Peaceful Christmas: Week 12 & 11

Posted on October 31, 2009 by Sarah

My Christmas craft 2008 will be on display this year, too

As I mentioned last time, I am going to follow along with Simple Mom’s 12 Weeks to a Peaceful Christmas, starting with doing a couple weeks at a time to catch up.

The first post dealt with the Christmas budget. You can download a budget worksheet from her downloads page, it’s really eye-opening how holiday costs add up. At first you think, it’s only the gifts I have to worry about… but the truth is the real costs also include baking supplies, wrapping supplies, stamps, etc.

I think the idea of budgeting for Christmas spending throughout the year is a great one. Simple Mom recommends doing a budget worksheet of how much you spend at Christmas then divide it by 12 and put aside that much each month. Then when December arrives it’s not a financial strain. Obviously too late for that this year but I am definitely going to see how my budget worksheet estimates hold up and then implement a holiday savings account in January.

We’ll have to go easy with our budget this year as we’re flying to spend the holidays with family and have more family members to buy for each year! But leaving home for Christmas does have it’s advantages as we never host meals or house guests and skip the real tree and other decorating expenses.

Ok, Christmas budget, got it. Next thing.

Since I’m catching up let’s do 11 Weeks Till Christmas: Gather Your Addresses.

I already have all our family and friends in a database because we raise financial support for our jobs. So that part is handled. But the second part of the task is to decide how we’ll be sending our Christmas greetings and what supplies we’ll need for that.

I think we’ll end up with a photo card for everyone, a letter for those who don’t have email and an email letter for the rest. It would be cheaper and more environmentally friendly to skip the written letter but alas, we still have loved ones without computers!

So now I have to finish this budget and plan what supplies to buy for our letters. I think I’ll even get a head start on making the those photo cards…

If you got ‘em, flaunt ‘em

Posted on September 27, 2009 by Sarah

Before you get any ideas, I’m talking dishes.

I was just in my kitchen today, emptying the dishwasher and as I moved aside a champagne glass to put an often used glass away it occurred to me: I own some cool dishes I never use. I love kitchenware, pots, pans, plates, spoons, spatulas, little dishes that only have one purpose. I love them all. I can’t think of almost anything that’s more fun than playing in the kitchen: using my cooking tools, cleaning them and reorganizing them. But there are some things I have acquired over my 3 years as a married woman that rarely leave the cabinets because I a) never cook whatever they’re used for or b) am lazy and serve from a pot on the stove (gasp).

After my realization that I own some dishes that take up space and never give back, I decided to see if I could use a few of them this week. I’ve gathered together a collection of a 5 items that will be given their chance to shine in the next 7 days. They are as follows:

Gluckstein Home champagne glasses
Williams Sonoma Italian pasta serving dish with 4 matching bowls
Wood serving spoon
Pampered Chef pie gate
Tiny hand painted serving dish from Israel

Christmas decorating

Posted on November 17, 2007 by Sarah

We’re spending Christmas in Alberta this year so I wasn’t planning on doing much decorating for the holidays. But after I took a trip to Target and got my “Baby’s First Christmas” ornaments out, I couldn’t resist bring alittle winter wonderland into our living room. ALSO… check out our thrift store couches!

Saturday projects: $12 improvement

Posted on October 27, 2007 by Sarah

Most Saturdays I like to stay home and make some improvements around our place. John always helps so much – he is the weekly bathroom cleaner and has started insisting on doing the vacuuming too. What a lucky girl I am.

My project this week was to improve the lighting situation in our living room and kitchen. We don’t want to spend alot because we’re just renting so awhile ago I got the bright idea to freshen up the existing ceiling fan and kitchen light. With $12 worth of spray paint I rid our main living area of shiny gold fixtures.

On the ceiling fan I used a textured brown-bronze (as well as flipping the blades over to get rid of the wicker and scrubbing down the whole thing) and on the kitchen light I used a hammered brushed silver. It’s not as good as new but I’m pretty impressed with the difference the details make.

Another successful Saturday… let’s hope we can say the same for our Oilers when they play tonight.