely busy), but I do come and read the posts, and it was a pleasant surprise to see one addressed to me!
Anyway, it's fun to watch other people on the same journey I'm on in terms of taking responsibility for finances. Five years ago (can hardly believe it's been that long), we were buying groceries every two or three days on credit cards and throwing up our hands thinking there was nothing we could do about our miserable financial situation. Now--well, life is just so much better, but it's been a long journey, and it's definitely best taken in baby steps.
Well, the timer just went off for dinner, so I'm off to take care of that. Thanks for brightening the evening for me. :)
Blessings,
Heather
I don't mean to cut in on the thread, but I wanted to say that I was also inspired by the inexpensive gift ideas that Heather posted.
I baked and baked this weekend, and the cookies were a huge hit with all!
All my best,
Danni