Stretching Christmas Dollars

It seems that no matter how one plans or budgets, Christmas costs a lot! I don’t do a lot of Christmas decorating but I always hang a wreath. Having worked several years in the floral industry with wreaths as my specialty (all year), I got spoiled with the wonderful materials available to me there. Long-leaved eucalyptus and pink pepper berries with orange kumquats are my favorite combination but alas, I no longer have an employee’s discount—even if I can find these specialties.

This year I decided to forgo the kumquats to save the three dollars (approx.),skip the eucalyptus and pink berries and go shopping in my “floral supply closet.” I found some picks of purple plastic berries and wired them with lotus pods I’ve had for ages and some loose orange blossoms. I keep all the wonderful package ribbons I receive—especially the French wire ones. This year I found some plum-colored French ribbon pieces that I added to an existing purple and gold bow. Did I learn to make bows in the industry? Until I thought my fingers would fall off!

I used to make my own greenery wreaths to save money—since I could. I’d buy a bunch of Christmas tree branches for about $4 and cut individual small branches, wire them together and attach them to a grapevine wreath form. A couple of years ago, I decided that I no longer enjoyed that process and bought a green wreath, adding my own touches. Now those have gone sky-high. Now I’m buying evergreen garland sold by the yard (sometimes a minimum yardage is required, so be wary) and attaching it to my grapevine form with ribbons and floral wire. Even the mixed variety I got this year (it turned out to cost more than the “plain”) cost half as much as a small wreath and I had some left over for a short garland by the door. The trade-off for making the wreath myself was spending several hours “creating” it. However, I think I’d rather spend those hours working in my cozy home than “fighting the crowds.”

Aggressive Shopping Not Needed

I was shocked, and then put off as I read the white stick-on letters on the door of a rural Goodwill store declaring that no employee can put things aside for shoppers nor can employees shop on the same day as they work and so on. They must really have a problem here, I thought; though it had nothing to do with me, I felt unwelcome. More recently, I encountered the same written rebuke on the front window of another Goodwill store—this time softened by a green and blue background but the “aggressive shopping is prohibited” warning still angrily rang out. Is this a sign of the times?

In two types of stores in the past two weeks when we’ve looked for a local newspaper to buy for the coupons, we were told that they were now being kept behind the counter—at a drugstore we were advised, “Let me know when you’re ready to check out and I’ll ring it up for you.” We couldn’t even touch it before committing to payment. Why? “People are taking the coupons out.”

I don’t know if the poor economy has made people that desperate or if it’s just old-fashioned greed bred by “super-couponing” shows on TV. Either way, taking coupons from a newspaper without purchasing it is shop-lifting; it’s theft. In such difficult times, we need to work together—not steal from each other.

Jesus has promised those who follow him will have their basic needs taken care of by his Father if they seek his kingdom and righteousness first rather than building their own kingdom (Matthew 6:25-34). Yes, we need to do what we are able and one of God’s main sources for provision for those in need is his people but ultimately, God himself is our provision and such acts of “desperation” aren’t needed when we turn to him.

Let Them Eat Rice & Beans!

Sooner or later in our lean times someone tells us, “Well, you just have to eat rice and beans.” Um, we’ve been eating rice and beans for a loooong time now; we never stopped eating them.

Last week our local grocery had a sale on dried beans so I bought some black beans to vary our weekly pot of white bean and vegetable soup. When we got home, I realized that they weren’t black beans but red and I already had a superabundance of red beans. No problem, we were looking for an addition to our menu; we’ll have Red Beans & Rice—my husband is an ace with seasonings. This is a week for using “what we’ve got”.

Dried beans are very inexpensive for the volume of food they make—a bag typically costs $1.29—on sale .99 and can make several meals. The catch is that they have to be soaked “overnight”—I put them in water mid-morning and begin cooking them around 4pm. It’s important to wash and sort them first—the bag instructions make sure that I know that the beans “are a farm product”, which means that there could be rotten ones or even rocks in the mix. They also have to be cooked about two hours, which can pad the energy bill. Perhaps if I soaked them longer they could cook less.

For these reasons I generally discourage people for sending dried beans to food banks; the amount of planning and preparation cooking dried beans takes is often more than a severely discouraged person can manage. But if you’re looking to stretch what you’ve got—they cost still less than a comparable number of cans of beans and have less sodium.

Coupons?

I’ve always been happy to use coupons when they fit products that we normally use—especially when stores double or triple them! However, coupons are offered by the manufacturer as a marketing tool to get you to buy their product—whether you need it or not. If it’s not something you and your family would use or can afford, a coupon will generally not be a good deal.

Sometimes I clip coupons that I might use if the need arises or the sale is good enough but I have to make sure my husband understands this when he shops while I’m away. In his rationale, I wouldn’t have the coupon if I didn’t intend to use it but I’m just continuing in the tradition of Girl Scouts—being prepared. Now that printable digital coupons are available, I’m a lot less likely to print them unless I know that I’ll use them since ink and paper cost me money. However, I’ve never had a store turn down my printable coupons because I’ve used the least expensive “draft” and “black & white” settings on my printer or paper that has something else printed on the back.

I’ve been excitedly reading library books about “super-couponing” but after spending hours upon hours hunting and scrolling online, I’ve netted only a few coupons I could use. Many manufacturers want to know practically everything about you before they will give you a one-time “sign-up” coupon; I’m not sure it’s worth it. However, I’ve discovered (through the books) a site that will send a link to the coupons—all in one place, to my inbox: http://www.couponmom.com

My current thinking is that I might do better with the coupons in the Sunday paper—if we can remember to buy one. Trading coupons you don’t want with friends and family can even out the cost of the paper. Remember to look for them in the pages of the paper too—not just in the inserts.

Please let me know about your experiences in couponing. I’ve made the comment process as simple as possible.

BOGOs

When your grocery store runs BOGO (Buy One Get One--free) specials it can be a good way to stock up or buy ahead, getting two for the price of one. But if you don’t need the extra one, you can give it to someone who does. Or if you really need the cut rate but not the extra—you may be able to get just one item for half price.

Rain Checks

If everyone else gets to the store’s really good deal before you do, persevere and ask at the customer service desk for a rain check so you can still get the sale price when they restock. It’s helpful to know the product name, size and sale price—while not necessary, it speeds the process. Rain checks are usually good for 30 days.