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Daily Thrifty Tips December 24, 2004

Date: 12/24/2004

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Daily Thrifty Tips
Volume Three, Number 222, December 24, 2004
http://www.ThriftyFun.com

Hello,

We have another Christmas Issue today. As previously stated we won't be publishing on Christmas day. However, we will activate new requests when we see them. We also will only be publishing a short version of the newsletter on Sunday. Everything will be back to normal on Monday.

Happy Holidays from all of us at ThriftyFun.com,

Susan

Christmas Topic Site:
http://www.thriftyfun.com/Christmas/index.html?mode=clear

Enter The New Tip Contest:
http://www.thriftyfun.com/contest.ldml

Frugal solutions to everyday problems: Submit a request...
http://www.thriftyfun.com/add.ldml

Holiday Travel Tips Ebook

Today's newsletter contains:

Today's Tips:

Getting Our Tree in the National Forest
Teaching Kids About Christmas Giving
Christmas Caroling
Bev's Christmas Stocking Stuffer Idea
Organizing Wrapping Paper In A Shoe Organizer
Original E-mail Greeting Cards
Decorate Plain Wrapping Paper With Stickers
Party Gift Idea
Seasonal Theme Candy
Gift Wrap Hanger
Food Gifts for People Who Live Alone
Traditional Family Recipe Videos
Storing Gift Bags and Ribbon
Homemade Honey Baked Ham Recipe
Gingerbread House Tip

New Requests:

Newspaper Log Chemicals
Looking For Jar Opener That You Squeeze
Drywipe (Dry Erase) Marker Disaster on Light Clothes

More Reading:

8 Cool Holiday Organizing Tips
Elegant Bows for Easy Holiday Décor

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Today's Sponsor

Eversave.com...

Eversave.com is your one stop source for online coupons, brand name savings, free samples and much more.

Eversave.com

Today's Tips

Today's Family Tradition...

Getting Our Tree in the National Forest

My husband I have a favorite Christmas tradition that we started several years ago. Every year, we cut our own Christmas tree in our nearby National Forest. We leave work early and have a wonderful time tromping through the snow to find just the "right tree."

We find that we really cherish these trees more than a store-bought one. We're helping to thin the forest by taking small trees that are growing in crowded conditions, and it only costs $10, which is a huge savings over a store-bought tree.

By Cheryl

View More Christmas Family Traditions

Share Your Christmas Family Tradition

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Teaching Kids About Christmas Giving

Because of the tough times we went through growing up, my husband and I know what it is like to grow up and not have presents at Christmas.

Every year we tell our children about some special Christmases that we have had and then we go out to our local mall that has angel trees with paper ornaments with a child's age and sex written on them. Each of my kids pick out a child their same age and sex and we go buy gifts for that child and return them to the tree. Our kids enjoy the gift of giving very much and if we had the money, they would give and give and give!

We also invite any of our single friends or friends with no family to come join us as well. Living in Alaska, not many people have family nearby and they make families of their own with their friends.

By Tawnda

View More Christmas Family Traditions

Share Your Christmas Family Tradition

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Christmas Caroling

One of the things that our family enjoys most each Christmas season is to get together with other families for a night of good old fashioned Christmas caroling! We visit nursing homes as well as homes of others we know. We especially try to visit homes of elderly people we know who might be alone and sad during the season. It really makes the day of everyone we visit. It lifts our spirits as well to see that we have been a blessing to someone.. A good way to teach our kids to be kind and to do for others, too.

By Robin

View More Christmas Family Traditions

Share Your Christmas Family Tradition

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Bev's Christmas Stocking Stuffer Idea

I used to feel a real anti-climax when at the end of Christmas my children would be gloating over their presents and little treats in their stockings and I end up feeling feeling left out, even though I had presents from my hubby or children.

It just didn't feel like the Christmas of old when I would get up as a child and find my stocking stuffed with exciting presents and treats. I used to oooh and aaahhh over them and it was the highlight of Christmas for me.

This is what can brighten up the day of all the grownups who have the responsibility of buying presents for their children or who possibly live on their own and don't receive presents from anyone.

During the year, while out and about, buy little things that catch your attention. Put them in some Christmas stockings (purchased in the January half price sales or even cheaper). Put the stockings in an out of the way place that no-one (including yourself would think to look). Of course you have to know where they are, but make sure that they aren't so visible that you would be tempted to look.

It's amazing how much you forget during the year, and if you get something small once every couple of months or even once a month you will soon have a stocking full of treats that will surprise you when Christmas comes around.

I am talking about things that are 50 cents to $2 per item. Not only are you going to be surprised with your stocking, you are able to fill stockings throughout the year, freeing up some of your time at Christmas time which can be really frantic looking for the bigger presents. It will be one less cost at the time of year which our budgets can be truly stretched to breaking point.

Hope you all have a Blessed Christmas and Happy New Year

God bless
Bev in Australia

View Article: Click Here

Organizing Wrapping Paper In A Shoe Organizer

Bargain hunters know that the best time to stock up on Christmas wrap, cards and bows is right after the holidays when many stores slash their prices on these items by 60 to 75 percent. For years I struggled with storing these items, and many times ended up with crushed bows and bent rolls of wrap that took up too much storage space.

I solved this problem by using a reinforced cardboard shoe file that I purchased for under $5 at a local discount store. When turned onto its back, with the open compartments facing upward, it becomes a terrific organizer for those bulky and/or fragile items! Several rolls of wrap fit into each compartment and my entire stock of wrap is visible at a glance. Ribbon, tissue and bows can also be stored in these compartments, protecting them from being crushed.

Crafters can also store other bulky supplies this way -- it works great to organize cans of spray paint, adhesives, etc. Best of all, the box sits neatly out of the way on any closet floor.

By Hope from Oregon

View Article: Click Here

Original E-mail Greeting Cards

Use clip art that you can snag on the Internet and save to a 3-1/2" floppy file, for later use. Look at some old greeting cards for verses and email your personal greeting card messages to friends.

Tip: You must have your computer set to "rich text HTML" ... "plain text" will not work for sending graphics. You can center your picture and message and also change printing to different colors and size using "rich text HTML". Before sending to friend, send it to yourself to see how it turns out ... you can then check it before sending it to your friend so there are no mistakes.

For those that may not know ... when you see a picture, right click on the picture and when the menu drops down, click "save picture as" and give it a name and save to your 3-1/2 floppy file. When you want to use a picture, retrieve it by clicking on the saved picture and go to "edit", click on "select all" and then go back and click "copy" Then all you have to do is open your email browser and "create mail" and paste the picture in the email. Add your message and send, this does not create an attachment to your email Most people do not open attachments anymore!

By Syd

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Decorate Plain Wrapping Paper With Stickers

Larger rolls of plain color wrapping paper is a better buy than printed designs. You can computer print stickers for the particular occasions and you can decorate the package with the stickers.

When you have a child that cannot read, scan his picture and print stickers, then stick on their gifts! They can pick out their packages all by themselves.

Tip: Avery makes the large round labels #5294 that has 12 labels to the sheet and 25 sheets to the package.

By Syd

View Article: Click Here

Party Gift Idea

Give a disposable onetime use flash camera.

By Syd

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Seasonal Theme Candy

Buy after the holiday Hershey Kisses on sale and you will have Valentine's and St. Patrick's Day candy at a fraction of the cost.

By Syd

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Gift Wrap Hanger

With boxing day sales ahead of me I know I'm going to have a lot of extra wrapping paper that needs to be stored away until next Christmas. I recently saw a gift wrap organizer that hangs in the closet and I thought it was a great idea - except that it cost almost $25 for what was essentially a hanger with a plastic bag attached!

Eventually I'll buy some sale fabric and make my own, but until then I've found a cheaper solution: I went to the dollar store and bought a plastic garment storage bag (it comes with it's own hanger). If you find the short ones, gift wrap rolls fit perfectly inside. If they only have the longer ones (for full length coats, dresses, etc.) then just tie a knot in the bottom. So now I just pop in the rolls of gift wrap, zip it up, and hang it away in the closet until I need it next year - all for a buck!

By Trix

View Article: Click Here

Food Gifts for People Who Live Alone

For a Christmas gift for older ones, this year I bought small disposable aluminum baking tins and made mini lasagnas which I put in the freezer. I taped the date and baking direcions written on a mailing label on the top. Often older people don't bother with this kind of dish because it makes too much for them to eat. I also make extra lasagnas in our bread pans and freeze for quick family meals for us. This would work for any freezable entree.

By Lynn

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Traditional Family Recipe Videos

My mom and aunts have many wonderful recipes for foods we enjoy at get togethers and Holiday's that were passed on to them from my grandmothers. The only problem is that my cousins and I have not really taken the time to learn to make these dishes.

So in order to continue tradition instead of just writing the recipe down I decided to go to my moms and Aunts homes and video tape them making their special dishes. Not only do we have a priceless momento of our family, we also have step by step cooking or baking instructions to carry on for future generations.

By Diane Rodriguez

View Article: Click Here

Storing Gift Bags and Ribbon

To store christmas gift bags and ribbon use a cardboard box (like one that reams of copy paper come in). Put the gift bags on the bottom and the ribbons on top. Mark the end of the box. This type of box is stackable.

By Jo Ann

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Homemade Honey Baked Ham Recipe

I found this online a few years ago and have yet to make it but am hoping someone else can use it in light of the upcoming holidays!

Andie's Original Recipe for WPOPFHBH* Ham (*Why Pay Outrageous Prices For Honey Baked Ham)
By Andie Paysinger

"Following is the ham recipe I developed originally for cooking "dry-cured" hams from my family's farm in Kentucky. These are usually quite salty as they are pre-cured in a barrel of salt before being hung in the smoke house. People in the south like saltier ham than folks out here so I experimented until I discovered this way of cooking them which actually extracts a lot of the salt. Then I discovered that very cheap store hams also come out nicely flavored when cooked this way. I always warn people to keep the heat low and the time long - as one doesn't get the same results with more heat and less time. I have cooked this for a lot of people and told quite a few people who have used this method and have yet to find anyone who has not found this to be just about the best ham ever."

This recipe (or cooking method) works really well with the absolute cheapest bone-in ham, the holiday "Loss Leaders" at 49, 59, cents a pound, sometimes less. DON'T GET THE SHANK END

For a 12 to 15 pound ham you will NEED the following:

A deep roasting pan, dutch oven or deep baking dish just big enough for the ham to fit into with enough room to let you turn it over.
An Ice Pick! This is very important!!!
Maple syrup - I find it at Trader Joes a specialty discount grocery chain here in Calif. or at Price/Costco and at Smart & Final. I am sure there is a similar source in your area. I usually buy a quart and use most of it.
Dry mustard, (Colemans) about 2 tablespoons.
Optional - Whole cloves to stick in the ham but not necessary.

Directions:

1. Trim any skin off the ham but leave some of the fat, - less than 1/4 inch thickness. Score the fat down to the meat in a diamond or tic-tac-toe pattern, your choice.

2. Take the ice pick and stab the ham all over, and I mean many, many stabs.. Use up some of your latent aggression.

3. Take the dry mustard and massage it into the ham. If you must, stick whole cloves into the ham, as many as you want.

4. Put the ham in the pot. Pour in the maple syrup until it comes up at least 1/2 way on the ham, a little more won't hurt, it won't be going to waste.

5. Place the ham in a COLD oven and turn the temp control to 300 degrees F. Set timer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes reduce heat to 250. and turn the ham over in the syrup.

6. Continue cooking for 3 hours for a 12 pound ham, add 30 minutes for each 2 pounds over that, turning the ham every 30 minutes. This is a long, slow method that will have remarkable results.

7. At the end of the baking time, remove ham from pot, allow to drain on a rack for 20 minutes then slice.

Most of the salt in the ham will have been extracted through the stab wounds and the meat will have absorbed some of the maple flavor from the syrup.

When the liquid left in the pot has cooled, strain it through a coffee filter and freeze it, you can use it two more times. After that it loses a bit of flavor or becomes too salty.

Recommended By ~Kayla~ "homeschoolin_mum"

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Gingerbread House Tip

When putting together a gingerbread house for Christmas, use peanut butter as the "mortar"; it works far better than the recommended royal icing.

Janet45101

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Daily Thrifty Tips December 24, 2004

Making Holidays Easy on Yourself