Frugal & Unique Valentine's Day Gifts & Decor for the Shoestring Budget
By Vicki McClure Davidson
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Valentine's Day is a fun, special day for so many people. It's a day to celebrate love, romance, togetherness, and family.
While Valentine's Day's origins are believed to date back to 270 A.D. in Rome, it wasn't until 1537 that St. Valentine's Day was declared an official holiday. It was England's King Henry VIII who declared February 14 a holiday.
If you're on a limited budget, finding an inexpensive, but thoughtful and romantic Valentine's Day gift can be stressful. Many choices out there are silly or frivolous (to you women: most men do NOT want a stuffed teddy bear holding a stuffed heart as a gift). Others just don't adequately express your feelings, what you have in your heart.
Here are some frugal, practical ideas to keep your cash outlay down this Valentine's Day, without sacrificing romance. These ideas can be adapted for anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, or other special occasions.
Remember, though... the best gifts are those that are given from the heart.
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Personalize it: If you prefer buying gifts and don't have the time, talent, or desire to make a romantic Valentine's Day craft gift for your special girl or guy, one unique way to keep it practical—but still give the gift your own creative, romantic touch—is to have Valentine gifts personalized with a significant, loving inscription or with that person's name put on it. The sky's the limit on gift items that can be personalized, such as photo frames, sexy lingerie, T-shirts, jewelry, travel coffee mugs, bookmarks, tote bags, or even bath robes.
Romantic gifts for Valentine's Day don't have to be expensive, whimsical, or impractical (every dollar counts during this economic recession, after all), and they also needn't be cold or impersonal. If you don't have time to drive to the mall, shopping online for a unique, personalized gift is a wise time saver. Be sure to allow enough time for shipping; read the vendor's guidelines.
Valentine's Day trivia: In England, the Romans, who had taken over the country, had introduced a pagan fertility festival held every February 14. Nearly a century later, after the Romans left England, the pagan ritual was abolished by Pope Gelsius, who established St. Valentine's Day as a celebration of love in 496 A.D.
Click here for more romantic, but frugal Valentine's Day gift-giving ideas >>
Winter Care Tips and Precautions for Pets, People, Plants, and Possessions: Less Money, More Safety
By Vicki McClure Davidson |
While it does get cold here in my region of Arizona during the winter, rarely does it get anywhere near freezing, especially during the day. While it doesn't snow here in the Phoenix area, it does in the higher Arizona mountain regions.
We do get a few frost warnings for nights during December and January. So, the kids and I round up several large towels and old sheets and drape them over all my delicate, heat-loving plants. The next day, we remove them so the sun can warm the plants. That's a big chunk of my hands-on winter care experience.
For folks in other parts of the country, it's so much more time-intensive than that. A lot of precautions must be made before the first snow falls and continued thereafter.
Click here for all sorts of inexpensive winterizing tips for dealing with extreme cold, heavy rain, snow, sleet, ice, fog, or blizzards. Many of these winter care tips can be used no matter where you live in the world. >>
Success with Fish: Frugal Tips and Advice on Prepping and Cooking Fish and Shellfish, from the Experts (with Video Demos)
By Vicki McClure Davidson
Buying, preparing, and cooking fish and other seafood properly can be tricky. It's not difficult, but there are a number of tricks you need to know to do it well. Many of us don't live near coastal or lake areas, so we aren't as knowledgeable about cooking times, marinades, herbs, and everything necessary to cook an outstanding fish or seafood dish. A badly cooked fish dish can be... well, really bad.
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How to Draw... with Jan Brett
By Vicki McClure Davidson
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Here's a gem of a website for free, fanciful art instruction using video. Because of its advanced nature, it is really recommended for older homeschoolers and public school students. Acclaimed children's author and illustrator Jan Brett presents many easy-to-follow, upbeat videos that students can watch on the computer for free, enhancing and supplementing their at-home art lessons.
Ms. Brett goes at a moderate pace, explaining her drawing techniques and giving valuable artist tips as she sketches and paints, like how to create dimension, how to easily remove drip lines from watercolors, and how to paint realistic shadows. The art instructions are likely too advanced for younger students, but a homeschooling parent could watch them and then adapt them for elementary students.
Budget Crafts – Origami & Kirigami Christmas Ornaments
Compiled by Vicki McClure DavidsonOrigami, the ancient Japanese art of paper folding, can be inexpensive for Christmas tree ornaments or for year-round gift decorating. This creation of intricate designs and figures with a piece of folded paper is fascinating.
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Kirigami is a variation of origami where the artist is allowed to make small cuts in the paper (from the Japanese words "kiru" = to cut, and "kami" = paper). This cutting enables the artist to enhance the visual presentation of the artwork, at the expense of simplicity. In origami, papercutting is frowned upon by the majority of modern folders, as techniques have advanced enough to make cutting unnecessary for a skilled folder. However, for the unskilled folder, it permits for many complicated designs to be made more easily.
Origami and kirigami are terrific, low-cost creative arts & craft activities for homeschoolers, Girl or Boy Scouts, Sunday School classes, day care kids, or other youth groups, in addition to senior retirement groups and your own children or grandchildren. Even very young children, with some assistance, can tackle simpler origami projects.
You can invest in authentic origami paper for top-notch ornaments or you can use recycled scraps you have laying about the house for thriftier projects. Get creative. It's your call on how much you want to invest in materials for your origami/kirigami ornaments.
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Click here to go to origami/kirigami instruction videos. >>
Where to Go for Free Camp Site Info in the United States
By Vicki McClure Davidson
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Even during these rough economic times, there are many places in the United States that offer free (or nearly free) camping amenities or provisions for those who are looking for free places to camp in their recreational vehicles (RVs).
DIY Fashion: ThreadBanger... Video Demo: How to Beat Road-trip Boredom by Making Macramé Jewelry
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ThreadBanger's Rob and Corinne show how making your own macramé jewelry can make long car trips less boring. For older children, this is a terrific, cheap form of entertainment, with the bonus pay-off being macramé jewelry that they can wear themselves or give as unique gifts. Corinne demonstrates how easy it is to make a bracelet from hemp twine. By adapting the video instruction, you can make variations of the macramé design and then create unique homemade necklaces, plant pot slings, head bands, belts, and guitar straps. It's 1960s retro!
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Save Money, Cut It Yourself: How to Properly Cut a Whole Chicken into Pieces
By Vicki McClure Davidson |
Most people have no idea how to properly cut a whole chicken at home, since they can easily buy cut chicken pieces at the butcher's or in the supermarket meat department.
So, why would they need to learn or want to know how to cut one up?
Why You Should Cut Your Own Whole Chicken
First, cutting a whole chicken yourself will save money. You'll often see whole chickens on sale and may want to stock up. Rather than having to serve the chickens whole each time, knowing how to cut a whole chicken properly into individual pieces (wings, thighs, breasts, legs) will give you hundreds more options for meal preparation. Pre-cut chicken pieces always cost more per pound, paying for the butcher's time in cutting them. You often get less meat per pound. So, even when not on sale, buying a whole chicken costs less than buying a small packet of cut boneless chicken breasts.
Chicken breasts are the most expensive part of the chicken and will often cost double or triple the price per pound when sold individually than when included in a whole chicken. I'm surprised how pricey chicken wings have become in the past few years, considering there is relatively little meat on a wing.
Descoware: Vintage Cookware Still Popular... and a Bargain to Boot
By Vicki McClure Davidson |
Click here to read all about Descoware >>
Second Time Around: Smart Ways to Reuse & Recycle Things around the House
By Vicki McClure DavidsonTo cut down on waste, save money, and slow the massive amount of trash you unwittingly contribute to landfills, here are some some innovative tips on how to recycle and/or reuse common household items that typically get tossed in the garbage bin.
With just a few minutes of tinkering or cleaning, you can give them a second go-around. Most of these are so easy to accomplish that they can serve as fun activities for children, while reinforcing the importance of frugality and recycling. For Boy and Girl Scouts, many of these projects can be used to fulfill some requirements to earn badges. For children who are homeschooled, they can be incorporated into lessons about the environment, civic pride, family service, and financial stewardship.
- Plastic Water/Soda Bottles: One area that we can employ a second go-around is with plastic bottles. Americans throw away an estimated 2 million plastic bottles an hour. Annually, we throw away more than about 868 million pounds of plastic bottles (about 75% of what's produced, only about 25% is recycled). That's an estimated $130,000,000 worth of plastic! Here are two videos with innovative ideas on how reuse empty water and soda bottles.
- Plastic Mesh Bags: You can use the plastic or nylon mesh bags that vegetables sometimes come in for various cleaning jobs around the house and yard. Wad up the mesh bag into a ball and tie, them use it as a scrubber for pots, car windshields, or bathtubs.You can also use one (or part of one) for placing various stemmed herbs in (garni bouquet) to toss into a simmering broth on the stove. The bag makes retrieval of the herbs easy. Secure the open end(s) with knots or twistie ties. Once the broth is done, clean the bag with hot soapy water, hang dry, and store for future use.
- Pantyhose: When camping, put a cake of soap in the foot of the pantyhose and tie the top end to a low-hanging tree branch. This will keep the soap out of the dirt and makes it less slippery to use for "roughin' it" hand washing. Use pantyhose strips in the garden to tie plants securely to stakes; the stretchy nylon won't cut through tender shoots or stems. Make shower spa bags. Cut across the leg to make rings, roll the rings up, and you have a quick, stretchy ponytail holder that won't break and damage hair like rubber bands do.
- Coffee Cans: Use empty coffee cans to pack cookies or other baked goods for mailing. With some glue and construction paper, make into Santa Claus centerpieces for Christmas. Use three to make a toilet paper holder in bathroom; use a can opener to remove the can bottoms and decorate with paint, adhesive craft paper, or small craft items, like sequins, buttons, bows, seashells, or metallic cord. Make one into a cheap and quick "dog pooper scooper." Use for storing compostable scraps in the kitchen.
- Butter/Margarine Wrappers: Once you’ve removed a block of butter or margarine from its wrapping, place the wrapping in a plastic container or bag, and refrigerate. Use it to easily grease baking pans.
8 Ways to Recycle a 2-Liter Bottle
Flower Basket by OneMinuteCrafts.com
How the Cookies Crumble... Cookie Magic: How to Easily Change Cookie Texture
By Vicki McClure Davidson |
Cookies are loved by everyone—they're a quick, on-the-go, satisfying treat no matter the season.
Homemade cookies are usually more frugal to make (especially if you have a bunch of cookie-loving kids in your home) instead of buying them from the store, and they have no preservatives. But, as you thumb through cookbooks, it can be mystifying which cookie will satisfy the palates of your family.
Once you get past choosing the basic flavor of cookie to make, which cookie texture is the best for your needs? Do you prefer chewy cookies or those that are more cake- or brownie-like? Or perhaps a fine or a coarse texture is favored? Or, would a thinner cookie be preferred?
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