This weekend, B and I are buying our Christmas tree.
It's not our first Christmas tree--we got that tree the first year we were dating, back in 2004. B proposed buying a 3' or 4' tree to add some festivity to my apartment. But when I saw the beautiful 7' fir at the store, I just couldn't resist. No surprise there.
All of the ornaments on that tree came from a Target Christmas spree and were plastic (I was living with 3 cats at the time and was concerned that they would break and then eat glass ornaments). The tree might have been sparsely and cheaply decorated, but she was beautiful and we loved her. We decided to name her--and all subsequent trees--Gretel.
Gretel's decorations have improved over the years--we buy ornaments whenever we go on vacation, and we have also been known to stock up on ornaments for next year in the after-Christmas sales. But we still have the plastic snowflakes to remind us of our first tree.
This year, I thought it might be fun to get a live tree in a pot and then plant it somewhere after Christmas. The location of "somewhere" had not been determined--our backyard is teeny and technically not even ours. But I liked the smaller-footprint idea of borrowing a tree and then replanting it, rather than dumping its carcass in the woods. I even found a Christmas tree farm in town that sells potted Christmas trees for much less than I would have expected.
Unfortunately, it's just not going to work out. I did some research online, there are problems galore with my potted-tree plan. First of all, a potted tree can only be in a house for 5-7 days max--and I want the tree to be up for all of December. Second, unless your tree is grown in a pot, its roots were partially destroyed when it was harvested, and the likelihood of the tree surviving that and the shock of suddenly being indoors followed by the shock of suddenly being in the freezing cold is not good, even for the sturdiest of Christmas trees.
I've come up with a compromise--we're going to get a normal-sized cut tree (Gretel), and we're going to get a small (maybe 2') live tree (Gretelette?) that we'll keep inside for December and then will move outside to our back porch (and hope it can survive the sudden cold).
Friday, November 30, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
No such thing as a free lunch
The airline wouldn't let me book our tickets because the miles are in B's name, so I gave him the confirmation number, and he called the airline to finish the process. And what a process!
I expected a $15 fee for booking on the phone with an agent. But it turns out that we have to pay all of the taxes and fees associated with the flights--and we are taking a lot of flights! The total cost was around $300 for the two tickets--not quite the freebie flights that I was hoping for! I suppose that a $300 bill is a lot better than a $2,000 bill, but not nearly as boosting to one's bargain-hunter ego as a $15 bill would have been. Chalk it up as a lesson learned--and it's time to amend the cliche: "There's no such thing as a free lunch--or a free flight."
And in other weirdness, they're mailing us paper tickets for the flights. Travel gurus say that you should always have paper tickets because they are the best way to get on another flight if your original flight is cancelled. But honestly--where am I going to store paper airline tickets for the next 9 months? My mind immediately leaps upon the worst-case scenario--what if we lose them? I will have to call the airline and find out if other tickets could be issued to us at check-in. Perhaps I will be grateful for this seeming inconvenience when the time comes.
I expected a $15 fee for booking on the phone with an agent. But it turns out that we have to pay all of the taxes and fees associated with the flights--and we are taking a lot of flights! The total cost was around $300 for the two tickets--not quite the freebie flights that I was hoping for! I suppose that a $300 bill is a lot better than a $2,000 bill, but not nearly as boosting to one's bargain-hunter ego as a $15 bill would have been. Chalk it up as a lesson learned--and it's time to amend the cliche: "There's no such thing as a free lunch--or a free flight."
And in other weirdness, they're mailing us paper tickets for the flights. Travel gurus say that you should always have paper tickets because they are the best way to get on another flight if your original flight is cancelled. But honestly--where am I going to store paper airline tickets for the next 9 months? My mind immediately leaps upon the worst-case scenario--what if we lose them? I will have to call the airline and find out if other tickets could be issued to us at check-in. Perhaps I will be grateful for this seeming inconvenience when the time comes.
The joys of awards travel
B's frequent flier miles and hotel points are a perk (perhaps the only perk) of his frequent travel. We recently decided to put them to good use for a European vacation next year.
Since the dollar is currently in a rather sad state, the hotel points are generally best used for European hotels. Our honeymoon hotel rooms would have cost many thousands of dollars had we paid for them out of pocket--but the points allowed us to sleep for free for 13 nights. However, for this trip, we decided to "sacrifice" some of B's hotel points and transfer them to airline miles to allow us to redeem the points for free airline tickets.
The decision to transfer the points is cost-effective because we're flying during a very expensive time. The flights that we need are currently close to $1,000 per person (!!)--way more than I am willing to pay. Paying with points will be a huge cost savings. I thought I had it all figured out. Then I called the airline to book the flights.
The cust serv rep was trying to send us on a flight with connections in Philly (and sometimes Laguardia) and either Germany or Amsterdam--yikes! I said, "It's just so inefficient! I know there are direct flights to Germany!" She kindly agreed to dig deeper and was able to get us on my first-choice flight on the way over. However, the flight back was not so simple.
There were two options--fly with 2 connections (3 flights) in a single day, or have an overnight layover in Germany. "Hrm," I thought, "Germany..." So now we have a layover in Frankfurt, and we'll have the remaining 2 flights the next day. B has predicted that our bags will be lost. However, I think I trust the airline system over the Italian post office.
Speaking of Italy--that's where we're going! Venice, Florence, and Cinque Terre! And then we're going on a cruise through Greece. And I have a lofty goal for this trip--I don't want to check any luggage on the way over. Can our intrepid traveler survive for 2 1/2 weeks with the clothing in a single suitcase? Stay tuned. The packing list is about to get a whole lot shorter.
Since the dollar is currently in a rather sad state, the hotel points are generally best used for European hotels. Our honeymoon hotel rooms would have cost many thousands of dollars had we paid for them out of pocket--but the points allowed us to sleep for free for 13 nights. However, for this trip, we decided to "sacrifice" some of B's hotel points and transfer them to airline miles to allow us to redeem the points for free airline tickets.
The decision to transfer the points is cost-effective because we're flying during a very expensive time. The flights that we need are currently close to $1,000 per person (!!)--way more than I am willing to pay. Paying with points will be a huge cost savings. I thought I had it all figured out. Then I called the airline to book the flights.
The cust serv rep was trying to send us on a flight with connections in Philly (and sometimes Laguardia) and either Germany or Amsterdam--yikes! I said, "It's just so inefficient! I know there are direct flights to Germany!" She kindly agreed to dig deeper and was able to get us on my first-choice flight on the way over. However, the flight back was not so simple.
There were two options--fly with 2 connections (3 flights) in a single day, or have an overnight layover in Germany. "Hrm," I thought, "Germany..." So now we have a layover in Frankfurt, and we'll have the remaining 2 flights the next day. B has predicted that our bags will be lost. However, I think I trust the airline system over the Italian post office.
Speaking of Italy--that's where we're going! Venice, Florence, and Cinque Terre! And then we're going on a cruise through Greece. And I have a lofty goal for this trip--I don't want to check any luggage on the way over. Can our intrepid traveler survive for 2 1/2 weeks with the clothing in a single suitcase? Stay tuned. The packing list is about to get a whole lot shorter.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Oh, the frugality!
Frugality might not be the first word that comes to mind when people think of me (except perhaps with regard to toothpaste and soap).
Take, for instance, this year's holiday decorations--we have a total of 100 lights decorating the outside of our condo (2 strings of 50 lights), and the total cost of the lights was something like $3.68--a reasonable expense. However, the equipment that I bought so I don't have to go outside to plug in and unplug the lights--an outdoor timer and extension cord--came in at about $20. I justified the expenses as cost-saving (the timer will allow us to leave the lights on for a specified period of time each day) and good for the long run (we can continue to use the items year after year). The expenses defy the rules of frugality but they make my life easier and better, so they are worthwhile.
Some items make life happier but can still be purchased on sale, like clothing--I try not to pay full price for clothing because you know it will go on sale at the end of the season.
I recently discovered a way to make my life easier and better without actually spending money--oh, the frugality is amazing! The source of my newfound knowledge? My shower curtain liner.
The water in our town is hard, and it renders my shower curtain liner a tad unpleasant after 2 months or so. And while investing $10 in a new shower curtain liner every 2 months is not a ghastly expenditure, it's annoying--I'd much rather spend that $10 on something else. I tried cleaning it with the scrubby brush that I use to clean the shower, with limited success--well, truth be told, I didn't make much of an effort--I'd rather spend money than add an extra cleaning chore to my routine.
But I had one more idea before I broke down and headed to Target. I noticed washing--and drying!--instructions on the liner. Could the liner actually go in the washing machine and dryer, and would those magical machines leave it looking like new? I decided it was worth a shot.
An hour later, my like-new liner was back hanging in my shower, and I had saved $10 and a trip to the store. The savings almost makes up for my twice-daily marathon showers.
Take, for instance, this year's holiday decorations--we have a total of 100 lights decorating the outside of our condo (2 strings of 50 lights), and the total cost of the lights was something like $3.68--a reasonable expense. However, the equipment that I bought so I don't have to go outside to plug in and unplug the lights--an outdoor timer and extension cord--came in at about $20. I justified the expenses as cost-saving (the timer will allow us to leave the lights on for a specified period of time each day) and good for the long run (we can continue to use the items year after year). The expenses defy the rules of frugality but they make my life easier and better, so they are worthwhile.
Some items make life happier but can still be purchased on sale, like clothing--I try not to pay full price for clothing because you know it will go on sale at the end of the season.
I recently discovered a way to make my life easier and better without actually spending money--oh, the frugality is amazing! The source of my newfound knowledge? My shower curtain liner.
The water in our town is hard, and it renders my shower curtain liner a tad unpleasant after 2 months or so. And while investing $10 in a new shower curtain liner every 2 months is not a ghastly expenditure, it's annoying--I'd much rather spend that $10 on something else. I tried cleaning it with the scrubby brush that I use to clean the shower, with limited success--well, truth be told, I didn't make much of an effort--I'd rather spend money than add an extra cleaning chore to my routine.
But I had one more idea before I broke down and headed to Target. I noticed washing--and drying!--instructions on the liner. Could the liner actually go in the washing machine and dryer, and would those magical machines leave it looking like new? I decided it was worth a shot.
An hour later, my like-new liner was back hanging in my shower, and I had saved $10 and a trip to the store. The savings almost makes up for my twice-daily marathon showers.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Quirks
At Thanksgiving dinner, my family was discussing quirks--in particular, the quirks of our spouses.
You spend a lot of time with your spouse, and after a while, you're bound to discover idiosyncrasies that were not evident when you first met. These quirks are sometimes endearing, sometimes annoying, but are almost always amusing to others.
B asked what his quirk was (or maybe he didn't, and I just offered the information). In any case--he makes piles. And then he hides them. I remember at my apartment in the city, he had a pile of mail that he was supposed to respond to. One day, the mail disappeared, and I forgot about it. It wasn't until many months later, when I was cleaning my bedroom, that I found the mail--and many other treasures--hiding underneath my bed. Every once in a while, I discover a similar pile in our condo and have to laugh about it.
I asked what my quirk was--it took him a while to think of it, but then B figured it out--I am a curmudgeonly toiletry user. It's not that I'm stingy while I'm using the products--I probably use more toothpaste with every brushing than most (and certainly brush more frequently than does the average bear), but I will hold on to the tube--and continue to squeeze out toothpaste--for days, maybe even weeks longer than most people do. It drives B crazy when he uses my bathroom in the morning and has to figure out how to extract toothpaste from my seemingly empty tube.
Stockpiling and hoarding--all in all, not very bad quirks to have.
You spend a lot of time with your spouse, and after a while, you're bound to discover idiosyncrasies that were not evident when you first met. These quirks are sometimes endearing, sometimes annoying, but are almost always amusing to others.
B asked what his quirk was (or maybe he didn't, and I just offered the information). In any case--he makes piles. And then he hides them. I remember at my apartment in the city, he had a pile of mail that he was supposed to respond to. One day, the mail disappeared, and I forgot about it. It wasn't until many months later, when I was cleaning my bedroom, that I found the mail--and many other treasures--hiding underneath my bed. Every once in a while, I discover a similar pile in our condo and have to laugh about it.
I asked what my quirk was--it took him a while to think of it, but then B figured it out--I am a curmudgeonly toiletry user. It's not that I'm stingy while I'm using the products--I probably use more toothpaste with every brushing than most (and certainly brush more frequently than does the average bear), but I will hold on to the tube--and continue to squeeze out toothpaste--for days, maybe even weeks longer than most people do. It drives B crazy when he uses my bathroom in the morning and has to figure out how to extract toothpaste from my seemingly empty tube.
Stockpiling and hoarding--all in all, not very bad quirks to have.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
The name game
Today I did something that I have been meaning to do for the past 2 months--I changed my name with the social security administration, the DMV, and the passport agency. The process was harder than I thought it would be, though that is partially because we got lost trying to find the social security building (because why would the government make their agencies easy to find).
First stop was social security--destination of the sad, downtrodden, and newly married. My birth certificate is MIA, but the man on the phone said that my passport "should be ok" as proof that I am who I say I am--and he was right. Lucky for my, they had a line that was devoted to name changes, and I filled out all of the paperword ahead of time, so we were in and out in 15 minutes.
Next stop was the DMV--conveniently, right down the street from the social security building. We waited in a line, got an application to fill out, got back in line, got a number, waited for 20 minutes, and then I paid $20 and got my photo taken and surrendered my license and received a temporary license. (An interesting note--the woman told me that I hadn't changed my name with social security yet--I said I just had--she asked for proof--I said that my husband had it--she said it was ok, she trusted me--guess I look trustworthy--but if you're doing a name change, go to SS first).
As we walked out to the car, I realized that I hadn't changed my name on my registration. I remembered from my Florida tenure that the issuing state of your license has to be the same as the state that issues your plates, and I assumed that names have to match, as well. We returned to the building, waited in line, got an application, got back in line, got a number, and waited for another 20 minutes--this time the fee was $15, and I got my new registration.
Next stop--the post office. If get married, you can still renew your passport through the mail if you can send a certified copy of your marriage certificate. Both of our passports are due to expire in the next year or so, so we decided to renew them at the same time. Last weekend, we had new passport photos taken ($16 each! Shocking!), and we filled out the applications and submitted the fees and popped them in envelopes--and the race is on! I wonder which passport will arrive first.
Just as long as they arrive before next September...Viva Italia!
First stop was social security--destination of the sad, downtrodden, and newly married. My birth certificate is MIA, but the man on the phone said that my passport "should be ok" as proof that I am who I say I am--and he was right. Lucky for my, they had a line that was devoted to name changes, and I filled out all of the paperword ahead of time, so we were in and out in 15 minutes.
Next stop was the DMV--conveniently, right down the street from the social security building. We waited in a line, got an application to fill out, got back in line, got a number, waited for 20 minutes, and then I paid $20 and got my photo taken and surrendered my license and received a temporary license. (An interesting note--the woman told me that I hadn't changed my name with social security yet--I said I just had--she asked for proof--I said that my husband had it--she said it was ok, she trusted me--guess I look trustworthy--but if you're doing a name change, go to SS first).
As we walked out to the car, I realized that I hadn't changed my name on my registration. I remembered from my Florida tenure that the issuing state of your license has to be the same as the state that issues your plates, and I assumed that names have to match, as well. We returned to the building, waited in line, got an application, got back in line, got a number, and waited for another 20 minutes--this time the fee was $15, and I got my new registration.
Next stop--the post office. If get married, you can still renew your passport through the mail if you can send a certified copy of your marriage certificate. Both of our passports are due to expire in the next year or so, so we decided to renew them at the same time. Last weekend, we had new passport photos taken ($16 each! Shocking!), and we filled out the applications and submitted the fees and popped them in envelopes--and the race is on! I wonder which passport will arrive first.
Just as long as they arrive before next September...Viva Italia!
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
The Thanksgiving project plan
B and I love hosting dinner parties, but this week's dinner party will be a true test of our kitchen skills--we are hosting Thanksgiving for my family. We'll be a party of 9--not too many, not too few--and the preparations have been underway for days now.
This weekend, we whipped the house into shape (though 2 particularly undesirable tasks on the list, vaccuuming and cleaning the bathrooms, have not yet been accomplished) and did our first shopping round (we figured 2 into the plan because you never remember everything the first time around). Last night we picked up a few remaining necessities.
Tomorrow, my KitchenAid mixer will be pushed to its limit, and the spare bowl that B bought me will be very useful. The dessert menu includes whoopie pies, biscotti, and raspberry-cream sandwiches. I'm drooling just thinking of them.
We're also going to peel, cut, and chop as much as we can for the main course, which includes:
This weekend, we whipped the house into shape (though 2 particularly undesirable tasks on the list, vaccuuming and cleaning the bathrooms, have not yet been accomplished) and did our first shopping round (we figured 2 into the plan because you never remember everything the first time around). Last night we picked up a few remaining necessities.
Tomorrow, my KitchenAid mixer will be pushed to its limit, and the spare bowl that B bought me will be very useful. The dessert menu includes whoopie pies, biscotti, and raspberry-cream sandwiches. I'm drooling just thinking of them.
We're also going to peel, cut, and chop as much as we can for the main course, which includes:
- Turkey (of course).
- Gravy. Lots and lots of gravy.
- Mashed potatoes.
- Fruity stuffing and regular (i.e. the kind that comes from a box) stuffing.
- Butternut squash risotto.
- Squash.
- Whipped eggnog sweet potatoes.
- Corn.
- Peas.
- Roasted vegetables (potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and onions).
- Italian-style green beans.
We've had such good luck with brining other meats that we're going to brine our turkey. And we found a yummy sounding recipe for turkey and wild rice soup, so we bought a second brining bag for storing the turkey...well, "carcass" doesn't sound like an appetizing ingredient in a soup recipe, but that's what it is, and it's an important ingredient in the soup. So was the teeny box of $6 wild rice. This soup better be good.
Since this is the biggest meal we've ever cooked, we created a little project plan in Excel so we know the cooking times and temperatures of everything and the bowls to serve our dishes in. I am slightly concerned that we only 4 burners but have 7 items that must be cooked on the stove. However, I am confident that we will achieve the same Thanksgiving miracle that millions of Americans achieve every year and will get our food--while it's still hot--to the table. That table that has, by the way, been set since Saturday.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Too much flexibility is not a good thing...
We received these cutting boards as a wedding gift, and we love them--they're thin and flexible and easy to wash and dry. However, we discovered one of their limitations on Friday night.
B and I were both stuck in terrible (but typical) Friday-night traffic on the way home from work. I got home first and got started on a pizza. We love making home-made pizza--it's just as good as pizza from a restaurant, thanks to our pizza stone, but is a fraction of the price. We buy dough from the grocery store and toss on whatever tomato sauce and cheese is in the house, along with toppings if we have them (red peppers are always a favorite).
As I was rolling out the dough, I could tell it was going to be a good pizza. I stretched the dough extra thin and poured on lots of vodka sauce. The cheese was a combination of monterey jack and white cheddar. The red pepper was thinly sliced to perfection and artfully arranged.
I made the pizza on parchment paper over a cutting board, so I could open the oven and easily slide the pizza and paper onto the pizza stone. Removing the pizza from the oven is a similar process--grab an edge of the parchment paper and slide your crisp perfection onto a cutting board.
And that's where the process broke down. Our fabulous flexible cutting boards, while so efficient and handy for vegetables, were not made for supporting anything, least of all an enormous pizza. I saw the pizza slide out of the oven onto the cutting board that B was holding by the edge and immediately thought, "Something bad is about to happen." Sure enough--the pizza almost made it to the counter before sliding off the (did I mention it's slippery?) cutting board and making an unfortunate *splat* noise as it hit the floor. On the list of items to be grateful for this year--it landed crust-side down.
The moral of the story--know the limitations of your cooking equipment. And laugh when you hit them. At least this kitchen disaster didn't leave us with shattered glass all over our kitchen. :)
B and I were both stuck in terrible (but typical) Friday-night traffic on the way home from work. I got home first and got started on a pizza. We love making home-made pizza--it's just as good as pizza from a restaurant, thanks to our pizza stone, but is a fraction of the price. We buy dough from the grocery store and toss on whatever tomato sauce and cheese is in the house, along with toppings if we have them (red peppers are always a favorite).
As I was rolling out the dough, I could tell it was going to be a good pizza. I stretched the dough extra thin and poured on lots of vodka sauce. The cheese was a combination of monterey jack and white cheddar. The red pepper was thinly sliced to perfection and artfully arranged.
I made the pizza on parchment paper over a cutting board, so I could open the oven and easily slide the pizza and paper onto the pizza stone. Removing the pizza from the oven is a similar process--grab an edge of the parchment paper and slide your crisp perfection onto a cutting board.
And that's where the process broke down. Our fabulous flexible cutting boards, while so efficient and handy for vegetables, were not made for supporting anything, least of all an enormous pizza. I saw the pizza slide out of the oven onto the cutting board that B was holding by the edge and immediately thought, "Something bad is about to happen." Sure enough--the pizza almost made it to the counter before sliding off the (did I mention it's slippery?) cutting board and making an unfortunate *splat* noise as it hit the floor. On the list of items to be grateful for this year--it landed crust-side down.
The moral of the story--know the limitations of your cooking equipment. And laugh when you hit them. At least this kitchen disaster didn't leave us with shattered glass all over our kitchen. :)
Monday, November 12, 2007
The high cost of organization
The wedding is over, and with it goes the wedding-imposed spending freeze, and I have started coming up with occasionally outrageous ways to celebrate the end of a six-month spending moratorium. Additionally, I now can focus my attention on making a cozy and comfortable home. The people at theknot.com have recognized the transition in my life and are sending, fittingly, emails from thenest.com. (For the record, I find them to be annoying but am somehow unable to unsubscribe, so I have started marking them as spam and now no longer receive them.)
One of the areas that has been bothering both B and me for a while is shoes. I know, I know--shoes? How troublesome can they really be? It depends on how many you have and the amount of space you have to store them in. I think it's safe to say that our collection far outstrips our available storage space.
We store my shoes in a rack on the back of our downstairs coat closet, but B's shoes are too big and heavy for the rack and tend to knock the rack off the door (not fun). And the closet is full of tools, coats, winter gear, and a vaccuum, so there isn't room for his shoes inside. We have an unattractive metal rack that I inherited from one of my apartments a few years ago, and it currently stores B's shoes (on the bottom shelves) and my purse and our laptop bags on the top shelf. But it's an open-air metal rack--not exactly a nice decorative accent. And the shoes get in a jumble and look messy all of the time, and it drives me crazy. We need a better solution.
I found this shoe rack online, and it's fabulous--a nice color, excellent storage capacity, and it's even lined with cedar. I checked out comparable options online, and none were as nice, though some did rival the price. The price is of course what I'm having the most trouble with. Can I really spend $250 (with shipping) on a box that only stores shoes? Is the shoe problem $250 worth of bad? And what happens when B's shoe collection exceeds capacity of the box? (Come to think of it, it maybe already has...)
Stay tuned, eager Reader, as the shoe dilemma continues.
One of the areas that has been bothering both B and me for a while is shoes. I know, I know--shoes? How troublesome can they really be? It depends on how many you have and the amount of space you have to store them in. I think it's safe to say that our collection far outstrips our available storage space.
We store my shoes in a rack on the back of our downstairs coat closet, but B's shoes are too big and heavy for the rack and tend to knock the rack off the door (not fun). And the closet is full of tools, coats, winter gear, and a vaccuum, so there isn't room for his shoes inside. We have an unattractive metal rack that I inherited from one of my apartments a few years ago, and it currently stores B's shoes (on the bottom shelves) and my purse and our laptop bags on the top shelf. But it's an open-air metal rack--not exactly a nice decorative accent. And the shoes get in a jumble and look messy all of the time, and it drives me crazy. We need a better solution.
I found this shoe rack online, and it's fabulous--a nice color, excellent storage capacity, and it's even lined with cedar. I checked out comparable options online, and none were as nice, though some did rival the price. The price is of course what I'm having the most trouble with. Can I really spend $250 (with shipping) on a box that only stores shoes? Is the shoe problem $250 worth of bad? And what happens when B's shoe collection exceeds capacity of the box? (Come to think of it, it maybe already has...)
Stay tuned, eager Reader, as the shoe dilemma continues.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Oh, the weather outside is frightful...
Last year, I attempted to meet what seemed like an impossible goal--to finish my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving. My goal was inspired in part by a nightmarish experience the year before at a local mall one weekend close to Christmas. B and I were stuck in our car in a parking lot for over an hour just trying to get a parking space. I think we were both scarred from the experience, and I vowed to figure out a better way to do my Christmas shopping.
Finishing before most people even start seemed like the best option. True, I might miss out on some sales, but really--is a savings of a few dollars worth the hassle of post-Thanksgiving shopping? I decided not. And since I do a large portion of my shopping online, sales aren't always relevant.
Last year, I didn't finish all of my shopping before Thanksgiving, but I did finish most of it, and having only a minimum amount of shopping to do in the weeks leading up to Christmas was fabulous. I decided it was a Christmas tradition to carry forward into the future.
This year, B and I started our shopping even earlier--in September while we were on our honeymoon. We purchased almost half of our gifts while abroad, leaving us with a small amount of shopping to do when we returned. And I am happy to say that as of today, we are very nearly finished. We have purchased a few gifts that require "finishing touches," but I do not foresee any problems meeting our Thanksgiving deadline.
Oh, and another success--this weekend we wrapped all of our gifts. Now all we need is a tree to put them under. But I guess mid-November is a little early for a Christmas tree...
Finishing before most people even start seemed like the best option. True, I might miss out on some sales, but really--is a savings of a few dollars worth the hassle of post-Thanksgiving shopping? I decided not. And since I do a large portion of my shopping online, sales aren't always relevant.
Last year, I didn't finish all of my shopping before Thanksgiving, but I did finish most of it, and having only a minimum amount of shopping to do in the weeks leading up to Christmas was fabulous. I decided it was a Christmas tradition to carry forward into the future.
This year, B and I started our shopping even earlier--in September while we were on our honeymoon. We purchased almost half of our gifts while abroad, leaving us with a small amount of shopping to do when we returned. And I am happy to say that as of today, we are very nearly finished. We have purchased a few gifts that require "finishing touches," but I do not foresee any problems meeting our Thanksgiving deadline.
Oh, and another success--this weekend we wrapped all of our gifts. Now all we need is a tree to put them under. But I guess mid-November is a little early for a Christmas tree...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)