Thanksgiving is only a week away.  I know, I can hardly believe it.  To save you some time, I’ve been searching around for great resources for you.  There’s a wide variety to choose from.  Enjoy!

For the kids:

Thankful tree
Thanksgiving coloring pages
Thanksgiving place mat
Planning Thanksgiving for the Kids
Thanksgiving turkey banner craft
Thanksgiving Children’s Activities
Thanksgiving Party Games and Activities for Kids
Thanksgiving word scramble
Fall and Thanksgiving songs
Thanksgiving place mat Craft for Kids
Thankful pumpkins
Rustic vests
Pumpkin song
Thanksgiving baby bibs

Decorating and Entertaining:

Thanksgiving scripture place cards
Pumpkin Serving Dishes
Tips for Hosting Thanksgiving Dinner
5 Ways to Save Money on Entertaining
Easy Gourd and Candle Fall Centerpieces
Fall Party Centerpiece Ideas with Gourds
Apple …read more

Many of you will be hosting Thanksgiving dinner at your house this year. It doesn’t take long to figure out that this feast can break your food budget.  Here are some tips to help you to spend less and hang on to that money for upcoming Christmas expenses.

Prepare the foods yourself.  Don’t go out to the ham store and order a precooked ham or turkey.  I’ve heard of some people paying $30-40 for a precooked ham.  Yikes!
Shop the pre-Thanksgiving sales.  Some stores offer tremendous weekly specials to lure you in.  Look for buy 1 get 1 free specials on vegetables, …read more

While I’m sure mentioning this topic is going to bring some eye rolls and heavy sighs, we can’t deny that Christmas will be here soon.  So rather than avoiding the issue, let’s take it on and discuss some ways to plan and stay out of debt.  As Dave Ramsey says, “Children do what feels good.  Adults make a plan and follow it.”  I propose that we make a plan to stay out of debt this Christmas.

1)  Audit your spending.  See if there is anything that you’re willing to cut out.  I’m thinking things like lunch out with coworkers, movie rentals, …read more

Earlier this week, I posted about some ways to cut out some of your Christmas expenses.  One of the ways listed was to cut down your Christmas gift list.  It’s simply not necessary to buy for every aunt, uncle, and cousin.  That’s not what Christmas is about anyway. 

Tiffany from Stuff Parents Need commented with a great question.
Do you have any tips for how to tactfully remove people from your list? We have a few aunts and uncles that I’d like to stop buying presents for, not because I don’t love them, but because I think us continuing to exchange presents is …read more

Christmas is only three months away.  You may be thinking, ‘Please don’t say it! Don’t bring up that topic. I’m not ready yet!’.  We can’t shoo away the fact that Christmas will be here before we know it, but we can prepare.  For many, money is tight this year and alternative plans need to be made.  Here are some ways to cut back on your spending this year.

1) If you have young children, consider purchasing used toys and clothes for them or having a toy and clothing swap with friends.  Young children don’t know if the item is new or …read more

I have had some technical difficulty and haven’t been able to blog for 3 weeks. Did you miss me?  I sure have missed you guys, but I am back and am looking forward to hearing from you and telling you all about my crazy holiday soon.  How did your holiday go?

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope that everyone has a blessed and happy year.
This is the time of year when folks traditionally make resolutions.  I do try to examine my life and see what areas need improvement.  Self evaluation and reflection are a good thing. 
I’ve steered away from making resolutions though.  I guess it’s because they’ve become so cliché and many resolutions aren’t taken very seriously.  I prefer to call it a goal or commitment. 
Do you make resolutions, goals, or commitments?
image from discoveryeducation

Turkey Butt wants a Chou Chou doll for Christmas.  This is the first year that she has actually asked for one consistent thing for Christmas.  So I found the Chou Chou doll at Wal-Mart for $30 and told my mom to get it .  The problem was that the price was actually $40.  That was ridiculous.  Mom called me from Wal-mart and said her Wal-Mart had it for $40.  I thought mine had it for $30 so I told her I would get it here and she could pay me back.  Then she called me back and said

Lands’ End would like to make planning family holiday get togethers a whole lot easier this year by giving a chance to win a great family get together for 7 nights for up to 12 people at The Resort at Paws Up in Montana! Hurry because Lands’ End will accept entries at this website through noon October 30, 2008.  Prizes include:

Grand Prize:  A get together for 7 nights for up to 12 people at The Resort at Paws Up in Montana, which includes round-trip airfare, meals and four half-day wilderness adventures per person and also includes a new waterproof Windfall outerwear …read more

I was listening to the radio and they were saying 2 things that might be of interest to the frugal among us.

There are 5 less days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  So start your shopping early.
Wal-Mart is already putting some of their best toys on sale for $10.

So just watch out for good sales coming your way.  The bad part of this is that you would have to routinely go to Wal-Mart to check on the new sales.  Sorry