Thinking about Christmas already

You heard me right. Since the BF and I are trying to be more budget-conscious, I’m trying to think of ways that I can be a little bit more frugal this coming holiday season. One of these ways is by making home made gifts for most of the people on my list this year. I’m planning to start a spreadsheet in Google Docs (so I can work on it at home and at work and not worry about having to email myself back and forth all the time– kind of genius, I think) with all of the people I’m planning to give gifts to this year. It inevitably goes out the window most of the time, but if I start thinking about it now, I can start planning ahead and budgeting both my time and my money.

Some of the ideas I’ve come up with:

Baking cookies/other goodies for our landlady and other not-so-personal give-ees. I made gingerbread last year, and while it was fun, it’s not one of my specialties. I made apple butter last night, though, and that was deeeelish and would look cute in some mason jars.

Finally figuring out how to crochet and making scarves. The BF already asked me to make him a gray wool scarf. It’ll be a challenge, but if I can figure it out, it would be a big cost-saver. The time thing might be an issue, though, depending on how many I decide to make.

I’m not a big sewer (though I’ve wanted to learn and might pick it up in the future), but the no-sew fleece blankets have a certain appeal. They’re just two 2-yard pieces of fleece lined up and cut around the edges. You tie the strips/fringe together, and, voila! you have a fleece blanket. This might be a fun option for couple friends I have that live together… a nice little throw blanket for their living rooms. The fleece starts to get expensive quickly, though. I’ve seen fleece (because I was interested, I did a little searching on the interwebs) from $2.99 per yard up to $12+ per yard, with most falling in the $6.99/yard range. $6.99/yard x 2 yards x 2 types of fleece= $27.96 per blanket. At that rate, I’d be better off buying a gift certificate to a restaurant or saying the BF and I will take the couple in question out to dinner– we like experience-type gifts a lot. This might be a good option for my mom, dad, and broski, though. I can make them each a blanket that suits his/her personality.

At any rate, the time and thought put into hand-made gifts generally trumps a store-bought gift any day. That is, of course, unless you find yourself on the receiving end of yet another hand-knitted maroon sweater from Mrs. Weasley.

Spending freeze

I hereby impose a spending freeze on myself, effective immediately and lasting through one entire week.

Now, one week to you might not seem like a whole lot, and I’ll be honest– it really isn’t. However, I am a big fan of baby steps when it comes to making big changes, and one of the changes I want to make is to my general financial situation: pay off my debt. I have student loan debts out the wazoo, and a couple of credit cards that, while they’re not ruining my life with interest rates and whatnot, are having a somewhat negative effect on my credit score and general happiness. So I want them gone ASAP. I’ve stopped using them, which is a big step. Now I just have to pay them off entirely and I’m golden.

Anyway, while I do spend within my means and on things I both need and want, this spending freeze is just to see how I can do. I’ll still pay for the things I need, like groceries and bills, but I will not buy anything from the vending machine at work, I will not stop for a quick cup of coffee, and I won’t buy any clothes, no matter how amazingly they may be on sale.

For a week. Then we’ll see what happens.

Frugal versus cheap

I first saw this story on Boston Gal’s Open Wallet, a Boston-based personal finance blog I read pretty regularly. Intrigued, I decided to read the story (I couldn’t watch the video because I was on a conference call, so had to try to pay attention a little bit) over at ABC news.

I have this to say: there is a line between being frugal and being cheap, then another line between cheap and extreme. This man, Roy Haynes, is so far into extreme it makes me uncomfortable. He takes other people’s leftovers on the rare occasion he goes out to dinner. Taking your own leftovers is just fine by me– I would say I do it more often than not in an effort to not overeat (I tend to just keep going if I like something enough) and to have another meal made out of the current one. Other people’s leftovers, though? No way. Nuh-uh. That’s just not healthy.

And their ideas of romance make me sad. I understand that people have different ideas as to what’s romantic and special, but a $70 wedding based on dental insurance coverage with McDonald’s afterward and scooping up the rice neighbors threw (an issue in itself, but that’s for another day) and cooking it? Again, no way, nuh-uh, you get the idea. And let me tell you, I’d rather not have any roses from my boyfriend than to be given cast-off roses from a funeral parlor. To me, that’s about as sensitive as digging up the hosta on my grandmother’s grave and sticking it in a vase.

There are lines between frugal, cheap, and extreme. I consider myself frugal at times (other times, no, but I’m working on it). There is no way in my mind that I would become anywhere near as extreme as Roy Haynes. No way, nuh-uh.