Gift Thrift

Day 6

The thrift store is a great place to get rid of things you don't need anymore and it's also a great place to find great deals on things you do need. At one of our local thrift stores, you can always find multiple shelves of glass items for super cheap. Candle holders, vases, wine glasses, bowls, etc. are plentiful. There are also many, many baskets and other items that could be freshened up with a quick spray painting and look like a million bucks. Take for example an ugly picture in a nice looking but tacky colored frame. Spray paint and something new inside can transform it.

At our local store there are also loads of books. Children's books were 3 for $1. I bought a large stack of books, some in brand new condition just the other day. One was a big hardcover Disney Peter Pan book, still just 33 cents!

For more info and tips about thrifting check out http://thethriftychicks.blogspot.com.

Deck the Halls and Donate the Rest

Day 5

Preparing to move in the next year has made this a bit easier for me, but lately we've been happy to get rid of excess stuff. Getting out the Christmas decorations and putting them up has been a time to evaluate what stuff really ought to go. Stuff that hasn't gone up in the past couple of years, things that I just don't like that much anymore, and stuff that I don't know what to do with are all going to be going to charity. Stuff that was broken (along with excess boxes and packaging) went in the trash (or recycling). I get calls from a few different organizations that pick up donations and I try to always say yes to a pick up. It's a good motivator to declutter. My excess Christmas decor is going to one of these charities next week. Now is a good time to donate, so someone else can enjoy it this Christmas season.

Another great thing to donate right now is gently used toys, books, and well really anything that might make a great present for someone else. Do it now, help someone else out, clear some space before the influx of Christmas gifts, and get some last minute charitable contributioning for those 2010 taxes.*

*yeah, I'm no expert, you'll have to check with someone who really knows about taxes to see what sorts of things you can deduct and all the details of that.

Makin' a List

Day 4

One thing that has helped us the past couple of years is making a list of what we'd like to do during the Christmas season at the beginning of December or earlier. We ask the kids, we make suggestions, and we write it down. Next we grab the calendar and plan out when we can do those things. If you wait until the middle of December, it might just be too late.

This is also a good idea if there are certain Christmas movies that you want to watch on TV. This is becoming less of an issue though with the internet, cable, and netflix.

My Christmas Lights Secret

Day 3

I've been putting up Christmas lights since I was a kid. Taping Christmas lights up into a cold window is a huge pain in the butt. For so long I wished there was a simpler way. One year I found some sticky clips at Walmart. They were only so so at staying up and then they stuck out so far, that I had to take them all down to be able to open and close the windows. Finally, 3M made command light clips. They are awesome. Just follow the directions (that is important if you want it to work right). Wipe the surface you're attaching them to with rubbing alcohol. Let it dry and then press the thing on for as long as it says to (like 30 sec I think). Then just leave it for the amount of time it says (I think it's min 2hrs) before using them. I put these guys up in the windows two years ago and just left them. They're clear, so they're not very noticeable and they're small enough that I can still open and close the windows without any problems. This is now the third season I'm using them. It's made putting up the lights in the windows super fast. Only one or two of them have come down (in two years!) and had to be replaced. I don't know that they're meant to stay up so long, but the ones that came down didn't have any problem. We have vinyl windows as well, so I don't know how well it does on wood or metal.

The other thing that helps is having a pattern to follow. For my windows one set of 100 does the trick. I start in the bottom right corner, go straight up to the top, across the top, down half way, back to the right across the top of the sash, back to the left along the bottom of the sash, down the bottom half of the left side, and then back across the bottom to where I started.

Kid Safe Ornament Hangers

Day 2

I came up with this idea a couple of years ago when the kiddos were smaller. Instead of dangerous metal ornament hangers, use twist ties instead. I don't know that's is necessarily safer if a kid was to ingest one per se, but it's a lot harder to get an ornament off when you twist tie it onto the Christmas tree. At first I used whatever random twist ties we had around the kitchen junk drawer. Then I realized that the plethora of clear plastic covered twist ties that take forever to remove from your kids toys could be used instead (they're a bit nicer looking than the ones that come in boxes of trash bags or on bread). They're usually quite large too so you could cut them (all you need is a regular pair of scissors) and get a few from one twist tie.

Another option would be to use some pretty, thin ribbon

(you could get all fancy with coordinating colors or something). But that costs far more than free stuff you were probably going to throw out anyway.

Cheap Christmas Tree + Garland = Lovely

Day 1

We got a Christmas tree free after rebate a couple of years ago. It was a decent height and prelit with white lights. But it was a bit sparse. I bought some garland at Michael's that is similar looking to the tree branches and added it to the gap areas. Someone asked me once if it was a real tree.

Count Down to Christmas Posts

Now through Christmas, I plan to do a post a day on ideas related to Christmas.