I am very active in the Boy Scouts of America. I love to spend time outdoors.
I have 2 dogs, Kelsie (6 yrs) is a Golden Retriever and Scout (1 yr) is a Yellow Lab. We rescued both from animal shelters. Scout is my dream dog as I have always wanted a Yellow Lab.
My husband and I are active in our parish and praise God everyday for our 2 beautiful boys, now 17 & 12.
As already posted, it depends on how much you want to spend and how elaborate you want to be. My son graduated 2 years ago. We had an open house. We set up a canopy (my parents have) or the ones you rent in the back yard. We were able to use tables from friends and rented chairs. We got white plastic table cloths and put bowls of M&M's on the table along with navy and silver curly ribbon. It looked really nice. We got regular M&M's however you can order whatever colors you want if you are willing to spend the money. People walked through the garage to get to the backyard. We hung cheap navy & white curtains around the garage. We had the guest book, pictures and the card basket set up there. We had a cake with his picture on it and served the other cake until it was gone. The cake was also displayed until needed.
Our food was simple. We served wraps that can be bought at Sam's, chips, relish tray, cake, mints and nuts. For drinks, we served punch and we had a keg of rootbeer. The rootbeer is something we have done for our kids on several different occassions. This was one thing my son really wanted at his party.
For entertainment, we did nothing special except have the radio/cd's playing.
A homeless guy in our town was standing at the corner with a sign that said he needed a tent and food. Our scout troop had just purchased new tents so I went to our storage garage and got one of our old tents. I unrolled it, set it up to make sure all the pieces were there. When I set it up, I found that one of the scouts had left $5 plus some change in the pocket of the tent. I thought there must be a reason I chose this tent. I left the money in the pocket and put the tent in my car. I drove to where he was standing and gave him the tent. His eyes swelled with tears and all he could say was thank you and God bless you. I asked if there was anything else he needed. He said that he could really use some propane for his camp stove. I told him to wait here and that I would be back. My son and I got in my car and went to Wal Mart which was a couple of blocks away. We purchased some small propane cans as well as cans of soup & stew. Knowing this would be a hot meal for him. We took them back and again he could barely compose himselft. My son who was 10 or 11 at the time felt so good that we were helping. To this day, my son is now almost 15 will say, Mom, there's our guy. Remember, we gave him a home. The first time he said this, I didn't know what to say but after thinking about it, we did give him a home.
I also buy blankets when they are really cheap. I keep them in the trunk of my car and will give them to the homeless when I see they need it.
Remember that old coat you had last winter, I promise a homeless person would be most greatful if you gave it to them.
I wish more people like all of you were around. These are people just like us that are down on their luck. Talk to them and ask them if there is anything they need. It may be something that you have laying around that would make their life more comfortable.
A homeless guy in our town was standing at the corner with a sign that said he needed a tent and food. Our scout troop had just purchased new tents so I went to our storage garage and got one of our old tents. I unrolled it, set it up to make sure all the pieces were there. When I set it up, I found that one of the scouts had left $5 plus some change in the pocket of the tent. I thought there must be a reason I chose this tent. I left the money in the pocket and put the tent in my car. I drove to where he was standing and gave him the tent. His eyes swelled with tears and all he could say was thank you and God bless you. I asked if there was anything else he needed. He said that he could really use some propane for his camp stove. I told him to wait here and that I would be back. My son and I got in my car and went to Wal Mart which was a couple of blocks away. We purchased some small propane cans as well as cans of soup & stew. Knowing this would be a hot meal for him. We took them back and again he could barely compose himselft. My son who was 10 or 11 at the time felt so good that we were helping. To this day, my son is now almost 15 will say, Mom, there's our guy. Remember, we gave him a home. The first time he said this, I didn't know what to say but after thinking about it, we did give him a home.
I also buy blankets when they are really cheap. I keep them in the trunk of my car and will give them to the homeless when I see they need it.
Remember that old coat you had last winter, I promise a homeless person would be most greatful if you gave it to them.
I wish more people like all of you were around. These are people just like us that are down on their luck. Talk to them and ask them if there is anything they need. It may be something that you have laying around that would make their life more comfortable.
There are many things you can do that cost little/no money. Take a look at a few that I came up with real quick.
Write a poem for him Bake cookies/brownies/cupcakes or whatever (teenage boys love food) Make a "friendship" bracelet from string in a special color for the two of you (his favorite color & your favorite color) Make a certificate that your gift is a movie, popcorn & pop (this doesn't mean at a theater, this can be at your house). The gift of time is also a gift. Make a certificate that you will make him dinner one night. A notepad with his name on it If you have pictures, make a mini scrapbook of the two of you
Another tip is when you receive your raise each year, increase the amount you are putting into your 401k. Even if you increase just 1% it will show in the end. I work with retirement plans and this is something that our company has started to use in marketing material and educational meeting with employees. ... View related article.
I live in Cedar Rapids, IA. Not sure where you are. Try petfinder.com. About 2 months ago, we found a 1 year old yellow lab and she is great. We rescued her from a shelter in Illinois. ... View related article.
Lisa - my thoughts and prayers go out to you. My family went through this a few years ago. Below are a few things that we did:
Shop Aldi's and stick to a planned menu. Pancakes one night a week and our boys thought is was a treat.
I never used Angelfood Ministries but what I have heard, it is great. I would encourage you to try it.
Get your utilities set up on a budget. Use a programmable thermostat. We put an extra blanket on all the beds. I am not sure if a time of day meter would work for you but we made it work for us. The electricity that we use at night is about 1/2 the price as normal however the electricity we use during the day is much higher. We purchased compact florouscent light bulbs for all of our lights. Our electric company offered a rebate. Can't beat that. We cut our electric bill in half, literally, our bill currently runs about $60 a month and that is for 4 of us.
If you and your husband both have cell phones, get rid of your home phone. I know many people think this is crazy but it's not. We were paying for 3 cell phones plus a home phone. Realizing that in today's world, we use our cell phones more than our home phone. It was cheaper to add one more phone to our plan as a share talk than to continue to pay for a home phone.
Check on food stamps as well as WIC. I don't know much about them. I have a full time job and we didn't qualify for either.
Get ahold of anyone that you may owe and set up a payment arrangement. They will work with you.
If you have 2 car payments, consider getting rid of one of the cars and getting something that you can pay off or try getting by with one car for a while.
Don't be above Goodwill or thrift shops. This is the only place we shopped for 2 years. My sons who are now 12 & 17 found that Goodwill is a good place to shop. They often found name brand items that were like new at a minimal cost. At our local Goodwill, on Monday nights, certain items are 25 cents. Can't beat Gap and Tommy Hilfiger shirts for that price.
Check with the local churches to see what kind of food help they can provide. Some may also have funding to help you with utilities or mortgage/rent.
Check now with local organizations for holiday help for your son. I know here in Iowa, they are advertising that people can apply starting this Saturday.
Most importantly, be positive and patient with your husband. He needs your support now more than ever. Don't let your pride get in your way. Something good will come out of this.
Wow Mairmie, that is putting it all in perspective. I never thought about drawing names this way but thank you. I come from a large family and we have been drawing names for years. I appreciate that you brought to my attention that Jesus did not draw names.
My husband and I have always tried to do something small for everyone but it wasn't always possible. For several years, we made homemade grape jelly and rasberry jam. Everyong received a jar of each. They appreciated it as they knew it was made with love. Our vines and bushes died therefore this came to a stop. A fun things for the kids is a picnic lunch. Take a bandana and put a mini can of pop or a drink box, a piece of fruit or fruit snacks, small pack of teddy grahams, inexpensive pair of sunglasses or any other small inexpensive toy. Tie it up and your done. No wrapping as the banadana is the package.
Get a $2 bill for each child. Not a lot but they all love the bills that they don't think about every day.
I have already started my shopping. I was at Pier 1 a couple of weeks ago. They had 50% there clearance items. I was so excited. I bought bowl candles that are about 7 inches diameter for my sisters and my nieces for $3 each. I don't think I could make anything for that.
Keep thinking of little things that you might like. Chances are, your family would like the same. ... View related article.
Take the advice and use HE soap. I was using "regular" soap but just not at much in my front load machine. I thought I was doing the right thing by cutting back on the amount of detergent. My machine was having trouble and I didn't think much about it. I ruined several loads of clothes because I later found out that the seal had went out leaving grease marks on the clothes. In talking to the repairman, he explained that even though I was not using very much soap that it was still too sudsy and the soap had no where to go. It eventually ate away the seal causing me to pretty much have to replace all of the insides of the machine. It was cheaper for me to buy a new machine so that is what we did. I have faithfully used HE soap and have not had any problems. ... View related article.
