Teddy Bear in the Wild

Thriftiness

OK, I admit it. I can occasionally be a complete cheapskate. Having a husband in college has taught me to be creative about meals, shopping, and home decor. And frankly, often I find this to be more fun than spending lots of money. I'm not saying that spending is bad in and of itself. But we all have a limited amount of money, so why not save it for more important things than weekly groceries and monthly heating bills? With this thought, here are some of my favorite tricks for spending less.

1) Instead of buying a scented candle to give your home that fresh scent, mix a 1:2 solution of lemon juice and water and microwave on high for several minutes. Not only will your apartment smell beautiful, but any caked on food in the microwave can now be wiped off easily.

2) During the summer, buy lots of those cheap fruits and veggies and freeze them. Most will keep for months in the freezer, and you will save lots of time when making soup, smoothies, etc. Stir-fry is amazingly quick this way. Also, chop up that whole head of celery and freeze it. You will never have to throw out limp celery.

3) No money for books? Go through your bookshelves and find those books that you have neve read or will never read again. Take them down to your local used bookstore and turn them in for store credit. This can be a great source of books for gifts to friends (lots of used books are still in excellent condition) or simply a fun weekend outing to get more books.

4) Forget those expensive scrubbing cleaners. Use plain old baking soda to clean faucets, sinks, and tubs. Works on everything except dark mineral stains.

5) Buy tissue paper at the dollar store. You can get a huge stack for a dollar. Spend a fun half hour at the fabric store gettting 1 yard lengths of several fun ribbons. Personalize your presents by taping ribbon initials on your wrapped gifts, matching colors and styles to the recipients.

Christmas Preparations

Celebrating the four Sundays of Advent has been a yearly tradition in my family. In addition to lighting successive candles each Sunday, Andrew and I decided to add a few more traditions. The First Sunday of Advent, we picked out a tree and decorated it. The glass rectangular containers with the red bows (there are more than are shown here) have now become our Advent 'wreath'.















My sweet husband noticed my slightly glazed look when I was finishing the last of these packages, and hid my duck Pato in the top of one. He was rescued before the trip to the post office.














As my office always gets rather insane around the end of the year, Andrew welcomed me home one day with this surprise.




















What to do when a friend sends you a massive box of fruit? Redecorate, with lots of fruit bowls.


Last week, for the Second Sunday of Advent, I tried out the Rosemary-Dill Potato Soup recipe from Hot Providence. Delicious! Very easy to make. too. For those interested, here's the recipe, with a few of my own tweaks:

Rosemary-Dill Potato Soup

2 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 heads garlic, finely chopped
2-4 Tbsp. butter.
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp each rosemary, dill, nutmeg, basil
8 red or Yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed and chopped into 1" cubes
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream

Saute the celery and garlic in butter. Add salt, pepper, spices, potatoes, broth. Bring to boil, simmer 20 minutes. Add sugar, milk, sour cream, cook until soup is heated throughout. Serve with a garnish of green onions, bacon, cheese, and/ or a dollop of sour cream. Enjoy!