Ten Tips for Celebrating Christmas on a Budget

There are all sorts of articles on the web about saving money on Christmas presents, which you can view by doing a quick Google search.  However, seeing as this is our first Christmas as a married couple (i.e. the first Christmas we actually bought decorations, are starting traditions, etc.), we had to figure out ways to do all sorts of Christmas celebrating on a tight budget.  If you are looking for some cheap ways to decorate, start traditions, and get into the Christmas spirit, look no further!

Here are my top ten tips for celebrating Christmas on a budget:

Tip #1: Start planning early.

I started planning our Christmas traditions, decorations, activities, etc. in September.  If this isn’t your first Christmas, you may not need to start that early, but by starting so early I was able to get some great prices on Christmas items before the season had started and was able to make some awesome decisions I would not have made if I were to plan during crunch time.  Now, I get to focus on the holiday, its meaning, and the happiness it brings me instead of getting all the details in order at the last minute.

Tip #2: Make your own decorations.

Although this is not always possible, I try my best to make any decoration I can if it will save us money.  Making things does not always save money, especially if you can buy them inexpensively at dollar stores or secondhand (which is the next tip), but making some bigger high-cost items can really save you some dough.  For example, to spruce up our tree, we made some incredibly inexpensive ornaments (which I will share with you next week) and a tree skirt.  Specialty ornaments can cost a fortune, and don’t even get me started on how expensive tree skirts have become.  Think outside the box when it comes to mantel and table décor, and see what you can come up with when it comes to making your holiday decorations.  They’ll be much more meaningful if you make them yourself!

Tip #3: Buy decorations secondhand.

By starting early and knowing what we could make ourselves and what we had to by, we knew what things to turn to thrift stores and Craigslist to buy.  A couple months before the holiday season, we spotted a nice Christmas tree on Craigslist for $15.  The lady was desparate to get rid of a ton of holiday décor and threw in a box of 50 ornaments, some snowflake photo holders, and tree lights for an extra $10.  Major money saved!  Buying secondhand sometimes affords you the luxuries of items you would never have been able to even come close to affording at retail prices.  Give it a try!

Tip #4: Use items you have on hand to spruce up your home for the holidays.

This takes some effort and creativity, but I’m sure somewhere in your home you have items just waiting to be repurposed for Christmas time.  We used pinecones to decorate in our hurricane vases for the fall, but they easily transition into holiday decorating as well.  We have Christmas books we could display as decorations.  Even things like Christmas cookie cutters, plaid scarves, wool blankets, and anything Christmas-colored can serve as a decoration if used in the right way.  I challenge you to look around for the random items you own just waiting to be turned into holiday decorations.

Tip #5: Shop around until you can’t shop around anymore to find the best price if you must buy new.

Over the years, I have saved big bucks by using this tip with everything, but it especially rings true during the holidays.  Every store I can think of has holiday items for sale, and they come at a premium.  Just because this time only happens once a year doesn’t mean you should have to shell out top dollar to get your home looking festive.  It will happen again next year and year after, too, so it’s not the last chance to stock up on any item.  This year, we shopped around like crazy online to find inexpensive holiday photo cards.  I could have made them and had them printed, but we ended up finding some on Walmart’s website that charged only $22 for 50 and that included the envelopes!  Most places sell them for over a dollar a piece, so we got a great deal.

Tip #6: Collect Christmas items throughout the year when they are discounted.

I keep my eyes peeled all year for Christmas items.  I’ve scoured some great deals on Christmas books and random decorations.  I used to sigh as I passed the Christmas books at the bookstore during this time of year because they are never on sale and I cannot afford to stock up on $20+ books when I want to save for presents.  By buying them throughout the year, we have started our own little library for little money out of pocket.  Just make sure you are looking at what’s around you!

Tip #7: Find inexpensive activities to do in your area.

Christmas time can be full of incredibly expensive or hilariously inexpensive activities for you to do depending on where you are looking.  Taking a trip to drive around and look at the lights will cost you just gas money.  In Minneapolis, we sometimes go to the local weekly Hollidazzle parade to get into the holiday mood.  Just going to the grocery store and hearing the bells ring is something fun we love to do at this time of year.  Sure, going to a Christmas play or concert, taking a snowy carriage ride through the city, or taking a winter vacation can be fun, but they all come at a hefty price.  We stick to small things that don’t cost us a lot and save the big things for really special occasions.

Tip #8: Celebrate your own way.

Stores, commercials, friends, and family members may persuade you to celebrate Christmas a certain way, however there are no rules for celebrating the right way.  I find this time of year is a great time to get creative and do things my way.  We don’t do traditional colors or decorations if they don’t fit with what we like, which many times they don’t.  We also don’t have stockings yet (no mantel and no small presents for each other to put in them anyway) and we don’t bake a lot of cookies because we don’t need the extra calories.  We don’t let anyone tell us what we have to do or can’t do to celebrate the right way.

Tip #9: Do your normal, everyday activities with the spirit of Christmas.

Sometimes the everyday, normal activities lose out on the spotlight during this time of year.  To keep every day feeling festive, why not do your normal activities in the spirit of Christmas.  For example, your weekly spaghetti can be Christmas spaghetti – maybe with a little more fresh green spice on top or plated in the shape of a Christmas tree.  Replace your daily reading with Christmas books or Bible reading to get in the spirit.  This time of year goes by fast – look for all the moments you can to focus on the reason for the season!

Tip #10: Find happiness in the littlest details.

I find that when I have less, I appreciate more.  If you can’t afford all the decorations you want or don’t have time to make all the food and baked goods that you dream of making, try to focus on the little bits you can do.  Take time to look at your tree, or any decorations you have big or small, and think of how lucky you are to have them.  Find happiness in what you do have – family, friends, your health, etc. – and forget about what you don’t have because chances are, you have a lot more than you need.

What are your tips for celebrating Christmas on a budget?

Photo Sources: 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Linking up to:

A Free Blue Christmas Tablescape

My love of all things blue, especially around Christmas time continues with a blue Christmas tablescape.  What’s even better than the blues that I love is that everything included in this tablescape was free, meaning I shopped around our home for anything I could find that would make a simple yet beautiful holiday tablescape.  When I did buy these items, I believe only two item were bought at full price – keep reading to find out what they are and where I got everything else.

Here is what I came up with:





Items used:

• White tablecloth (Target – full price)
• Ruffled Pier 1 placemats (garage sale)
• Black napkins (wedding gift)
• Frosted silverware (wedding gift)
• Dinner plates (hand-me-downs from my parents)
• White bread plates (wedding gift)
• Blue glitter snowflake photo holders (Craigslist)
• Silver tray (estate sale)
• Blue pedestal bowl (garage sale – my most beloved and versatile item)
• Blue mason jar (estate sale)
• Candle (Target – full price)
• Scottie salt and pepper shakers (funky décor store – on clearance)
• Dried yellow billy balls flowers (leftover from our wedding)
• Scarf (had for years – probably a gift)
• Silver ornaments (Craigslist)

I love shopping our own home for items to repurpose!  We don’t have a lot of stuff, especially for decorating tables, but I think I did a good job coming up with a simple, vibrant, happy Christmas tablescape.  Let’s look at more photos!



I corralled some of my favorite things on the little silver tray to add some glitz and glam and to reflect that beautiful blue I adore.  Seriously, I love my blue pedestal bowl more and more each time I see it, which is every single day.  I would buy ten of them if I could and use them everywhere!  I love how it looks piled high with shiny silver ornaments.





I designed the whole tablescape around these blue snowflake card holders.  I thought they would make the cutest little name card holders for a Christmas table.  I think I was right!  I love that they bring in a different shade of blue.  In case you are wondering, San is my hubby’s name, AKA Mr. Converse Sneakers because that’s just much more fun to write in every post!



I have been in love with Scotties ever since my parents welcomed one into their home when I was in high school, about 7 years ago.  His name is Stewart Wallace and he is the cutest dog I’ve ever seen.  I could not pass up these Scottie salt and paper shakers (yes, Scotties can be white as well – Westies are groomed differently) when I saw them a few years ago in a funky décor shop on clearance.  I joke with Mr. Converse Sneakers (see way more fun than saying “my husband”) that Westies steal the spotlight in commercials and other media outlets most of the year, but Scotties make their comeback every Christmas.  I see them everywhere this time of year, on pajamas, art, commercials, logos, ornaments, stockings, tree skirts, movies, and so much more, so I had to include them in my funky little tablescape.



We don’t have a full table set of nice dishes, so I mixed and matched using our everyday ceramic tan dinner plates and our Corelle bread plates that have a little blue and green heart/flower design around the edge.  I thought white on white looked a little boring anyway, so the tan plate was perfect!



It’s hard to see in the photos, but I draped a semi-transparent beige sparkly scarf down the middle of the table as a runner to add to the layers of brown and tan found in the dinner plates and ruffled placemats.  I went with black napkins since the only other color we have is orange, and I thought it could tie in with the black Scottie pepper shaker.

When I visited my parents over Thanksgiving, my mom gave me the dried billy balls flowers left over from our wedding.  I was heartbroken when we threw the rest of the flowers away, so I am beyond ecstatic to have these little remnants to keep forever.  I couldn’t help but include them in this tablescape because I can never get enough of little yellow bursts of happiness, even for Christmas!  I kept them in a blue mason jar to keep with the blue theme.

So, would you let me treat you to a Christmas feast at our cozy little Christmas table?  I’d probably serve some homemade mac and cheese to bring more yellow into the tablescape – oh wait, it’s kind of weird to match dinner to your table isn’t it?  Well I’d whip you up something cozy, hearty, and wonderful and then we could play some games!  Whaddya say?

Are you decorating your table for Christmas?  What does it look like?

Linking up to: No Minimalist Here, Michaela Noelle Designs

Buying Christmas Photo Cards on the Cheap

I absolutely love receiving Christmas cards in the mail!  I’m not sure everyone loves reading about what others have been up to, but I sure do!  I especially love the photo cards that come in all sorts of shapes, designs, colors, and styles.  I have never sent one myself, so I was probably a little too excited to send one with my new hubby this year.  We knew we wanted a colorful photo card that held many photos (since we have a hard time choosing just one or two from our wedding and engagement photos), and we wanted it to feel a little retro since we are both drawn to all things retro.

I tell ya, there are tons of amazing design and print shops out there that sell high-end, creatively-designed photo cards for not too much money.  Here are some of our favorites on the good ole world wide web:

Shutterfly

Tiny Prints

Pear Tree Greetings

SnapFish

The Stationery Studio

Minted

However, we are extremely frugal people.  At $1-$2 per card, we would have ended up spending $50-$100 just on 50 photo cards – that sometimes doesn’t include envelopes and never includes stamps.  That price was just way too high for our budget.  I mean, I am a girl who buys a huge amount of high-end clothes from Goodwill for $50; I’m not about to fork out a ton of dough on a yearly card.  I’m not bashing any of the prices any company sells their cards at – they are usually worth it.  However, we are all about getting the best deal we can.  I’m sure one year we will want to splurge on the cards, but this is not our year for crazy Christmas spending.

So, we started looking elsewhere.  Vistaprint is a great place for finding amazing prices on printable items.  However, we are usually a little disappointed with their selection.  Perhaps we just have a different style than most of the styles they carry.  We also looked at discount retail stores like Target and Walmart.  That’s where we hit the jackpot!  Although we weren’t crazy-in-love with most of the designs at either store, we did find one that was extremely appealing to us on the Walmart site.  Check out this beauty (no that’s not us – that’s the generic photo from the website):



We loved the red and blue (it is red and blue in person not an orange as the photo above suggests) and the ability to mix and match a bunch of photos.  It even has a little rectangle in the bottom right corner for a personalized message.  The best part?  The price – they are only 40 cents a piece, meaning for 50, they only cost $20!  Score!  Also, since we live near a few Walmarts we could have them shipped to the store for free.  I was a little impatient, so I paid a couple more bucks to have them printed in the one hour photo, but they do ship to the store for free if you are willing to wait a couple days.

Here it is in all of its glory:



Ah!  So beautiful!  We would’ve loved to have used photos from one whole yearly photo shoot, but since we’ve had so many photos taken in the past year and a half (wedding and engagement), we chose to stick with those photos for our card this year and spice it up with our first yearly photo session next year.  Most of our wedding guests haven’t seen our wedding photos either, so this will be a nice little treat if they were interested in seeing them.  Mr. Converse Sneakers thinks we are vain for plastering our photos all over the card (he says the same thing about our gallery wall), but I think it’s sweet!  I love receiving them from other people and looking at their photos.  I hope other people feel the same way so I’m not left looking incredibly vain!  I’m so vain…I probly thing this card is about me…


Just for fun, here’s another angle:



I think I will keep one of each every year to look back on.  I love looking back on our save-the-dates, programs, and wedding invitations, so I’m sure I’ll love looking back on Christmas cards every year.  I can’t wait to show them to our future kiddos as well.  Maybe I’ll think of something fun to do with them as they pile up over the years.

As for sending a letter with the cards, we don’t really know what we would say.  I like reading Christmas letters, but they usually come from people with children.  I think ours would say something like, “Hey!  We got married this year!  It was really fun!  Merry Christmas!” which is a little boring and probably a little too perky, but perky should be my middle name.  So, you can see why we aren’t sending a letter.  We’re hoping the colorful, great bang for not a lot of buck cards will be enough to send to our loved ones.

Do you send cards out during this time of year?  Do you accompany a card with a letter?  Do you write something sweet to each family individually?  I’m highly interested in what you all do when it comes to Christmas cards!  Keep me posted in the comments.

Note: I am not affiliated in any way with any of the companies mentioned in this post.  I simply like to spread good cheer about companies who have products I like and ones that help me score a great deal!  Enjoy!


Linking up to: 36th Avenue

Banking Moolah: Envelope System Update

It’s been almost three weeks since we decided to switch to an all-cash envelope system for budgeting our moolah.  Surprisingly, it’s going amazing!  We haven’t stuck to it 100 percent, but I can say that we have a few extra hundred dollar bills left over after only doing this system for two weeks.  Considering I’m only working part time and the business has slowed at Mr. Converse Sneakers’ job, meaning less money for us this month, this is AH-mazing!  Honestly, I don’t know what we were doing with our money before, which is horrible, but we have it all under control now!

I thought it might be fun interesting for you to see how we do our cash budget and envelope system, since honestly this is not a one-size-fits-all sort of thing.  Everyone has different salaries/wages/incomes as well as varying pay days, expenses, and so on.

Here is how we budget:

Mr. CS gets paid every Thursday and is able to see what his next paycheck will be the Thursday before.  He works different hours every week, so his paychecks are never exactly the same, making monthly budgeting impossible for us.  I get paid every other Friday and my checks are usually the same since I have consistent hours.  At the beginning of each month (which has only been once so far), we make a list of any major things we want to use our extra money on.  This month it was our new storage unit for the laundry room:

and Christmas decorations which we bought last week.  We plot out which weeks we have fewer bills and schedule those bigger purchases for those weeks.  We try to over-budget for many things so that we don’t have to worry about not having enough.  For example, we budgeted $100 for the storage unit, knowing that we could get it pretty cheap, but keeping in mind that we might run into extra unforseen expenses.  Luckily, we didn’t, but that means we were left with extra cash!

After we have an outlook on the entire month, we get down and dirty with our budget weekly, usually in the beginning of each week, since we know we will have at least one paycheck coming on Thursday and won’t do any shopping until after that.  Our recurring expenses are:

• $50 for groceries every week (we eat for free at our jobs a lot)
• $80-$100 for gas (we rarely use this much unless we are traveling somewhere)
• Bills, which we use online bill pay for.  These vary from week to week, but are preplanned each month and we have never had trouble making our payments

We also have other expenses we know we have to buy every month, but they vary from week to week and month to month:

• Toiletries
• Cleaning supplies
• Household supplies
• Clothing
• Makeup (which thankfully I don’t buy often since I don’t wear a lot)
• Other random things like oil changes, office supplies, etc.

Every week, we think of these extra expenses and see if we will have any extra money to put towards these.  For example, this past week, we were running low on shampoo, conditioner, face wash, and body wash, so we put aside $20 for all of that as well as $60 for oil changes since both of our cars are due for those.  I also wanted to replace my windshield wipers now that we have snow everywhere and I haven’t bought new ones since I got my car a year and a half ago, so we budgeted $45 for three total.  So far, we haven’t had a problem with these extra expenses that are hard to budget for (since they are needed at random times), and we always are left with a great amount of extra money at the end of each week that we could use for any unforeseen expenses.

The hardest part of switching to this budget has been going to the bank and withdrawing cash each week, which is not hard at all since we live about 2 minutes from our bank.  Saying no to many items has been pretty easy, and we haven’t had to say no to very much since we just plan for the purchases in advance.  We do slip up here and there and stop by Subway for dinner and use our debit cards or buy a magazine or something small that wasn’t budgeted, but that is all part of learning.

The best part of switching has been all of this extra money that we have left in our accounts.  We will see how much we have left over at the end of the month and will probably use them for Christmas presents, but if we keep this up, we will be able to start paying off our debt faster, meaning we can buy a house sooner, reach financial peace sooner, and keep strengthening our marriage, since financial issues tend to be what break up many couples.

Overall, we couldn’t be happier!  We thought this transition would be painful and we would give up right away, but we love it.  We don’t feel guilty any longer when we spend our money and we feel like our money is serving us and not the other way around.  I will keep you posted on how this switch affects us over time and will definitely let you know if anything changes or becomes more difficult.

What $50 Will Buy You at Goodwill

I realized something last week: I only have about two and half months before I am teaching full time!  This fall is my final semester of classes.  Final semester, people!  I think I forget that sometimes, and when I remember it I am extremely ecstatic (NO MORE HOMEWORK!!!) but also really nervous (REAL WORLD IS SCARY!!!). In addition to the nerves of jumping into a full semester of student teaching is the sad sight of my closet.  If all goes well, I will be student teaching at the same Catholic private school I have been spending four hours a week at this semester.  It’s an amazing school, but definitely not one I can wear jeans and a t-shirt to every day.  Although I’m not a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl, I am a jeans, floral or ruffled tank, and cardigan kind of girl.  A lot of what I have can be made business casual, but I want to start with a more well-stocked closet so that I have a variety depending on what I’m doing, the weather, how comfortable I want to be, etc.

If you’ve read anything on my blog, you know that Mr. Converse Sneakers and I are young and don’t have a lot of money.  Things will definitely be changing around here when I am teaching full time for pay, but next semester I will be teaching full time for zero dollars, so we actually have more income now while I am working part time than we will then.  I think now is the perfect opportunity to build up a wardrobe on a tight budget.

I made a two hour trip on Sunday to our local Goodwill, which happens to be in a pretty nice area, so most of the clothes are fairly high-quality, well-known brands and most of the rest of the clothes are brand new pieces from Target at Goodwill prices (score!).

I bought twelve items for just about $50.  I wore the same black cami and gray pants in all the photos to keep things consistent, and I listed the price and brand of the Goodwill item below each photo.

Here they are (sidenote: we wanted to take the photos outside since our apartment has horrible lighting, but with dropping temperatures, we made do with our open front door.  Sorry they aren’t as clear as I would have liked them to be):

Green Ann Taylor Loft cardigan: 1/2 off of $2.99 = $1.50

Abstract Express blouse: 1/2 off of $5.99 = $3.00

Red floral Lord and Taylor skirt: 1/2 off of $2.99 = $1.50 (needs to be altered because it’s a tad too big)

Coral ruffle Final Touch shirt : $4.99

Black brand new Merona cardigan from Target: $5.99

Striped Gap shirt dress: $6.99

Floral H&M cardigan: $4.99

Striped Ann Taylor Loft ruffled button-down shirt: 1/2 off of $5.99 = $3.00

Striped Merona button-down shirt from Target: 1/2 off of $4.99 = $2.50

Yellow floral unknown brand tank: 1/2 off $4.99 = $2.50

Pink and orange patterned brand new Merona cardigan from Target: $5.99

**My favorite score of the day – love the bold pattern and colors.**

Black patterned brand new Merona cardigan from Target: $5.99

The only downside to my recent splurge is that we already had no more closet space and I keep on adding clothes!   If we have some extra cash after Christmas, I’m going to go back and add some more items to my closet (this time probably more pants).  I’m confident I will look professional, be comfortable, feel confident, and look good all on an incredibly tight budget.

Do you have a local thrift store with amazing finds?

Talking the Talk but not Saving the Money

Sometimes I get up on my high horse, my podium, my kitchen step stool and preach about things like saving money, living frugally, loving God and so on.  However, many times I am saying all the right things, things I want to live by, but secretly am not very good at myself.

Secret’s out now, but this time I am going to be honest and instead of preaching I’m going to tell you about how I, well we (Mr. Converse Sneakers included), have struggled with money and spending it (and saving it) wisely.



I already wrote about how we don’t have a lot right now with me in grad school and how we need to cut back, which we have done in many ways.  However, we are not spending our money the way we should.  We are not sticking to a budget and we are not keeping track of where our money goes.  Dave Ramsey would not be proud, and nobody wants to see Dave’s imagined frown looking down on them.  Nobody!

See, we decided that it is too hard to budget when we never know exactly how much money we will have coming in each week, since we both are paid by the hour and that fluctuates mostly for Mr. CS.  Looking back (to even just last week when I still thought this way), I think I was crazy!  If anything, because we don’t know how much money we will have each month, we should budget even more!

Instead, we were swiping our debit cards like crazy on the weekends and would say things to each other like, “We have enough for this right?” and, “I think we should have enough to buy groceries still . . .” all while swiping that little plastic card.  Well, sometimes we wouldn’t have enough for the things we actually need.  We would have a lot of money one week and the next we would be thinking about how we were going to pay for those bills that fall at the end of the month.  This is the trap that causes debt to accumulate.  Luckily, we always had enough, but this is no way to live.  This is the whole reason why we started the journey for financial peace, because living this way is the opposite of peaceful.

So, what are we going to do about it?

We have the best of intentions, we really do, but our methods just don’t work.  Budgeting only monthly doesn’t work for us because each week is a different paycheck.  However, we have monthly bills and know about how much we spend on many things throughout one month’s period, so we decided to budget both monthly and weekly, revising our monthly budget as each week goes by since we may fall short in one area and need to tweak another.  We will be having weekly financial meetings to keep each other motivated and to set aside any extra money for our savings or to pay off more debt.

This was a simple change.  We can live with that easily.  However, our other decision was much more drastic, and honestly I’m scared because it will force us to really think about our buying habits.  Yet, this new way of spending will save us a lot of money (ironically) and will help us track spending much more easily.

We have decided to switch to an all cash budget.


No more swipety swipe of that debit card. Sigh.

We had not even considered such a thing, or really even heard about it, until my fellow Minnesotan blogger/wedding photographer Leah posted about her switch to a cash budget here and following up here.  I remember reading about how she struggled with this and had to say no to little things we take for granted like makeup products or nights out with friends because the money was delegated elsewhere.  I thought to myself, “There is no way I could ever do that – how debilitating!”  And now six months later we are doing the same thing.

Here is our reasoning for switching, in list form:

• Once the money’s gone, it’s gone.  This is what scares me but also make me the most excited about this method.  We will be forced to spend our money only on what we budgeted for.
• Extra cash goes to savings or debt payoff.  We didn’t track our money before, so we never really had “extra.”  It would just flow from one thing to the next with no purpose.  Now that we are tracking it, any extra cash left over at the end of each month gets added to our savings or paid straight to student loans or credit card debt.  Wahoo!
• We don’t trust ourselves.  We could not trust ourselves to keep track of money when it was sitting in one big (or little) lump in our checking account.
• We want to live frugally.  I’m sick of talking about my dream of living frugally, making the most of money, and truly appreciating what we buy but then spending money on things we don’t really need, don’t appreciate, or can’t find a use for.  This will help curb those buys and focus our attention on loving each other, not things.

I would be lying if I said we aren’t scared or don’t have major doubts about this even working.  I figure by putting this all out there for my two readers (Mom and Dad) and anyone else who reads this (if there is anyone else), we are at least accountable in some way.  We want this to work so badly!  However, here are our fears that I will keep you posted on as we travel down this financial peace road:

• What if we start taking money from one place and putting it toward another? I am one to cheat my own systems, and at the beginning of this journey, I’m not convinced I won’t say, “Well we spent less on groceries this week, so I’m going to buy a pretty this-that-or-the-other-thing.”  To help with this, we will be leaving the money in a safe place at home (since carrying it all around is a bad idea, anyway), and taking only the money we set aside for whatever trip we are making (gas, groceries, eating out, etc.).  That way, I can’t impulse buy as easily because I would have to go home first to get the money.
• What if we budgeted wrong?  People make it seem so easy, but from month to month, we buy different things.  I don’t feel I have the time or patience to outline every single thing we buy so I can have it for reference later (I have tried – it failed).  So, I am left fearing we will budget wrong and either end up reverting to fear number one (above) or giving up on this whole process.
• What if a disaster strikes? Obviously, we are doing this so that we can save up money for a disaster that will happen, it always does, but if it were to happen now, we might abandon the whole cash budget because we will be very overwhelmed.
• What if I end up being miserable because I can’t buy anything? We set personal money aside for each of us because we know how we get about spending.  If we told ourselves we couldn’t spend ANY money on things for fun or little projects, we would fail.  I’m hoping the little we gave ourselves is enough.
• What if it’s too much work? Obviously it is worth the work, but I can see myself getting annoyed with going to the bank all the time, sorting the money, having the meetings, etc.  Let’s hope it becomes a happy routine!

I think that’s all the fears we have.  It may not seem scary, especially to those who already do this, but for us, it is a foreign concept, but one that we really want to master.  I’m glad I’m not doing this on my own!

I would love if you could share your own budgeting techniques/experiences in the comments section.  Do you budget with straight cash?  How do you set aside money for savings/getting out of debt?

Banking Moolah: Putting Our Elbows to Good Use

I have no idea where the term “elbow grease” came from, and now that I think about it, it sounds pretty gross (I suppose not as gross as ear grease or armpit grease would sound, but still gross nonetheless), but this weekend I definitely used a lot of it!

You see, we are trying to cut costs wherever we can, but we hate sacrificing quality in the process.  For most of my life, I have used cheap, generic brands of laundry detergent to wash my clothes and honestly, I never thought twice about it most of the time.  However, during college, I would find that food spills on my clothes were not coming our or my purple shirts (my college has purple as one of its colors) would mysteriously come out with pink splotches.  I thought the culprit was the college washing machines, but after trying the same soap in other high-efficiency, quality washers and dryers, I realized it was the soap.  I switched to Tide, which is definitely more expensive, but is also worth the money compared to the generic brands I was using.  Normally, generic brands are my best friends, but detergent is one area they are not.

However, as much as I liked the clean clothes I was getting, I did not like paying so much for laundry detergent, so I scoured blogs and websites for an alternative.  Apparently I am not the only one who hates paying a lot of money for detergent!

I went out an bought myself some materials to make my own powder detergent.  Note: Perhaps I am stupid, but I could not find anything but the Borax at Target which I thought was odd.  The Fels Naptha soap and washing soda were bought at the grocery store.




Three cheap ingredients.  I can’t complain!  I also wanted a reason to buy a pretty glass container for $5.



I could have used ivory soap, which I probably will switch to since I bought a huge pack of it when I couldn’t find the Fels Naptha at Target, but man is this soap pretty.  I love how vintage it looks!



This is where the elbow grease came in.  It took me over 10 minutes to grate just one third of the bar and it got everywhere!  All the tutorials I found online said making this would only take 5 minutes (and they used a whole bar of Fels Naptha)!  I work out, my arm muscles are not that weak, yet I found myself sweating as I grated it.  I can’t imagine doing a whole bar.  Maybe this is a part I will corral Mr. Converse Sneakers into doing. Heehee



Other than grating the bar of soap, I simply added half a cup of washing soda . . .



. . . and half a cup of Borax into our blender with the grated soap.



Then I went to town.  So, blending this little money-saving concoction did not work.  It all stuck to the bottom and only the middle would blend.   I used a spoon after to mix it up.  I probably lost a fifth of the mixture due to the dust that started flying out.



The awesome thing is that a tablespoon per load is all the is required.

When I do this again, since it is definitely worth the money saved, I will pour the Borax, washing soda, and grated soap into three separate containers and put 1/2 tbsp of the soap, 1/4 tbsp of the washing soda, and 1/4 tbsp of the Borax into each load.  this way I won’t need to blend anything, I will get a perfect ratio with each load, and I won’t have to store the extra boxes in our storage room which already has enough packed away.

Do you make your own laundry detergent?  Maybe you DIY some other cleaner that is normally expensive.  Please spill your secrets!