I'm going to be taking a blogging break through the end of the year to spend time with family and just enjoy the holidays!  I have great posts in mind for after the new year though and will hopefully return rested and ready to continue sharing about my journey to becoming frugally green!

Also, I would love to hear in the comments if you were able to make any changes, big or small, to have a more frugally green Christmas this year.  I love to hear your stories and experiences, so please share!!

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Why do we celebrate Christmas? What is the meaning behind the giving and receiving of gifts?

Is Christmas about more than a jolly old man with a white beard who gives gifts to those on his nice list and looks over those who have been naughty? Is it more than just the warm fuzzy feeling we get when we give and receive gifts?

When we were putting up our Christmas tree and decorations, I found a few Christmas books that I had gotten from the dollar bins at Target last year, one of which was The Night Before Christmas. As I opened it and started to read it to Kaelyn, I pointed to Santa and asked, "Who's that?" Her answer right away was, "Noah". She thought that Santa was Noah from her Noah and the Ark books, and actually, I was okay with that. Now that she is two and can better understand the true meaning of Christmas, we have been pretty intentional about talking with her about Christmas being Jesus' birthday. For us, it's not just a day that we get to open presents and eat yummy food and get together with our families. I want my daughter to understand that Christmas is about so much more than that.

The greatest gift we could ever receive was given to us by God when He sent His Son to be born of a virgin and live on this earth as a man. Christmas is about the incarnation of God. Incarnation means to take on flesh, and that is what Jesus did when He left His divine place in Heaven to become a man and live on this earth.

As Christians, the reason that our family celebrates Christmas is because we are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came to earth as a baby, fully God and fully human. Christmas is Jesus' birthday.

That is the reason that Christmas has meaning, the reason that we give and receive gifts is to remember the Ultimate Gift that was given to us. For us, it’s not about Santa and his reindeer, or eating lots of good food and making Christmas cookies, or Christmas trees and pretty lights and lots of presents under the tree. Those things are nice, and don’t get me wrong, we enjoy celebrating those parts of Christmas with our families, but if we had to give all of those things up, we would still celebrate Christmas because of the Hope, Love, Peace and Joy that we have found in a baby who was born in a stable and became the Savior of the world.

My hubby was reading this article (go read the article, it's really pretty good) on Time.com yesterday about Advent Conspiracy and we both thought it was such a great concept that I wanted to pass it along and share it with you. It just goes along so well with what we have been talking about in the Frugally Green Christmas Series with simplifying and giving to others. This is the kind of thing that could make a big difference in the way you celebrate and think about Christmas.  This is the kind of thing that I want to be about at Christmas time (and all the time, actually).

Did you know that Americans spend $450 BILLION dollars on Christmas EACH YEAR!!! I had no idea. Did you also know that just $10 billion dollars would supply clean water to everyone in the world that needs it?

The premise of Advent Conspiracy is that we as Christians (or anyone that wants to) can make a real difference if we change the way we think about Christmas. If everyone spent a little bit less, bought a few less presents this Christmas, and in turn gave some of the money they saved to Living Water that it could actually change the world.  Watch the video, it says it much better than I can.



I challenge you to give a real gift this Christmas.  A gift of love, a gift of hope, a gift of LIFE.

A telltale sign that you have been making changes in your life and your home - when you introduce something back into your home that you haven't been using for a while and it is irritating to you.  Irritating in more than one way. 

Here's what happened.  We ran out of our homemade laundry detergent.  I had more stuff to make it with, but just hadn't gotten around to doing it (keepin' it real - I'm not perfect at this all the time!) and Jer really needed to have some of his work clothes washed.  So he did a load with some store bought detergent that we had from when we first moved into our house and got our new HE front loading washer.  We haven't used regular detergent in probably at least 5 months.  I am not kidding you, that one load of laundry "stunk" up the whole house.  I mean, it smelled like regular laundry detergent, it was "Original Fresh Scent", but I could smell it from across the room.  And then I put on a shirt that had been washed in that load and I had to take it off within 5 minutes.  I just could not stand the smell.  My nose was itchy and runny, my eyes were watering, and I had a headache.  

I was kind of surprised, kind of proud and kind of frustrated.  Surprised that I actually had such a strong reaction to it.  Proud of the changes we have made, that we are reducing our exposure to synthetic fragrances and chemicals. And frustrated at the pervasiveness of irritating chemicals, synthetic fragrances and unknown ingredients. 

I guess that's one thing about this journey that has been hard and frustrating to me.  I sometimes get overwhelmed by the amount of junk that is in products that most of us use every single day.  Junk that affects us and we often don't even know it. Or we (or the powers that be) may know it, and still the junk persists because it is easier for the companies to keep including the junk than it is for them to find an alternative, and we as consumers keep buying it.  That is one reason I am working hard to come up with homemade alternatives to things.  I want to lessen the way I am contributing to that viscious cycle in whatever small way I can. 

It is frustrating to me that I even have to worry about the things I am using to clean my home, wash my baby (and myself), make our food, the toys that my kids play with, and the list could go on and on. I want to avoid all that junk as much as possible, but it is just everywhere - and it seems the more changes I make, the more aware I am of all the changes I still feel like I need to make. 

I want to be able to buy products that are safe.  I want to trust that the products I use won't harm me, my children or my husband in some way, known or unknown.  Products that don't contain chemicals and irritants and additives and synthetics. I don't want to have to think about and worry about it all the time.

But the reality is, unfortunately, I do have to.

I didn't really expect this post to go in this direction. It just kind of came out as I was writing.  I guess this is something that has been on my mind for a while and I just needed to get it out.  Does anyone else feel this way?  Does it bother you that companies make things using ingredients that we don't really know the effects on us, or the effects of all of the different ingredients and chemicals together? Does it bother you that they know the effects and keep doing it anyway!?! (Why do I still have to worry about lead in toys?  Haven't we known for long enough that lead is poisonous that we could get it out of our children's toys!?) Do you worry about the different things that you bring into your home and whether or not they will harm you or your family in some way?  Maybe I am overly concerned about it?  I don't really know, and I guess that is what is frustrating too, is that I don't even know what I should be concerned or not concerned about.  I am trying to find balance, but I don't always feel like I know the best way to go about it. It can be so overwhelming at times. 

I'm sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now.  I really didn't want this post to be a downer. This is just something that I am wrestling with right now.  I would really love though to hear your thoughts and comments, and how you deal with this in your own life and with your family.

Thanks for listening! :)

So last week I cooked a whole chicken and made homemade chicken broth for the first time!  I was very proud of myself.  I followed directions from Katie at Kitchen Stewardship (which is one of my new favorite blogs! So much good stuff!). I made chicken soup on Saturday with the broth and just threw in some seasonings, whatever veggies we had around that needed to get used up, shredded chicken and egg noodles.  Jer said it was one of the best soups he's had - and he's really not a soup person.  I cannot tell you how thrilled I was! It is so great to get affirmation from my husband for my cooking. I am really beginning to feel comfortable and capable (even confident!) in the kitchen.  And for those of you who have known me since my younger years, that is a big deal for me.  When Jer and I got married, I really did not know how to cook.  There were about 3 meals that I could make and knew they would turn out well.  Over the past year, I have to say that meal planning has made a huge difference for me in this area because it forces me to think about what we will be eating and allows me to try new things and learn as I go and I am so happy that I finally feel like I am a good cook!  Anyway, enough about me...

Here's this week's menu: 

Meatless Monday - Black Bean and Corn Quesdillas (from last week)

Tuesday -Baked Salmon, veggies and rice

Wednesday - Turkey Burgers with homemade buns (from a few weeks ago)

Thursday - Christmas Party for our small group - making Chicken Taco Soup and Mint Chocolate Brownies (Yum!!)

Friday - Spaghetti, Italian cheese bread, and veggies 

Saturday - Leftovers or something simple 

Sunday - Crock pot Chicken Parmesan


Check out more great meal plans at Organizing Junkie!

So, you may have noticed that I am a little off on my original Frugally Green Christmas Series schedule.  Between Thanksgiving, sick kids (will they ever be well this time of year?), and wireless internet that's not working meaning I have to be stuck in our office plugged into the modem (who goes online that way anymore?), I have gotten a little behind.  Sorry about that.  The post I am missing was supposed to be about food, and since I really still feel like I am learning a lot in that area, I decided that instead of posting myself about Christmas food, I will send you over to Simple Mom, who has had two great holiday food posts recently - Menu Planning and Batch Cooking and Making Food Gifts.  Yum!  Now I'm off to go make myself a snack!

I hope to see you back next Friday though, for the final post in the Frugally Green Christmas Series - Focusing on the Reason for the Season!  

This post is part of the series How to Have a Frugally Green Christmas. See the previous posts here. 



Unfortunately, so often the Holidays can become a season of selfishness. We get caught up in our busy calendar, what we want to give (and receive) as Christmas gifts, how we can have a merrier Christmas and a happier New Year. And I'm just as guilty as the next person.

I have been thinking about how to combat this selfishness for our family and myself and I think one of the obvious ways is through service to others. Serving others gets us outside of ourselves and helps to remind us of the ways we are blessed and the things we have to be thankful for. It is a great way to teach children that Christmas is not all about them and what they are getting for presents. When you serve you may realize that you don’t really need to have or do all of the things on your Christmas list this year. And that can save you time and money!

There are lots and lots of different ways to serve during the holidays; you just have to find the one that is right for you and your family. It could be serving a meal at the homeless shelter, buying a Angel Tree gift for a child whose parent is in prison, going caroling, inviting a lonely neighbor over for a meal – there is no limit to the ways that we can serve those around us.

And serving doesn't have to be something that you just do with your family. Get together a group of people and figure out how you can serve together. Jer and I lead a small group for our church each week at our house, and we decided that as a group we are going to adopt a local family to provide them with food and gifts for their children for Christmas. My parents have a Christmas Eve tradition of caroling with a group of friends. They go to nursing homes and people who are shut-in and not able to leave their homes and sing Christmas carols. I got to participate for a few years while I was in college (they started the tradition after I left for school) and it was always so touching to see how much joy we brought to people just by singing them a few songs. Serving with others adds that much more meaning to the service you are doing.

When you are serving you are spending time that you could be using to do other things, like baking cookies, shopping for presents or wrapping gifts. And we all know we have lots to do this time of year! But instead, you are choosing to give of yourself and your time to the benefit of others and not just focusing on your own agenda. What better way to celebrate the gift of Jesus, who gave of Himself when He came into our world as a baby!

There are just 2 weeks until Christmas! Find a time today or this weekend to figure out how you and your family (and friends too!) can serve others this Holiday Season!

One of the things that I really appreciate about meal planning is its' flexibility.  It may not seem that way when you see a list of what I am planning to make for dinner for each specific night of the week, but it really is flexible.  When something comes up, like Jer having a after work Christmas party that he told me about at the last minute, or my daughter spiking a super high fever right before dinner time, you can adjust your meals to fit your needs and still be able to eat at home and not have to go to the drive thru or eat cereal for dinner.  All that is to say that we didn't quite stick to our plan last week, so you'll see a few repeated meals this week. 

Here's this week's menu: 

Meatless Monday - Leftovers (Jer will be gone for dinner, so we'll do meatless later in the week)

Tuesday - dinner with our small group

Wednesday - BBQ Chicken Pizza - from last week (and I'm attempting to cook a whole chicken for this and Friday's meal, and then make homemade broth on Thursday)

Thursday -  Black Bean and Corn Quesdillas (this is our favorite meatless meal!)

Friday - Baked Chicken Chimichangas (planning to double recipe to put some in freezer)

Saturday - Chicken Soup (with homemade stock) and Homemade Bread

Sunday - Crock pot Pork Chops with baked potatoes (from last week)


Check out more great meal plans at Organizing Junkie!

(Sorry about the lateness of this post.  Life has been happening to me lately. :) Thanks for your patience.) 

The debate of Real vs. Artificial Christmas Trees is one that can divide friends, families, even couples.  I am a Real Tree girl myself.  I cherish the memories of walking through rows of snow covered pine trees looking for the "perfect" tree with my parents and two younger sisters.  When my youngest sister left for college 3 years ago, my parents bought a pre-lit artificial Christmas Tree.  My sister still refuses to be at home when they put it up.

Now that I have my own family, my hubby and I have been traveling to a local Christmas tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree each year. 

Real vs. Artificial
Like most arguments, you can find support for either side of this debate. On the one hand, an artificial tree is a one time purchase that you can use for years and years to come, and if you get a real tree you are cutting down a living tree in order to use it for a few weeks and then dispose of it.

However, I believe the Real Christmas Tree wins this argument hands down. 

- Artificial trees are made mostly of PVC which is a petroleum product.  The production of this type of plastic releases one of the most toxic chemicals, dioxin, into the environment.

- Although artificial trees could be purchased and used for 20 years or more, I read statistics that stated that most trees are discarded anywhere from 6-9 years after they are purchased.  And guess what they do when they are no longer being used?  Sit in a landfill without breaking down because they are made of PVC. 

- Some artificial trees can contain levels of lead that are unsafe for young children to be around. Lead is used as a stabilizer for PVC and over years of use artificial trees can release lead dust which can land on the branches, on the floor, or on presents below the tree.1

-Artificial trees require resources both for production and for shipping them, and many artificial trees are made in China. 


Real Christmas Trees benefit the environment while they are growing and they are also a renewable resource.  The best way to get a live tree is to find a local tree farm.  This eliminates the need for the trees to be shipped (except for you bringing it back to your house) and you can be assured that the tree you are cutting down will be replaced by a new tree being planted, the tree farm has to stay in business after all.  Live Christmas Trees can also be recycled.  Around 90% of Christmas Trees are turned into mulch each year.2 

Go to the National Christmas Tree Association to find a Christmas Tree Farm near you!

Simplify

Now as far as Christmas Decorations go, I am of the opinion that less is more.  I think this is definitely an area that you can try to simplify this year.  Use what you have. Try making homemade decorations.  Use nature for decorating.  If you must buy decorations, consider buying used. Check out your local thrift store. I was recently shopping at the St. Vincent DePaul thrift store and was impressed by the large section of Christmas decorations they had.  

What kind of Christmas Tree will you be getting this year?  What are your favorite frugal, nature inspired, or homemade Christmas decorations?  (I need some inspiration!)   

For more great frugal ideas check out Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom!

Sources: 1, 2

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving spending time with your families and loved ones! 
Christmas is right around the corner and to try to prepare a little bit for the busyness of the season, I want to make a recipe each week that I can double and put in the freezer. 

Here's this week's menu:

Meatless Monday - Baked French Toast with homemade hash browns

Tuesday - dinner with our small group - making Crock pot Enchiladas

Wednesday - BBQ Chicken Pizza (planning to make 2 and freeze one un-cooked like frozen pizza - we'll see how it turns out)

Thursday - Turkey Burgers on homemade rolls

Friday - Steak Stir Fry with veggies

Saturday - Dinner party at a friend's house (so excited for a night out without the kids!)

Sunday - Crock pot Pork Chops with baked potatoes 

I also want to stock my freezer with easy breakfasts or snacks, so I'm hoping to make some more pumpkin muffins (these were sooo yummy), and also these amazing looking pear and cream cheese muffins this week!

Check out more great meal plans at Organizing Junkie!

Be sure to check out my Giveaway for Re-usable Gift Bags! There are not very many comments yet, so you have a GREAT chance of winning!!

It was nice to take a little break this past week. Even though I was still making dinner it just seemed a little simpler and not so much of a chore. I'm not completely sure why, maybe it is all about the attitude I have about it. If I think about it as being simpler and easy, then it seems less stressful to me.  Hmmm, funny how that works. 

We're heading to my family's house for Thanksgiving, so this is another easy week for me! :)  (Thanks Mom!!) 

I made these Pumpkin Bars to take when we went to dinner at our friend's house last week.  Then when we were coming home we left the pan on the back of our car. Oops!  I don't know which I was was sadder about - loosing the pan or the leftover bars!

Here's this week's menu: (sorry for the boringness and lack of links!)

Meatless Monday - Spaghetti with sauce and veggies

Tuesday - dinner with our small group

Wednesday - sandwiches or on the road

Thursday through Sunday - at my family's house

I'll be back next week ready to get back into meal planning and sharing yummy recipe links with you!  In the mean time, remember to check out my giveaway!

Check out more great meal plans at Organizing Junkie!

This is the third post in the series How to Have a Frugally Green Christmas. Read the first post on gift giving, and the second post on Christmas cards.

When you think about Christmas, one of the main images that probably comes to mind is the beautifully wrapped gifts under the tree. I remember as a child getting up on Christmas morning before everyone else and just sitting in the dark and staring at our Christmas Tree with the Christmas lights on and all of presents under the tree.

And I also vividly remember the huge trash bags that we would fill with wrapping paper, boxes, bows and packaging when we had finished opening our gifts. And I think our family was fairly conservative in this area. We saved gift bags, bows, and ribbon to reuse for as long as they still looked fairly decent. My dad would always open his gifts carefully so we could fold up his wrapping paper and use it again. We saved all our boxes and reused them year after year. It's kind of a joke in our family, because when you open a gift and the box is for a crockpot, you know that's not really what's inside.


In America, we create an additional 1 million tons of waste during the holiday season.1 One million tons. Now, that includes more than just gift wrap, but that is a lot of trash. Most gift wrap is not recyclable because of the type of paper it is made out of, or it has dyes or metallics or other decorations that make it un-recyclable. So it all ends up in the trash.

But, it kind of defeats the purpose if you give a gift and the person knows what it is right away, right? So, how can we wrap our gifts and still be frugally green? If every family in America wrapped 3 gifts in re-used or re-usable material instead of new wrapping paper, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.2 Here's how you can do your part!

1. Re-use gift bags, wrapping paper, bows, and ribbon. Be careful as you are unwrapping your gifts and try to salvage gift wrap that could be re-usable next year. You will save yourself the cost of buying all new wrapping paper, ribbons and bows. If every family reused just two feet of ribbon it would save 38,000 miles of ribbon and could tie a bow around the entire planet.2

2. Use alternative gift wrap. Save the comic pages from the Sunday newspaper for the next few weeks and use that to wrap your gifts. Or find old calendars with pretty pictures or magazine pages for wrapping smaller gifts. Your gifts will look unique and memorable.

3. Use recycled wrapping paper. Like Christmas cards, this is a more spendy option, but still a more earth friendly choice than traditional gift wrap.

4. Use re-usable gift bags. Last year my sister made me a bunch of re-usable gift bags for Christmas. It was such a great gift, and I'm so excited to use the bags to "wrap" my gifts this year. To me, this is the best option. It may cost a little more money than gift wrap up front, but will save you money in years to come, and there is no waste. You can keep the bags within the family and keep using them year after year, or if you are giving a gift to someone outside of the family you can make the bag a part of the gift. See below for your chance to win a set of your very own gift bags!!

Here's a tutorial if you would like to make your own gift bags.
Or if you want to buy them, check out Etsy for lots of different options.

Simplify
If you have simplified your gift list, then you will have fewer presents to wrap. Also, gift bags make wrapping presents MUCH easier! You just put the gift inside the bag, tie the ribbon and you're good to go! No struggling with large rolls of wrapping paper. No measuring, cutting, folding, taping. No last minute rush to get the presents wrapped and under the tree (Oh, does that only happen in my family?) Less stress and still beautiful presents!

Would you like to have your own set of reusable gift bags to use for wrapping presents this year? Like I said, my sister made me a set of bags last year, and she graciously made a set of 5 assorted bags, with coordinating ribbons, for me to giveaway to one lucky reader! Below is a picture of the bags, if you want to see an example of what they would look like all set up and pretty see the picture above.
To Enter:
Simply leave a comment below and tell us one of your favorite things about Christmas!

Also, there are two ways you can earn additional entries:
1. If you are a subscriber or follower of my blog, or sign up as a new subscriber or follower, you get an extra entry! Leave an additional comment saying you are a subscriber or follower.

2. If you blog about this giveaway on your blog, you can have another extra entry. Please leave an additional comment with a link to your post about this giveaway.

Giveaway ends on Tuesday, November 24th at 10:00pm EST. At that time a winner will be chosen by random.org and will be announced the next day!

1. planetgreen.com
2. recycling.stanford.edu

For more great frugal tips check out Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom, and Finer Things Friday at The Finer Things in Life.

One of the ways that we have cut back on our budget is by eliminating dry cleaning. We used to have my hubby's work shirts dry cleaned every week. It was really nice to not have to worry about washing and ironing his shirts for work everyday.

But, dry cleaning, especially for dress shirts, is an unnecessary expense when you can easily wash and iron your own clothes at home. And now that I know more about the chemicals used in dry cleaning, I would still choose to launder his shirts at home, even if we had room in the budget for dry cleaning.

Dry cleaning uses a chemical called Tetrachloroethene (it also goes by tetrachloroethylene, perchloroethylene, or PCE) and is most commonly known as PERC.1 You can be exposed to PERC simply by bringing dry cleaned clothes into your home because the clothing can off-gas the chemical into the air, and even, though less likely, through your skin by wearing the dry cleaned clothes on your body. PERC is labeled as a possible carcinogen by the World Health Organization and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency1 and must be handled as hazardous waste.2 Not something that I want in my home or for my husband to be wearing.

So, I have been washing and ironing Jer's works shirts for him. (That's love!) I used to use store bought spray starch, because he liked the feel of the stiff starched dry cleaned shirts. But then when I ran out, I just didn't buy any more. Just recently, as part of my homemade kick, I thought about making my own spray starch and found lots of recipes online. I mixed up a batch and used it to iron his shirts, and am really pleased the the results.

Homemade Spray Starch
2 cups cold water
1 Tbsp corn starch

Yep! It really is that easy. Mix it together and then put it in a spray bottle and shake it up until the cornstarch is dissolved. Make sure you shake it each time before you iron too. If you want it to be even more "starchy" you can add more cornstarch. I would be a little afraid of residue on my clothing though. This spray really does make ironing easier, especially when the shirts have been sitting in a laundry basket for a week (blush). And his shirts look nice and crisp without being overly stiff. Also, when I iron his shirts all at the same time for the week (which doesn't happen as often as I would like, but is ultimately my goal) the shirts stay looking nice and freshly ironed even after hanging in the closet for a few days.

Plus, could it be any cheaper?! Basically the cost of a Tablespoon of corn starch - for my box of corn starch was about 4 cents. Compared to the $2 can from the store that you often can't even use all of it because the nozzle gets plugged - you can't beat that! And no can to throw in the landfill when you're done.

If you use homemade spray starch along with homemade laundry detergent, you are well on your way to a frugally green laundry routine!

Happy ironing! (If that's even possible) :)


1. thedailygreen.com
2. Wikepedia.org

I have been feeling a bit burned out in the kitchen lately. Or maybe a bit underwhelmed. I don't know if I have been trying to make too many things, or trying too many new recipes, or what it is. I'm sure you've noticed that I've missed a few weeks of planning this month. I've still been planning and cooking, but it has just felt like a chore. So, this week through next week, leading up to Thanksgiving, I just want to keep it simple. I'm going back to a few tried and true recipes, making some of our favorites that are easy for me, and trying to choose recipes that don't take a lot of prep or create too many dishes.

Here's this week's menu:

Meatless Monday - Breakfast for dinner - waffles, eggs, fried potatoes

Tuesday - dinner with our small group, making Chili and every week I also make this bread in the bread machine

Wednesday - Baked Italian Chicken

Thursday - dinner at friend's house, making Pumpkin Bars

Friday - Brolied Tilapia Parmersan

Saturday - Cheesy Chicken and Pasta Skillet

Sunday - Tuna salad sandwiches

Last week I finally got around to making yogurt, granola, and pumpkin muffins. It's so nice to have yummy, good for you, homemade food on hand! But, this week I'm not attempting anything extra in the kitchen!

Check out more great meal plans at Organizing Junkie!

Last week my wonderful friend, Shelley, gave us a double stroller that was taking up space in her garage. With winter on the horizon, she wants to be able to park her car in her garage.

We were blessed to have GREAT weather for November this past week and weekend, and I was able to get out and take the kids for a walk with the new-to-us stroller. I am so thankful that she passed along this stroller to us and that we could make good use out of it. I want to encourage you, if you have things that are taking up space in your home (or garage) consider passing them along to someone that could use and appreciate them. Instead of having things cluttering your home and life, give them new life by blessing someone else with them. If you don't know who to give your stuff to, post about it on your blog (that's what Shelley did!) or send out an e-mail to your friends to see if there is someone that would like to have the things that you are not using.

You are keeping things out of the landfill, decluttering your life, and blessing someone all at the same time!

Here are my kids enjoying their "new" stroller!

Welcome back for the second post in the series How to Have a Frugally Green Christmas! If you missed the first post on gift giving you can read it here.

Many of you are probably starting to think about the Christmas Cards that you will send out this year. It's a tradition that many people enjoy - sending and receiving cards, getting updates on friends and family members and what they have been up to over the past year.
Image by wordridden.

Honestly, we have only sent out Christmas cards once in the 6 years that we have been married, the year that Kaelyn was born. My family didn't send Christmas cards growing up, so it's not something that is a big priority for me. It seems to me like it can take a lot of time, and money too, and I don't have much extra of those, especially during the holidays. On the other hand, some might say, if you don't have the time to sit down and wish a Merry Christmas to those you love and care about then you are missing out on the spirit of the Christmas season.

I do enjoy receiving Christmas cards from family and friends and displaying the cards throughout the holiday season, but then comes the dilemma of what to do with them. Is it terribly unthoughtful to recycle the cards and throw away the photos that someone spent time and money sending to you? But, do you really need to keep the pictures, and how do you store them? This is a tough topic to find balance on, because I know that some people really enjoy and cherish the tradition of sending and receiving of physical Christmas cards, but I also think that we have to be aware of the resources used and waste created by carrying on this tradition. Did you know that the amount of Christmas cards sold in the U.S. alone each year would fill a football field 10 stories high? And the paper needed to make the cards requires the wood of almost 300,000 trees?1 That puts a bit of a damper on my Christmas spirit!

I do believe though, that sending Christmas cards can spread love and joy during the holiday season if done thoughtfully. Here are some of my ideas:

1. Send ecards. Do you really need to send an actual physical card, or will an ecard accomplish your goal of staying in touch and sending your love during the holiday season? I think this is obviously the most frugal and green option. By not sending 50 Christmas cards you can save 5 lbs. of waste, 1000 lbs. of emissions, and 1000 kilowatt hours of energy.2 The e-card is really appealing to me because it can be free, requires no envelope addressing and stuffing, no stamps, no gathering addresses, and produces no waste. You can find a service that offers free ecards, or you can sign up for a free trial at sites like Blue Mountain or American Greetings and send your Christmas ecards during your trial period.

2. Use postcards. Postcards use less paper, are cheaper to buy than traditional cards, and are cheaper to send too! I think postcards are a really cute idea, especially if you are someone who has just done the flat 4x8 photo card in the past. Postcards accomplish basically the same thing, but don't require an envelope, saving even more paper. You can create a personalized photo postcard at Hallmark.

3. Make homemade cards. If you are crafty (I wish I was!), using paper and supplies that you already have on hand to make your own cards adds a great personal touch to sending Christmas cards, which is sometimes lacking from store bought cards. It can also be a way to include your kids by having them help make the cards, and may encourage you to simplify your mailing list to limit the number of cards you have to make. :)

4. Buy cards made from recycled paper. This is probably the most expensive option, but if you are someone who loves to send out Christmas cards, this is at least a more earth friendly way to do it. I found a company called Cards for Causes that offers recycled Christmas cards and also donates 20% of the price of the cards to an environmental charity of your choice. (I have not ordered from this site, so cannot recommend them personally.)

Simplify
Like with the gift giving, check your mailing list and see if you can simplify it. Not to sound harsh, but I believe that Christmas cards should be sent to show your love for your closest family and friends that you keep in touch with at other times than just Christmas, not to show off your family to someone you haven't seen or talked to since high school. If you are sending out cards or postcards, see if you can trim a few names from your list, you'll save money in the amount of cards you're buying, on postage, and on time spent writing a greeting and addressing the cards.
Image by Martin Deutsch


Stop by next Friday for How to Have a Frugally Green Christmas - Wrapping Gifts, and the first ever GIVEAWAY on my blog!!

What kind of Christmas cards are you sending this year? How do you simplify your Christmas card mailing list?

Check out Life as Mom for more Frugal Friday tips!

1. eartheasy.com
2. treehugger.com

Christmas is just seven weeks away! Isn't that crazy!

This is the first year that we as a family are making a purposeful effort to simplify our holidays and change the way we have done some things in the past in order to be as frugal and green as we can. Follow along with me on our journey to have a Frugally Green Christmas. I will be posting on a new topic each Friday from now until Christmas. Each topic will also include my thoughts on simplifying in that area.

Here's a look at the topics we'll cover:
11/6 - Gift Giving
11/13 - Christmas Cards
11/20 - Wrapping Gifts & A GIVEAWAY!!!
11/27 - The Tree & Decorations
12/4 - Serving Others
12/11 - Food
12/18 - Focusing on the Reason for the Season



We're starting this series with taking a look at our gift giving. Gifts are a central theme to what Christmas is all about. As Christians, we give gifts because of the gift that God gave to us in his son Jesus. And of course, gift giving is the main aspect of Christmas that popular culture and the media promote. How many times during the holiday season will you hear about whether sales are up or down for the year, what the hottest toy is, the best gift to give your spouse, or kids, or friend, or neighbor, or anyone else you can think of that needs a gift? And isn't gift giving one of the things that brings on the most stress during Christmas?

I am convinced that there will be lots of "green" guides for gift giving this year, as "going green" is such a hot idea right now. I'm sure there will be many items that are promoted as green, healthy, good for the environment, etc., all in the name of trying to get you to buy the product. "Green" is a obviously a huge marketing term right now. But beware, just because something is marketed as green truly doesn't mean it is the greenest and most frugal option out there.

I really want to strive to make Christmas not about the gifts this year. I am a little (or a lot) sickened by the amount of time, energy, resources and money that our culture (myself included) spends on gift giving during the holidays. I'm not saying that we're not going to give any gifts, but I just want to try to avoid the consumerism and materialism that is so pervasive this time of year.

Here are my thoughts on giving frugally green Christmas gifts this year:

1. Buy used. Some people may scoff at the idea of giving or receiving a previously owned item as a gift, but really, what is more green, and almost always cheaper, than buying something used? Less waste of material, manufacturing, transportation, packaging, and the list could go on. Let your family know you're okay with receiving used items and ask if they would be okay with receiving used gifts. Start keeping your eye out on Craigslist, Ebay, Amazon, and your local consignment and thrift stores for great used items that would make great gifts.

2. Set a limit. Both for your budget and for the number of gifts. I have recently read on a few different blogs the idea of giving children only three gifts because Jesus received three gifts from the Magi. I thought that was such an interesting and great idea and so counter cultural. I am beginning to believe that teaching children from a young age to not expect the overload that is often found under the tree on Christmas morning is not at all depriving them. It is teaching them to be content with less, and that is an important life lesson to learn. This applies to spouses too. For the past two years, Jer and I have given each other fewer gifts at Christmas and actually found that we were happier and appreciated the gifts we received much more than in previous years when we had gone "all out".

And as for the budget, I don't think there is a magic number for how much you should spend on gifts, but it is important to set limits. We don't have a ton of extra money in our budget right now, so we have tossed around the idea of selling some of our stuff and only using that money to buy gifts. That will accomplish two things at once - providing money to buy gifts with, and clearing and cleaning out stuff that we no longer use or need to make space for new things that will be coming in. We'll see how it goes for us this year as we're getting kind of a late start on selling out stuff.

3. Give a gift to someone who actually needs it. Most of us do not lack for anything on a day to day basis. But there are millions of people around the world who do not have access to basic daily needs. Instead of getting a random gift for someone that they may never use, consider giving a gift in their name to someone in need. Some great organizations for this are Heifer International and Charity: Water. Donations start at just $10 or $20 dollars.

Simplify
Can you simplify your gift list? Do you have to buy a present for every member of your extended family, all your friends, your kids' teachers, and your neighbors?? Could you take some of those people off your list altogether, or give them a simpler gift, like food? Can you set up a gift exchange with your extended family so you could buy one gift instead of many? Or, *gasp* could you tell your extended family not to buy you any presents, and say that you won't be buying them any either? Crazy - I know, but something that we have considered saying to our families this year. How can you simplify the number and amount of gifts that you are giving this year?

Here's a good article on "greening" your gift giving at planetgreen.com.

I'd love to see you back next Friday for How to Have a Frugally Green Christmas when we'll be talking about Christmas Cards!

What are some ways that you are trying to cut back or simplify your gift giving this Christmas? What do you think are great green and frugal gift ideas?

This post is linked to Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom.

I did a really good job the first two weeks of October with my new way of menu planning, but then life got a little busy and I got a little off. So, I'm trying to get back on board with my meal planning this week. Hopefully I can stick with it better this month.

I didn't post a meal plan last week, but I tried a new recipe Baked Chicken Chimichangas and they were SO good I wanted to share the link. Jer loved them and we will definitely be having them on a more regular basis.

Here's this week's menu:

Meatless Monday - Quiche with spinach

Tuesday - dinner with our small group, making Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken

Wednesday - Slow Cooker Pork Chops and mashed potatoes

Thursday - Chicken with Noodles

Friday - Hamburger Curry

Saturday - Leftovers

Sunday - Homemade Mac & Cheese

And here's a few other links to things I am making this week for lunch and snacks. Just cause I like to share recipes!! :)

Whole Wheat Bread - I used the last piece of bread this morning to make Jer's lunch and I want some bread for K and I to eat sandwiches for lunch so I'm going to try whipping up a loaf of this. Cross your fingers for me, it's my first attempt at making bread not in the bread machine!

Hummus - love this recipe! It's super easy and tastes even better the next day. I use cumin instead of the curry powder.

Granola - Love this easy granola recipe!!

If I have time, I'm also going to try these Granola Bars, and Pumpkin Muffins. Wow, that's a lot - we'll see how it goes!


Check out more great meal plans at Organizing Junkie!

Sorry about the lack of posts lately. Life has been a bit busy and obviously my family and home come first. I'll try to get back to more regular posting as soon as I can!

My sister gave me a copy of the More-With-Less Cookbook for my birthday. Although it is primarily a cookbook, the first chapter is dedicated to introducing and explaining the way of eating that the book promotes - "Recipes and suggestions by Mennonites on how to eat better and consume less of the world's limited food resources." I found it to be such an interesting read that I highly recommend everyone read it, especially if you are interested in simplifying your meals at home.

One of the things that I most appreciate about the book's philosophy of "More with Less" is that it is presented from a Christian standpoint and worldview. "As North Americans, most of us grew up believing we were born into an era of abundance. The ability to buy something has meant the right to have it. Christian discipleship now calls us to turn around." (pg.13) It talks about the calling we have as Christians to care for those who have less, to give to others as freely as we have received, and it gives sound and practical advice for how changing our eating habits can help us to fulfill this calling, including how to shorten our shopping lists, buy and store food in bulk, and buy nonprocessed foods.

The author encourages us that the path to eating more with less is a journey, one that you can't just make overnight. In fact she writes that if you try to make major changes too quickly that you may change back just as quickly, like the changing of a fad or trend. She shares that this is about a lifestyle change, and not simply a quick fix. You know that I am all about the journey and making small changes.

This first chapter includes reasons for making a change, how to build a simpler diet, with practical nutritional information like complimentary proteins, and even ideas for serving guests with a simpler menu. The remainder of the book is filled with lots of basic recipes, and some for making things from scratch that you might have otherwise bought at the store like flour tortillas, granola, and wheat thins. I am very excited to try some of these from scratch recipes as I try to move away from using processed food.

This book was first published in 1976 amidst a global food shortage. What is so amazing to me about this book, is that it sounds like the author could be writing these words today. She shares insights into the North American style of eating that are as true today as they were in the 70's. On the other hand, it is sad to me that over 30 years later, it still does not seem that most of us have learned the lessons and lifestyle advocated in this book, and that food shortages and chronic hunger remain a daily reality to so many people around of the world. Consider this quote, "We are overspending money. We are overeating calories, protein, fats, sugar, superprocessed foods. We are overcomplicating our lives." (pg. 13) Doesn't that sound like she could be writing about us today?

More with Less is such a good reminder of the quote from Gandhi, "Live simply so others may simply live." It is so important for us to realize and recognize the impact that our decisions today have on others. It is about taking small steps to make changes that will impact the world, all for the glory of God.

I know, it's Tuesday. I'm a little late, but yesterday was Kaelyn's birthday and we were out of town over the weekend, so I finally had the chance to plan meals last night.

It was a beautiful day yesterday. We've been having tons of crappy, rainy, cold weather, but finally yesterday was a perfect fall day! So we went to the park after Kaelyn's nap and had a picnic and played on the playground and then came home for cake and presents. It was a great birthday for Kaelyn!

Here's this week's menu:

Monday - Kaelyn's birthday

Tuesday - dinner with our small group, making Crockpot White Chili and Buttery Bread Machine Rolls

Wednesday - celebrating K's birthday with Jer's family

Thursday - Tilapia Parmesan with rice and squash from the farmer's market

Friday - Deep Dish Cornbread Pizza (new recipe - I'll post it next week if we like it!)

Saturday - Leftovers or Burgers on the grill

Sunday - Leftovers or Fried Rice


Check out more great meal plans at Organizing Junkie!

Happy Birthday Kaelyn!
Wow! I cannot believe that my baby girl turned 2 years old today!

Kaelyn is such a joy and I am so blessed to be her mommy. She is so funny and strong willed, intelligent and independent. It is so amazing to me that I have the privileged of raising this little girl! She constantly amazes us, and challenges us, and cracks us up all the time!! She is so sweet and loving, she has become a wonderful big sister. She cares about those around her and wants to help in whatever way she can. She talks all.the.time. And sings too. She loves to sing Jesus Loves Me and Twinkle, Twinkle. She loves to smile and laugh and just be silly.

Really, this blog all began because of her. Becoming a parent really changes everything in your life. When I was pregnant with Kaelyn, I started making small changes in our lifestyle because I wanted to give her the best of everything that I could. I truly believe that God has worked through Kaelyn in my life to lead me down this path, and I am so grateful for that.

Kaelyn, we are so thankful for you! We are so blessed to have you as our daughter. Thank you for giving us a glimpse of the love that our Heavenly Father has for us. I love you more than you will ever know!

This is the third post in the series Finding Balance. Read the first two posts here and here.

With God's leading, I came to realize that I need to find a better balance in being a good steward of my family's finances, our bodies, my time and this earth. This is when I came up with the idea of being frugally green.

You can be frugal without being green as I talked about earlier. You can also be green without being frugal. Since being green is now so trendy, there are lots of expensive products out there that are marketed to help you "go green", when really there are often cheaper alternatives that are just as, or maybe even more, "green". You could spend a lot of money on "going green" if you wanted to.

Some frugal things are also not what is best for your health. I am beginning to understand that eating cheap, processed, chemical filled food is not being a good steward of the body that God has entrusted me with. And lots of frugal or green things may also take up more of your time. Hanging laundry outside on a clothes line takes more time than throwing it in the dryer. Baking your own bread and cooking from scratch require more time in the kitchen than using pre-made and processed foods.

Let me first just say this... finding balance is a journey. It is one that I am really just beginning with God's help. I am no expert and I definitely have not arrived! I just want to share what I am learning and doing as I go, and I hope and pray that it can be an inspiration and encouragement to others.

How do you begin this journey? Baby Steps! It really is all about making a lot of small changes that add up to a big difference in the way you live your life. Also, baby steps are important because there is A LOT of information out there that can get very overwhelming and make you feel defeated, like there is no way that you could ever do enough. I'm here to encourage you that small changes are good (actually the best) because you can't overhaul your whole life in a day, or a week, or even a month. It takes time to learn new ways of doing things and to form new habits.

So, here is how I am finding balance:
I want to be green more than I want to be frugal. I don't want to sacrifice this earth and it's resources, or our bodies and our health, just for the sake of getting things as cheaply as possible. This is why I call it "frugally green" and not greenily frugal. Fortunately, I am finding that so many things that are green, really can save you a lot of money.

But, sometimes being frugal keeps me from being as green, and taking the best care of our bodies, as I wish I could. I would love to buy all organic produce and free-range, grass-fed, antibiotic free meat and poultry, but it really does not fit into our food budget right now. So I am learning to do my best to feed my family healthy meals on our current budget.

Some things that are both frugal and green are also much better for our bodies. Using natural cleaning methods has eliminated a lot of nasty chemicals from our household. And some of the new health and beauty things I am trying are much better for me than using chemical filled commercial health and beauty products.

As far as my time goes, I am a stay-at-home-mom, God has given me the role of homemaker and home manager at this time. I realize this is not possible for everyone, but if something takes a little extra time, but saves money, is kind to the earth, and is better for our bodies and health, than it is completely worth my time, effort and energy. And I am learning to try to not spend my time on things that are wasting any of those resources.

I still cut coupons for things we actually need, and I still watch the sales at the one grocery store where I shop. But, I am trying a new way of meal planning in which I just buy what we need for our meals for two weeks, and maybe a few other things if they are a really good deal, and I try to use up all the food that we have so that we're not being wasteful. I still have extra food in my pantry and freezer, but it's not a stockpile the way that it used to be.

Finally, I am learning to live more simply. God is showing me that simplicity is central to good stewardship of His resources.

As I said though, this is a journey I am just beginning. And thankfully, by God's grace, I don't have to do everything perfectly all the time, or even part of the time. I worry that if you are someone that knows me in real life you will look at me and think - she writes nice things about living frugally and green and simply, but I don't see that in her life. Oh, that is what I am most afraid of. I don't want anyone to think that I think I have this all figured out, or that I always live this way all the time. I don't. I wish I did. God still has a lot to teach me, and I striving to learn as much as I can as I go, and seek Him first as I seek to find balance.



This post is link to Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom.
Image by aeu04117

This is the second post of the series Finding Balance. Read the first post here. And look for the final post in the series tomorrow!



I came to a place in my life where I was doing these things that are considered frugal, and trying to live a frugal lifestyle, but not feeling great about the fact that I was still focused on consuming a lot of STUFF. I felt torn between wanting to live my life in a way that was most glorifying to God and still wanting to live frugally, being wise with the resources that God had entrusted our family with.

I began to open up my Bible more than I had been (because I was so busy cutting coupons, searching the internet and trying to find the best deals) and found passages that spoke so clearly and specifically to me about this very thing. The above passage is a really well known passage, and mostly it's quoted when talking about not worrying, but I read it in a new way as I read it in context with other verses around it (Matt. 6:19-21, 24, Matt. 7: 7-8, 11) and as I thought about what it was saying about how I should be living my life, not just what I shouldn't be doing.

I also read a few books (and am continuing to read) that challenged my understanding of how I live out my faith in my life and what it looks like to truly be a follower of Christ. Two of those books were Serve God, Save the Planet and The Irresistible Revolution. I listened to the sermon series God is Green from Mars Hill Church, and since I love to read other blogs, I found several that encouraged me in this area as well.

God began to develop within me a broader view of what it means to be a good steward His resources. Stewardship is often thought of only in the context of our financial resources, but our finances are not the only resources that God has entrusted us with. He has also given us our bodies, our time, and this earth. I believe glorifying God with my life encompasses Godly stewardship in all four of these areas, not only our finances. I realized that while I may have been able to save a lot of money on groceries and household items by cutting coupons and stockpiling, in turn, I was wasting resources in the amount of time I was spending, the kind of food I was buying that was not the best for my or my families' bodies, and the amount of earthly resources I was consuming and the large amount of waste I was creating.

God was laying out a new direction for my life. He was leading me to really look at the way that I was living and began to show me and teach me to live in a way that was more glorifying to Him. I recognized that I needed to find a balance in my stewardship of His resources.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how I'm living out my faith in my life and how I can find balance between living as a follower of Christ in a way that is glorifying to God while living frugally, living green, and living responsibly. It's a really big question with probably lots and lots of different answers and I'm sure that I'll always be searching for the absolute best answer, one that I'm completely content with. But, I know that it is important for me to at least try to answer this question, in the best way I can, for this season of my life. This is the story of my search for that answer.

Here's where my problem began. Around the end of last year, I started reading, mostly on different blogs and websites, about living frugally. Cutting coupons, watching the sales, stockpiling, etc. I started trying to play the coupon games of getting food and other household stuff very cheaply by using these methods. I saved a lot of money on things, sometimes things that I might not have otherwise bought, and weren't necessarily good for me. But, it seemed like a good idea because we were in a tough place financially, and I like to save money - who doesn't?

It became apparent to me, after a few months of trying to live this way, that the main focus of this style of living "frugally" was still consumption. Buy lots of stuff, even if you don't really need it, for as little money as possible. And it's okay if you have a ton of stuff that you may never use, because it was very cheap, or even free. I also got very overwhelmed with trying to keep up with all of the deals and make sure that I didn't miss getting things for the cheapest price possible. I started to realize I was being consumed with getting stuff, and I don't care how cheap or free something is - I didn't want to live my life that way.

On top of that - what about all of this STUFF I was getting?! I needed more stuff to keep my stuff organized. And what about the waste that all of that stuff was creating? Sure I got disposable razors for super cheap after a sale and a coupon, but why in the world do I need to be throwing a razor away (not to mention all of the packaging for each razor) after only a few uses, when I have a perfectly fine razor that I can just replace the blade on? Not to mention the environmental effects of the material, manufacturing and shipping needed to produce those razors. Everything about it started to seem so wasteful to me.

And what about the large amounts of (mostly processed) food that I was getting cheaply and stockpiling? I started having a hard time looking in my pantry and freezer and seeing A LOT of food, that it would take us months to eat and knowing that there are people in my community, my state, my country and especially my world that don't have enough to eat today, much less tomorrow.

I decided I was not happy with this way of living frugally. I was not okay with the continual focus on getting STUFF, the amount of waste that I was creating, and the seeming selfishness that was represented by opening up my pantry and my freezer. God was beginning a work in my life, and I started thinking about finding another way of living frugally, a way of living more simply, of not being consumed by stuff, even if that stuff was cheap or free.

This is the first post in a series on Finding Balance. Stay tuned for parts two and three!

Image by dnnya17