Christmas Greetings

I'm a little behind wishing you all a Merry Christmas but I hope that it was a great one for you and your family.

I loved our simple Christmas. This was a '4 gift Christmas' and ended up being stress-free and one of the kid's favorites. With that said, our house is still a mess today and while I would love to take the day after Christmas easy and just lounge around and clean up it happens to also be my husband's birthday so we often go shopping, or out to eat. This year we were gifted a "family day out" with a gift card to a restaurant, a days pass to a museum, and a car pass into a park filled with Christmas lights so we spent our day having fun as a family.

With Christmas past us I want to remind everyone that lots of money can be saved by shopping for next Christmas now. Because I stocked up last year when things were 75% off I didn't have to buy any wrapping paper, gift bags, tissue paper, or gift tags this year. Not only that but gifts can be found at awesome prices the next few weeks and not only will shopping early save you money but also stress. Most items are not holiday specfic, so getting lotion, books, movies, gift sets, etc. for 50% to 75% off and sticking them in your "gift cupboard" will make gift giving easy all through the year. Many great deals will be online in the coming weeks as well.

I'm exhausted after a full two days and am heading off to bed soon. Time to get back to normal starting tomorrow!

Challenge Yourself

I'm joining Carla over at Half Dozen Daily for her January Low Spend & Decluttering Challenge.

My own goals for January are:

Decluttering:
I've done lots of decluttering the past couple month and even have two garbage bags in the back of the van ready to be dropped off for donation. My big goal for January is to organize what we have left - make sure that everything in out home has a place to go. I do want to continue to purge as well and my goal for January is at least 2 full garbage bags filled for donation. I will post my progress as I go along.

Budget:
I want to get back on track with the budget. Stop spending so much at the grocery store and put at least $50 a week into savings in January. I'll update the totals as the month goes along.

I'm looking forward to challenging myself and starting the year off right. With getting the house ready for Christmas eve here I've already started on my goal of organization/decluttering. Today I've cleaned off my desk totally, organized the office, and rearranged the living room (thanks to my Aunt Pat who told me about a rocking chair at her store after seeing my post yesterday!).

Wonderland

We were told we were to get a lot of snow and the weather men were right (this time!). Blizzard conditions yesterday, close to a foot of snow, and snow packed roads today meant that instead of heading to my midwife appointment and getting a little shopping done (so hoping to find a rocking chair at the thrift shop!) we have been drinking hot cocoa, making almond bark pretzels, and stocking up at the library on Christmas books and Christmas movies.

Winter has began officially today, which also means that it is the shortest day of the year. Every day from here on out will see a smidgen more light at the end of the day.

With just one weekend before Christmas I imagine everyone is scrambling to finish last minute projects. My goal this weekend is to make sugar cookie cutouts with the kids and finish cleaning up the house as we are hosting Christmas Eve at our house.  

I still need to come up with some yummy appetizers to serve on Christmas Eve. Any ideas?

I hope that you all have a relaxing weekend and enjoy it with your family. Let the magic of the season surround you!

 

Brain Splat

*Goodness, only one week until Christmas! Gifts are wrapped, cards sent. Still working on baking but we seem to be eating more than we are saving. Uh-oh, wonder how sparse our gift plates will be.

*The kids are loving the documentary that I picked up at the library titled "Babies". With a baby coming soon they are into babies everything lately. I didn't realize that the show would showcase the African women so "bare"...if you catch my drift. We did lots of fast forwarding of that yesterday.Then today the kids asked to watch it again and I let them watch it in the entirety. It's a way of life in Africa for some tribes to go shirtless, it's not a sexual thing, and I am fairly open to the body when it's shown in a natural way. I remember seeing pictures of women giving birth when I was young. What would you do...allow your children to watch that or not? Why or why not?

*A big snow system is on it's way - looks like we will be having a white Christmas after all! The kids can't wait for it to arrive.

*I am so thankful that our car insurance covers glass. The whole back window in our car was shattered (we aren't sure how as hubby came out of work to find it that). A $900 repair turned into just a $100 deductible for our insurance. Whew!

*Are you getting tired of my subscription box posts? I have more reviews if you aren't bored of them.

 

P&G eStore Stocking Stuffers

Did you realize that there is a P & G store online, where you can shop from the comfort of your own home? Either did I!

While I typically use natural and eco-friendly detergent there are times when convenience comes into play more than anything else. Tide Pods (in yummy Ocean Mist scent!) make washing your laundry so much easier when you are on the go (no bulky containers to haul around, no worries about leaks) or when your hubby or children are helping with the laundry - it's already pre-measured for you and easy to just toss in the machine along with your dirty clothing. Not only do the pods clean your clothing with detergent but they also include a stain remover and a brightener as well.

Now your laundry as well as your shopping can be done in record time, when you buy Tide Pods (or any of the other great P & G products!) online. The site will also alert you to any rebates for items (and how to send in for them!) and you are also able to use the P & G ecoupons by applying them directly from your  shopping cart! There are also several special offers on the website that you won't find in stores.

Not only do you get free shipping on all orders over $25 but you also get free samples with every order and all first time orders from a new customer get 15% off with code   A9Z-MN5-KY3-ISA

Wisdom Meets Passion by Dan Miller and Jared Angaza

I really wanted to like this book, and thought I would judging by the other reviews I had read. Unfortunately, I couldn't even finish it.

Wisdom Meets Passion by Dan Miller and Jared Angaza (father and son) is supposed to be about how to reach your life and career goals. The main focus would be a good one except for the fact that the book seemed so jumbled. Every chapter seemed almost like a repeat of the previous one. Jared's writings all seemed to focus on Africa and was completely irrelevant to what we experience here in America. Dan plugs his website throughout the book, making it more like an infomercial than a self-help book.

I did like the quotes throughout the book. I enjoy Dan's thoughts on education and how life experience trumps learned facts. I didn't come away from this book in awe or with ideas to change my lifestyle, instead I was just glad to close the book and be done with it. The true meat of the book got lost within the repeated dialogue and cross reference to Dan's website.

Disclaimer: This book was given to me by Thomas Nelson Publishers through the Book Sneeze Blogger program in exchange for an honest review. 
 

Citrus Lane

I hope that you aren't all getting tired of my subscription box posts. I know it can be fun to see "surprise boxes" even if you have no intention of ordering them. If you are, I promise, a regular post will be up this weekend too!

I received my December Citrus Lane box today. The theme this month is "A few of our favorite things". This is a subscription box for infants through toddlers. They specialize what is in your box based on your child's age so boxes do differ from one another (I know that toddlers received an adorable "green" airplane toy in their box this month).

Each box is $25 but there are often codes or deals out there to get it cheaper. I used a Groupon code a few months ago to get my three month subscription.

The infant box for December included:

*Pearhead Baby Hanging Keepsake ($14.95) So cute!

*Chewbeads Skinny Charles Bangles ($19.50) At first I wasn't real excited about these, but then remembered that when my babies reach a certain age I am unable to wear jewelry because they pull and try to chew on them. These will be perfect - cute bracelets that are chewable!

*Tiny Love Eli Elephant ($6.99) Pull the string and make the elephant move. Baby will love this (and the boys have been playing with it all morning!)

*Mommy's Bliss Gripe Water ($12.99) Great for teething and colic. Will be keeping this in a safe place for when baby needs it!

*Popcorn Fleur de Se Caramel Corn ($1.99) - This is the treat for mom. Looks yummy, I'll share with hubby when we are watching a movie together.

*$15 Ecomom gift certificate. I LOVE Ecomom and should be able to get something free with this!

Total value of the box is $69.42! I was very happy with my box this month!! If you are interested in joining you can buy a month, three month, six month, or 12 month subscription. Your box will be based on your baby's age/gender. Use this link and the code  SRINGFUN for 10% off your order or GIFT10 to get $10 off a 3 month subscription. This would make a great present for an expecting mom, baby shower gift, etc.

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored review, I am just sharing what I love. Referral links are included.