Christmas on a Budget

Finals Week is here which means after Friday I am FREE of school stress until spring! Granted life stress still exists but one less thing to worry about right. I planned on having a fun little post about budget friendly Christmas shopping but I completely blew my Christmas budget out of the water this year. You see I LOVE getting gifts for people. Especially if I feel like it is a perfect fit gift or just something they would really like. Some people will either do a lot of little gifts or one BIG gift. I tried that...failed! I started doing the little gifts but then it just seemed like a bunch of "cheap" little gifts. So I decided how about one BIG gift...I hate just giving someone ONE item for Christmas. Now I understand Christmas isn't about the gifts but I can't help it I love giving gifts! Anyway, I came to the conclusion to do one big gift and two sub gifts for each family member. Sounds reasonable right? Well when you have a large family that idea flies out the window. SIX in-laws to buy for and that is before I by Sugar Bear anything. Needless to say I probably need help but I don't regret it. As long as everyone likes everything it is totally worth it to me! If you are like me however, and have a slight spending problem especially at Christmas then here are a few tips to help keep your budget down a little lower.

Important people first

Buy for your major important relatives first. In-laws, parents, and siblings, etc. Keep it to immediate family. I know you want to buy stuff for friends but unless they are like the super close friends that are basically relatives (I have one of those) don't buy them stuff...YET!

Pick a low ball number

Don't start your budget off at its max. Pick a number lower than your actual budget because then when you over spend you will still technically be within budget. For instance...if you can afford $50 per person then set  $25-45 limit. Then you will already be looking for lower priced items and when you find the perfect gift that is a little over your $45 limit you still won't max yourself out. DO NOT use your low ball number as an excuse to spend more. It is only for the perfect gift items.

Simple and Sweet

You don't need anything extravagant. Go for the sentimental angle. Even if it isn't expensive if it is something special it still carries the meaning behind the gift.

Buying for friends

Honestly keep it simple. Gift cards to their favorite restaurant, a little décor item for the house. If your friends are married they honestly just want to pay their bills for Christmas so give them money. They can either buy something or use it for bills. It doesn't have to be a lot depending on how close they are I'd say between $20-50. They are friends, you love them, but trust me they will understand if you are on a budget.

Don't stress

The holidays are supposed to be a time of joyfulness. How does that work if you're stressing over what to give people and how much money is going out and on and on and on. When all is said and done it is all about family and friends and focusing on the reason for the season!

Hope some of these ideas helped or at least made you feel less alone in the Christmas spending department. What are your major downfalls at Christmas time? are you a gift buyer or creator? Leave a comment below and don't forget to follow me or subscribe to get emails sent straight to your inbox!

Christmas is Coming!

One holiday down one more to go! It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas at my house. We've got the tree up and little decorations starting to pop up around the living room. Since our space is limited I am trying to keep it simple. However, that isn't going to prevent me from decking the halls. I am finding the easiest way to decorate when you have limited space is to us little things like tiny ornaments that you can stick between things to add a touch décor (see picture below). I am also trying to take advantage of wall space. If you are able to try hang stuff it makes it easy because you can use any blank space you have then put something festive but simple. Don't over crowd your space and make it look cluttered though. Ry-bear and I are hoping to finish our Christmas decorating this week so I will put up more pictures when we have it all done but here are a few of what we've accomplished so far. What are your Christmas decorating tricks for small spaces? Feel free to leave pictures in the comments with your holiday décor!

See the little Christmas balls? I am going to add some lights or garland to the bottom half as well since it is so vacant looking.

Tape looks kind of ugly but I used what I had on hand :P lol

You can do this over ANY window. I have a second curtain rod I put it on but you can do it without the curtain rod as well. Just tape it over the window sill where you can't see it.

 The Christmas tree and finished product (well on that half the room anyway). More pictures to come say tuned.

Navigating the holidays

     The holidays! so much excitement, so much fun, so much anxiety, so much stress. Holidays are amazing, however, when it comes to holidays with in laws it can go from thrilling to terrifying in point five seconds. You've got the wife's parents, the husbands parents, and all the siblings of each family trying to coordinate so most of the family members in each respective family is present. It can be a delicate balancing act when you are newly wed to figure out how the holidays should work. You want to start your own holiday traditions but you still want to keep extended family involved as well. How on earth do you make it all work? Every family is different. Depending on how far away you live from family, how big the family is, and how much both sides like or dislike one another there are a few options for sorting out the holiday season. If you are fortunate enough to have both sides of the family actually enjoy spending time together then use it to your advantage. Alternate between parents houses with both sides being invited. Or have the holidays at your house and have each side come there instead. If your families don't exactly get along or live to far away to make that work the best idea is to alternate. One year with your family, one year with his. Simple!

     The real question though is when do you start letting yourself have the holidays at your house? When is the "right time" to stop going to the in laws or the parents and start your own holiday traditions? The thing is there really is no "right time." It all depends on your personal family dynamics. If you have a fairly flexible family the easiest solution is to set up alternation (yes I know I've used that word like 12 times already). You can do this with both sides. If you have several siblings and you all want the holidays at your house roll dice, draw straws, pick a number between 1and 10 and take turns each year hosting the holidays. Or take turns with the holidays. Easter at sibling 1, Thanksgiving at sibling 2, Christmas at parents, etc.

     Understand that it is okay to say no. You are allowed to tell your mother-in-law, your parents, your sister etc. that you won't be coming to "insert holiday here." Yes they may get grumpy about it but guess what they will get over it. Honestly most of them will probably understand. You're allowed to say you're not coming so you can have thanksgiving at your own house, or if you have kids with you children. You are not some evil person for wanting to start holiday traditions at your own home. I am a big family gatherings person so for me I want to have every member of the family I can find included. However, I also want to start traditions in my own home, especially once I have kids. This means that at some point in the future I will have to either ask the extended family to come to my house or tell them that we will come by for a visit but we won't be able to stay long. As a newly wed wife you want to show off your holiday flare and start kindling family traditions that your kids will carry on with them into their future. Spending time with family is always important but you are allowed to have your little family unit. We currently live with my in-laws (separate area connected by the garage). I personally enjoy it because it keeps the family close while giving us a little space to have as "ours." Yes of course it makes certain things difficult to navigate but overall I thoroughly enjoy it. I am not saying I don't look forward to having my own home someday when we are in the position to make it happen, but until then I actually really love living with them. Honestly when I think about moving I get really sad because they have become such an integrated part of our lives. Anyway I digress. Point is navigating the holidays can be daunting depending on if you have a hyper-controlling family/in-laws or if you just aren't sure how to maneuver around all the family members. It is really just important to remember to breath and ultimately enjoy the holidays. Even if it isn't working out quite how you imagined it would or should. Enjoy time with family and make the most out of it. Talk to your husband about what you both want to do for the holiday season and work together to make it happen. If all else falls, eat some pie, drink some eggnog, laugh a lot and breath because their is always next year!  

A Little Touch of Fall

So fun fact not only has Thanksgiving become such an under celebrated holiday that you can barely find a store with any thanksgiving stuff in it, now when you do find a store everything is already on sale! I am both happy and disturbed at this. Happy cause hello I just got stuff even cheaper but disturbed because how can it be such a glanced over holiday! I mean I get that it is football season but I should at least be able to find something other than paper plates with turkey on them. On to the fun stuff! So I have finally started redoing my living room. I stayed up a few nights ago to clean the room and move some stuff around so I can have room for the Christmas tree. In an effort to start a tradition I will be putting the Christmas tree up November 25th. Yes I am that person. But first lets focus on Thanksgiving! I am so excited for this holiday and I am hoping I can get the house in order so maybe I can start forming some form of holiday tradition. If you are wondering why I am behind in my decorating and house organizing it is because we were supposed to be in our house by early to mid November. Unfortunately, we have hit some snags in the property we bought, mainly the people who sold it to us didn't disclose that you couldn't put septic on it due to an easement for the water treatment plant across the street. So our housing endeavors have been put on hold which is why I am determined to make the space I have work and make it functional. Moving on! First things first I got new curtains. Not expensive because hello budget! but I have been wanting something different for a while so I finally spent the $20 to get curtains. I took the curtains I had in my bedroom and put them in the living area...it already looks so much better. I also moved the 5 gallon fish tank which really opened up the door way space...granted a tree is going there soon but hey we do what we have to do for Christmas right! Now as of right now I am still in the designing portion of the decorating phase. I am thinking of moving my recliner into the bedroom and putting the desk in the living room. However, as of right now I think I am keeping everything as is. So now I can start decorating for the holiday season. The easiest way to decorate for the holidays without breaking the budget is to keep it simple. I went to Hobby Lobby last night and purchased a Thanksgiving cross (it is so cute), a box of 13 glittery pumpkins (I like glitter), a bag of fabric leaves,, and a thing of ribbon. All of it WAY over priced of course because it is hobby lobby BUT EVERYTHING was half off so I got it all for just under $25...Still expensive but since I didn't have anything it was necessary. Now I can just start adding to what I already have each year.

So below are pictures of my simple yet still budget friendly purchases and some before and afters of the living room.

First up what I got!

 

 

                                        

 

Before (I will admit I did clean up before I took pictures)

After! Like I said SIMPLE but still decorative ^_^

Before (The 5 gallon fish tank used to sit on the other side of the TV)

After! (Love little glitter pumpkins, I want to get some foliage as well still)

 Before

After!

The ribbon I haven't used yet because I wanted to do a bow for the door but I forgot I don't know how to make a bow. Point is no this isn't the most over the top perfectly decorated home that just screams I love the holidays. However, for the space, time and budget I currently have it lets me have a little taste of fall décor. That's as far as I have gotten so far but there will be more décor and cleaning organizing tips to come so stay tuned and don't forget to subscribe and follow me to get these little things right in you inbox!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy November ^_^

Happy November! I am so excited for the holidays. Thanksgiving is my all-time favorite holiday followed just barely underneath it with Christmas. I love thanksgiving because it is the one holiday that to me hasn’t been ruined by retail marketing (obviously considering it just gets skipped over 90% of the time). Seriously though I love Thanksgiving. Pumpkin pie and turkey, hot coco, cold weather (or barely cooler if you live in texas), families gathering together to eat and talk and enjoy each other’s company, football! I am one of those, go all out decorate and host a party kind of people. I remember when I was little thinking about all the things I would do during the holidays when I got married. Although my plans didn’t quite work out as I planned (His family isn’t big into holidays and mine is out of the picture) I am still looking forward to when we are finally in our own place and I can really get into the holiday season. My project for the next few weeks is going to be to get our little house all decked out for the holiday season. However, I am working on a baby budget (I’m talking infancy here) and a small space with way to much clutter. If this sounds like you then stay tuned for how to plan for the holidays on a tight budget and limited space. To give you a better idea of what kind of space I am working with we have aprox. 600sq. ft. and it is two mirrored bedroom/bathrooms connected by a hallway with a door leading to the back yard in one of them. So we’ve basically turned one of the bedrooms into our living room (the one with the door to the outside) and it’s connecting bathroom is our “kitchen.” We use the hallway as an extension of kitchen which then leads into our master bedroom. So basically a one bedroom/bathroom house. Honestly I have no complaints! It is a lovely little setup. The only noticeable shortcoming is lack of a kitchen but we make it work.

 Anyway, if you would like to join me in my decluttering/decorating extravaganza then stay tuned. As for now if you are joining me on this adventure then lets start with a room. I am starting with my living room because the only way I am getting a Christmas tree in there is if I move a LOT of stuff around.

First, pick a section of your home to start with and make a plan. Start with the obvious simple stuff, pick up the trash and if there is clutter that shouldn’t be there move it. If it has a home, put it away. If not then pick an area (preferably the last place you plan to deal with) and turn it into your “pile.” This is where all the stuff that you don’t know what to do with will go…we will return to this towards the end of our adventure.

After all the obvious trash and clutter is gone next you need to start deciding what to keep and what needs to go away. Get a bin or box and some wrapping paper (if you have breakable stuff) and start going through your room and deciding if stuff needs to stay or go. Once this is done there will be a lot more space for holiday decorations.

 Now I don’t know about you but I have three MAJOR obstacles in my living room that need to be moved. I have a five gallon and ten gallon fish tank and a recliner in the corner where my tree went last year. Obviously these items can’t just be “stored” until later. So I am going to have to do some serious reworking to make stuff fit…or get one of those “night stand” Christmas trees (that is so not happening). So if you have any major obstacles identify them now so you can start redecorating to accommodate those items.

If you have followed me this far then you are well on your way to decorating and decluttering your home on a budget. With work, some family drama, school and finals week only a month away it promises to be a busy next few months. Life goals is to have Thanksgiving decorations up by Nov. 1^st but since I have clearly missed that deadline I am going to try to get everything done by the 15^th. Subscribe and follow me to get these décor tips sent straight to your email. Leave a comment with your ideas for decorating on a budget or send me an email for questions or suggestions (vintagegirl112212@gmail.com) I will try to answer as many as I can. Stay tuned, and pictures are coming soon!