10 Tips to Pack a Frugal Shoebox for Operation Christmas Child

Next week is National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes. We've participated in this wonderful program for a few years and I'd highly encourage the rest of you to consider doing so as well. It's a simple and practical way to brighten up the lives of needy children around the world.

When you're on a really tight budget, it might be easy to feel like you don't have any extra wiggle room to be able to afford to buy the items needed to fill a shoebox. If that's how you're feeling, you definitely will want to watch this video by Clair from Mummy Deals where she shared creative ways their family is filling 45 shoeboxes for $45! I was very inspired!

Go here for more details on Operation Christmas Child and how you can participate in this Christmas ministry.

The 30-Day Giving Challenge

My friend Alyssa is hosting a 30-Day Giving Challenge during the month of November over on her blog, Keeping the Kingdom First. She is challenging each of us to give to someone in some fashion every day in November. This could be large or small, simple or extravagant. Read more details here.

Guest Post: How to Practice Hospitality on a Budget

Guest Post by Meredith from Like Merchant's Ships

One of our biggest frugal pleasures is sharing our home and food with others.  I can almost always whip up a neighborhood coffee or deliver a meal during hard times.

 

But how are you supposed to budget for hospitality? Will your own family end up eating rice and beans because you sent too many chicken casseroles elsewhere?

 

I struggled with this question until I created a hospitality envelope. Using our Dave Ramsey system for cash, hospitality gets its own category. Because I know I have money just for this, I'm no longer afraid to spend it.

 

When you don't budget for hospitality, money might always be your excuse for not sharing with others.

 

How I divide the money varies month to month. $50 could stretch to cover one big party, five $10 meal deliveries, or ten $5 muffin baskets. What we don't use one month rolls over to the next.

 

How much you earmark is up to you. What I can tell you is that when I spend in a way that honors our budget, God has a way of multiplying His provision.

 

One day I raced through the grocery store, putting together a delivery for a sick family.  Deals jumped out at me left and right, from super-clearance gourmet soup to Buy One Get One Free crackers and perfectly ripe pears. I ended up with a beautiful basket worth well beyond its $10 pricetag.

 

Here are some ideas for hospitality on any budget:

• Meet a new mother at the park. Bring the quilt, a jar of cold lemonade, and a listening ear.
• Open your home to a group meeting. You provide a clean, welcoming space, hot coffee, and muffins.
• Take a basket of sandwiches to the funeral home to help a family keep up their strength.
• Offer to watch your friend's children during her next doctor visit, serving up encouragement, quick pizza bagels and fruit.
• Develop a repertoire of tasty but inexpensive meals for others and stock up when those ingredients go on sale.

Hospitality can be rewarding, but never more so than when you practice it with purpose. Here's to sharing our blessings with those around us!

 

Meredith enjoys documenting her family's adventures in thrift at her award-winning blog, Like Merchant Ships.

From Money Saving Mom: How do you practice hospitality on a budget? You can see some of my ideas here. I'd love to hear your input.

Making the Most of Back-to-School Sales

Photo by ladybugbkt

There are so many different opportunities to get school supplies for pennies on the dollar right now. It's wonderful to be able to stock up for school, but with all the great deals it's good to think beyond just the school year.

Lisa emailed me with a great suggestion:

I am amazed at all of the school supply deals going on right now! Every year, our local Angel Tree lists several gift requests for a 'children's backpack filled with school supplies'. In the past we have tried to honor this request in December when school supplies are scarce and expensive.

This year, I'm stocking up early for some charitable holiday giving. So far, I have picked up enough to fill 3 bags and am getting the backpacks cheap or free this week at CVS and Staples. Considering we still have at least a month to go before school starts and the Back-to-School deals just keep coming, those gifts will likely be very generously fulfilled!

I love this idea and hope that others of you who are taking advantage of the Back-to-School deals will also consider how you might be able to pick up a few extras of things to bless someone in need.

FishMama has some great ideas here for other creative uses for school supplies.

Do you have any other suggestions to add? If so, I'd love to hear them!

Simple Ideas for Generosity--Even on a Tight Budget

When you are living on a tight budget, it is easy to feel like there's not much you can do to give to others--especially if you are barely making ends meet yourself. However, just because you are not independently wealthy doesn't mean you can't be a generous giver, it just means you have to be more creative!

Here are some simple ideas of things we have done or are doing which anyone--even those on a very tight budget--could likely consider doing. In fact, most of these were things we did when we were living on less than $1000 a month during my husband's tenure in law school.

1) Share from Your Stockpile. Many of you probably already do this, but it is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to bless those in need--especially if you are a coupon shopper!

When you find a good bargain that you're able to stock up on while still staying within your grocery budget, stock up! In addition, take advantage of coupons and play The Drugstore Game to purchase items for free or almost-free.

Over time, you'll likely develop a nice stockpile of extra groceries and household products. Having these extra groceries and household products will not only save you a lot of money since you'll be paying pennies on the dollar for most products you use, but you'll also be able to bless others from your abundance. 

Maybe you can't give a $50 check to a needy family or individual, but you could likely put together a box of canned goods and household products worth $50 to share with them. Or you could use items in your stockpile to make up a loaf of bread and a pot of soup to bring to a family who is going through a difficult time.

Really, the possibilities for blessing others with your stockpile are practically endless. Start looking for ways to bless others with what you have on hand and you'll likely have more than ample ideas!

2) Give of Your Time. If money is tight and your stockpile is slim, that doesn't mean you don't have anything to give. What about volunteering your time to help mow an elderly neighbor's yard, or clean a new mom's house, or watch a weary friend's child for an afternoon?

Again, the possibilities for giving of your time are practically limitless. Think of what your strengths and gifts are and how you could use those to help and reach out to others.

3) Pass It On! Do you have items in your home you no longer need or use? Why don't you pass them on to someone else who can use them? Of course, I'm not saying to pass along junk to people! But if you have items which still have plenty of life left in them and are in good condition but you are not using them, find a more appropriate home for them!

From clothes to books to coupons, I love to share extras with others. One thing I always do is to tell people they are free to pass the item on themselves or get rid of it if it's not something they can use. I certainly don't want others to feel obligated to hang onto something just because I shared it with them.

4) Sponsor a Compassion Child. One of our very favorite ministries is Compassion International. Dedicated to helping poverty-stricken children, this organization lets you choose a needy child to share love, support, and prayers with.

We have so much here in America and it is very easy for our children to take the wealth and abundance of stuff for granted. One way we are seeking to help our children understand the poverty and difficulties children around the world face is through sponsoring "our" Compassion children.

It has been so eye-opening to read the letters and see the pictures that our sponsored children send. And 4-year-old Kathrynne has especially begun to grasp just how little they have in comparison to her. She often talks about these children and writes notes to them because she wants to brighten their day.

Sponsoring a child costs $32 per month. This money goes directly to provide food and clean water, medical care, educational opportunities, and life-training skills for these impoverished children. While that amount might seem impossible for you to make room for in your budget, consider how little these children have.

Perhaps you could give up eating out once a month, or have a meatless dinner once a week, or cut your grocery bill by $8 per week in order to come up with the extra money to sponsor a child? You could even consider splitting the sponsorship costs with a few other families, if your budget is especially tight.

If you're anything like us, you will find that the blessings you reap from sponsoring a child are well worth the small monetary investment.

Go here for more information Compassion International.

5) Support Widows and Orphans. Gleaning the Harvest is an organization dedicated to providing for the needs of widows and orphans. I love the concept of this and would love to see many more people begin committing to support these needy families every month.

The best thing of all is that it is set up so you can donate money in whatever amount you are able to. Surely all of us could spare a dollar or two every month? And if a few thousand of us gave a dollar every month, the results would really make an impact!

Go here for more information on Gleaning the Harvest.

Those are just a few simple ideas of things we've done and things just about anyone could do on any budget. But I know this list barely even scratches the surface of ideas on how to practice generosity on a limited budget, so I'd love to hear from you. How is your family giving to others, even while on a budget? What simple and inexpensive ideas do you have for reaching out to those in need? What creative ways have you used your bargain-shopping finds to bless others?

Monthly Financial Check-up (and some thoughts on financial stewardship)

It's the beginning of May and guess what that means? It's time for our monthly financial check-up. How did you do in April?

I've mentioned many times here in the past that I believe one of the greatest keys to financial success begins with setting goals. As the saying goes, "If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time." My husband and I have been amazed at how much harder we work, how much more careful we are in our spending, and how much more ground we cover when we set goals for our finances.

Most of you know that our big goal for this year is to save up enough to pay 100% down for our first home. However, our ultimate goal is not just owning a home free and clear; our ultimate goal is to wisely steward our money in such a way that we have as much as possible leftover to give to others. We see staying out of debt and owning a home as one step closer in the direction of being more financially able to help others.

It's wonderful to use coupons, bargain shop, take advantage of free restaurant meals, and so forth. But, for us, it's not just about the coupons, the sales, or the freebies--those are just a means to an end. Our heart's desire is to live on less than we make so we can take care of the needs of our own family first so we can then be able to give and reach out to others. Giving abundantly is our biggest goal financially.

In order to be able to "give like no one else" as Dave Ramsey says, we must first "live like no one else." If we are squandering all of our earnings and then living paycheck-to-paycheck, we will never be in a position to be able to help many others because we will just be barely eeking by ourselves.

Jesse and I recently watched this video by Dave Ramsey on giving and it gave us goosebumps--literally! To think of the impact we can have in this world if we are committed to doing all we can to be wise stewards of our finances. Just imagine the possibilities!

If you have yet to watch this short video, I highly recommend you go do so right now. It just might change your whole perspective on finances! Later this week, I'll be sharing a few ideas we've been implementing for giving which anyone can do--even if you have a very meager budget. Stay tuned!

With these things in mind, we're especially excited about the headway we were able to make in April:

We began April at 40.5% of our house savings goal. We ended the month at 45.5%!

I just can't even begin to express how thrilling it is to see our goal of owning a home debt-free becoming more and more a reality. God is good! And truly, setting goals makes a huge difference!

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How did you do in April? Whether or not you posted financial goals for 2009, please take a moment to post about your financial successes and failures in April and, if you'd like, the areas you hope to improve in May. Then, come back here and leave your link below. If you don't have a blog or would rather share anonymously, feel free to leave your update in a comment. Let's all keep each other accountable to be better stewards of our resources!

Guest Post: Being Generous While Living on a Budget

photo by jek in the box

Guest Post by Katie from Three Blondes and a Redhead

In these uncertain economic times, it's wonderful to see how many people are finally accepting the benefits of budgeting. I still remember many of the frustrations I felt when we transitioned to living on one income in preparation for our first child.

One of my biggest challenges was reducing the ability to generously give gifts to friends and family. After nine years of marriage to a very frugal accountant, I've wised up about the money dedicated to "gifts" in our budget, I have learned how to get creative when giving and am quite proficient at stretching our dollars. 

Here are some of my tried-and-true bargain shopping methods:
 
::Develop a Gift Stash--I've always kept some generic gifts on hand. It began in the form of a box of picture frames, bath soaps, and candles. Gradually, it transformed into a small shelf in my linen closet and is now a large under-the-bed storage bin full of gifts for adults and children of all ages.

One of the things I've noticed over the years is that last-minute shopping can cost 2-3 times as much as you could have paid had you planned ahead. Having small items available at a moment's notice for a hostess gift or a birthday celebration can save you time, money, and stress.

I remember the days when I would actually decline a birthday party just to avoid buying a $10 gift that wasn't in our budget. But now, as long as the schedule allows, my kids get to attend many of the parties we're invited to because I try to have a couple of gifts in my stash for boys, for girls, and some which could be for either gender.

::Shop the Clearance Sales--One particular Super-Target location in our area always seems to have the best clearance sales. Whenever I am near that side of town, I plan a trip to that store with the sole purpose of roaming the end caps.

They often have toys marked 75% off, so I can grab $20 gifts for upcoming birthday parties for $5. In the past, when I've tried to find a $5 gift at the last minute, it's usually something junkie and I end up paying a premium for a bigger gift that I know the receiver will actually enjoy.

The key to shopping clearance sales is to think ahead. Plan for Mother's Day, Father's Day, and any upcoming birthdays and baby or wedding showers.

::Think Generic--Don't get hung up on buying a Hello Kitty present for little Sally Sue because you know it's her favorite. If you know that Sally Sue's birthday party is coming up and you see a Hello Kitty item on sale, by all means, get it!  But don't feel trapped into individualizing your gift purchases. You can be generic, while still keeping it thoughtful. 

There are lots of easy ideas for generic gifts for kids of all ages including: art supplies, puzzles, dress-up items and board games. I also like to stock up on nice picture frames to fill with our annual family picture and give them to my extended family for Christmas. It's amazing how much they appreciate a 5x7 picture I printed for $0.50 in a pretty $3 clearance frame!

photo by allerleirau

::Shop After-Holiday Sales--Personally, I don't go nuts with this, but I do try to hit a few clearance sales after Christmas each year. Why pay full price for a Christmas ornament in early December when you can pay one-fourth of the price in early January and hold onto it for a year?

Again, keep your eyes open and think ahead: Does your office have a White Elephant gift exchange each Christmas? Would your parents appreciate a picture of your child in an ornament frame? As always, don't buy clearance items just because they're a good deal. Give it some thought and have a recipient in mind when you make your purchases.

::Shop Throughout the Year--We had no income this past Christmas because my husband had recently been laid off so I was very thankful that I'd stashed a few particular items away throughout the year for our families. I'd found a great doggie gift in July for my brother-in-law at 75% off that I hid under our bed until Christmas, I took advantage of some free photo book offers in September and made books for each set of grandparents, and I had a pair of earrings for my mom that I'd found at a bargain a few months back. 

However, don't forget that you bought items for certain people once the holiday arrives!  I suggest putting a sticky note on the item with the recipient's name and the intended time frame you want to give the gift.

::Keep a Small Stock of Cards and Gift Wrapping Supplies--I save gift bags from presents I receive and store them in one giant gift bag near a standing box of wrapping paper and ribbons that I've bought on clearance. In addition to keeping stocked on wrapping supplies, always have a stack of greeting cards handy.

Before I learned to make my own cards, I used to go to Hallmark every few months with a list of upcoming birthdays and buy several $0.99 cards to have on hand. You can also buy a set of 8 or 10 blank note cards and write "Happy Birthday" inside. No one says you have to buy a card with a poem that someone else wrote!  Let's be honest: people usually throw away their greeting cards, so don't spend too much money on them.

::Build it into the Budget--This is so important! None of these ideas will work for you if you haven't built a line item in your budget specifically for "gifts." Pretty much everyone buys gifts, whether they can afford them or not. Why not write down an amount that you'd like to spend on certain people for holidays and put it into the budget?

If you use the cash envelope system, put a little money in the gifts envelope each month so you have a pool to pull from when you find a great sale.  If your budget is strictly on paper, take some time with your spouse to write out who you plan to buy gifts for in 2009 and the amount you'd like to spend.

Having a $50 bouquet of flowers delivered to your mom for her birthday will likely seem excessive once you see the grand total of your gift-giving budget at the end of the year. You can buy her a beautiful bunch for $10 and deliver them by hand and save yourself a lot of money.

Are you beginning to see a common thread here? Plan ahead! Put money aside for gifts, intentionally keep your eyes open for good deals, and pretty soon you'll find you're able to give generously while staying within your budget!

Katie is a Christian wife and a stay at home mom to a 4-year-old son, a 2-year-old daughter, and a new baby due in October. She blogs about managing her family, frugal living, cooking, organizing, and all things homemaking at Three Blondes and a Redhead.

Ask the Readers: Frugal wedding gifts

photo by Bonnie BonBon

I was wondering if any of your readers had ideas for frugal wedding gifts? My youngest sister is getting married and I would like to give her something nice but our budget is limited. I'm not very creative or crafty, so it has to be something simple to do. I am a mom of 7, as well, so time is limited. -Michelle

I'd love to hear your ideas and suggestions for Michelle. With "wedding season" fast approaching, I'm sure many of us could benefit by hearing about your frugal but thoughtful wedding gift ideas. Post away!

Harris Teeter: Triple coupons November 6-9, 2008

If you have a Harris Teeter store nearby, they are offering triple coupons up to and including $0.99 coupons tomorrow (November 6, 2008) through Sunday (November, 2008).

More details and coupon match-ups are here. If you find some sweet deals, post about it on your blog and leave the link in the comments section.

An opportunity to donate extra household products

photo by Ali Edwards

Do you have extra toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, or medicines in your stash that you've picked up on a great deal? Consider donating some of these to the orphans in the Ukraine who have nothing.

Details are here. If you are interested in participating, please email Rebekah Wilson at rebekahwilson @ hopechestlegacy.com (remove spaces). Note: I know Rebekah personally so I can vouch that this is a legitimate need.

Also, I'd love to hear from those of you out there who have had an opportunity to share from your abundance with others recently. It is always so heart-warming and inspiring to hear stories of your giving hearts!

Hospitality on a budget

My family of 5 has been keeping a grocery budget for two years now, but I have had to create a separate money envelope for "hospitality" to set aside cash for extra groceries for when we bring dinners over to friends and when we bring snacks to church and Bible studies.

I just can't seem to fit meals for our friends into our weekly grocery budget. I also feel that if I sign up to bring a meal, it needs to have bread, salad, and a dessert. Is that what you do as well?   

Last night I took a meal of taco salad, corn bread, and brownies over to a family (all relatively inexpensive items, or so I thought...) but I ended up paying $12 for all the ingredients (it was actually double that, but I made two meals for different families out of all the ingredients I used). 

With what we are putting to pay off a school loan each month, we have little room to spare in the meals we take to our friends. But I still want to be able to help them out. I still have 3 more meals to go before the month is up!!    Do you have ideas on money-saving meals for friends you could help me out with? - JoAnna

Great question, JoAnna! I think that having a giving, hospitable spirit--even when you are on a tight budget--is so important. Giving to others blesses us so much in return! However, giving to others on a limited budget usually means we need to get really creative!

I remember once when my husband was in law school and we were on a bare-bones budget a family we knew had gone through a really traumatic time. We wanted to take them some food and show them that we cared but we had next to nothing left in our grocery budget to work with.

What did I do? I put on my thinking cap, and got to work! I looked through my freezer and cupboards and was able to scrounge up some snack goodies (that I'd gotten free with coupons!) and then I made them some homemade pizza and a few other simple frozen foods.

To spruce things up a bit, I wrote out pretty little notes with encouraging Scriptures on them and taped them to each item. Even though we couldn't do much, I could do what I could do from a heart of love and I know that meant more than if I'd brought them an elaborate, five-star dinner.

So, my biggest advice is to keep it simple and focus on showering others with love and I'm sure your friends will be blessed--even if it's a very frugal meal!

Just a few practical ideas:

-Plan your company meals around what you already have on hand and what is on sale. When we are going to have company or bring food to someone, I look first through our cupboards and through the store fliers and plan the menu based upon that--just like I plan our own menus.

-Plan in advance for hospitality. If you have a little extra room in your budget one week, buy some ingredients to make up muffins or soup to stick in your freezer and have on hand for taking meals to people. Or, double up your own meals when cooking and freeze one to share. If you already have a few things in your freezer to work with, it really makes it much easier to take food to people or to have people over on the spur of the moment.

-Bring breakfast on Saturday morning. A lot of times, breakfast or brunch foods can be less expensive and a nice change of pace for a family--and who wouldn't love a good homemade breakfast to wake up to on the weekend. A pan of homemade cinnamon rolls and some fruit would be simple to make and quite inexpensive--especially if you used in season fruit. Or what about bagels, muffins, and juice?

-Make up a pot of soup and a loaf of bread. There are so many soups which are inexpensive to make and can be so filling and delicious!

-Pair up with another friend. If you know of another friend who might also be short on finances or time, ask if she'd like to help you with making a meal. One of you can make the main dish and bread, another the salad and dessert, and you've just pulled off a great meal for half the cost. Or you could even go together with three more friends and each only make one thing!

-Make homemade pizza, a green salad, and cookies or brownies. This is another very inexpensive, filling, and delicious dinner.

-Offer to bring over a basket of frozen goodies instead of a whole dinner. Look through your cupboards and freezer and figure out some items you can make with what you have on hand. Sometimes instead of making a full meal, I'll just make up some banana bread, muffins or rolls, and some cookies and put them in a pretty basket with some notes of encouragement taped onto them. Bring it over and tell the family they can stick everything in their freezer and use them when they need to.

-Make up a basket of mixes. I've always thought this was a nice gesture and can be done quite economically. Best of all, the family can use them whenever they like! You could make up a simple bean soup mix, bread mix, and cookie mix and you have yourself a meal in a basket!

Those are just a few ideas. I'd love to hear from the rest of you: How do you afford to be hospitable or to take food to others on a limited budget? What ideas do you have for JoAnna and the rest of us?

Originally published March 2008.

Blessed to be a blessing

I just had to share this beautiful email I received from Mandi with you:

I’ve been reading Money Saving Mom for about 3 months now, and it has made a huge difference in our lives. I used to dread buying laundry detergent, toilet paper and other toiletries, but now I find that those that used to be the biggest expenses are all close to free. I’m nowhere as good at it or “the grocery game” as you are, but I’m getting there!

Recently, as I looked at an admittedly large stack of Johnson’s Buddies soaps and wondered what I was going to do with them, I realized that they would make a great addition to an Operation Christmas Child shoe box. We’re living on a very tight budget right now because my husband’s business is not providing any income due to rising gas prices and the downturn in the economy, but giving at Christmas is very, very important to me.

I’ve found that the shoe boxes can be pretty expensive to pack, especially by the time you include the processing fee, which has always kept me from participating in the past, but with all of these amazing freebies and deals (now is a great time to stock up on crafts and school supplies too, as you know), I’ve set my goal at putting together 12 shoe boxes this year. While we might feel like we’re struggling, we still live in abundance, you know?

Thank you for sharing, Mandi! Your email encouraged me so very much. I praise the Lord if anything you find here is helpful and beneficial. God has blessed me in innumerable ways and I want very much desire to be a conduit of that blessing to others. We all have been given much more than we deserve, let's pass on that blessing to others and light candles in this dark world!

Note: If any of you are interested in participating in Operation Christmas Child, Mandi has a link here with more details on how to utilize recent deals and freebies to help out needy children.

Donating items for a good cause: Share how you've blessed others recently!

Have extra brand-new toothbrushes lurking at your home that you'd like to donate to a good cause? Go here to read about an opportunity to donate them to a dental outreach for children in Honduras.

And while we're on the the topic of giving, I'd love to hear what opportunities you've had recently to bless others with your free and almost-free coupon bargains. Tell us about your random acts of kindness and generosity in the comments section and let's all encourage each other to take time to help out those in need!