Shared Experiences -- My Favorite Kind of Gift

When my daughters ask me what I'd like for a birthday or Christmas present, I almost always say that I just want to spend time with them. So, for the past couple of years, they've each given me just what I've wanted, a girlfriend date. This year, as I mentioned yesterday, one daughter arranged for tickets to a special exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum in the downtown area, along with lunch out. If you live in a major metropolitan area you know how expensive it can be to visit the downtown  of the city. Seattle is no exception. 

My daughter is somewhat frugal by necessity, which means finding a way to do this sort of outing inexpensively was a must. This is how we achieved that goal.

• We took the bus into the city instead of driving and finding parking. The other daughter gave us a ride to a nearby park and ride so we didn't have to take multiple buses. Parking in the city for for 4 hours would have cost about $20. Gas to drive to the city and back would run about $5, for a total of $25. Our bus fare for both of us came to $16, not super-duper cheap, but a savings of $9. The bonus is we didn't have to do the driving, but instead rode in a nice double-decker bus on the top level with great views. The museum was a 5-7 minute walk from the bus stop downtown.
• We brought some trail mix to snack on during the bus ride, so we weren't ravenous once we got downtown or while at the museum. No cost and likely saved us about $5 over buying some sort of pastry or treat before even seeing the exhibit.
• My daughter bought tickets for a "first Thursday," meaning the cost of the ticket was reduced by $20 each. Viewing this exhibit on any other day of the month (besides the first Thursday) would have cost $29.99 each. Instead, my daughter paid $9.99 each. This is really the smart way to go. We went during a week when there were a lot of holiday crowds in the city and yet I never felt overly crowded in the museum, despite the cost savings for all of us attending this exhibit. If you've been in any art museums in major European cities, any day of the month is super crowded. With that in mind, the SAM on a first Thursday actually seemed pleasantly crowded. So, on the tickets, my daughter saved $40. And, we stayed for our full allotment of time of 2 hours, so I feel we got our money's worth and don't need to come back another day to finish the exhibit.
• I wanted some sort of souvenir from this visit. The brochure actually makes a lovely souvenir and didn't cost a penny. In addition, I brought a camera and took several nice photos of works that I particularly enjoyed. For 39 cents, I can take my USB stick to FedEx and print out a 4 X 6 of my favorite photo from the exhibit, if I am so inclined, for an additional souvenir. The gift shop on the premises offers lots of wonderful books, which of course, as an art history buff, I would love to own. However, I think I'll check my local library for similar books first. Then if I find one I especially enjoy, I can add it to my birthday wish list and hopefully anyone shopping for me will order the book off of Amazon, a used copy hopefully, and save about $10 off of the publisher's price.
• After we viewed all of the works, my daughter treated me to lunch in the cafe on the premises. They offer bowls of soup with bread for $6 and small cups of coffee for $1.75. Considering this is downtown in a major city, I thought this a pretty good deal. The cafe is artistically-appointed down to some of the small details, including some sculpture-worthy seats near the window and the boldly-colored cutlery. As a bonus, they offer complementary lemon-cucumber water. We each had a bowl of hearty Moroccan lentil soup with sourdough bread and I had a cup of their drip coffee, for a total of just over $15. Eating in any other cafe in the area would have cost us about $25 for the two of us. If we had wanted to eat at the McDonald's that is a couple of blocks away, we likely would have spent that same $15 (with their inflated inner-city price structure) and not enjoyed pleasant surroundings, service, or unique dishes. Also, I ordered the least expensive coffee on their menu, the drip. I could have ordered one of the pricier espresso-based beverages for double or triple the cost. The drip was quite tasty, I thought. (You may know this already -- Seattleites are coffee-snobs.)
• When we finished our lunches, we headed back to the bus stop, which happens to be right next to a See's Chocolates shop. In case you don't know this, when you enter a See's shop, the candy attendants offer a free chocolate to each person in your group, even if you're "just looking." We got to our bus stop 5 minutes early, so we hopped into See's and each received a full-sized chocolate candy, which served as our dessert.

So, that's how two of us enjoyed a very delightful winter day in downtown Seattle while keeping to a budget. It wasn't free or even near-free, but it was an affordable treat and nicer than any other gift my daughter might have bought for me this Christmas. 

Seattle is gaining notoriety as being a very expensive urban center. It's expensive to get into the city, park, attend events, dine out, or shop, let alone find housing in the city. And yet, aside from the software engineers and other highly-paid tech employees, many people here don't earn enough to regularly enjoy the offerings of the city. My family has always sought ways to minimize the cost of our pleasure-excursions into the city, yet still make a day trip special. We utilize public transportation when it makes sense, visit free or reduced-cost venues, pack lunches, snacks, and even beverages then find public park areas to picnic, and mostly window-shop. If this is how you regularly enjoy your nearby city's attractions, just know that you are not alone. There are many of us who maintain our frugal lifestyle while savoring moments in the big city.

January Grocery Planning

For the month of December, I had a max of $171.68 to spend. I spent $170.64. Whew! That was cutting it close. You may remember, in order to have this much allotted, I had to borrow $30 each from January and February. So, that means that I have $106.04 for groceries for the month of January. 

Don't fret! This is not as grim as it sounds. I stocked up on a ton of food in November and December. We have lots and lots of canned, fresh, and frozen fruits and veggies, the leftovers from 1 ham and another entire ham that I have yet to cook, many pounds of grains and beans, several pounds of butter, gallons of oil, baking supplies, about 6 1/2 pounds of various cheeses, some milk, some chicken, some turkey, and some beef. If all I bought this month was additional milk, eggs, 2 heads of cabbage, and some bananas and oranges, we'd honestly be fine.

So, for $106.04 what am I planning on buying?

Fred Meyer on Senior Tuesday
6 gallons of milk (4 or 5 2% and 1 or 2 whole milk for making yogurt), $2.06 each, $12.36 total

Cash & Carry
2 heads of cabbage $1.65 each
40 pound case of oranges, $20.95
10 pounds of carrots, $4.55

Walmart
1 jar of decaffeinated coffee $3.52
8 pounds of bananas 42 cents/lb, $3.36 total
5 dozen eggs $4.75

So far, these items total $52.79. If I get down to WinCo, I'll also pick up some powdered milk and powdered creamer for making more cocoa mix.

In addition, I'll be watching for seasonal foods like avocados and other citrus to go on sale as well as checking the clearance section at the grocery store for any spectacular deals.

The next few months see very few deals in the grocery stores, so I won't go out of my way to buy a lot, but will use all that I have stocked up on in the past couple of months.


Since I wrote this up, I was at Fred Meyer getting gas, so I went into the store to check for markdowns. I came away with some great deals on pecans ($5.58/lb), mixed nuts ($3.19/lb), raisins ($1.51/lb), refrigerated holiday cookie dough (49 cents -- my daughter was with me, hard to say no), and a dented can of soup, spending $18.11. Because I bought almost 4 pounds of raisins, I may buy less bananas this month. There is now $87.93 for the month of January, with $52.79 allotted for basic ingredients listed above and $35.14 for "play money."

I thought I'd be back and responding today. However, I forgot that today is the day that my daughter is taking me to a special exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum as her Christmas gift to me! Woo hoo! Looking at some of my favorite pieces of art, in person, and time with a daughter. Does life get any better?

Anyway, when I come home I'll have to scramble to make dinner and get the rest of my daily stuff done. So, I may not be online much today. However, tomorrow is another day.

Use Those Holiday Leftovers!

Happy New Year, friends!

You know how it is -- your household is thrilled when you buy eggnog in early December, only to tire of it completely by the end of the month. Well, I didn't buy mine in early December, more like just before Christmas as it was on markdown. Anyway, I have the same problem that many of you find yourself with -- eggnog that is no longer appealing or is beginning to sour.

What to do? Use it! Use it in pancakes, waffles, cupcakes, muffins, scones, or anywhere else you would bake a sweet treat. Use one of your regular recipes and cut back on the sugar by half, add an extra 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. Voila, eggnog waffles, pancakes, muffins, or scones. Nothing wasted means a gain for my family and our budget.

We're having eggnog waffles in our house this morning, continuing the celebration of the holiday season. Any leftovers will be frozen for quick breakfasts later this month.

I have lots to talk about this month. Enjoy your holiday today! I'll be back again tomorrow! Happy New Year to all!

Some Holiday Photos

My two daughters built this gingerbread creation. Does anyone have a guess as to what it is?

Here's another angle. Any guesses?

A couple of photos from the treat tins

Homemade blackberry syrup, using blackberries we picked last summer,

then decanted into a repurposed maple syrup bottle

the label on the front of the bottle --

cropped screenshot of blank circular label, clip-art blackberries,

and text box overlayed onto round label

back label, both labels affixed with shipping tape

tin filled with pancake mix and syrup

tin filled with spiced nuts and peanut butter fudge

snowmen marshmallows packed up alongside homemade cocoa mix

tin with ginger cookies, thin mint cookies (wrapped in baggie
to prevent "spread" of mint flavor), white chocolate covered pretzels

top tin filled with assorted holiday teas

Thank you for the Christmas wishes. 

I'll be back soon. Wishing you and your family a lovely Christmas or Hanukkah.

Blessings,

Lili

Easy-to-Make Snowmen Marshmallows

Like everyone else, I'm super busy this week. But I wanted to take a moment to share something I made this afternoon that will go in the gift tins. These snowmen marshmallows are simply store-bought marshmallows with piped on chocolate "carrot" noses and dark chocolate "coal" eye and nose pieces.

I tinted some melted white chocolate (with a bit of solid shortening mixed in) with gel (not liquid) food coloring, then piped through an icing tip to make the "carrots." After all of the marshmallows had their noses, I added the eyes and mouth by dipping a toothpick into melted dark chocolate (with a bit of shortening added). Easy-peasy. 

As with all handcrafted items, some turned out better than others. The best will go into a bag to give in a tin with some homemade cocoa mix.

By the way, I got the idea from Williams-Sonoma, who sells these for $14.95 for a bag of 12. Going online, I found a few people who had made these at home. Just thought these were super cute and a great and easy addition to gifts of homemade cocoa or for adding to a special occasion cocoa bar.

My No-Cost Gift Presentation for Homemade Earrings

I've written and photo'd my earrings that I made this fall to give for holiday gifts. I'm now finished with all of the pairs of earrings that I've wanted to make for this season. The task, now, is to package them as nicely as I can without incurring extra cost.

This is what I've come up with. Small rectangles of card stock that were spray painted along the edges (posted here) that I then used decorative edge scissors along one long edge, after which I poked small holes with a straight pin for hanging/fixing the ear wires. I'm satisfied with how this looks for gift presentation.

I made 10 pairs of earrings for gifting this year. Some are variations of the same design, while other designs were made for just one pair. Here are the last few that I finished, with the snowmen in the upper left as the only pair that I don't think I shared with you.

I hope that any handmade gifts that you've been working on are now about wrapped up, and you can take a little time to relax and enjoy the season.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers from Early December

peanut butter fudge wrapped in waxed paper and paper doilies

The pages of the calendar appear to be flipping forward at ever-increasing speed this month. Doesn't it always feel like there is more to do than is realistically possible as the holidays approach? You're not alone. I'm doing what I can to save time in some areas so I can spend time in others. Here was my week.

This past week, I spent $21.30 on food, bringing my December spending up to $141.37. I still need to buy a ham and maybe a little more fresh fruit. I began the month thinking I would spend around $170, so I feel I am still doing well.

Once again, I was tired and busy, so I didn't always think to grab a camera at dinner (and I have a dumb phone without the capability to take photos). Here's what we ate for dinners, and the few photos I took.

Friday
squash and apple soup
crackers and egg salad
orange wedges
corn

Saturday
turkey soup from freezer
fried kale
cookies

Sunday
scrambled eggs with cheese
hash brown potatoes
canned green beans

Monday
turkey, cornbread stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce (leftovers from Thanksgiving)
mashed baked squash
kale and onions

Tuesday
garbanzo bean and corn soup
corn muffins
homemade thin mint cookies

Wednesday
tuna casserole
salad of lettuce and lentil sprouts (lettuce my daughter bought)

Thursday
squash and apple soup (leftover and frozen)
rosemary focaccia (leftover and frozen)
cabbage and lentil sprout slaw
pumpkin pie (leftover from Thanksgiving and frozen)

I am still working on Christmas baking and treat-making. Yesterday, I made a batch of peanut butter fudge (using some of that bargain-basement peanut butter from last summer -- $2 for 4 pounds). 

Do you remember those tins that I filled last Christmas? here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Well, I'm refilling the same tins for the same recipients. So far, I have a batch of spiced mixed nuts, this peanut butter fudge, and some assorted holiday teas. I'll be adding a couple of other sweets, and a savory snack or two.

How about you? What was on your menu this past week? Is anyone else still eating Thanksgiving leftovers? It's wonderful to have meals to pull out of the freezer and quickly reheat.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

The Pendant Stars and Mantel

the mantel above the fireplace

Here's how the pendant stars look above the mantel with the rest of this year's Christmas decor pieces -- simply done. I had thought about making some smaller stars, as well, but this time of year is so busy that I thought I should skip them. So, here are the 5 stars.

I had a bit of trouble getting them to stay attached to the ceiling. I ended up sandwiching the knotted end of the suspending threads between a couple of flat glue dots, then attaching to a glue dot that was pressed onto the ceiling. Before, the threads would work their way apart from the glue dots and completely detach. This seems to be holding for now. The removable glue dots are great, though, as far as not marring the paint in any way. They come right off of painted walls and ceilings. There is a non-removable version, however, which does take paint off of walls -- just a warning.

For the rest of the mantel, I've reused the sheet music (Joy to the World) and ribbons that wrap around the pillar candles. (I posted about that a couple of years ago, here.) In addition, I added a stack of Christmas-themed books and some red ornaments piled in a compote. You really can't see this in the photo, but I have a pearl and glass bead garland threaded across the mantel. These are all items that I have in my stash of decorative stuff. Like most of you, I have a lot of decorative Christmas stuff. There's no need to go out and buy anything new. Instead, I simply find new ways to use the old stuff each year.

By the way, the sheet music that is wrapped around the candles is just something I found online for free to print out at home. The sheet music for a favorite Christmas carol makes a nice piece of gift wrap for a small present, as well, in case you run short of gift wrap.

I hope your week is going well!

Deals, Steals, and Freebies from This Last Weekend

I am trying very hard to watch my spending this holiday season. It's difficult, though. I want to be generous with our giving to organizations that help others, to our church, and to friends who have supported us so well this past year. I also want to treat my family members during the holidays. Yet, there is only so much money to go around. 

With this in mind, I'm trying to treat my family without spending a huge fortune. I've been scouring the deals every week for a month, now. And these are the deals, steals, and freebies that I got over this past weekend.

Deals

• Bath & Body Works 3-wick candle to use as a gift, for $6.58 (regularly $24.00)
• 5 packages Nestle Toll House baking chips, including Mini chips, Dark Chocolate, and Semi-Sweet, for $1.49 each, to be used in baking throughout the holiday season and into winter (my other "best price" for baking chips is $1.78/package of store-brand chips on sale at WinCo, otherwise the regular price of Nestle morsels is $3.59/package at Fred Meyer)
• 1 dented can of artichoke hearts, 49 cents, to use in Christmas dinner (regularly $2.49)

Steals

• 12 ounces gourmet decaffeinated ground coffee for 99 cents, a price I never, ever find for ground coffee (regularly $6.99)
• Four 1-quart cartons (I only show 1 in photo, other 3 are in the freezer) of organic almond milk for 50 cents each (regularly $2.79 each)

Freebies

• One 3-ounce Theo dark chocolate bar -- FREE! (Regularly $2.99) This will become a gift.
• One Kinder chocolate bar -- FREE! (Regularly $1.29) This will become a gift.
• 1 full-sized bottle of Bath & Body Works shower gel -- FREE! (Regularly $13.50) This will become a gift.

I spent $17.51 for all of this. The regular retail value of the lot is about $80.37.

When the stress of potential post-holiday credit card bills starts to get me down, a shopping day like I had this past Saturday helps to level out my mood. Any deals, steals or freebies for you lately?

Almost Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies

Seeing as how it is not GS cookie season, I think it's okay to put a recipe out there for making a similar cookie without the high cost, while not highjacking any Girl Scout earnings. This cookie is very much like the GS version in flavor and texture, even though the cookie part is not a chocolate wafer but, instead, a lowly ritz-style cracker. 

Only 4 ingredients and no baking, making this a perfect cookie to whip up for a last-minute neighbor gift, potluck offering, or just a nice, sweet treat for your family. 

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vegetable shortening
2 dozen ritz-style crackers
2 to 4 drops of peppermint oil (oil and not extract)
table knife
sheet of waxed paper

In a microwaveable bowl, melt the chocolate chips with the shortening in short bursts of about 10 to 20 seconds, stirring with a table knife in between the bursts. 

When melted and smooth, stir in about 2-4 drops of the peppermint oil. (I poured a small amount of oil into the cap for the bottle, then dripped it into the chocolate, stirred and tasted until it was as minty as I liked.)

Working quickly, use the table knife to spread melted mint chocolate onto both sides of each cracker, then allow to firm up on a sheet of waxed paper. This is a bit messy, but I found that spreading the crackers with the chocolate resulted in smoother cookies with a more modest coat of chocolate than dipping (meaning the chocolate went further). 

Place in the fridge for an hour to quickly firm up or allow to sit for several hours at room temperature.

These mock GS mint cookies were fairly inexpensive to make. I used crackers from Dollar Tree, chocolate chips bought on the fall and holiday baking sale (WinCo store brand), Walmart shortening and just a couple of drops of peppermint oil. I bought my little vial of peppermint oil at Michael's, using a high-value coupon (I think it was 50% off), spending under $3 for 2 drams (vials) about two years ago. I originally bought the oil for making peppermint-flavored fondant for chocolate mint patties and now have most of the 2 vials leftover. In addition to the mint patties and thin mint cookies, I've also used the peppermint oil for making chocolate mint truffles.