Last Minute (Frugal) Decorating!

For some reason, decorating always seems to be the last thing we thing of at my house around the holidays. We're so busy shopping for presents, attending gatherings, and baking the days away that we don't give it a second thought until VOOM! it's the week before Christmas and we need to decorate!

This year I collaborated with my mom on a fab, frugal, and earth-friendly way to decorate with pine cones. Begin by collecting pine cones from a logical spot (say under a pine tree...?) until you have what is necessary. Make sure that you get an assortment of sizes. When you're ready, cover baking trays with foil and spread pine cones in a single/double layer. Simply bake at 200F for 30-45 minutes to dry the sap/kill insects and let cool.

I recommend using them naturally, either filling vases/bowls with a combination of pine cones and colorful ornaments or using any thread/ribbon you might have handy to create new ornaments. If you want to get crafty, maybe get out the spray paint or try one of the ideas that can be found here. The benefit of leaving them in their natural state is that they make great fire-starters for a cozy night around the fireplace! Or just toss into the woods--no pain of trying to store decorations til next year!

Merry Christmas!


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Free Shipping Day!

Woohoo! For those of us who haven't finished our Christmas shopping (uh-oh...), the internet has given us our Christmas present--free shipping day! More than 300 online retailers are participating in this event, which you can get more details on here: http://www.freeshippingday.com/

Happy Shopping!

Ali
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NaBloPoMo & Halloween

Most of my Halloween decoration this year were picked up at the Dollar Store last week, as I've never needed to decorate before.  Today everyone should go hit up their local Target, Walmart, or what have you to buy Halloween decorations on sale for next year!

That being said, as November is National Blog Posting Month, I'm going to try and update a bit more regularly (and maybe get Alison back to the keyboard as well).

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Revolutionary: Have your budget reviewed!

I'm one of those people who is always stopping at Dunkin Donuts in the morning (not for coffee, for breakfast). I know this is at least partially a product of the fact that I'm not quite comfortable cooking in my current living situation (renting a room w/ kitchen privileges), but it is also partially just laziness.

I'm in the process of buying a house, and figured it was a good idea to draw up a budget. I thought it was a better idea to have Alison critique it for me!

Here is my current budget!

And here is a link.

What do you guys think? Have any thoughts? Want me to look over your budget? Drop me a line!

~Katharine

PS - After this whole closing thing, I should be posting more often, but darned if this isn't the most stressful thing I've ever done.

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