The title of this blog was a lyric of a Thanksgiving song that we sang at my grade school, Gesu Elementary. We sang it every year. Many of us will not be traveling to our parents homes over the holidays because we cannot afford it. However, the song does remind me of simpler times, the country and fireplaces. Well the holidays really are around the corner and a Frugal Diva has to really “pull a rabbit out of a hat” because the economy has not changed. One way to save money during the holidays is making some or all of your presents. Relax, I do not have a Fruitcake recipe, but people did use to send homemade cakes instead of store bought. Although, a homemade fruitcake would tastes better, especially if it had enough rum in it. Oh, what the heck, you might like it (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/christmas-fruitcake/detail.aspx ). Maybe, that is why my grandmother always loved homemade fruit cake. If you know how to knit or crochet well, make mitten and hat sets. You can make matching scarves as well, but those seem to take forever. You need to start earlier than October for those projects. If you can sew, look for something creative to make. I had one classmate whose mother was a seamstress on the side and she made the prettiest dolls and doll clothes. If you or your kids are good with arts and crafts, have them make Christmas ornaments for their friends. I still have a Christmas ornament that a friend of mine made in high school. It goes on the tree every year.
Anyway, if I didn’t say it before, my family is originally from Texas. I am the first generation not to grow up or spend summers on a farm. So, there were other gifts that were not “technically” homemade, but still not as expensive. They were home grown. For example, when my cousin Cornelius was alive, he sent pecans to everyone in the family. Everyone looked forward to them. Although, you had to be careful, cousin Cornelius was kind of like Santa, if he thought that you had misbehaved, no pecans for you that year. Also, there was no age limit, so if you were 70, and he determined that you misbehaved no pecans. I was always good, so I got pecans. Granted, I am allergic to them, so my mother and grandmother always got extra pecans?? Oh, I digress.
A Frugal Diva does buy few gifts, but only a small group of people are chosen. Gifts for work, your postman, newspaper carrier can be homemade. People almost always love a tin filled with chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, brownies, lemon bars, cake, or even rice crispies. And, if you truly want to go old school, a tin filled with ginger bread, ginger bread men, a pound cake or Christmas shaped sugar cookies with icing. Ginger bread is the easiest to make.
A few years ago, I encountered a natural Frugal Diva; usually these Frugal Diva skills are earned and learned. But, I think that she has had those skills from birth. She had just gotten a divorce and her husband left her with their daughter, the mortgage and both car notes on a secretary’s salary. Well, she went into high gear, the first thing that she did was get rid of her cable. I gave her my old antenna set; (network television wasn’t digital yet) and she started renting DVDs. Also, she enrolled in a community college and took hair braiding classes let coworkers know that she was available for babysitting, dog walking and house cleaning. (She didn’t do windows. No one ever does that.) After she finished her hair braiding course, she started doing hair on the side. Additional money started coming in, but it was her hobby, that put the “H” in Hustle. She liked to bake. She would try different recipes and bring them to work, so she wouldn’t eat them all at home. Her rum cake was an instant hit. It was so good that one of our coworker asked her to bake two for their Christmas party. I saw opportunity knocking and I offered to make cake flyers for her to post in the other in our building and in other businesses. Her businesses took off; her creditors were shocked at how fast she was able to pay off all of her debt. Her head was above water by the end of the following year. It is hard to believe that happened 8 years ago, time flies. She has dropped all of the side jobs except hair braiding and baking. In good times, those two jobs keep extra cash in her pocket, in lean times; those jobs have covered a few bills.
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