Celebrating Christmas without any money

Here are some of my favorite links for celebrating this joyous holiday with little or no money:

Goshen College -wonderful Advent devotions - subscribe to have them emailed to you daily

How to celebrate Christmas without any money

39 Frugal Tips for Saving Money at Christmas

Dollar Stretcher –Christmas articles

Toymaker –lots of free beautiful Christmas printables along with printables for other holidays & toys

Homemade Christmas Cards

How to make a 3D paper snowflake

Free and Low-Cost Christmas Gifts-Homemade Christmas Gifts that Won't Break the Bank

My Frugal Holiday: Clue Gift

Christmas Gifts that don't cost a dime - Dollar Stretcher

Thrifty and simple holiday -freebies from Oprah

This Wednesday on her show, How to Have the Thriftiest Holiday Ever, Oprah has some great suggestions and freebies. (Click here for the link to get to her site about this show.) She has a free holiday album that you can download for the next 24 hours-HURRY--along with a CD cover and label. Among many other ideas she has downloadable notecards for making gratitude notes for loved ones. I love this idea-take the time now to tell those you love what you love about them, what you are thankful for and for what you wish for them! Thanks, OPRAH!

late 11/28/08 UPDATE: The free album is no longer available but you can still get the free notecards for gratitude box gifts.

Hummus - a toddler's delight!

My toddler is a picky eater but he LOVES eating hummus. Making hummus is one way I ensure that he gets enough protein and at least some green veggies. He calls hummus, "Thomas" and he has been known to eat 3-4 servings! (I love it too! If it were less points, I would eat half a batch myself.) We serve it on crackers, pita bread, raw veggies like cucumbers or carrots, or as a spread for sandwiches. Hummus is high in iron and vitamin C and chickpeas are a good source of protein and fiber.

Hummus is SO EASY to make and you can adapt it to add whatever flavors you like. We like it with spinach, but I have used roasted peppers or dill.

Hummus with tahini & spinach
POINTS® Value: 3
Servings: 8
cost when using dried peas: ~ $1.35 per batch, ~ $ 0.17 per serving
cost when using canned peas: ~$1.55 per batch, ~$ 0.19 per serving

Ingredients:
* 2 cup(s) cooked chickpeas
(I use 5 oz of dried chickpeas-see prep note below, but you can use a can of prepared chickpeas to save time.)
* 1/4 cup(s) water
* 1/4 cup(s) lemon juice, canned or bottled
* 4 clove(s) garlic clove(s) minced
* 1/2 tsp table salt
* 3 tbsp canned tahini
* 1 tbsp dried parsley
* 1-2 cups fresh spinach
* 3 tbsp olive oil

Instructions:
The day before soak the dried chickpeas in water for 8 or so hours. Then cook for 1 hour or so until tender. I soak them in the crockpot with the pot turned off and then cook them for a few hours in the crock pot.

Place all ingredients in the food processor or blender and puree to a fine consistency. Add more liquid if necessary. Serve with pita bread, crackers, or fresh crunchy veggies.

FRUGAL / SUBSTITUTION NOTE: To pinch pennies or if you do not have tahini on hand you can use 3 TBL. of peanut butter instead of tahini. It does change the taste. My toddler doesn't seem to care which version I make.

Peanut butter version is
POINTS® Value: 3
Servings: 8
cost when using dried peas: ~ $1.10 per batch, ~ $ 0.14 per serving
cost when using canned peas: ~$1.30 per batch, ~$ 0.16 per serving

Exercise and thriftiness

A friend of ours repaired and tuned up my bicycle. I have gone out several times in the past week or so to try it out. This area has lots of nice bike trails and parks. In addition to biking for leisure, I plan to begin commuting 1 or 2 days per week to work. I will combine cycling on the roads and a short distance on a bike path for a total of about 9.25 miles each way. I have done trial runs on the commute breaking it up into 2 halves for the purpose of testing it out.

This will save us gas. I can cut out the driving to the YMCA for the 2 days a week. I had been going to spinning classes. Plus I will save by cycling instead of driving the car to work 2 days per week. I used www.fueleconomy.gov to figure out that each day commuting by car costs me about $3.50 in gas. By commuting 2 days and not driving to the YMCA to "cycle" we can save almost $10-12 a week. This may not seem like much but we are pinching every penny and this will mean about $40-$48 a month. That is a week's worth of groceries!

Lentil Soup ~ Tasty, Healthy & Frugal

This is one of my favorite recipes to make especially on chilly days. It is originally from the 1st edition Moosehead Cookbook by Mollie Katzen. I have doctored it a bit to make it thriftier.

Servings: 8
Points per serving: 4
Cooking time: all day
Cost per serving: Less than $ .40
Goes well with: Grilled cheese sandwich(see recipe below), any sandwich

Ingredients & Directions:

Simmer for 4 hours covered:
1 lb raw lentils, rinsed
8 cups of water or stock
2 tsp kosher salt

Saute in 2 tsp of olive oil. Then add to simmering lentils.
2 tsp garlic, minced
1 c. onion, chopped
1 c. celery, minced (I substitute celery leaf or even celery seed if I am out of celery.)
1 c. carrots, chopped

Add these last ingredients about 30 minutes before serving:
black pepper
1 can of diced tomatoes (or use fresh tomatoes--sometimes for a change I use store brand "rotel" tomatoes)
2 Tbs lemon juice
1.5 Tbs brown sugar or molasses
1 Tbs wine vinegar

Hints: Thicken it up by decreasing the liquid slightly or by letting it simmer longer. I cook this all day in the crockpot.

2 Point Grilled Cheese Sandwich
2 slices of nature's own double fiber bread
1 slice Borden 2% cheese (counts as one milk serving)
Spray bread with nonstick spray and grill!

Personal note: This soup was part of the first meal I fixed for my husband when we were dating. I was a strict lacto-ovo vegetarian back then. My body was used to the amount of fiber, but his was not. We ate this meal together, then he got in his car to make the 2 hour commute back home. We dated long distance for that first year. Needless to say it was a bit of a painful drive home for him that trip. :)

Frugal posts ~Stretching a dollar

My friends have been persistent in their requests for how I save money. My husband has threatened to start sitting at my side and taking notes so that he can answer their questions. Therefore, I am going to begin trying to post on this blog some of our frugal practices. My future posts on this blog will include:

1.) my running and training, (It IS my addiction that gives me energy to do everything else!--If you are not a runner, just skip these posts.)
2.) my couponing practices,
3.) grocery shopping techniques,
4.) frugal, healthy recipes,
5.) my CVS mega savings scenarios, and
6.) other general frugal practices.

How to cut your child's hair

I checked out the book, How to cut your child's hair at home : a step-by-step guide to giving your child a professional looking haircut at home by Laura DeRosa, from the public library. It was so easy to read and this morning I cut both of my boys' hair (ages 2 and 6) and they look great---if I do say so myself. I have messed up their cuts several times before, so I was tickled pink to finally have success with such an easy to follow book.

For more "Frugal Friday" ideas, check out the Biblical Womanhood blog.

Frugal homemade microwave PoPcOrN

Making your own microwave popcorn is a breeze and costs less than 10 cents.
1.) Put 2 tablespoons for popcorn kernels into a brown paper lunch sack.
Spritz with nonstick cooking spray.
2.) Fold over the top of the bag 2 times.
3.) Place the bag on its side in the microwave.
4.) Nuke on high for 1 minute plus 20-30 seconds. Stand by and listen for the popping to slow (nobody likes the smell of burnt popcorn!)
5.) Dump into a bowl and sprinkle with popcorn flavored salt. (we use Act II, butter flavored salt-it is a big jug we purchased from Sam's Club over 2 years ago and even though it is past the stated expiration date, it still tastes great.

Tah-dah!! A ONE POINT snack for pennies!

Frugal "free" wax paper uses

Over the past weeks, I have gotten great deals on cereal and therefore, I have stockpiled quite a few boxes. My dh & sons go through cereal fairly quickly, so I am breaking down cereal boxes often. I save the wax paper liners to use in one of the many ways:
1.) use as "shake and bake" bags for preparing taco chicken (chicken coated in taco seasoning) or in the "old" days fried chicken
2.) cut up into strips or squares for dividers between hamburger patties to be frozen
3.) cut in to strips for rolling and freezing cookie dough (rolled cookie dough can be sliced for individual cookies to bake as needed)
4.) wrap sandwiches in and seal with freezer tape (for lunch, picnics, etc.)
5.) use 2 liner bags to double bag meats for freezing (some bags are big enough to freeze entire chicken carcasses to use for making soup later)
6.) use as a liner on the kitchen counter top for prepping meats, veggies, etc. This saves some time and clean up for items that might otherwise lead to cross contamination
(These cereal liner bags usually open easily at the seams.)
7.) use as playdough or painting "placemats" for kids (rinse off cereal crumbs first)

I store my extra bag liners in an empty "ziploc" gallon bag box.