Christmas in a downturn

This year Christmas is going to be full of family and full of gifts from the family, but not so many from Jeff and I. frankly the kids have too much anyway, and we have been blessed with very generous family. So Jeff and i have gotten the kids a skateboard and "scooter" for D and K respectivly and a set of books to share. Other than some Christmas Stocking fillers and some pre-Christmas clothing to wear on Christmas, I think maybe only some new pyjammas for both and that's it. Jeff is getting one gift from me, one that I think he will really like, and one gift for our anniversary. I don't expect much from him for either holiday either. WHile I have a few dreams, including an antique buffet, this is just not the year for it. We are spending our "Christmas" gift by taking the family away for a vacation to Kota Kinabalu.

The best tradition we started was for the kids to purge toys prior to Christmas. This year we sent 4 boxes of Toys, Old Yarn from a failed business idea, and general accumulation of stuff to Salvation Army. I have another 2 closets of stuff to purge, the last of the baby stuff as this 42 year old is really not likely to have any more kids. It really feels good to know that in this time of personal finance cut backs for our family, we can still donate to Charity. In terms of things we need and or will purchase over the next few months, once the inlaws leave I see our shopping coming to an absolute stop.

As for my stocking up on food, I am purchasing items that are only available this time of year. We just purchased three turkeys and put them in the freezer. We also stocked up on 4 cans of pumpkin so I can make Pumpkin pie at Christmas (and then perhaps later). Bonnie and Jeff are making us a huge batch of Pork Posole, The recipe serves 16, so we should have enough to freeze 4 or 5 more meals (and thanks to J&B for paying for all that pork!)! My goal is to have a "larder" full before Jeff is finished with his job in February, filled with healthy foods we eat in order to reduce our food costs even further. The dining out will also significantly be scaled back as Jeff will be "working" from home, but then he has a few ideas/dreams that may cost us a bit in the food budget.

So, anyway, back to work for another week before our trip to KK, I will post pictures of Kota Kinabalu on my other blog as they happen~

Seven Things

I am coming late to this party, but I love this idea. Giving away or clearing our house of 7 things a week. This really fits with my overall goals for the year, so I will give it a shot.

I have already signed up for Freecycle, I regularly give away to the Salvation Army here, and I am a champ at recycling... so now, it is a perfect seague into my comming year.

So, here are the basic priniciples from the seven things project. The below is cribbed from her site and is my own modifications.

She started on 7/7/06. Since I am joining late, I intend to get rid of 7 things a week until the project ends on 7.7.07.

The guidelines: I will sell, donate, give away, or recycle seven things every week.

Every Saturday, I will post the Saturday Seven, list of the seven things I got rid of that week (along with pictures when I can) and an explanation of how long I've had these things, why I continued to hold them and where they went.


So, I am making my stack of Seven things for tomorrow!