Tag Archives: Simple Christmas

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, camping, cash envelopes, simplicity, travel by

Overall, a frugal week. No extra shopping for anything so a low spend week with just groceries I got at Trader Joe’s. I need to go down to the market on Sunday morning to get the veggies for the fondue but that’s all.

I plan on continuing no spend/low spend into January. I do need a few extra things like hand soap but that can wait. Also, I’m trying hard not to buy too much from Amazon. I certainly like the convenience but it adds up pretty quickly.

I have my budget set for January and plan on increasing some cash envelopes for a couple of savings challenges. The big one would be to replace my Louis Vuitton that got stolen. I’ve hemmed and hawed at buying one but decided after 2 years(almost, February), I still want one. So that will be the savings challenge.

Christmas is all sorted so that’s done till next year. I plan on taking down most of the tree ornaments right after Christmas. I think I have the tree ornaments pretty well dialed in as to what I want on the tree. Most of the Hallmark ones we collected for years stayed in the bin( Star Wars, Superheroes, etc), and only a few of those made it to the tree. Most were the special ones like birds and some handmade ones too. So I have one bin in the barn that is all the Hallmark ones and that’s it. What I used I have in 3 Ikea boxes that I keep in the closet on the top shelf. I like Christmas to be as simple as possible and I think I’ve done that now. 

We still have a few more camping trips to book but I have to check dates on those. We don’t go to Tahoe in July or August because it’s crowded but June is great and we have 2 times already booked. The next would be our September trip. I’d like to book some place in March but that can be iffy with the weather, especially on the coast.

Frugal Friday

Posted in books, budgeting, budgets, cooking, home stuff, Uncategorized by

It was a frugal week overall. The grocery shop at Trader Joe’s will go on November’s grocery bill. So far October has been around $800 all inclusive. That’s food, non food and alcohol. So actually I’m ok with that total. For 4 people eating 3 meals a day, I’d say it’s quite good.

Gas has been quite reduced since we don’t really drive anywhere. I fill my VW up about every 6 weeks and that runs around $30. The Santa Fe fills up about once a month at $50. So really that is a big savings.

All our annual bills are done for the year so that’s also a savings as we wont have property tax or Allstate till next spring. I paid the property tax way early( for once) and that’s kinda nice. Usually I’d wait till the first week of December to do it.

We don’t have family to buy gifts for so that reduces Christmas spending. I usually get my brother a GC to either Tractor Supply or Starbucks. Then I send my sister a consumable gift usually wine or something a little fancy.

For us, I keep it simple. For each of us, one book(almost always an Easton Press), one piece of clothing, something fun, and something they need. My son will get a GC to Home Depot since he’s working on the barn and rebuilding/strengthening part of it. I still end up spending more than I’d like but it’s not bad. I try and buy all year long when I see something then I don’t have to think about it. Pre pandemic, I would often find things at the thrift store all year to put away for Christmas but not this year. I’ve gone into Goodwill 2x since the pandemic started and it wasn’t all that interesting.

Tonight is pizza night and I think we’re going to order something. I need to check but I think we’ve done 2 takeouts this month. Well, I know one was the free pizza from the store and my daughter bought Tacos one day so I’m not sure what else we did this month. Anyway, I don’t have the pizza dough made so that kinda settles it anyway.

I finished the Return of the King yesterday. The trilogy takes me about a month to get thru and is thoroughly enjoyable everytime I read it. This is my 3rd or 4th time. Next up I’m going to re read, To Kill a Mockingbird as part of that takes place at halloween( BOO Radley!!). Anyway, I was going to start Dracula which I also read once a year but maybe later.