Christmas in June

Things get busy for us during the summer.  Giz plants a garden and the shop gets busy, and I get to spend the summer entertaining kids and harvesting fruit when it's time.  We go apple, cherry, plum, and grape picking as things ripen, along with any other fruit that people have too much of.  Then I spend hours in the kitchen boiling, canning, jam making, freezing, and dehydrating the produce so we have lots of fresh goodies come wintertime.

With summer (into fall) being the time to prepare for winter, my inner Christmas love comes out.  How could I be thinking of Christmas in the hot summer, you ask?  Because I hate scrambling in November and December, scraping money together during that last month to make the holiday special.  I find that a little preparation each month, beginning in summertime, means that your budget won't take a hit at all come the holiday season.  Some people don't like the holidays enough to do this much planning, but fortunately, I'm a little nutty.

Example, I just picked up a 7.5 foot tall, prelit tree that retails just over $200.  What did I pay?  Exactly NOTHING.  How did I do that?  Well it's the middle of summer and I watch craigslist free ads, freecycle, and barter group ads for little gems like this.  Someone spring cleaning or moving doesn't consider their tree a priority when they have to move it around.  So I get an expensive tree that's barely been used thanks to someone not wanting to fool with it.  Yes, people can be that wasteful.

It's been a banner month for holiday prep too.  I picked up a wreath for an estimated $2 at the Goodwill Outlet near me.  Goodwill outlet carries all the leftovers that did not sell at other Goodwills (and even other non-goodwill thrift stores).  Everything is in bins, so you have to dig through a little.  It's a lot like a treasure hunt, and when you hit pay-dirt, it's worth it.  They charge clothes and household merchandise by the lb. and books are 99c each.  If you get over 20lbs, your purchase is 99c a pound.  If you get over 70lbs, which we've done a few times, your price is even lower.  For heavy items, they will give you a flat price that makes other thrift stores look expensive.  Once, I even found a sterling silver bracelet in a bin amongst some discarded costume jewelry!

Things I got on my last trip to the outlet-
Christmas stocking - est price $0.25
Huge box of perfect condition wooden building blocks - $3.00 (saving those to give the girls for Christmas!)
Baby bouncer - $1.99 (retails $35)
Leapfrog Music Learning Table - $1.99 (retails $45)
Framed Print from NYC Museum of Art - $2
New Monster Stuffed Animals (for girls' christmas) - est. $0.50 each (retail $13 each)
Nice Plush Easter Basket - est. $0.25
Sleeping bag, kids clothes, childs backpack (all 99c a pound)

Trip before that I got a Baby Einstein exersaucer that retails well over $50 for $5.

Some toys and the like, I save for the kids for Christmas.  The girls are as spoiled as any other little ones during the holidays.  The difference is, I don't go broke to make that happen.  I don't go broke because I shop smart, and I don't do all my shopping in the same 4 week span.  I spread it out with a little purchase at a time.  The same goes for other gifts I buy.  If you get a present for Christmas from me, it might have been in my closet since summertime waiting just for you because I found what I wanted to get you on sale at the time.

Thanks to free groups and thrift shops, I now have all our holiday decorations save the ornaments.  That means I can get one nice set of ornaments to reuse year after year because I saved so much with the other things.

This may all read like one big cheap lady's brag post, but it's a spelled out plan that you can take advantage of.  Who cares if your tree is new or when you picked up your gifts?  Does your little child really care if every toy they receive is new?  Up to a certain age, they don't really know the difference.  They just know they got a toy!  The upside is, while you are still teaching them to take care of things, the few toys they break aren't so hard to replace since you didn't spend $50 on them to start with.

Clothes are another thing that I refuse to buy new until they are a certain age.  My girls are 2 and 3 right now.  They stain things, they grow out of things quickly.. I'm not paying $20 for a dress that they might wear only a few times.  I got their beautiful dresses for the Easter egg hunt for 50 cents each.  They looked brand new and both girls were happy.  While I was getting their dresses, I picked up their baskets, a ton of plastic eggs, and 5 of those egg dye kits for next to nothing as well.  For about $20 total, I was able to host an egg hunt for my kids and a friend's kids!

Both their Halloween costumes for this coming fall might have cost $1 each.  They'll wear them ONCE and I could have spend $30 each to get them retail.  Call me cheap if you like, but how far would an extra $60 go in your house?  We can afford nice things sometimes because we are frugal about other things.  The youngest will be a monkey and the oldest a ladybug.  Both will be warm.  Denver has been known to get it's first snow of the season on Halloween.

By winter, both will have a few high end party dresses from the thrift store... we're talking the ones that some parents shell out $50-$75 each for!  I'm not kidding... go look at www.mygirldress.com or www.bestdressedchild.com sometime.  The same parents that shell out that dough donate these things to thrift stores, where I'm smart enough to pick them up (sometimes still with tags) for 95-99% off what they paid.  My kids look amazing at our holiday parties and I don't freak out if they spill something.

What's the take away on this long ramble?  Shop early, shop often, and if you can avoid it.. don't shop at all.  Why pay for what's free?  Why let perfectly good stuff go to the landfill because of snobbery or shame?  Why spend for cheap, poorly made crap from Walmart when your home, your kids, and even you can have nice, quality things for less than you'd pay for the cheap stuff?  Why stress about whether to spend a fortune or let your kids miss out on something when you can go above and beyond for pennies?

The only tools you need are pre-planning skills and one big closet or storage area to keep boxes in.  Make a list of the things you need for each holiday.  Get a box and label it with the name of the holiday.  Start collecting the stuff you need.  Then, reuse what you can year after year.  Easter baskets and plastic eggs can be boxed up and reused year after year.  So can most of your holiday decor (for any holiday).  Birthday candles and gift bags can be picked up in bulk, so you always have them on hand.  Don't forget hand-me-downs either.  This year the oldest is a ladybug... next year, her younger sister might be a ladybug.  I just have to save the costume in my Halloween box.  If you can make a list and keep an inventory, this process is simple.  It also means you can be constantly upgrading what you have.  Last year I had a 4ft tree on a table.. this year, a better one.  I can give my older nice things to people that need them and consistently upgrade what I have.

Guilt free ranch dressing!

There are things we all have trouble giving up, and the thought of having salads regularly without creamy, yummy ranch dressing worried me.  So I took to the internet and did some research.  Now I've made my own ranch dressing, and there will be no guilt when I squeeze it on my veggies!

To package it after I mixed it up, I just funneled it into an empty, washed out italian dressing bottle and labeled it.  If your dressing is on the thick side (like mine) you'll have to stir your dressing with a fork inside the funnel to get it to drain through.

For my nutrition info below, I calculated the nutrition info for a half cup serving size... remember that half a cup = 8 tbsp.  The serving size is much bigger than regular ranch dressing, so pour it on if you like.

Ingredients-

2 cups Oikos fat free plain greek yogurt
1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch mix
Water


Mix the packet into two cups of the yogurt til it's fully incorporated.  Add water just a little at a time til your mixture is the consistency of ranch dressing.  Refrigerate and enjoy!


Nutrition Info:  Serving Size 1/2 cup

Calories - 65
Carbs    -  5.5
Protein  - 11g
Potasium - 120mg
Calcium -  12.5

Let's compare this recipe to regular ranch and pretend that you actually only eat the 2tbsp serving size.

Nutrition Info for Regular Ranch Dressing:
Serving size: 2 tbsp (1/4 the quantity of the above recipe)

Calories: 145
Fat: 14g
Sat. Fat: 2.5
Carbs: 2g
Sugars: 1g
Protein: 1g

Cake Batter Protein Shake

This was an interesting recipe to come across.  I made some minor alterations to the original, and there are some notes I have to add.  First, don't add the recommended Splenda til you've made and tasted the shake.  This thing is SWEET!  I added the Splenda in the recipe and I think I'll choose to leave it out next time.  For those of you that like the heavy dessert flavor, you might opt to add it.  This really does have a great cake-batter flavor to it, and I've not had a "diet" dessert that I could indulge this much in that tasted so authentic.

2nd, don't be turned off by the ingredients here.  The cottage cheese really gives this milk-shakey texture to this.

Lastly, after you blend, if you think the shake is too thin, put it in the fridge for 5 minutes.  The pudding mix will thicken it up a bit.  If it's still too thin for you, add a little more cottage cheese or a few more ice cubes.


Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup	Low fat cottage cheese
1	Scoop vanilla protein powder
3-5	Drops vanilla
1 tbs	Sugar Free Vanilla Pudding Mix (I used Jello brand)
1-2tsp	Splenda
1/2 cup	Water (Alter this according to desired consistency)
5-10	Ice Cubes (Depending on how thick you like it, use less for a thinner consistency)

Put the ice cubes in first, then add the rest.  You'll have to scrape the sides of the blender once or twice depending on how good your blender is.  You don't want any lumps.  Check consistency and alter to suit your tastes.  There is plenty here to split with someone if you don't want a huge dessert.  This can be stored in the fridge overnight!

Nutrition Info:

1	Shake
187	Calories
2 g	Fat
5 g	Carbohydrate
3 g	Sugar
35 g	Protein

Here are some pictures. I just added about a cup of shake to my glass, since this is such a sweet treat.

Diet

Crazy Aunt Angel is going on a diet in preparation for possible lap-band surgery.  I'm going the high protein/low carb route with a heavy lean toward fresh produce.  I'm going to start putting up some recipes that I've tried with pictures of my finished product.  I'm researching low carb versions of holiday treats too!  Keep a watch and see how it goes.

There are some criteria as I look for recipes that I can alter, or just good ones that I can use right off the page.  So if you plan on borrowing some of these from my blog (or my pinterest page), know these things.

Rules:

1.  It has to (mostly) contain things I'd have around the house anyway.  No complicated ingredients.  I have to caveat that the ingredients are normal - to someone on a high protein/low carb diet.  Protein powder, Splenda (or other substitutes), etc. are being considered normal here.

2.  It has to be easy to make.  I have two kids and don't have time for 37 step recipes that dirty up half my pots, pans, and appliances.

3.  They have to be nutritionally sound.  That means that they have to fit into my diet.  I'll try to post nutritional information if I can.

4.  It has to be a verified and tested recipe AND it has to taste good!  That means that I won't post a recipe til I try it, and the picture will be of MY finished product.  No mystery recipes or things I wish to make.