I have to admit that when it comes to the holidays, I am a procrastinator. It’s the only time of year, and the only area in my life, where I just can’t seem to get a head start. Part of this is due to my own internal struggle with shopping: I really dislike it. Over the past couple of years my husband and I have narrowed down our gift giving to only immediate family and simplified our gifts by purchasing one family gift for the adults, like an Omaha Steak food sampler. This kind of gift also saves us time since we don’t have to lug a huge box to the post office ourselves, we just place the order online and it gets delivered. But we still feel obligated to purchase a gift  for our nieces and nephew. This year, we have vowed to only buy one gift for each, instead of 3 to 5 per child. (My husband gets this excessive gift giving from his mother and his sister – they go crazy with the quantity of gifts per person!)

Canvas Bags Make Great Gift Wrap!

Since we will still be purchasing gifts this year that we have to wrap and mailed, we’ve decided we want to become more eco-conscious with wrapping the gifts we send. A few years ago, while visiting my sister-in-law over Christmas, my husband and I noticed the 4 large trash bags full of torn wrapping paper following the gift opening extravaganza. Because my husband’s family is so excessive with their gifts, the amount of trash was ridiculous! Much of the wrapping paper that got thrown away couldn’t be recycled or burned because of the coating on the paper. So, my husband and I have come up with some alternatives to reuse stuff we have, and are more environmentally friendly to boot:

• Use a canvas bag to wrap the gift. This January in Los Angeles, retailers will begin charging shoppers a carbon tax on plastic bags. Might as well help out a  family member by giving them a  canvas bags now!
• Put a small gift in a mason jar. I recently wrote a post about how I’m making drinks in mason jars for co-workers. Mason jars are terrific for crafts, gifts, pencil holders and the like.
• Use the copious amounts of junk mail to wrap gifts. We’ve been inundated with a ton of junk mail everyday. My husband is on a mission to reduce our mail by getting us off vendor’s lists. But, until that happens, I might be able to use some of that wasteful paper in more useful ways, like gift wrapping.
• Use the funnies from the newspaper to wrap gifts. News print decomposes easily and is made from mostly recycled paper anyway. Show your family that you are learning to live frugally by using it as wrapping paper. (This might send a message to family members who just don’t get it yet!)

These are just a few ideas for reusable gift wrap. If you have other alternative wrapping ideas, please let me know!

My first memory of a glass mason jar was my mom preparing and canning apricot jam from the apricots that grew on our backyard tree. I vividly remember her boiling the small mason  jars and lids, preparing the apricot jam, then glueing labels on the jars to give to friends and family. She would purchase the mason jars in cases of 24. That memory sticks with me because it was an annual event that revolved around our apricot tree.

Within the last year or so, my husband and I have become very eco-conscious. We reuse as many items as we can, recycle, and compost our kitchen scraps. Within this awareness that has evolved over time, we noticed that some of our spaghetti sauce jars are Atlas Mason jars, the 24 oz size. Once the label is peeled off and the jar is cleaned, we discovered a ton of uses for these nifty, clear, glass jars. Here are some creative ways to reuse them:

• Drinking glasses. Years ago, at a BBQ restaurant, I remember being served iced tea in a glass mason jar. I really liked the concept then, and I use my mason jars for drinking glasses now. My husband also mentioned that a bar he used to visit served Bloody Mary’s in mason jars because it will hold a lot of ice and the tall celery stick!
• Gift jars. Since we are practicing frugal gift giving this year, way beyond what we have practiced in the past. So, I am creating mason jar gifts from recipes I have found online.
• Pencil holder. The weight of the larger mason jars is perfect for large quantities of pens and pencils, it won’t tip over.
• Spool of twine or ribbon holder. I had to purchase mason jar Ball lids to complete my gift ideas. If you puncture a hole in the top of the thin, aluminum lid, you can push thread through the hole and use it to dispense twine or ribbon.
• Spare coin bank. I dump the contents of my purse out about every two weeks, and lo and behold there is, on average, a ton of change at the bottom that rolls out. Mason jars make a great piggy bank for loose coins.
• Fish Bowl (the large mason jars only). Most fish need an actual aquarium with a pump, but there are some fish that can live in simple fish bowls, like the Beta. These are the colorful fish you find at pet stores in small cups. Our third beta, Gil, recently passed away, he was almost 4 years old. He lived a happy life in a simple fish bowl.
• Building material. I’ve posted about this before, but there are some up and coming architects, like Phoenix Commotion, that use old glass jars and bottles to create alternatives for windows and walls. Just think, if the bottom of the mason jar was facing the outside of the structure, you could use the inside area as containers to hold things like your mail!
• Container for just about anything.

I’m sure there are thousands of other uses for mason jars, but these are the ones that come to mind at the moment. Do you have any creative ways you’ve used mason jars?

P.S. I found this article that lists a lot more ideas for Mason Jars, and they are a 125 year-old item! click here.

I try to write about things that personally affect me, so that I can comment from a first-person point of view. I’m not at the point where I feel I can give financial advice, so I write about more personal events related to my own financial world. And yet sometimes, I feel like I’m just regurgitating someone else’s post. For instance, I love reading GetRichSlowly.org (GRS). I find that, out of many of J.D’s  topics, I can relate to most of them, which may be one of the reasons I sometimes feel I am using these ideas to fuel my own ideas for topics. Then, as I browse some of my other favorite blogs, I find a similar theme running through them.  My guess is that either all of the bloggers I read relate to a singular issue that week or day, or we are all inspired by each other’s post and want to put our own spin on that particular topic of the moment.

The reason I bring this up, is that over the past couple of weeks, some recurring themes have popped up that I can personally relate to. Perhaps it’s the crappy economy that is creating this bubble of  similarities in lives of people I know or my own. Here are a few topics that I’ve read about lately on more than one blog, some are really well written, so if you don’t mind reading about a topic more than once, click away:

• Friend’s marriages disintegrating before my very own eyes: GRS recently wrote a post about this from a “what you should do before getting married” approach. On a personal level, my husband’s very old friend, dating back to the 7th grade, and his wife are having serious marital issues, mostly revolving around debt. To be honest, they have always had a rocky relationship. But this economy is pushing them over the edge and making them confront some of their problems. My husband fears they are heading toward the ultimate demise: divorce. It’s hard for us to clearly see this for them or any other couple, and we don’t wish this upon them and their adorable daughter. However, it doesn’t look good at this moment.
• Frugal gift ideas: Okay, this may seem like a no-brainer for finance blogs with holidays approaching: ways to save on gifts. I penned an article I hope to see published on Wisebread that discusses, in detail, how to save money on gifts and decorations. Lately, these ideas are all over financial blogs. I hope my article doesn’t get cut or published too late, all my ideas will  have already been spewn throughout the blog world!
• The Dave Ramsey approach to paying off debt: Paying off debt is a copious topic that can be taken from a multitude of approaches. However, I’ve lately been seeing a lot of articles talking about a Dave Ramsey approach to paying off debt: pay off the small card balances first, then focus on the huge, scary ones. Being a newbie to blogging, I only recently found out who Dave Ramsey is. So my next question is, did he just have another book published? Is this why he is hot all over the personal finance blogosphere?
• Fun and inexpensive things to do: First, I read a post on GRS, that lead me to write my own post with some ideas I felt I needed to add. Then, I saw an article on Wisebread focusing on a specific city listing fun or free things to do. Coincidence? I think not.

These are just a few of the recurring topics, posts, and ideas I’ve read lately, or borrowed and recreated to include my own point of view. I guess I should apologize to anyone who is tired of reading the same story or theme. To borrow a quote about borrowing ideas:

“There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.”
- Mark Twain, a Biography

Easy Halloween Costume - Cowboy Up

Yesterday, our entire staff dressed up in a Cowboy/Cowgirl costume theme for our Halloween Parade. When we all voted on this year’s theme a month ago, the cowboy theme seemed an easy enough costume to scrounge up. However, most of us found that we were missing an item or two to make our costumes complete. Some staff members had items they borrowed from relatives or friends, like a hat or vest. Others, were able to take an old clothing item they had lying around, like a corduroy vest, and make it appear western enough to complete their ensemble. Still others were satisfied to only commit half-way to this year’s theme; boots, a bandanna, and a western-style shirt were good enough in their eyes. And then, there is always that one person who out does everyone else; chaps, hat, sheriff’s badge, and the works. But, that one person isn’t me!

I, too, found that I could borrow only so many items from my husband’s side of the closet to make myself appear cowboy-esk. The boots, much too large for my feet, sufficed for the parade. My husband’s western shirt, many sizes too large as well, also did the job once I tied the dangling bottom portion into a knot. But I was still missing the essential cowboy items: a hat and a cattle-wrestling rope.

To complete my costume, my husband was able to stop by the Home Depot, a few days ago, and purchase a few feet of thick, cattle-wrestling style rope. Too bad I couldn’t figure out how to wrangle the children with it! Then, on our way home from the bank and two days before our parade, we stopped by a thrift store to find a cowboy hat. A straw cowboy-style hat with a thick black cord wrapped around the base worked quite well, especially after we tied my black bandanna around it. The total cost for my Halloween costume: $4.75.

I also passed along the advice of stopping by a Thrift store for a cowboy hat to a friend, and she purchased one similar to mine for $1.00 to complete her outfit.

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Each month, my husband and I save our cans and bottles and turn them into an actual recycling center, instead of just throwing them in our recycle bin. We collect about $25 every four weeks by doing this (it helps that I live in a state that offers a 5 cent redemption on cans and bottles). Paper goods and cardboard, and some shredded paper go in our curb-side recycle bin. I also include boxes, such as cereal boxes,  in this paper goods/cardboard mix.  I know that many cities now offer a curb-side recycling program that makes it easy for most people to recycle, but it got me wondering what the US recycling statistics were compared to other countries.

The first thing I noticed while browsing blogs that posted statistics, is that most items are broken down by type of item, such as paper, aluminum cans, steel cans, cardboard, etc. So, I’ll compare these US statistics first (I couldn’t find the other countries broken down by item ):

• Paper goods: 54%  according to Sustainablog
• Yard Waste: 60% composted according to Green Living
• Aluminum cans: 55% according to BBC News
• Plastic Bottles: 40% according to  BBC News

Now the overall comparison per country:

• United States overall recycling rate is 32% (Benefits of Recycling)
• Europe 27% (I averaged out the percentages based on the BBC News chart – Italy, Greece, England, and Portugal are bringing this total down)
• Europe, minus the countries I listed above that have very low recycle rates, averages out to 37% (slightly higher than the US rate)
• England recycles 17.7% of their waste (BBC News)
• Austria, by far the leader in recycling, recycles 60% of their waste (Environment-Green)
• Greece 10% (BBC News)
• Finland 30% (BBC News)
• Belgium 50% (BBC News)
• Netherlands 47% (BBC News)
• Germany 40% (BBC News)

Recycling

I was surprised that the overall recycle rate of Europe wasn’t much higher, when I threw out the lowest recycle rates, and quite a bit lower when I left them in. My original thought was that they would be higher, like those recycling rates seen in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Austria. I guess that all countries need to strive for a 50% or higher recycle rate, not just the United States.

My very unscientific research also doesn’t examine the total amount of waste each country produces, so it may be misleading to see England only recycling 17% when they may only be producing half the amount of garbage, even if adjusted for the difference in population.

I do know, however, that the less waste we create and the more garbage we recycle will only lead to a healthier, happier environment. Of course, there’s always the option of reusing your garbage. Check out these clever homes made from recycled materials from Phoenix Commotions: click here for the New York Times article.

For the last two years, my husband and I have decorated our house for Halloween at the last minute. We feel a bit of detachment on the house that we rent, and haven’t ever really gotten to know our neighbors well. However,  Halloween is that once a year event in our neighborhood when we actually get to see and greet our neighbors, even if they are disguised in costumes. Usually, the day before or the night of Halloween, we’ll change out our front porch light with a black light, wrap our orange twinkle lights around the porch banister, play spooky music from our bedroom window, and light the path to our front door with luminaries that are die cut with jack-o-lantern faces.

Here is a list of our decorations that are easy to set up in less than 30 minutes and inexpensive as well:

• Luminary bags purchased from the 99-cent store for 99 cents for a pack of 25. Or,  you can cut out the jack-o-lantern faces yourself using brown paper bags. Here is a link to some patterns you can use on either tin cans or paper bags.
• Black light for the front porch, purchased on sale from our local grocery store: $1.99
• Orange twinkle lights, also purchased on sale from the local grocery store: $4.99
• Haunted music on a CD purchased at a local pharmacy (Rite Aid): $5.99
• Tea lights purchased in a 24-count bag from Ikea: $5.99 OR you can purchase the battery operated reusable kind that come in a 10-count container from Bed Bath and Beyond for $10.99 (these are  not as bright, so you may need to put 2 in each bag instead of one real tea light)

Last, but not least, is my husband who dresses up in his leafy-camo suit, purchased from Bass Pro, for $60, mask purchased on sale at Rite Aid for about $18. He lays in the yard and blends in with the leaves on the ground. After the little trick-0r-treater’s have received their candy or pencil and eraser topper (144 count purchased from Oriental Trading Co. for $25.00), my husband jumps up and scares the daylights out of the children and their parents!

My husband, the scary leafy man!

I love my bike, I can’t really stress this enough. Every morning, I ride to Starbucks on my green Raleigh Venture, a comfort bike with collapsible side baskets, over the rear tire, that hold one bag of groceries each. Not only is my ride pleasurable, I’m saving in so many ways.

To begin with, I’m saving the environment. With the wind in my face, I coast the short one-mile distance and feel terrific that I’m not wasting gas or polluting the air for that one-mile coffee run. I try, as much as possible, to ride my bike for any short trip or errand; usually under 2-miles is a no-brainer bike ride. I am also conserving fuel, my husband and I only purchase gas about twice a month. Of course, it helps that one of us works full-time from home and the other (me) loves riding my bike!

Me biking through the park. I love my bike!

Another reason to love biking, it reduces the wear and tear on our one, shared vehicle. I love my Honda Element and want it to last a long time. It’s the vehicle that inspired our love of camping! So, the less we drive, the less maintenance is needed on our car. We also save money on required maintenance by keeping our annual mileage under 14,000 miles.

One of the most recent money saving reasons to love my bike: I didn’t have to purchase a parking permit at the state college I’m attending. Although, it helps that I live in Southern California where we seldom have inclement weather, I can ride up to the building where my class is held and not fight over a parking space, or walk a mile to class. That $300 is money that stays in the bank.

Since I get a lot of cardiovascular exercise by riding my bike, I can forgo a gym membership. I’ve never really liked gyms to begin with, so this was more of an added bonus: firm legs and rear that I can be proud of. Last year I rode so much, I even noticed that my arms were firming up, that wobbly chicken wing-thing was beginning to disappear into a well-toned muscle. Not only am I saving money on exercising, I’m saving money in the long run by staying active and  healthy.

But what really takes the cake is that biking keeps me sane. Meaning, it reduces any stress I might have that day. Whether I have a million things to do and am stressing  because I only accomplished 3, or if I had a rough day teaching small children to read, I can jump on my bike and my thoughts are soon someplace else. Being outside, enjoying nature, biking along at a moderate and comfortable pace keeps my insanity at bay. And that is priceless!

Our annual neighborhood garage sale is coming up next weekend. The older ladies in the neighborhood stopped by the other day with their flyer, as always this time of year, and reminded me that we don’t have to sit out ALL 3 days if we don’t want to. The purpose of the neighborhood sale, I suppose, is to bring high traffic to blocks upon blocks of garage sales, instead of just a house or two that’s usual of the weekends. The first time the ladies stopped by, about 3 years ago, I thought, “Oh, those grannies are so sweet. I won’t be participating though, I don’t have anything to sell.” However, last year changed my train of thought, and I actually participated in this annual event.

Last year we had the opportunity to team up with a neighbor we had befriended and use her lawn, instead of our own, to place our items on an adjoining table. This made sense in our case since we didn’t have the usual garage sale items (clothing, furniture, toys, etc.). Instead, we sold a few electronics we had lying around that hadn’t been used in years. Placing these items amongst hers made the over-all amount of items browse-worthy. My husband, being the entrepreneur that he is, also decided to bump up our revenue by selling cool drinks on a hot day to those roaming the sidewalks.

We did quite well last year, selling a total of $82  considering we didn’ t have many items. My neighbor did alright, more along the low to average rate. I made a mental note that baby clothing is well received, yet adult clothing is passed up. Since the neighborhood has participated in such a sale event throughout the years, I could tell who the ‘pros’ were; they had hundreds of items they had amassed from friends and family and excitedly awaited this day. The true sellers set up the night before with their tarps and tables all ready for 8am Saturday morning.

This year, our neighbor has moved, and we are on our own if we decide to participate. We sold most of our electronic items last year. All we have this year are items we deem “collectible” in tubs in the garage. So the question I’ve been rolling around in my mind is, are collectibles things I would sell in a garage sale, or are they better sold on Ebay? Many of the “collectibles” include hundreds of comic books. These items would sell for pennies at a garage sale, or at least that’s what I’m thinking someone would offer. People browsing garage sales are usually out looking for discounted items, and unassuming people who don’t know what they have, sell items to a purchaser who then sells the item for a higher price on Ebay.

Ronald McDonald Glasses

Other items we have saved in our “collectible bins” are 20 Garfield stuffed animals, 2 dozen Ronald McDonald collectible classes, and many Star Wars items. Browsing Ebay, I would think these items would sell best online. However, an Ebay search showed me other similar auctions without any bids. The Star Wars items are the only promising high-dollar worthy items, and my husband is still kind of attached to his childhood trinkets.

My guess is that this year we will pass up the marathon sale and just browse the neighborhood looking at others “junk”.

Saving money means living frugally, for the most part, and one way my husband and I have been able to do this is by making certain items last longer than expected. We currently live in a consumer world of obsolescence, meaning, things aren’t suppose to last very long. Manufacturers want consumers to wear out certain items and purchase new ones. There is a whole history to this obsolescence story and how it started after World War II. If you’re interested, The Story of Stuff is a great mini-history lesson on manufacturing. But to continue with my story, there are benefits to keeping some items in good condition, those benefits include:

• saving money by not purchasing new items
• saving time by not having to go and replace worn-out items
• not contributing to consumerism (or at least reducing your own consumption)
• decreasing the amount of waste produced

Some items my husband and I own are easy to preserve, and keeping them functioning well doesn’t take much of our time. For instance, furniture is one easy to care for item. Most pieces of furniture are meant to last a long time to begin with, as long as it’s made of solid wood, bed frames, dressers, desks, dining tables and the like should last a couple of decades. One way to insure this happens is to dust and polish hard woods regularly- even once a month will do. Lemon oil is a great way to preserve hard woods.

Other household items, maintained with a regular dusting, should last as long as your hard wood furniture. Mirrors, lamps, pictures, even your CFL bulbs should last many years with regular dusting and cleaning. Of course, lamps sometimes short out or end up on the floor from the swing of an animal’s tail or small child’s baseball bat; accidents do happen.

King of Fans

Depending on how handy you or your spouse is, there are some household items that take a little more effort to preserve. Again, this depends entirely on how much time you have to devote to fixing and repairing things like fans, clothing, electronics and bikes. One thing my husband excels in is taking apart, cleaning and oiling, then putting back together our 15 or so fans we own. Most people who know him call him the fan-man because he loves fans. During the summer months, we rarely turn on our air conditioner and instead run our many fans. Since our fans run year-round, they accumulate dirt, fur, and hair. Twice a year he takes apart our heavy-duty fans and gives them a thorough cleaning and oiling. Most of our fans last a long time because of his careful treatment.

One thing we found out the hard way is that electronics must stay dust-free and cool. We had one of our hard-drives literally burn up because it got too hot; it got too hot because it was sitting where it accumulated a lot of dust. Don’t let your electronics have a melt-down; keep them cool, dust-free, and raised off the floor.

Over the past two-years, I have been riding my bike around town. I’ve found that my bike needs to be tuned up yearly, cleaned and oiled every few months. Bikes are one of those items that can take some abuse, but the chains must stay rust-free. I intend to keep my bike for years to come, especially since I get so many compliments on it.

Last year, I became interested in repairing my old jeans. Luckily, I can still wear all of my old pairs. However, like most denim, small holes are forming at the pockets. I began repairing them by hand-stitching the small holes with thick, navy thread, then ironing on a patch over the stitch. I followed up with stitching the patch in place so it wouldn’t pull off easily. Most of my patches are flowers or dragonflys. To make them look a little less ‘patched’ I added additional patches to the front

Obviously, preserving the things you own boils down to how much time you have for maintenance. Many people won’t bother with hand-stitching clothing or taking apart a fan, but for those that have the ability to do such activities, it’s well worth the time and effort.

Finding the extra money to save requires a lot of planning. In the past, whenever my husband and I had extra money, we’d apply it toward a large purchase, like a dresser or new laptop. Over the past 8 months, we’ve had to reign in our spending and live more frugally. Some of the ways we’ve done this are reducing our take-out meals. Seriously, I can’t cook. I’m not interested at all, so that leaves simple meals like spaghetti or sandwiches. Good thing we’re not picky eaters.

We don’t travel much since we work from home and we’ve limited our visits to family and friends this past year, basically giving them the excuse that we’re saving for a house. Most of them can sympathize with us knowing that it’s very expensive here in LA. Some additional ways we’ve saved money to maximize our budget are:

• recycling our cans and plastic ourselves: every 3 weeks or so we collect about $25, enough to cover the cost of a hair cut
• Starbucks Gold card: okay, this is a luxury, I know, but I need the caffeine and I save 10% everyday on my drink
• bringing my own cup to Starbucks: another 10 cents off my drink
• biking short distances: I bike to the grocery store or bank, this saves on gas
• using our Wells Rewards card: we use our points toward Shell Gas cards. We’ve only had to purchase gas a few times so far this year
• paying off our credit cards in full each month: since we’ve paid off our credit cards, when we do use them, we pay them off before finance charges accrue. Once we paid off our cards, we realized how many hundreds of dollars we had paid in finance charges, they really add up.

I’ve never been a big spender, so limiting my shopping has been pretty easy for me. My husband has struggled a little more with this since there is always something that he needs. Those big, brown, puppy eyes make it difficult for me to say no, but this year we both know it is more important to save for our goal: purchase a house.

Personal Savings 2008 vs. 2009