More Ways to Save for Valentine’s Day
Have you started planning your Valentine’s Day yet? Valentine’s Day is one of those holidays that people either love or hate. I’m personally not a huge fan of Valentine’s Day, but I have been known to celebrate it with my hubby from time to time.
When my husband and I do decide to celebrate Valentine’s Day, we ALWAYS do it on a budget. I’m a saver, some might call me a cheapskate, either way, I like to save money on the things that I do and buy and the same goes for dates and holidays. I recently discussed ways to save for Valentine’s Day, but there are more ways to do it. That’s why I am going to chat a little bit more today about more ways to save for Valentine’s day!
More Ways to Save for Valentine’s Day
Don’t celebrate it. When it really comes down to it, Valentine’s Day is just another day. You don’t have to celebrate it. You don’t have to feel bad about not celebrating it either. Not going out on a date, or not buying a gift doesn’t reflect the love you have for your special someone.
Make homemade gifts. Homemade gifts are incredibly meaningful and oftentimes much less expensive than other gifts. My husband always says that his favorite Valentine’s Day gift from me is a love letter that I wrote to him.
Have a coffee date. Take your honey out for a mid-day coffee date in order to have some time together. Another great part of coffee dates with your special someone? Your entire date can cost less than $10!
Have a dinner date at home. What is more romantic that time alone? Why not prepare a nice dinner at home? You can light a candle or two on your dining room table and enjoy a candlelit dinner for two. It will cost you significantly less money than going out to eat.
How do you like to celebrate Valentine’s Day? What was your favorite, low-budget Valentine’s day experience? I would love to get more ideas!
Exercise on a Budget with these Tips
It’s January which means a lot of us will be starting out fresh with our goals of exercise. There are so many ways we can get our bodies toned and fit and you don’t need to break the bank. Maybe it’s time to try something new to keep you motivated. Here are a few ways you can exercise on a budget:
- Check into your local city gymnasium before you enroll into a different gym. Most cities have their own gymnasium and offer passes at a fraction of the cost of other gyms. For example, my town has a gym and offers punch passes and yearly memberships for much cheaper than my closest gym. They also offer fitness classes which is a bonus.
- Create your own fitness group. This can be free! I know so many people who get together with friends or family at houses or studios where they don’t have to pay much at all. If you have a neighbor with a workout system in their home, consider asking them if you could use it and create a group to make it more fun. Exercise peer pressure is the best.
- Shop around for gym memberships. If you want a gym membership then be sure to shop around first. January is a great time to get a membership and a lot of gyms will have special promotions. I know some do a BOGO type offer which is awesome. So don’t settle, before you check around. It will save you money in the end.
Easy Ways to Save for Valentine’s Day
What are you plans for Valentine’s Day? Valentine’s Day is on a Friday this year. Are you planning on going on a date night? Or, perhaps are you wanting to go away for a romantic weekend? There are so many opportunities for things to do for this Valentine’s Day, but there are 2 things that are certain. It will be busy and it will be expensive!
If you are looking for some easy ways to save for Valentine’s Day, here are some of my favorite tips that should help regardless of what you want to do.
Easy Ways to Save for Valentine’s Day
Use Groupon. Yes, I know I talk about it often, but I love Groupon for its great deals! I also love Groupon for the ability it provides to finding awesome new local places to checkout. This includes restaurants and hotels/resorts as well. If you are hoping to spend the weekend away, check out the Groupon Getaways deals near you and be sure to buy and book early!
Go at happy hour. Just because you are celebrating Valentine’s Day doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try to save money at the same time. Head out for your Valentine’s meal during happy hour and you will be thrilled at the money you can save.
Go for lunch. One year a couple of years ago, my husband and I decided to enjoy a lunch date for Valentine’s Day. I found two benefits to this. Lunch, is, of course, cheaper which I’m all about. Additionally, there were very few people out enjoying their dates during the lunch hour, so no wait for us!
Skip the drinks. Skip the drinks on your date night for Valentine’s Day. Not only will this save you money, but you don’t have to worry about paying extra money money for an Uber driver to drive you home safely.
Go on a different date. Valentine’s Day crowds means it is hard to have an intimate evening out and you often have to wait in line for a long time, if you choose to celebrate your Valentine’s Day on a different date, you will save yourself a lot of hassle and probably a lot of money. In addition to the crowds, many restaurants slim their menu and jack up their prices for the holiday.
Easy Ways to Save on Dining Out
Do you dine out often? Is it killing your budget? Trust me, I get it. I used to spend hundreds of dollars every single month going out to eat with my husband and kids. HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS PER MONTH. That’s just ridiculous. It is one of the things I am most ashamed of in my financial journey. I imagine all of the places that money could have gone instead.
Restaurants can be an absolute killer on our budgets if we aren’t careful. That’s why I decided to create this list of easy ways to save on dining out.
Easy Ways to Save on Dining Out
Use Groupon. I know I talk about it a lot, but Groupon is an excellent way to save money on dining out. You can save up to 50% just by buying a Groupon Restaurant deal. Another great thing about using Groupon to save on dining out is that you are more likely to try new restaurants this way! I know that I have found some awesome new restaurants and places to go thanks to Groupon deals.
Value menus. If you are swinging through a fast food restaurant, be sure to force yourself to only order off the value menu. My family and I rarely eat at fast food restaurants, but when we do, I only order from the value menu. My husband, however, does not. Let’s take our most recent trip to Carls Jr., for instance. His meal was $10.89, while mine was $5.
Go at happy hour. If you are going for a sit down meal, check out your local restaurants and call around to find out which of them offers happy hour pricing. Sure you may be eating just a little early, or maybe a little late, but it is well worth it when you see how much money you can save this way.
Skip the drinks. Seriously, drinks add so much money to the cost of your meal. Just drink water and enjoy drinks at home.
5 Easy Ways to Organize Your Life in the New Year
Welcome to 2020! I love starting out fresh with a new year. I am a list girl. I love having my day/week/year organized and ready for me. I love having meals organized and planned for the week. I love having a central location for all of our important papers, calendars and news. I love having tasks written down in my phone so I don’t forget important activities I have for the day. I love having a spot for every item in my home so clean up is quick. All of these simple thing help me stay organized. If you’re ready for a new year and to be a little more organized, here are 5 tips that will help you out.
- Get a planner or use your phone calendar and enter important dates now. Important dates could include your kids’ no school days, extra curricular activities and birthdays. This is a great time to look at your year and see when you want to go on vacations. Which days would work best with school breaks and work breaks? Brainstorm about summer and get ideas of where reunions and other vacations will go. Organizing your calendar now will help your brain work less later on.
- Use your smartphone’s task and reminder apps. I use these regularly and they are so helpful. Even late at night when I’m about to go to bed I’m thinking of tomorrow and the tasks that need to be done. Instead of holding those in your brain all night, write them into your task app! That will free some head space as well as organize your next day. The more you get in the habit of using these apps the more organized and less forgetful you can be. You can even set alarms for specific times you need to be somewhere. Try it out.
- Create a meal plan. We all have different family styles right now. You may be single or newly married. You may have 5 kids at home, or all of your kids are grown and gone. Whatever situation you are in, we all need to eat and we all need to organize our meals. Check out this post we wrote a while back, it’s packed with great information to help you organize your meal planning.
- Get rid of excess stuff in your house. To start the year out right, now is a great time to go through each of your rooms and get rid of unnecessary toys, furniture, clothing and “stuff” that you have in your home. Get down to what you use and need. Just clearing out your home with help you get organized. It’s so much faster to clean when every item has a specific spot. I love following A Bowl Full of Lemons. Join her by doing the 2020 Home Organization Challenge. She has free printables for you. I’m doing it, you can too!
- If you have children in the home, I would highly recommend making a Family Command Center. Check out this post we did earlier with tips on how to make your very own. We have one in our home and it’s SO nice. All of the important papers are in view for me to see. It’s amazing. If you don’t have young kids at home, then I could still recommend having a spot where you keep all of your important papers, planner, and keys.
DON’T Set New Year Resolutions – Do This Instead!
It’s a new year. Here we are again looking back at last year and wondering what happened to the new year resolutions we set at the beginning of 2019. And if you’re like me, they didn’t stick to long, unfortunately. I always have high hopes and do so well but by a month or two in I’m overwhelmed. So instead of setting new year resolutions I’m doing this.
The other day I printed out a full year calendar of 2020 (just a free one I found online, you can use this one too). Then I started making a list of the things I wanted to work on this year such as; finances, fitness, relationships, etc. I took each of these topics and assigned them to a month (repeating a few of them I though needed extra attention 
Then I broke out each main topic. So with finances, I set a date (close to the beginning of the month) to create a budget. Then picked a day each week to have a weekly check in. This is when my husband and I will sit down and go over our budget for the previous week. I also made other goals throughout the month like no eating out, create savings account for each of our kids and more.
I did this with each main topic. This way, I’m working on myself and goals all year instead of only the beginning. I can reevaluate at the beginning of each month and see what things work and what things didn’t. So what do you think? Are you setting new year resolutions this year or do you want to join me and set monthly goals for 2020? I’d love to hear what goals you have planned no matter which way you choose to attack them!
Birthday Party Ideas on a Budget
It’s almost the new year which means we start over on Birthdays! That might bring a little stress to your life if you’re not ready or prepared. But never fear, you can throw that awesome birthday party and stay in budget with just a few of these tips. Be preparing now and you won’t regret it!
The At-Home Party: It seems like now days, birthday parties are so extreme. My kids are going to expensive places to play video games or become ninjas. A good party doesn’t always need to leave the home. Try staying home and getting out the classic games. Some of those might include: A pinata, water games outside, scavenger hunts to find toys or treats, crafts or decorate cookies. Bring back the classic favorites and the kids will have a blast. Many of these games won’t even cost you a penny.This is a great way to stay on budget.
The Dollar Store Party: This is seriously a great way to stay on budget. Pick a theme and then head to your local dollar store. Grab those items that would go with your theme. You might even change your theme when you get to the store! There are so many fun plates, decor, toys and more that you can score for $1.00. The kids will think it’s so cool no matter where you get the items, you might as well buy them cheap.
DIY Party: There are SO many great ideas on Pinterest for birthday parties. Try making your own cakes or cupcakes instead of having a professional make it. Look around your home for items you already have that you can use for your party. I’ve found ribbon and paper that I never new I had and have used them for parties. Check what you have first before you keep buying more. Ask neighbors or friends if you need to borrow items instead of buying them.
Free Venue Party: One of my kids most favorite places to have a party is at our local park. We bring all sorts of balls and items for relay races, scavenger hunts, sports and more. It’s a free area that they can run around outside. It’s the best. We order pizza and then after the few games we have, they can go play. If you need to schedule your park, then be thinking about that now at the new year. Get your name on the list for those days you need and you’re already on your way to a great party.
How to Make Cake Mix Cookies- Perfect for Santa’s Christmas Eve Cookies
I love making cookies, especially at this time of year. I turn on a little Christmas music and get baking. I had to share with you one of my most favorite cookie recipes. These cake mix cookies are AWESOME. What makes them awesome? They are fool proof. Seriously. It requires little ingredients, not a lot of time, and they turn out great! You can also make them with a variety of cake mixes and add in different candies, chips and sprinkles. YUM! Kids can even help with this recipe. I like to have them help me with these cookies for Christmas Eve. Then we leave a few out for Santa. I hope you enjoy these as much as our family does.
Ingredients:
1 Package Dry Cake Mix of your choice
1/3 Cup Oil
2 Eggs
Directions:
Mix all ingredients together well with a fork or spoon. Roll balls into 1-1 1/2 inch balls. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Don’t over bake. Once they start to crack on top they are done!
**You can mix and match cake mixes and add ins. Try making a devils food cake mix with mint chocolate chips. You can also get a vanilla or lemon cake mix and add in sprinkles. Try a chocolate cake mix and add in crushed peanut butter cups. There are so many different ways to make these and they are always yummy!
6 Reasons to Choose Experience Gifts Instead of Regular Gifts
Is your holiday shopping complete? I didn’t think so. What gifts have you purchased already? Are you still struggling trying to figure out what to buy your kids or spouse? Let me offer you a little bit of advice. Skip the toys and gadgets, slippers and socks, the generic gift baskets, etc. I mean, think about it for a minute. How many toys do your kids have put up in their rooms and closets that they haven’t touched in months? I am going to guess it’s a lot. Do not spend your hard earned money on stuff that no one is going to enjoy. Instead, I highly recommend experience gifts for presents this year.
If you haven’t given much thought to experience gifts, it is time you started. Here are 6 Reasons to Choose Experience Gifts Instead of Regular Gifts this year.
- Experience gifts are different. People open up random stuff every year, by multiple people for the holidays. Of course we appreciate these gifts, but do we love them? Not necessarily.
- It’s exciting. Opening up a gift to find that experience and adventure awaits is very, very exciting. Maybe it’s something that you have never done and have always wanted to. Maybe it’s something you have already been thinking about doing. Or, maybe it’s something that you have never heard of. Either way, all of these options are great because they mean you get to adventure!
- Experience gifts are more personal. Let’s say you are looking for gifts for your friend who loves basketball. Which of these would make a better gift for that friend? 1. A bath themed gift basket or tickets to an upcoming game for the local professional or college team? I assure you, the answer is the tickets.
- They are quite affordable. As it turns out, there are lots of experience gifts that you can buy that are quite affordable. Check Groupon and other similar sites, you might find that an experience gift is considerably cheaper than you thought.
- Experience gifts mean memories are being made. How long is that bath gift basket going to last? Whereas memories can last a lifetime and that’s what you are doing with experience gifts. Making memories.
Experience gifts give you a reason to spend time together. I know you are tempted to buy your kids the latest and greatest stuff, but why not spend that money on a family vacation? Think of all the time you can spend together as a family. I love spending time with my family so that is definitely my favorite part.
Fun Games to Play with Your Family this Holiday Season
The holidays are here and the family is together! Having fun yet? If you want to have a ton of fun with your family this year, let’s have a game night! I know how it goes with family gatherings that happen once a year. Awkward re-introductions quickly run out of small talk. Games can do a lot for opening up lines of communication and bringing out smiles.
Here are some of our favorite games to play during holiday family gatherings:
Pictionary – You don’t need to be picasso to play this fun drawing game. Truth be told, pictionary and it’s hilariously bad drawings have been the source of hours of laughter for myself and my family I am a terrible artist, but boy am I happy to draw pictures for this game.
Cards Against Humanity – This one isn’t a kid friendly game, but boy can it bring about tons of laughter for the adults!
Apples to Apples – Apples to Apples is hands down my favorite game ever to play on game night with my family.
Bingo – Bingo is so much fun! The whole family can have a ton of fun playing Bingo. Make sure you tell Grandma about the game, because if she is anything like my grandma she won’t want to miss it!
Charades – Acting out phrases to try and get your teammates to guess the phrase is so much fun your whole crew will be in stitches. It’s so much fun!
Do you do game nights during the holiday season? Do you think your family members would be up for game night? My husband is not a fan of game nights for some reason. That said, he actually really enjoys game nights during the holidays.
If you already do game nights with the family during the holidays, what is your favorite game?
Reduce Your Mom Stress With These 5 Tips
I love being a mom. My kids and I have so much fun together. However, being a mom is also super stressful and exhausting. There are a lot of different things you can do to help relieve that stress. I’ve narrowed it down to 5. If I do these things regularly I can simply enjoy being a mom.
- Find an outlet for your energy. Exercise like swimming, walking, aerobic classes, or strength training. Just being outside for small moments can help too. Sometimes we put all of our frustration and worries into our bodies and minds and we don’t release it. Exercising in a variety of forms will help release that pent up negative energy. I can feel I have more patience when I have exercised that morning. Try it.
- Plan regular girls night out activities. This is an absolute must. Most women don’t think about this or plan them as often as they should. Women need to talk with women. Whenever I get with my girl friends I feel so much better after. Talk about your worries, your triumphs, laugh and smile. This can be as easy as a play date with your kids at the park, or plan a night without kids and find a new place to eat. Having solo time with out kids is so beneficial. Even short girls trips are so much fun. I’m a better mom when I have those little nights out and away from the kids.
- Relax your body. Take a good time out for yourself. I’ve recently joined a massage club and I absolutely love it. I can feel my body and mind relax and tension disappears. If that’s not in your budget, then find time to meditate when it’s quiet. Take a nice warm bath with scented candles, go on a walk outside or just find a place to sit with the sun shining on your face. This relaxation time will help relieve some stress.
- Get organized. If I’m not organized, then my stress level is definitely higher. Each week find a day that works for you to plan out the rest of the week. Plan your activities, meals, sporting events, carpools, laundry days, even play dates or girls night out. Get your week planned and prepared. That way your mind has a lot less questions to think about during the week. If you don’t carpool, then definitely think about it and find a way to do it. We need each other and that is a great way to help relieve some stress. Lately, we have been doing a 10 minute clean up before bed. Turn on your timer and some music and have each person responsible for one area of the house. Get that area cleaned and organized. It’s amazing what can be done in 10 minutes. Then in the morning, you can start your day out right with a clean house.
- Do something fun. How often do you smile? laugh? As moms we tend to put our time and energy into our kids. It’s that time of life. However, we do need to have fun as well. Having fun vacations planned with the family or going to a fun sporting event helps me step out of my normal routine, which is so needed. I love going on date nights with my husband. Try inviting new couples to join you. Sometimes we forget that we need friends too.
Keto Dinners to Start out the New Year Right
Are you planning on making a lifestyle change in 2020? Is part of that lifestyle change looking to be going keto? Keto has been making a splash in the diet and health world over the last couple of years. Keto has been being used for diet, for health reasons and much more.
Have you tried keto before? If you are thinking about trying again or for the first time make sure that you have plenty of good recipes on hand to keep from getting burned out on the same old stuff. The keto diet is like any other and if you just have the same thing over and over again, you will get tired of it. That’s why recipes like the ones I have listed below are so important to keep on hand. The more yummy, keto friendly recipes you have on hand, the less likely you are to cheat on your diet.
Keto Dinners to Start out the New Year Right
Keto BBQ Chicken and Cheese Casserole
Who else loves BBQ? It is literally just so good you’ll have a hard time saving any for leftovers.
You know, I actually ate a version of this quite a bit as a child, but no one knew the benefits of keto back then and it was just simply another meal in my mom’s list that she made.
Does anyone else love stir fry as much as I do? I especially love enjoying a delicious keto meal and knowing that it fits in my eating plan. YUM!
If you are looking for a super quick keto dinner option, this is it! This Keto Chicken Quesadilla is going to be a hit with the whole family. Even those who aren’t keto love this recipe.
Have you had success with a keto lifestyle? Tell us about it! What have you loved? What was more difficult?
Cute Christmas Wreaths that You can Make
Have you started decorating for Christmas yet? We are just a few short weeks away and it’s time to get your festive decor up to brighten up your home and surroundings. I don’t know about you, but I love to decorate my house with homemade goodies and pieces. That’s why I decided to look around for an awesome DIY Christmas Wreath to make.
Cute Christmas Wreaths that You can Make
This Christmas Wreath Snowman is just so cute, I know I will want to show this one off. I wonder if I could do a Pinterest worthy job?
This DIY Christmas ornament wreath looks super simple and can be made on a really low budget! What do you think of this one?
If you are anything like me, you have a lot of coffee filters at home. I mean…I love coffee so I always have a bunch of filters in my pantry. Plus, coffee filters are so so cheap! This is a budget friendly Christmas decor craft.
Let’s say you want to create a gift instead of a decor craft? Let’s make this Lottery Ticket Wreath. I honestly love to buy lottery tickets for gifts anyway because I think that they are a fantastic gift idea. Think about it like this. Lottery scratch tickets can be bought for as little as $1, but boy oh boy they could turn into a great gift! I was given a lottery ticket as a gift once and actually won $50 so I was excited! I don’t normally buy lottery tickets so I was extra excited. Wouldn’t you like to be the one that gave that gift?
Have you ever created a DIY wreath before? Tell us about it!
25 Family Holiday Activities on a Budget
This a great time of year to spend time with family and friends. There are so many fun events and traditions to do during the month of December and you really don’t need to spend a lot of money on them. We love doing something every day in the month of December to get us in the Christmas spirit. Here are 25 activities that won’t cost you lot of money and will help you get ready for Christmas.
- Find a new sledding hill
- Host a “Favorite Things” party
- Decorate your home inside and outside with lights and decor
- Read a Christmas story and snuggle
- Find a family in need and drop off a Christmas goodie
- Go caroling around your neighborhood or to a care center
- Write Christmas cards to family members who live far away
- Make homemade ornaments for the tree
- Buy a favorite cereal, wrap it up, place it under the tree. In the morning have the kids open the boxes and eat their favorite cereal
- Make a gingerbread house. Make it extra special by inviting a neighbor over to help
- Family drive in search of Christmas lights
- Shovel driveways for your neighbors
- Make snowflakes out of paper and put them around the house
- Make sugar cookies and deliver to neighbors
- Host a “Polar Express” night where friends come in pjs, you watch the movie and have hot chocolate and popcorn
- Shop for presents for siblings or cousins
- Go visit Santa at a new location
- Watch a new holiday movie
- Attend a local Christmas party, tree lighting, or holiday parade
- Donate a toy(s) to a local shelter or family that may be in need
- Build a snowman and make a snow angel
- Attend a Christmas church service
- Make and wear an ugly sweater
- Have a snowball fight
- Read Luke 2 in the Bible and act out the Christmas story
How to prepare yourself for new traditions in 2020
Are you planning to set New Year’s Resolutions this year? Do you typically set resolutions? Are you successful with them? I know many of us try and fail to keep resolutions. This really isn’t our fault. We are not less than because we couldn’t accomplish it. It’s just so freaking hard sometimes.
How about we make it a resolution to succeed at our resolutions this year? Are you ready?
How to prepare yourself for new traditions in 2020
Take care of yourself
First and foremost, you absolutely must take care of yourself! When you are not feeling well either mentally or physically, it becomes much, much easier to give up on your goals. When you are feeling under the weather, or you are not at the top of your mental health game, it is much more difficult to be motivated to change anything.
Don’t set the bar too high
Look, you can do anything you want. ANYTHING. I am a firm believer in that. That said, make sure the goals you set for yourself are realistic and won’t cause you to become overwhelmed. When you feel overwhelmed it is much easier to give up. We don’t want to give up, right?
Set incremental goals
Okay say that you are setting a goal to save an extra $1000 by the end of the year. Start small. Break this goal up into many, smaller goals. Those are easier to accomplish and since you can accomplish them easier, you will be more motivated to keep pushing on.
Reward yourself
Once you have reached your smaller goals, be sure to reward yourself. Giving yourself small rewards is a great way to keep motivated to stick to your goals and keep on!
For those who have succeeded at reaching their New Year’s Resolution goals, how did you do it? What tips would you share with others trying to do the same?