Late Budget Tip - Dammit Doll Christmas Gifts

Sorry I missed Wednesday, the holiday season's so hectic I just realized today was Friday. But that made me think of a great cheap Christmas gift - dammit dolls.

The idea behind a dammit doll is simple: when you get stressed, take it out on the doll rather than something you'll miss. The construction of a dammit doll is just as simple. If you do any sewing, you probably have all the materials already.

Materials

• 2 pieces of scrap material, about 1/2 yard


• Stuffing such as batting


• A fabric pen for mouth, eyes and belly button


• Paper for the pattern


• Any optional embellishments such as ribbon, etc

Instructions
Make a pattern by folding the paper in half and cutting out a basic body shape. You might want to draw the shape first, then fold the paper in half and cut it.

Pin the pattern onto the 2 pieces of scrap material and cut the pattern out of the material. If you're using thick fabric, you may want to cut out one piece at a time. Make sure the 2 pieces are identical.

Put the wrong sides of the material together and stitch around the doll, leaving an opening at the head to add the stuffing. Turn the doll right side out and put in the stuffing, making sure it's pushed firmly, but not overstuffed, into the arms and legs. Stitch the opening closed and use the fabric pen to add eyes, nose, mouth, belly button, etc. You can also embellish it with yarn hair, a ribbon around the neck, whatever you choose to make it special for the person you're giving it to.

Finally, print the following poem (or just print the first verse if you want) and include it with the doll when you wrap up the gift.

Whenever things don't go so well...
And you want to hit the wall and yell...
Here's a little dammit doll
That you can't do without.
Just grasp it firmly by the legs
And find a place to slam it
And as you whack the stuffing out
Yell, "DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT!"

If Dammit's not a word you say
Then twist its little neck
And grumble out repeatedly
Oh Heck, Oh Heck, Oh Heck!

And once you're done abusing it
Just sit it on the shelf.
But hug it first, as I'd hug you
If I were there myself.

Budget Christmas Gift - Cinnamon Sugar Mix

You definately feel a tight budget at Christmas time. And somehow it seems your list is getting longer while your paychecks dwindle. But even if you don't think of yourself as a crafty person, there are still some homemade things that are cheap to do and will be appreciated too. A mix of cinnamon and sugar in a decorative shaker is fast, easy, and inexpensive.

What you need to make about 1/4 cup mix:

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar


• 4 tsp cinnamon


• Salt shakers from a dollar store

Mix the cinnamon into the sugar thoroughly. Use a funnel to put the mix into individual shakers. You may wish to decorate the shakers as well.

Wednesday Budget Tip: Quick Easy Thanksgiving Recipes

I'll admit it, I'm disorganized. While a lot of people have established traditional recipes to pull out each Thanksgiving to cook, I'm just not there yet. And I tend to procrastinate too, so I'm usually scrambling looking for some last minute fast and cheap Thanksgiving recipes beyond the turkey. I thought there might be some others out there in a similar situation, so here are some recipes I've found that can be put together fast and have only 3-5 ingredients each.

Caramel Apple Dip

Ingredients

• 8 oz package cream cheese, softened


• 1 cup packed brown sugar


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Blend ingredients together in a bowl, then cover and refrigerate overnight. Serve cold with red, green, or yellow apples

Yield: 2 cups
Prep Time: About 5 minutes
Cook Time: None

Sweet Potato Apple Cranberry Bake

Ingredients

• 29 oz can sweet potatoes


• 21 oz can apple pie filling


• 16 oz can whole berry cranberry sauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 2 quart casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. Carefully fold ingredients in the casserole. Bake until sweet potatoes are heated through, about 30-45 minutes.

Yield: About 4 servings
Prep Time: About 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30-45 minutes

Baked French Onion Rice

Ingredients

• 1 cup long cooking rice, uncooked


• 14 1/2 oz can beef broth


• 10 1/2 oz can French Onion soup


• 4 oz can muchroom stems and pieces, drained


• 1/4 oz cup butter or margarine

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine rice, broth, soup, and mushroom pieces in an ungreased 2 quart casserole dish. Dot mixture with butter and bake for 50 minutes.

Yield: About 4 servings
Prep Time: About 5 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes

Easy Berry Crumble

Ingredients

• 4 cups berries (blueberries, blackberries, etc)


• 1-2 tablespoons sugar


• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened


• 3 1 1/2 oz. packages maple and brown sugar flavored instant oatmeal

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix berries and sugar together in an ungreased 9 inch pie pan. Put the oatmeal packages into a separate bowl, cut the butter into the oatmeal until coarse crumbs form. Sprinkle the crums iver the berries and sugar. Bake until topping is golden brown, about 30-35 minutes.

Yield: About 5-6 servings
Prep Time: About 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30-35 minutes

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Wednesday Budget Tip: Thanksgiving Dinners

No matter how you coordinate the family/friend gatherings this year, someone's probably going to end up doing most of the cooking, with only a few guests maybe bringing one special dish. Why not share the burden, and the expense, by getting everyone to agree to bringing one thing. Assign people to the side dishes and desserts, even drinks and decorations for those who don't cook. That way everyone contributes something unique, and no one feels overwhelmed.

Wednesday Budget Tip - Freecycle.org

If you're looking to get rid of some things or need to find something, consider joining a local Freecycle group before turning to eBay or garage sales. Joining the group closest to you through their Yahoo group is free.

Once you have located the group using the main Freecycle site, follow the instructions to join their Yahoo group. Then you'll have access to those things that members are offering and will be able to offer your own unneeded or unwanted items yourself.

The purpose behind Freecycle is to reuse things, keeping them out of landfills. It's a great opportunity to clean out your own unused stuff and possibly find things you need, all for free, and help the environment at the same time.

Wednesday Budget Tip - Quick Recipes

I thought this week I'd offer some quick budget healthy recipes to help offset sugar highs from all the Halloween candy :)

Fried Rice

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper


• 2 eggs


• 4 cups cooked rice


• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce

Directions

Spray a skillet with nonstick cooking spray, then add green pepper and saute until crisp-tender. Add eggs and cook until they are completely set, stirring frequently. Add the rice and soy sauce; heat through.

Yield: 7-8 servings
Prep Time: About 5 minutes
Cook Time: About 10 minutes


Speedy Tortilla Soup

Ingedients

• 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted


• 4 cups water


• 2 cups cubed cooked chicken


• 4 flour tortillas cut into 2-1/2-inch strips

Directions

In a saucepan, bring the soup and water to a boil. Stir in the chicken and tortilla strips; reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, uncovered, for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Yield: 4-6 servings
Prep Time: About 5 minutes
Cook Time: About 30 minutes


Enjoy!

Weekly Budget Tips

Introducing.....weekly budget tips! I'm really going to try to stick to at least a post every Wednesday with some idea relating to working within a current small budget, even if only a quick and cheap recipe. And my recent hard drive crash is the inspiration for my first Wednesday Weekly.
(I know, not a very exciting name. I can't manage originality and organization at the same time)

Having back ups of your files in case of a crash is vital. You know you can use CDs, USB drives, zip drives for saving copies, and while those are all good options you're still subject to potential loss, damage, or theft. Or, in my case, apparently forgetting where you put it. I know I chose a safe place...

Another choice, or even in addition to other methods, is to back up your files online for free. Not necessarily the same thing as sharing files at places such as Photobucket and Flickr, many sites offer up to several GB worth of space specfically for backing up important stuff.

• XDrive allows up to 5GB of online storage free with no obligations. You can also upgrade to 50GB for about $10 a month.


• Orbitfiles offers 600MB of storage for free with access from any computer, cell phone, or PDA, and allows scehduled automated back ups as well of uploaded files.


• MediaFire does not require a sign up and allows file uploads of up to 100MB with unlimited disk space.

Using a free file storage site to back up your files either alone or with other methods can give you some peace of mind that you'll be able to recover files lost by damaged hardware or simply not remembering where you put it yet without adding another expense.

Hard Drive Loss

You just don't appreciate something until it's gone. My hard drive crash a few weeks ago affected more than I realized. Aside from the replacing of the drive itself and loading all the programs again, login info for a number of sites was lost as well as many things I hadn't backed up. So I'm sorry for the long delay in posts.

I'm not doing so good on the consistancy thing, am I? But I promise I'll get better.

Budget Halloween Garlands

This Halloween, don't rely on store bought decorations. Make your own Halloween garlands quickly and easily with simple and cheap craft items. You only need the following materials:

• Plastic spiders, bugs, pumpkins, or skulls


• Glue (or glue sticks and a glue gun)


• Black Yarn (or string or ribbon)

Glue or tie the plastic spiders, bugs, pumpkins, or skulls along the black yarn and then choose a place to hang your garland. It's that easy. You can make the garlands out of one item such as spiders or use them all in a pattern along the yarn. If you want to use the garland outside, you can tie glow sticks from a dollar store into it as well.

Update - Global Test Market

I thought I'd pass along something I discovered today on the Global Test Market website. I'd received a notification of another survey, but when I logged in the survey showed that it was closed. I also noticed that all the profiles I'd filled out, which are supposed to allow for more opportunities for surveys, all had a status of Not Started. Additionally, I appear to have lost points I had earned for previous surveys.

I don't know if it was a glitch on the site, but it's rather frustrating to have to go through the whole process again. I'm going to continue monitoring this site to see if my information is lost again.