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By eliza_cross, on December 26th, 2011%
 Photo by John Michael Mayer Ah, another Christmas is behind us. I hope you had a splendid celebration and enjoyed a special day with your loved ones.
As the holiday season winds down, the end of December signals the inevitable reconciliation of how much money was spent versus what was budgeted. Perhaps, like me, you’re also beginning to think about your goals and hopes for the coming year.
It’s common to think about lighter eating and exercising after all of the indulgences of the holidays, but January is also a great time to get back on track financially. To that end, what if you cut all nonessential spending for 31 days? Hundreds of people have successfully completed the January Money Diet while finding plenty of creative ways to have fun and live large without spending cash.
Care to join us? All you have to do is leave a comment on the January Money Diet page stating your intention to take the challenge. Every day in January I’ll post a new task or idea to help you start 2012 financially strong. If you prefer to have the daily postings delivered by e-mail, it’s free to subscribe here.
Many people discover that breaking the spending habit is a change they carry throughout the year–saving their money for the things and experiences that are truly important, and spending less on the empty frivolities that can deplete cash so easily.
I hope you’ll join us for the January Money Diet, and here’s to a happy, healthy, financially strong 2012!
Hugs,
By eliza_cross, on December 19th, 2011%
I once attended a truly awful cookie exchange party. After laboring for several days over the required 12 dozen cookies and packing them in the requisite zip-lock plastic bags (“for easy swapping!” the invitation said) I arrived and discovered that the seasoned exchangers had already ransacked the cookie table. After several of them swooped in on my ginger thins, I surveyed the leavings: a dozen well-fingered baggies of animal crackers topped with canned frosting.
So you can understand my trepidation when several girlfriends invited me to join their annual fancy Christmas cookie exchange a few years ago. But these smart women have this holiday ritual figured out, and their execution is so simple and brilliant I thought I’d share it with you. Here’s the gist: we each bake five dozen of our best cookies and package them prettily. (I baked coconut macaroons and drizzled some with melted chocolate.)
Next—and this is an extremely important element of a simple cookie exchange—we meet at a great restaurant. We drink Mimosas, we catch up, we laugh, and we present each other with our cookies. Later we each return home with a stunning selection of five dozen fancy, delicious cookies like these:
Here’s what I love about this newfangled cookie exchange:
- Reasonable quantities. Making a single batch of 5 dozen cookies is doable, even with a busy schedule. And 5 dozen cookies limits the amount of temptation at home, too (even though I’ve already eaten 15 cookies since yesterday).
- Off-site location. Meeting at a restaurant means no one has to clean the house.
- Planning ahead. The girls get the date on the calendar at least two months in advance so everyone can be there.
- Festive annual event. It’s important to make time for friends, and this gathering insures that we all get to see each other during the busy holiday season.
- Champagne. Need I say more?
I’d love to hear about your updated traditions, and I hope you’re finding simple, joyful moments during this busy holiday season.
Hugs,
P.S. Have you signed up for the January Money Diet yet ? If you’d like to save money, reduce debt and spend less during the coming year, join a group of like-minded people and commit to the ultimate financial challenge of eliminating nonessential spending for 31 days.
In lieu of spending cash, we find other ways to indulge, have fun and live large. Throughout the month, you’ll find postings with a variety of ideas, recipes, photos, links and tips to help you stick to the money diet—and pocket the cash. To participate, simply leave a comment confirming your participation and you’ll be automatically entered for a prize drawing of a deluxe prize basket at the end of the month. Here’s to a financially fit 2012!
By eliza_cross, on December 11th, 2011%
A week ago I coaxed my son and daughter to sit in front of the Christmas tree for the annual holiday photo. I love this unstaged candid shot, of the two of them sharing a private laugh:
When Michael was a baby, he couldn’t take his eyes off his sister Gracie if she was anywhere in the room. Despite their thirteen year age difference, they have always been close.
Do I take these little moments for granted? I suppose I do, especially at this time of year when it seems I’m juggling more tasks, chores, events and items on my endless To Do list. But Michael and I were making dinner in the kitchen a few nights later when I got the call that no parent ever wants to receive: Gracie had been in a car accident on the highway during evening rush hour.
An accident instantly halts all the world’s noise.
Everything else falls away with crystallizing focus to the singular, life-and-death question: Is she okay?
And thankfully, my friends, she is fine. She didn’t get hurt at all, and the driver of the truck she hit was fine, too. Her little green Toyota Corolla that took her so reliably through Denver city streets and back and forth to college, however, is totalled.
So. Now we are dealing with insurance deductibles and rental cars and claims and paperwork and unplanned expenses at Christmas time. But you know what? It doesn’t matter. And if everything on my holiday To Do list doesn’t get done or bought this year, it doesn’t matter.
We have lost two loved ones to car accidents, and I am acutely aware of how vulnerable we are and how easily a few more inches, a couple of seconds, a different angle, or a little more velocity can, in an instant, bring forth an outcome too painful to imagine.
I wish it didn’t take an accident to remind me of the truth I know, but sometimes forget:
Every day we have together is a gift.
In these coming days filled with holiday preparations and busy-ness, I wish for you the gift of simple, happy moments with your loved ones.
Hugs,
By eliza_cross, on April 20th, 2011%
“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” ~ Robert Brault
One of our favorite Easter traditions is a putting out our collection of colored eggs. Each year we unwrap these fragile Easter eggs and arrange them in a bowl on the kitchen table. We’ve created the eggs over a number of years, and they cost nearly nothing to make. The process begins with the tricky first step: yours truly always has to prick the ends of the eggs and blow out the contents — a task that thoroughly grosses out both of my children. (The eggs are perfectly fine, though, and can be scrambled or used in an Easter brunch casserole.)
We’ve decorated the eggs with different media; some are dyed, some are painted and some are colored with markers and crayons. My daughter created several of them when she was home sick one day, and several are new additions that my son and I made earlier this week. Some of the eggs are the result of our experimentation with a Pysanky kit. A few are naturally colored eggs in pale green and brown from a friend’s chickens. We seem to break a few every year, and that’s okay.
As this holiday of hope and new beginnings approaches, may you and your family find joy, peace and love — and may you make happy memories enjoying the simple things together.
By eliza_cross, on December 21st, 2010%
Homemade popcorn is healthy, inexpensive and fun to make. If you’re accustomed to making microwave popcorn in a bag, you’ll be delighted to discover that old-fashioned stovetop popcorn is easy to make and much tastier when it’s made from scratch. Plus, you don’t have to worry about the controversial chemicals used in commercial microwave popcorn — and a huge batch costs just pennies.
If you really want to be green, look for organic, bulk popcorn kernels from a local source, if possible. (Already dreaming of next summer’s garden? Why not plant a crop of popcorn?)
Here’s the simple recipe:
Homemade Stovetop Popcorn
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (peanut oil is ideal because of its high smoking point, but you can use regular vegetable oil)
- 1/2 cup popcorn kernels
- 2 teaspoons sea salt (or more or less, to taste)
Add the oil to a large, heavy-bottomed, lidded pot and heat over a medium flame. Add a couple of popcorn kernels to the oil. When one pops, you’ll know that it’s time to add the rest of the kernels.
Stir the kernels to coat them with oil, and put a lid on the pot leaving it slightly off center so that steam can escape. Shake the pan over the flame as the kernels pop, and remove the pan when the popping sounds have slowed to less than one pop a second. Pour the popcorn in a bowl, sprinkle with sea salt if desired, and enjoy! You can also drizzle the popcorn with melted butter and seasonings like grated Parmesan cheese, jerk seasoning mix, chile powder or cinnamon sugar.
A big bowl of popcorn is the perfect snack to share with friends or family while watching a holiday movie at home this week. I hope you’re enjoying the season and finding some time for peace and relaxation during this busy time.
Hugs,
By eliza_cross, on December 17th, 2010%
Here’s a festive item every Jewish household will want for Hanukkah: a blinking window dreidel, er, draydel.
By the way, if you’re starting to think about the New Year and want to begin 2011 financially strong, be sure to sign up for the January Money Diet. Last year several hundred of us took a voluntary break from unnecessary spending for one month and had lots of fun in the process. Along with posting tips, photos, recipes and ideas about living well without spending cash, I’ll also be giving away several books and other prizes throughout the month. Just leave a comment on the January Money Diet page (or leave a link to your site if you’re a blogger) and you’ll be automatically signed up to participate and entered to win prizes.
Mazel tov!
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