Growing up, I always went to the Black Friday sales with my mother. She would scope out the flyers, make lengthy lists and even scope out store layouts to make sure that she could get everything she wanted. My mom would team up with friends to make sure that someone in their group was at […]
Chances are, you are probably trying to get your Christmas list together for the year. The last thing you are considering is what you will do for Christmas next year. But, if you want to reduce the financial stresses that can come with the holidays, planning now is a good way to get ready for […]
Every year, when Thanksgiving rolls around, I start thinking about the big spread my grandmother always put on. I want to be able to do something similar, but every time I sit down and start planning, I’m reminded that the budget she set for Thanksgiving was always more than I budget these days. So what […]
Even if you have a small holiday shopping list and a small family, you can still wind up paying out a ton of cash for holiday gifts. In a perfect world, everyone would get exactly what they were wishing for this Christmas, and the government would pick up the bill. However, in today’s economy the […]
As a parent, it can be overwhelming to have to purchase presents for every party your child gets invited to during a school year. Multiply the burden by the number of kids you have, and it can get downright impossible to budget for! If each new party invitation leaves you scrambling for funds to cover […]
Recently, I had the opportunity to publish a guest post on managing tricky gift situations in families on the wonderful Frugal Dad’s blog. I was impressed by the insights given in the comments section. One comment regarding family pressure to “figure out” Christmas well in advance by setting guidelines such as limits or exchanging names […]
