Simpler Christmas Giving

Happy two days after Christmas!

I know these days after the holidays can be a drag--especially for parents and grandparents, the ones expected to buy all of the gifts, host the holiday parties, bake the christmas cookies, and make the holidays extra special for their family and children. This year, as I watched my mom stress over what presents to buy, as I went from store to store with my exhausted Nana (my grandma) to buy supplies for Christmas dinner, I felt sorry for these overworked women. The holidays had become a time of tiredness and anxiety for them. There must be a better way to do this, I thought.

For the past few months, as I have been reading frugality blogs and books like the Tightwad Gazette, I've picked up a few tips and tricks for making the holidays more simple and enjoyable. Since I'm not at a point in my life where I have to host parties or parent kids, but I do enjoy giving gifts, the concepts I learned about gift giving stuck with me the most. I'll share with you my refined process of gift giving this year.

I decided I wanted to change my process in these ways:

1. Simplify my gift recipient list. Instead of giving presents to a lot of people, I wanted to give a few, meaningful presents.
2.Plan ahead. Instead of doing all my shopping in December when I got home from school, I wanted   to start early. That way, I would have more time to spend with my family and friends during my short month break.
3. Look out for sales and coupons. I wanted to get quality presents while saving as much money as possible.
4. Be conscious of where my money is going. Instead of sending money to large factories in China that under pay and exploit their workers, I wanted to support businesses and causes of integrity.
5. Avoid making extra trips to the store, specifically for buying gifts. Shopping trips waste time and energy which could be expended in better ways.
6. Give a gift the recipient will actually appreciate. Oftentimes my siblings get gifts and want to return them. This also wastes energy and time. I want to give gifts that are cherished, not rejected.

In summary, I wanted to be thoughtful about my gift giving. In my mind, this is the most important part of gift giving, yet it is often lost in the frantic shopping around the holidays. Gifts become thoughtless obligations. In following the listed guidelines, I thought I could renew the thoughtful meaning behind gift giving and make it a more simple, enjoyable process.

How did I do? I'll let you be the judge.

For my mom, I bought these "Infinite Dance" earrings from Novica.

Novica is an organization associated with National Geographic that supports artisans around the world, providing them with fair compensation and loans to build their business. Some of the products on this site are pricey; however, they are quality handmade products. I feel good about supporting these artists in need, as opposed to sustaining large corporate factories. The jewelry is also much more unique than anything you can find at department stores, so I got to get my mom something really special!

Because Novica jewelry isn't cheap, I looked around for deals all through the fall season. In October, The Frugal Girl posted an awesome Novica coupon at Living Social Deals--buy the coupon for $20, and get $40 towards your Novica purchase. Though I didn't know what I was going to get my mom at the time, I knew I could find something for her at Novica in my price range thanks to the coupon I found. Instead of paying about $48 for the earrings, I paid only $28.

I was a little mad at myself for not looking around for more coupons when I made this purchase. A few days later, I saw a $5 off coupon. Though not a huge savings, every little bit helps!

For my sister Lacey, I decided to buy silk long underwear.

While this might seem like a boring or too practical gift, these are quality garments and a necessity in the cold Minnesota winter she has to endure at school. They are also more expensive than she or my mom could typically afford--at prices of about $50 for the top and $50 for the bottoms, totaling a hefty sum of $100.

If you know me at all, you know I would not pay full price for these. While she really needs them, I can't really afford $100 presents. Just when my mom had given up on this gift, I found that Lands End was having an awesome before christmas sale--40% off your entire order plus free shipping. In addition, certain colors of these silk long underwear were a reduced price--the lavender was $25 instead of $50. Though Lacey would have preferred black, she completely understood my choice of lavender when she found out it was half price! With all of these discounts, my total ended up being about $31--a savings of almost $70! This was by far my best Christmas steal. The only downside was that the product was Made in China from an unknown source. I didn't realize this until after I bought it.

I left Nancy's gift a little more open ended. In November, a group at Haverford had a fair trade sale, selling products from an organization called Serrv (similar to Novica). Again, I could feel good about supporting artists who were hand making their products and getting fairly compensated for them. At the sale, I discovered this elephant puzzle box:

I was immediately intrigued by it--I couldn't open it! The puzzle has four separate parts. Since Nancy loves elephants, this was a no-brainer. Though it isn't practical, I thought it was special and a good price at only $15. Before I wrapped it in my homemade cloth gift bag, I put a note inside redeemable for a $15-20 present that she really wanted but didn't get for Christmas. I think this made the gift a little more fun and interesting. It also helped me achieve my goal of spending similar amounts on each family member's gift.

I think I did a pretty good job of addressing my goals--to simplify my recipient list, to get gifts ahead of time, search for sales, know where/how the gift was made and feel good about it, avoid extra time consuming shopping and return trips, and most importantly, be thoughtful about my gifts. This has definitely been the most enjoyable Christmas giving experience that I've had. Next year, I plan to start my gift search in January--to maximize my thoughtfulness, conscientiousness, and savings!

What process or system do you use for gift giving? How do you maximize the quality of your gifts while minimizing the cost? Comment below!

Food Waste Friday: Storage Issues

With all the craziness of the holiday weekend, I made few blunders when it comes to food waste. Before I went to Virginia, I got a couple of bagels and kept them in my room for when I got back (I got back Saturday evening but the Dining Center didn't open until Sunday evening). Though it is hard to tell in this picture, the bagels actually molded between Wednesday and Saturday. I have no idea why--normally bagels keep at room temperature, but maybe I should have refrigerated them. Or maybe I should have kept them in plastic containers rather than plastic bags. I'm not really sure.

I also attempted to freeze these bananas in my mini fridge, but they never quite froze, and eventually they just turned bad. It has worked before, but for some reason it didn't work this time. I think my best bet is just to do this at home in a regular freezer.

Most of my problems this week were misjudgments relating to storage. Do you have any suggestions for me? Any similar stories about food waste? Comment in the box below!

Food Waste Friday: Mushrooms and Positive Change

Happy Friday!

It's been a hectic week for me as I've been catching up on work that I didn't have time to do last weekend on the HCF retreat. It was totally worth it, but it did require exercising my time management skills!

This week I had very little food waste--just a few mushrooms from my pasta sauce last night at dinner. The mushroom pasta sauce looked better than the plain sauce; however, it was really silly for me to get the mushroom sauce, because I don't like mushrooms. I think the sauce just reminded me of my mom's wonderful sausage spaghetti, because mushrooms appear deceptively like meat sometimes. Nevertheless, they didn't taste like meat, and they tasted absolutely nothing like sausage. Oh well.

On the bright side, In about one month I'll get to go home and eat my mom's food. Yay!

On a related note, our Dining Center is creating a new Dining Center Development Committee. Six students will get to be on this committee, and hopefully they will bring some positive change to the food and waste management. Students waste a lot of food at the DC (Dining Center) and it all ends up in the trash. It's a very sad thing to witness, but I have a lot of ideas to rectify some of these waste issues. So I applied to be on the committee. Whether or not I get the position, hopefully I can still present all of my ideas to the committee!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day--I'll be back later today or tomorrow with other news!

Food Waste Friday: Common Room Waste

Hey everyone!

This week I did pretty well with my food waste, aside from some oatmeal overflowing in the microwave. But I could still eat most of that. My hall has had a bit of waste this week (we often have shared baked goods and snacks), but I don't think this counts as my personal waste. However, I certainly would have eaten it before the mold started growing:

One of my hall mates made this really good pumpkin nut bread and brought it back with her on fall break. It was so good in fact, that it fooled me into asking her for the recipe when it actually came from a mix. This just got forgotten about.

Also, remember my post last week about wasting money by locking myself out? Well, the sign I made has prevented me from forgetting my key! Every time I see the sign, I check my pocket to make sure I have it. And I smile every time, because I saved myself another ten dollars. My mom also sent me a small clip I can use to clip my key to my belt loop, so hopefully that will help too!

On a completely random note, tomorrow I'm going to Mishkan Shalom, a progressive Jewish Synagogue to observe a service for a group project. I'm not Jewish, so I have never been to a synagogue before! I'll let you know how it goes.

How much food waste did you have this week?

Frugality and the Bible: What Do You Have?

This morning I read 2 Kings 4:1-7 during my bible study time. Though I don't share what I read every morning, I found this passage particularly insightful. This is the story of the Widow and the Oil, where a widow cries out to Elisha for help when a debt collector threatens to take her children as slaves unless she pays off her debt--and soon. (I suggest you take a look at it, the verses are much more eloquent than my summary!)

Though I've read the story before, today I read it with a new perspective. As I've gotten older, I've become fascinated with the idea of frugality. I've studied the subject for hours on end, because so much of the ideas behind living frugally, simply, and beneath your means can be applied in living a life pleasing to God. In my case, I'm passionate about serving the poor and meeting needs whenever I see them. A frugal lifestyle is perfect for me, because the more money I save, the more I can spend serving others and God.

Looking at this story again helped me to realize other reasons a frugal lifestyle can be pleasing to God. If you didn't click on the link to read the passage, watch this video. Or do both.

Notice the emphasis Elisha puts on the question, "What do you have?" (Watch closely at 0:45-0:50.) He is surprisingly forceful. But I think he does this to prove a point--we often focus on what we don't have, not on what we do have. I've found that no matter how bad my financial situation, focusing on what I don't have will not get me anywhere. However, when I stop, breathe, and pray to God to help me trust him, I often find peace, if not a simple way to take steps towards solving the issue. He may not give me the entire solution all at once, but he will give me the peace and strength to take action.

Though this story is about much more than frugality, it really reassured me choosing such a lifestyle.

How does this story inspire you? I'd love to hear your input--it's amazing how every person will learn something different from the same story!

(I'm doing a study from the Freestyle Living Blog. That's where I found the video, so I wanted to make sure and give credit! Also, credit is due to Crown Ministries for the video itself!)

Food Waste Friday and an Unexpected Expense

Hey Everyone!

It's Food Waste Friday, and I'm happy to report I have wasted no food this week!

However, I found out today that I've been wasting a lot of money indirectly. At Haverford, we have a student account that we prepay with $600 at the beginning of the year. We can spend this money at the bookstore, but it is also used for fines and other charges.

As many of you know, I can be kind of scatter-brained sometimes. Ok, a lot of the time. In high school, I always left my lights on, locked my keys in my car, and just plain lost my keys. I don't have my car anymore, but I have a new set of challenges. Namely, I will often lock my room with my key inside.

Now, if I had a roommate like the majority of other college students, this wouldn't be as much of a problem. I might have to wait until my roommate came back to get in my room, but that would be the extent of it. Since I have my own room, I have to call Safety and Security and have them unlock my door. This costs money. I just didn't realize how much.

I have locked myself out six times this semester. The first time is free, the second time is $5. Not so bad. But everytime after that? 10 bucks a pop! I've spent $45 dollars here just because I'm forgetful. That's more than I spent on my textbooks!

So I am taking some action. This afternoon, since I'm not too busy, I made myself a sign:

Yes, I'm in college and sometimes I'm just waiting for an excuse to color. But I'm really hoping this will help me save me my money.

Do you have any forgetful and costly habits?

Food Waste Friday: A Good Week and Rescued Bananas!

Hey everyone!

This week has been fall break for Haverford Students, so most of my classmates are gone. This means that the dining center is closed and I've had to fend for myself this week--I really don't mind, but it is a bit hard to eat well when you have no access to a kitchen.

Thank goodness for microwaves and mini fridges! We have a microwave on our hall and an anonymous person from back home donated two lovely mini fridges to Lacey and I. Though they were a bit dirty when we got them, the fridge has been a life saver this week.

This is all of the fridge food I have left from grocery shopping this week. I've been fortunate that I've let none of it go to waste. I was slightly concerned that I had way more overripe bananas than I could eat, but I solved that problem with a tip I learned from The Frugal Girl blog. She slices and freezes her overripe bananas for smoothies or banana ice cream, but they also taste great by themselves. I eat frozen bananas like candy, so I'm grateful they are much more nutritious!

TIP: Don't freeze your bananas with the peel still on them. You will spend precious time struggling to peel a frozen peel, and your banana will probably suffer in the process. I learned the hard way! You can leave them whole--just make sure you peel them!

I actually love frozen banana ice cream (essentially frozen bananas with milk in a blender), and it doesn't have to be anything fancy. But play around with it--I found that just bananas and skim milk has a slight after taste, so I add peanut butter and it's awesome. You can add a lot of other ingredients too and generally it will still be much cheaper and healthier than any ice cream you can buy at the store. If you want to try it, there is a great one at a website called Pennies on a Platter. I actually don't remember whether someone posted this recipe on The Frugal Girl Blog or if I found it on Google. But if someone did suggest it to me, I'm very grateful!

Let me know if you try any experiments with frozen bananas!

Food Waste Friday and a Treat!

Hey everyone!

So I've been extremely busy with midterms, and I am very disappointed that my only posts in 3 weeks have been Food Waste Friday posts. I'm going to try to post more next week, because next week is Fall Break! I'm sad I don't get to come home, but I think relaxing on campus will be pretty fun too!

Anyway, this is what I wasted:

The reason I had to waste these is because they were just bad to begin with. The carrots were dry and they tasted bad and so did the apple. This is probably because the Dining Center was trying to get rid of their last produce before break, so it was borderline-bad anyway. It looks extra disgusting here because I waited until the next morning to take a picture.

But on the bright side, I got a lovely package today! This was extremely exciting for me because I wasn't expecting it. Also, this homemade granola shaped leaf is just super impressive:

I also got a tiny pumpkin, gum, and mini post its. If any of you readers out there know any college students, I think I can safely say that they would love to get a surprise package from you, even if it isn't as fancy as a homemade granola leaf. It's the thought that counts!

Have a lovely weekend!

Food Waste Friday: A Messy Week

Sadly, I have no rotten tomato pictures today. However, I do have a few interesting stories!

The first major thing I wasted this week was a banana. Actually, it was more like second hand waste, because someone else was going to throw it out. Anyway, remember when I visited Logan Square with my friend Tami? Well I visited again on Sunday for my project. They were having a huge benefit race for cancer, and the Four Season's hotel provided mass amounts of breakfast food for both runners and spectators. I didn't have any of their food, but I was given a leftover banana. I put it in my backpack for later, and it fell to the bottom. It got squished so bad it turned to banana liquid! My backpack was disgusting.

Too bad I didn't photograph that.

I also had several spills this week. Half my brownie fell on the floor in the dining center, and I spilled cereal in my room. I freaked out about the cereal incident because I had seen a huge bug in my room that morning. I ran to get the vacuum down the hall, and my door slammed behind me. Unfortunately, the door was locked, and my key was in my room. I waited half an hour to get back in, and then the vacuum didn't even work. But then my friend Matt lent me his super handy hand broom and dustpan, and it worked surprisingly well. In short, it took me an hour to clean a small mess.

Finally, I wasted a bit of asparagus at lunch today. It seems this week that the asparagus was the only food waste that wasn't out to get me.

How did you do on your food waste this week?


(By the way, I'm not sure that I linked to The Frugal Girl's blog last week. Just wanted to make sure I did. She started Food Waste Friday. Definitely check it out!)

First Food Waste Friday!

Hey everyone!

You probably haven't heard of Food Waste Friday, because it's a concept I discovered on another blog, The Frugal Girl. Every friday, her posts tell readers the food she wasted that week and usually she includes a picture (not to gross you out, but because photography is a hobby of hers). These weekly posts serve as a way to be more accountable for her food waste. She has asked others with blogs to join her in practicing Food Waste Friday, and I think it's a great idea!

I think it will help me waste less because I will be more aware of my waste; it's also embarrassing to publicly admit to waste on a blog, which will also help me waste less.

So here is what I wasted this week:

This is the remnant of a once beautiful tomato. I feel awful about wasting it, especially since I got it from the Haverford Garden Club's garden. I just forgot about it.

In addition, I wasted a small portion of vegan baked beans. The Dining Centers at Haverford and Bryn Mawr always have vegan food, and I like to try it sometimes, but these beans just tasted really strange.

Join me in keeping track of your food waste! If you are a college student eating in the dining center on campus, try writing down your waste right after you have your meal. If you are at home, clean out your fridge every friday and see what went bad. I think this will definitely be a helpful practice for me!

Textbook Tips: Creative Book Buying

Textbooks aren’t cheap. All college students know this, yet many of them succumb to purchasing the newest books at full price. As I wandered the book store searching for the books required for my classes, the prices astonished me—my Statistics Book was about $140 new, and a pricy $102 used. My Urban Culture and Society class required 4 books—one main text book for about $100 new, and three smaller books adding up to roughly an additional $100 new. Used, these urban culture books would still cost well over $100 total. For my other classes, the book prices were equally astronomical.

I refused to spend hundreds of dollars on books. The used book prices weren’t too much better. The cost of the books I needed added up to around 400 dollars. So I had to get creative. I’m going to share with you how I spent only $39. No, that was not a typo, and yes, I really did spend only thirty-nine dollars.

Here are a few tips and stories that I hope will save you money next semester.

1. Ask around. Do you know anyone who has taken the class already? Do they have their old book? Though this might have been hard for first semester, next semester you will know more people and more upper classmen. Haverford is unique in that freshmen have a Customs Team. This is essentially a group of upper classmen mentors. I found out one of my mentors had taken Abnormal Psychology and had given her book to a friend. This friend still had the book, so my mentor got it from the friend and gave it to me. I got this book for free. The only thing you have to do is ask.

2. Don’t be afraid of strangers. Sometimes you ask upperclassmen and they don’t have their book anymore or they still need it. Don’t let this stop you from asking more people. I randomly ran into a girl from Bryn Mawr (where I take Urban Culture and Society) while at Haverford. We started talking, and I told her that I was taking Urban Culture. She still had her book, and was offered to sell it to me. I bought the main text book for $39 (all the cash I had on hand), and she let me borrow one of the smaller books for the class. Even though we had no connection with one another, it was not awkward inquiring about her text books or determining a price. She was happy to have the money—the book store doesn’t pay students well for their used books. Be open and willing to meeting new people! You might get a cheap book.

3. Check the library for books on reserve. Because Haverford has Shopping Week and I didn’t know my classes right away, I needed to hold off on buying books. Our library often times has textbooks on reserve. This means you can check the textbook out for two hours so you can do your homework without buying the book right away. I intended to do this until I had confirmation that I got into my Statistics class. In some cases, if you are frugal enough, you can use the book on reserve for the entire semester. I could have done this with Statistics, but I didn’t need to—my fourth tip explains why.

4. Does the library have any old editions? I found that the library had an older edition of the Statistics book for regular checkout. I could keep the Statistics book for a whole month, and even renew it over the course of the semester. The book is essentially the same as the newer edition, though some of the numbers have been updated. For this reason, I compare the numbers in my book’s homework problems with someone who has the new version. Again, you might not be able to find an old math book to check out for the entire semester, but if you’re willing to get creative, you can find free solutions to getting your text books. For Urban Culture, I have ordered two of the smaller books from a library partnered with Haverford. I only need to do a few readings in these books, so there was no sense in buying them!

5. Ask the Professor whether or not you need the newest edition. Buying older editions can be cheaper, but sometimes they are lacking in information. My Urban Culture book is an outdated edition, and doesn’t have every article. However, I don’t need the new version because the professor posts the readings online that aren’t found in the older edition.

6. Does your class really use the book? Find out. I have four classes, the last one being a writing seminar. There are a few books my teacher uses, but I she posts the articles we need to read online (there are few because we mostly write) and I haven’t needed to buy the books yet.

7. Have a friend in your class? You could invest in a book together. This way, each of you pay half the price. This is a great way to develop a new study partner! Just make sure this is someone you can trust and get work done with.

8. Check online postings and compare prices. Though I’ve heard Amazon is sometimes more expensive, it doesn’t hurt to check. You might find a great deal. Look for used versions just like you would at the book store.

9. Check campus postings. At Haverford, we Have the Go! Boards. Here, the have a Classified Section where people post everything they are buying and selling. Though I didn’t find any of the textbooks I needed here, I saw numerous ads for cheap books. This way, you can help other students out too.

10. Do a book trade. On occasion, you may be able to find someone you can swap old textbooks with. Be on the look out for people who have books you want and are taking a class that requires books you have. Both of you will be extremely happy to recycle the books!

I hope you found these tips helpful! Do you have any textbook tips or helpful stories? Post them here. There are many ways to get creative when buying books!