Planning for Christmas

Saturday, Todd and I went to the winery where it all started for us back in 2006.  We started making wine because of the Grape and Granary in Akron, OH.

We went there for the ump-teenth time and had a nice wine tasting to decide what we will be making here at home for Christmas gifts.  We have decided on 4 different wines.  Each batch of wine makes 30 bottles, so we will have 120 bottles of wine to savor throughout the year and to give away as gifts.

I am so excited!
We didnt buy any of the kits, because there is a place closer to where we live that sells them for a bit less than the Grape and Granary.  It will be like buying 3 - get one free.  And let me tell you, I love free! Not only that, we are really trying to pay off the last credit card by July 1st (I moved it back one month because it will be nearly impossible to pay off $4,980 in the next two months AND go on two 4-day weekends away!)

We are also going to try our hand at making beer for the holidays.  Alot of people in our family are drinkers, so these are perfect gifts.  Not only are they perfect gifts, they are different, and they wont be very expensive for us to make because we have all the equipment. 

Am I the only one thinking about Christmas already? :-)

Making Expensive Gifts More Cost-Effective

For Christmas, my mother bought Todd and me a Keurig instant-brew coffee/tea machine. We use it quite often (at LEAST twice a day.)  Upon receiving it, we noticed how expensive the K-cups are to purchase; anywhere from $0.50/cup to $1+.  I wasn’t willing to spend that kind of money on coffee.  Coffee, though I enjoy it, is not that important to me.

For my birthday earlier this month, Todd bought me something that goes into the Keurig machine that enables me to use regular coffee (and keeps the K-cups out of the landfills.) 

If I use the apparatus more than 50 times, it pays for itself in savings versus the K-cups.  Also, for my birthday, my friend from work bought me several different flavors of coffee (free to me.) 

I have been using the new apparatus from Todd consistently, and I’ve found that if I leave the do-hickey out after brewing a couple of cups of coffee in the morning before work, the coffee dries, and I can use the same coffee grounds for the entire week. This saves us quite a bit of money.  After the grounds lose their flavor, they go in a jar that I will sprinkle into our raspberry bushes and garden to help fertilize our plants. 

As a “just because” gift, Todd bought me a box of K-cups while he was out at WalMart last week.  I have found that I can use the same K-cup of coffee at LEAST 4 times before the flavor goes away.  So, a $0.50 K-cup (my husband is a bargain shopper,) really only costs us $0.125/cup of coffee because I can use it over and over again. 

These are just little ways we can enjoy the nice, frivolous gift my mom gave us without spending a whole lot of money!

After Christmas Sales

In years past, I have been able to purchase gifts for people after Christmas at very large discounts.  Last weekend, Todd and I went out to see what we could find.

We were quite disappointed at the selection this year.  In years past, we’ve been able to buy nice gift baskets for pennies on the dollar for nieces and even our parents.  I was able to purchase perfume sets for practically nothing.  This year – we didn’t buy a single item for Christmas 2011. 

Part of me was happy about that, because I wouldn’t have to find a place to store the gifts.  Plus, for some reason, I didn’t feel like spending the money.  I wasn’t really in a shopping mood.  But while driving home, it made me think about what I really want to do for Christmas 2011.  I want to MAKE gifts. I don’t want to BUY them. 

I don’t want to give 100% home-made gifts, but I would like at least 50% of each gift I give someone to be a home-made gift from the heart.

So, this is what is meant to be.

Or, maybe it’s just the miser  in me.

Is This Cheap or Frugal?

I am known for trying to save money.  Everything Todd and I do, we try to save money...without living like misers.  I'm sure alot of people think we live like misers, but I have the bank statements and credit card statements to show that we dont!  We used to spend too freely, which is why we are working so hard at saving to get out of debt. 

At any rate, we received an awesome Keurig Coffee Machine for Christmas from my mom and Doc.  This is a picture of it:

I had been contemplating buying one of these for myself with my allowance money (we get $25/week to spend on whatever we want,) but I had talked myself out of it.

So, we got the machine and an amble supply of k-cups to keep us well-hydrated for a couple of months.  I have been looking at prices for the k-cups, and they are EXPENSIVE!  Yes, if I bought Starbucks every day, this would seem like a huge savings to buy this single-serve machine and the supplies, but I dont.  I drink coffee at work only, and buy myself creamers for $1.99/bottle. 

I dont like the fact that the k-cups are plastic, and I'm sure they take forever to disintegrate in a landfill, and I really dont want to pay $0.50+ per cup of coffee.  So, Todd and I have been looking at ways to SAVE while using this great gift.

So, we found this refillable cup on Amazon.com for $14.95 (free shipping if we order $25+ worth of products.)

Todd despises coffee.  He cant even handle the scent of coffee.  Mom gave us some Chai Latte K-cups, and Todd LOVED it! However, they cost about $1/cup.  No thank you.  We will not be paying $1/cup for Chai Latte.  However, I found this item that we will be purchasing.

 This is a 6 pk of 10 oz. Chai Latte that could be put into the reusable k-cup to be made into Chai Tea Latte.  I cant determine the price per cup, or what the "break even" point would be without getting these two items first and testing it out, but I know it'd be alot less expensive than $1/cup!  Plus, I plan on using SwagBucks to purchase these items, so our out of pocket expenses would be minimal.

We will not be purchasing these items today, tomorrow, or even next month (I have to accumulate more SwagBucks!)  But when our supplies get a little lower, we will definitely be making the investments listed above and be more cost-conscious of our daily coffee/latte's!

I love our new gadget from mom, but I love it even more than there are other alternatives to expensive morning drinks that enable us to use this new toy at a fraction of the cost!

How Much is Too Much?

I hope it's not too early to start voicing my opinion about Christmas.  This is an observation that has opened coveration for Todd and I to discuss what we want for our family if we are blessed with children in the upcoming years.

Todd and I celebrated Christmas morning at my father's house.  My niece, Natalie and her mom, Tosh, live with my dad and his wife.  Every year, I think Natalie gets a bit too much.  This year was no different.

This year was Barbie-palooza at dad's house.  Natalie watches ALOT of TV (which is another thing I dont agree with,) and it is apparent that commercials have gotten to this child.  EVERY commercial that comes on, she "wants."  And, "Oh! I love this! I NEED it!"  I have mentioned to Todd in the past about her saying these things, and we've discussed what we want for our children.

Well, as I mentioned, Christmas for Natalie was Barbie-palooza 2010.  I've NEVER seen so many Barbie items in my life (except for at Toys R Us.)  Barbie mansion, Barbie car, Barbie fairy / princess, Barbie camper, Barbie PJ's.  I kid you not.  All of this, in one day.  Actually, within an hour.  How much is too much?  How much is enough?

This is not something we want for our children.  We dont want the material things for them.  We want them to know what is important - family and faith.  NOT "stuff."  We want them to have nice things, and we want them to be provided for, but not to this extreme.  Our children will not get even a fraction of what Natalie got this Christmas.  OK...maybe from Grandma (my mom - she spoils the grandkids!) but not from us.

With a room-full of already Barbie-licious items, these gifts will just get lost in the mounds and mounds of Barbie items Natalie already has.  Will she remember this Christmas 3 years from now and all the items she got? I doubt it.  She has probably already forgotten about half of the gifts. 

What did Auntie M & Uncle Todd get Natalie for Christmas?  A Barbie lunchbox.  Something she can use daily.  Yup.  That may be a fuddy-duddy thing to buy a 4 1/2 year old, but I know she'll use it for preschool and on road-trips.

What are your thoughts on this? 
Do you think we are completely off base?

Christmas Day 2010

Yesterday was an awesome day.  We had a blast with my dad, his wife, my step brother, step sister, niece and new nephew.

Here are a few picures:

 My 4 1/2 year old niece, Natalie.  She is such a diva!  I love her to pieces!

 My father and his new grandson, Jacksyn.

 Natalie and her mom, Tosh (my step-sister.)

 My step-brother, Kenny, and his girlfriend, Laura

 Kenny & Laura's new addition, Jacksyn (3 weeks old Christmas Day)

 Todd and his parents

Todd's mom, Linda

I was just thinking the other day, I'm not sure if I ever posted any pictures of Todd on the blog.  If not, there he is. Super-Todd, my hubby.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas as well!



Spoiled Rotten

I will admit it, I am spoiled rotten.  My mom knows me so well, she knows what I'd like even before I do! She is great with giving gifts.  However, she always goes overboard.

This year for Christmas, I got:

New jammies (a staple in our family.  Mom made us get a shower on Christmas Eve because "Santa doesnt deliver gifts to dirty kids!" As soon as we'd get out of the shower, there would be new jammies on the counter for us to wear that where delivered by "elves.")

An apple peeler and corer!  I cant wait to get another box of apples!  It will be so easy to peel and core them!  Also, I'd like to get a couple of trees, so this corer will get lots of use for years to come.

A beautiful necklace with a saying for Daughters.  I love it!

A beautiful black pearl necklace (I love this one too!)  The story behind the black pearl necklace is that I had one many years ago.  The chain broke at a restaurant, and the pearl rolled somewhere.  We could never find it.  I even asked the employees to keep an eye out for it, but it was never found.  Well, now I have a new black pearl necklace.

Then, we had our combined gift.  It was a Keurig machine.  I fell in love with some coffee at mom's house from their Keurig machine.  I was hooked.  Well, now we have one of our own, and lots of drinks to go with it.  Todd HATES coffee.  He cant even handle the SMELL of coffee.  But mom bought him some hot cider k-cups, chai latte cups, and cocoa.  I got some coffee blends.

As I mentioned, mom went overboard, as always. 
We are definitely spoiled rotten.

How Low Can You Go: Beer!

I have talked about doing homemade gifts in 2011 and less purchased items.  I was sitting at work last week, and I thought about Todd and his beer.  Todd loves beer.  He likes the dark, bock beers.  All of a sudden, a light went off in my head.  I am going to try to make Todd beer!  We make our own wine and have all of the equipment needed.  I found several websites that have instructions, and there are a few YouTube videos as well.

I saw online that there are these adorable brown plastic beer bottles that can be purchased from Amazon.com (swagbucks!) for $14.  I was so excited I found them.  They are reusable! Just wash them out and then rebottle in them with the next batch!  Then I remembered what this is really about.  It’s not about the LOOKS of the bottled beer, it is about the TASTE and showing my creativity and love to Todd.  I can get plastic bottles from people here at work.  They drink bottled water like it’s going out of style (I wish they’d invest in a Kleen Kanteen,) and the bottles are always in the recycle bin.  There is a sanitizer that is used for wine and beer making that cleans them out thoroughly.  The only thing I will need to make the beer is malt.

Another great thing from what I’ve read about the beer-making process, it doesn’t take NEARLY as long as wine does.  Todd could be drinking his homemade beer within 2-3 weeks of me starting the project. 10 gallons could be made for the price of the malt and some sugar.  It was recommended that if I want to bypass the sugar (which I do because the least amount of ingredients used, the better my chances are to making great tasting beer,) I could double-up on the malt and leave the sugar out.  SO…because we have a 6 gallon carboy instead of a 10 gallon bucket, and the malt comes in 4 lb cans, I am going to make 4 gallons of beer for Todd.  I came up with this number after doing some math.  I did some research and found that the malt I would want to buy to make a dark bock for Todd would be less than $15!  This malt would make 4 gallons (of the double-malt, no sugar mixture) which is equal to 32 – 16 oz. bottles of beer.  How much would the beer cost per bottle, you ask? $0.47!

I probably wont start the batch until February to be ready for his 40^th birthday.  I am going to try to hide it from him so that it will be a surprise.  I cant wait!  I am horrible and keeping surprises.  Can I do it?!? We will find out!