Monthly Archives: December 2008

Savings Before the New Year

December 31, 2008
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It’s hard to believe that 2009 begins on Thursday, but you’ve still got some time to make some last-minute savings choices before the New Year begins. I’m talking that kinds of things that can help you with your 2008 taxes (you know that April 15th will be here before you know it) and put a few extra bucks into your pocket before the big ball drops in Times Square. Here are some ideas to consider:

* Recycle Electronics for Cash

This idea came to me when I was reviewing some of our receipts from Christmas. We’d made a few Wii-related purchases at Radio Shack, which had the following printed on the bottom of the receipt: “Recycle Your Electronic Gear. Trade-in used, working small electronic items through RadioShack.com and get a Gift Card to spend on new electronics.” Now if I was in the market for some electronics–and had some old stuff that needed getting rid of–this is a great deal that Radio Shack is offering.

You can find something similar going on at an Apple retail store if you need to dispose of an iPod. Not only will Apple take the iPod off your hands for you and get it recycled, but also it will reward you with 10 percent off a new iPod. This is a great idea if Santa didn’t bring you that new iPod Nano you were hoping for. Now you can go get one for yourself and save 10 percent.

Finally, if you need to get rid of printer or copier cartridges, bring them to a store like Staples. Staples will recycle the cartridges for you and, in most cases, will give you a coupon for money off a new cartridge.

* Make Tax-Deductible Purchases

I’m not an accountant and I don’t play one on TV but I do know that lots of self-employed people like myself can qualify for tax deductions when they purchase office equipment during a tax year. (Please talk to your tax professional about how this notion relates to your own taxes.) In the past month I’ve managed to get great deals on all kinds of equipment that I’ve needed for my home office but had held off on buying because the price wasn’t right. But when it was right, I finally got two items that had been on my “to buy” list forever: an external hard drive for my computer so I can do an automatic back up every night (that was a 6:00 a.m. Black Friday score, by the way) and a DVD burner so I can take all of my recorded TV segments off of my Tivo and upload them to my MacBook for when I edit my new TV reel.

* Give To Charity

I’m pretty good about giving to charity all year long, but I’m not always great about collecting receipts for my good deeds. And without those receipts, I can’t include those charitable donations on my taxes. So my plan for New Year’s Eve is to bring a bunch of giveaway clothing to a local church thrift store (that clothes the indigent for free) and making sure that I get a receipt for my efforts. Yes, giving to help others is the right thing to do but there’s nothing wrong with wanting to have a small tax benefit as well. (See the IRS website for some new rules about the tax deductability of charitable donations.)

* Clear Out the Clutter for Cash

One of our goals during this break between Christmas and New Year’s is to declutter our home. My husband and I got a great start on our kids’ playroom on Christmas Day–when we cleared out the space to make room for the new Wii. We pretty much took every piece of furniture, box of videos or board game out of the room, and then, one by one, put stuff back if we thought we would use it. A lot of stuff never made it back into the playroom, and right now I’ve got three huge bins of VHS videos that my kids will never watch again and/or we’ve already got a version on DVD sitting in my front hall. My plan is to first try to sell the videos on Craigslist or eBay to bring in a few bucks, and then if that doesn’t work, give them away to charity. I’ve also cleared out the master bedroom closet, and come up with two large shopping bags of adult clothing that we’ll never wear again, and I’ve done the same with the kids’ clothing as well. Again, my hope is to sell some of the stuff to bring in a little extra cash for 2009, and donate the rest to a good cause.

What are some money-saving decisions that you can make today before we ring in the New Year tomorrow?

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Creative Way to Reuse Wrapping Paper

December 31, 2008
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I was just reading some blog posts over on Planet Green, and came across a quick piece on creative reuses for wrapping paper. The one that stood out? Using wrapping paper to cover school textbooks. Imagine how festive your kids’ books will look covered in wrapping paper.

I like this idea because it will help you to save money on buying book covers–either for the spring semester at college or this summer when you’re stocking up on back-to-school supplies–and it will help to keep wrapping paper out of landfills or recycling bins this holiday season, when our trash output tends to rise by about 25 percent.

Of course, if you don’t have any kids in school that need to cover text books, I would re-recommend my idea of shredding wrapping paper, and using it as a packing material for putting away Christmas decorations. Since I’m selling some unwanted stuff on eBay right now, I’ll probably use some of that shredded wrapping paper as packing materials for when I ship those boxes out.

Do you have additional ideas for reusing wrapping paper that have nothing to do with wrapping presents?

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Buy Less Stuff

December 29, 2008
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About this time of year tons of people are making New Year’s resolutions to stop smoking, lose weight or quit some bad habit that they don’t want to bring with them from 2008 to 2009. I try to avoid resolutions most years because I try to avoid disappointing myself.

But in 2009 I’m going to do a twist on the traditional resolution by resolving to buy less stuff. I’m not talking about cutting back on my shopping habits in general, because I pretty much took care of that in 2008. How else could our family go from living $500 in the red every month to living $500 to $800 in the black each month.

This time around I’m going to avoid buying stuff that I already own. I’m thinking specifically about toiletries, because with three girls living under one roof, we go through a lot of products in the bathroom. I feel like I’ve always got hair conditioner on my shopping list.

Recently, I took a look under our bathroom sink and discovered a large canvas bag just filled with those sample-sized bottles of lotion, shampoo and conditioner, and mini bars of soap–the kind that you get in a hotel. I’d forgotten that every time we travel as a family or my husband and I travel on business, we trend towards taking those free toiletries in the hotel bathroom home with us. When I decided to dump out that large canvas bag, I was shocked to discover just how much of this stuff I had.

In addition, when searching deeper under our double-sink vanity, I came across other full-sized bottles of shampoo and conditioner that I’d purchased in the past on sale. But because I’d stored them so far back under the counter, I forgot about them, too.

containers5

That’s why I decided to spend an afternoon this past weekend organizing our toiletries. I wanted to make sure that we used every last drop of shampoo, conditioner and lotion before I even thought about going out and buying replacements. It’s going to be the same with the mini bars of soap. I organized each product in a plastic container (see left) so that I could easily store it all beneath the sink.

I’m wondering how long we’re going to be able to go without making these new purchases and how much money this is going to save us.

I’ve always been really good about checking my stock before grocery shopping for food; I haven’t always done the same with the non perishables.

Any chance you fall into the same trap? If so, let me know what you’ve decided to stake out under your sink or in your pantry–and how much you found so that you don’t need to buy anything new in 2009.

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Boxing Day Bonanza

December 26, 2008
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picture-5December 26th is Boxing Day in many countries, including Canada, England, Australia and New Zealand. While Boxing Day has nothing to do with actual boxes (or punching anyone for that matter), there is a way for Americans to participate in Boxing Day this year in a most unusual way but which has everything to do with boxes.

U-Haul, a leading retailer of moving and storage boxes and packing supplies in North America, makes it easy to go “green” this season with its Take a Box/Leave a Box Program and the U-Haul Box Exchange, both of which are geared toward helping customers save money while protecting the environment.

You’ll find Take a Box/Leave a Box displays at U-Haul facilities throughout North America. (You can use this link to find a U-Haul location near you.) The program enables customers to return their reusable boxes and allow other customers to take them as needed — FREE.

So after unwrapping presents this Christmas, instead of throwing your reusable boxes into the recycle bin, now you can drop them off at the nearest U-Haul location and allow another family to reuse the box, free of charge.

Here are some other ways to get rid of boxes on Boxing Day (or beyond) without throwing them out:

* Burn after using

We find that cardboard boxes make great fire-starters in our fireplace. You have to be careful, though, when burning boxes, because they can flare up quite large and you don’t want to leave that kind of fire (or any for that matter) unattended.

* Take back to a UPS Store

While neither the UPS nor the Mail Boxes Etc. corporate website lists that these storefronts will take boxes off of your hands, I know that my local locations do just that. In fact, if you plug in “cardboard recycling” into Earth 911, chances are a UPS Store will come up in the results.

* Give them away on Freecycle or Craigslist

I’ve found that whenever I’ve got boxes to give away and I post an “offer” listing on my local Freecycle, RecycleIt or Craigslist board, these boxes gets snapped up right away. I guess people can always use boxes.

* Use them for after-holiday storage

As I wrote in an earlier this post this week about frugal storage ideas, you can always use the boxes that this year’s gifts came in to store for next year.

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Suddenly Frugal Seal of Approval: CSA Membership

December 25, 2008
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One of the gifts that I’m giving myself this holiday season is the gift of a CSA membership in 2009. Sure, I was a CSA member in 2008 but, that almost didn’t happen because I waited too long to sign up for one.

It turns out that CSA (or community supported agriculture) farm memberships often sell out at least six months before the first crop gets harvested. The CSA I used to belong to in New Jersey would sell out the October before the next year’s season began–and right after the current year’s season had ended. My new CSA in Pennsylvania happened to have an opening last spring when I finally signed up, and I got the last full share that was available. This year they were giving current members all of December to sign up for 2009 before they opened up membership to the general public.

If you’d like to read more about CSA memberships–and why they might make sense for your green-and-frugal lifestyle–here’s a link to a past post giving you the 411 on CSAs.

In the meantime I’m giving CSA Memberships this week’s Suddenly Frugal Seal of Approval not only because they deserve it but also to remind readers that if you haven’t already signed up for the 2009 season, you might want to take care of that now. And if you’ve never signed up for a CSA before but would like to, I would recommend checking out the Local Harvest website, which offers a searchable database of CSAs based on geography.

Oh and Merry Christmas!

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News About KB Toys' Gift Cards

December 24, 2008
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I’d written in the past about what you need to know when purchasing gift cards as gifts. Well, I just found out what’s going on with KB Toys’ gift cards, now that the company has filed for bankruptcy.

Unlike other companies that started down the path of going out of business after the holidays last year–and suddenly announced that their gift cards were worthless immediately–KB Toys has announced that it will honor gift cards up through January 11, 2009. The only hitch? Gift cards will be accepted in brick-and-mortar stores only, not via the online store.

So if you or someone you know ended up receiving a KB Toys gift card this holiday season, make sure you let those folks know about that spending deadline.

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Crock Pot Christmas Ornaments

December 23, 2008
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Got the kids home from school now and need a way to keep them entertained? Here’s something frugal that you can do together–make Christmas ornaments in the Crock-Pot.

Sounds counter intuitive, I know. But this recipe from one of my favorite blogs A Year of CrockPotting makes something sounding seemingly impossible so easy to do. I mean, there are only four ingredients in this recipe. Even if you’ve got two left thumbs when it comes to cooking, this project should be a snap.

And when you’re done, you can hang the Christmas ornaments and the cookie cutters as decorations on your tree.

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DIY Zipper Pull

December 23, 2008
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This is short and sweet like my Twitter tweets (I’m @leangreenmom), and, in fact, a tweet inspired this post.

My crafty, DIY and cheap husband just fixed the zipper pull on his winter jacket, without having to buy anything new. He took a paperclip and slipped it into the remaining hardware and, voila, new zipper pull. My friend Elizabeth Kricfalusi suggested that perhaps he wrap the paperclip in duct tape to avoid stabbing his finger.

Hmm, duct tape and my husband–perfect together. I’m sure that a paper clip wrapped in duct tape would add a certain je ne sais quoi to his winter style, wouldn’t you say?

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Green-and-Frugal Holiday Reminders

December 23, 2008
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I just came across a green-and-frugal reminder/tip sheet from the Environmental Protection Agency. There’s neither anything earth shattering in this information nor ideas that you haven’t heard before. However, it’s all worth repeating–especially if you want to save money this holiday season and help to save the earth. Here goes:

  1. Travel efficiently: Map your shopping route to make a number of stops in one trip instead of one stop in a number of trips. Take public transportation, or hitch a ride with a friend or family member. Last night I went to a Secret Santa party, and carpooled with two other moms. Would it have been easier to drive myself? Sure, but we conserved gas (and money), and it was fun riding to and from the get together, well, together.
  2. Shop for green decorations and gifts: Give gifts and decorate your house with electronics that have earned the Energy Star rating, unplug your gifts and decorations when not in use, and choose gifts that have less packaging. And don’t forget to look into your own backyard for decoration ideas like I did with pine cones (see the header picture on the blog for one of my decorations) and evergreen boughs.
  3. Extend the useful life of gifts: Before tossing the old to make room for the new, check to see if you can donate it, reuse it or recycle it. I wonder how busy the local Freecycle lists are going to be by Boxing Day, what with people giving stuff away rather than throwing it away.

For more ideas you can visit the EPA blog called Greenversations.

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Article on Airline Gift Cards

December 23, 2008
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I’ve written in the past about giving gift cards in lieu of tangible presents, and I still think they are a terrific gift for finicky folks like teens and tweens. Well, here’s another segment of the population that might benefit from gift cards: people who travel frequently. And for them I’m talking about airline gift cards.

I’m thinking grandparents going to visit grandchildren, college students who need a way home from school and even business people who’ve seen their travel budgets slashed in the past year can all benefit from the gift of an airline gift card this year. This article on giving airline gift cards includes lots of helpful information, including my tips for creatively packaging this kind of gift.

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Feedburner Update

December 22, 2008
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Dear Subscribers:

There seems to be a glitch with Feedburner being able to send out my blog via email in the time frame I prefer. I’d like it to show up in your inbox in the morning; Feedburner doesn’t seem to be able to do that for me.

So I’ve gone ahead and changed the feed delivery time to be during the overnight hours. This is probably why you did not get your blog subscription today. Hopefully, now that I’ve switched delivery to a less popular time, these blog postings will begin showing up in your inbox–and mine!–in a more timely fashion. Thanks.

Leah Ingram

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4 Frugal Storage Ideas for After the Holidays

December 22, 2008
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While the days after Christmas are usually when you can find the best deals on holiday items for next year, there are a number of stocking up notions to keep in mind in these days before Christmas–and now that we’re in the throes of Chanukah. These notions are frugal ways that you can clean up and put away your holiday decorations once all of your celebrating is over, and none requires any special equipment at all. Here are four ideas to consider.

1. Don’t toss paper towel and/or toilet paper rolls

I know that in the past I’ve shown you how you can use cardboard rolls as fire starters. Well, at this time of the year, hold on to those paper towel and toilet paper rolls, because they can help you big time when cleaning up after the holidays. You can use them to string lights around–because you know they always end up tangled by the next year when you just toss them in a box. Instead, this year, take a few minutes to neatly wind your lights around these rolls to make next year’s decorating that much easier. You can reuse the inside rolls from wrapping paper in a similar way. Do you have individual candles that you place in your windows to give your home a festive feel after dark? You can slip a candle each inside a paper towel roll to prevent it from breaking when you put it away.

2. Use shredded paper for storing delicate decorations

As I demonstrated in the green Christmas segment below, shredded paper does a fabulous job as a packing material for keeping decorations safe and sound for the next holiday season. Since our mailboxes tend to be overstuffed with paper this time of the year, shred the catalogs and the envelopes that held Christmas greetings, and use that shredded paper when putting away your decorations at the end of the year. Need to ship some gifts that you didn’t get around to purchasing in time for the holidays? You can use shredded paper to pack the box, too.

3. Find ways to reuse old boxes

When you think about it, just about any box in your home can do double duty for storing wrapping materials or decorations. You can fill shoeboxes with the aforementioned shredded paper when putting away your ornaments or menorah candles. You can take empty cereal boxes (without the liners) or facial tissue boxes, and use them to store ribbon, tissue paper, smaller gift bags or the holiday cards that you plan to trim down and reuse next year as gift tags. Ordered gifts online? You’ve probably got plenty of shipping boxes around that can become your de facto holiday stash storage devices.

4. Reuse egg cartons for storing “round” decorations

If you have a lot of smaller, round decorations that might get lost in a box of shredded paper, you can store them instead inside an empty egg carton. The compartments that were meant to hold eggs do a fabulous job of keeping other delicate items safe, too, like small, glass ornaments. Here are some additional ways to reuse egg cartons during the rest of the year.

What are some ways that you can reuse items for post-holiday storage? I’d love to hear some of your ideas.

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Suddenly Frugal In the News

December 19, 2008
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picture-61My local CBS affiliate just broadcast a story featuring me, my blog, and how we’re going green and frugal this holiday season.You can watch that TV segment here.

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Fun, Free Winter Exercise

December 19, 2008
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We’re in the midst of a winter storm here in the Northeast, and I just got finished shoveling our driveway. It took me about 50 minutes and included lots of passes up and down the blacktop. Our house sits on a hill, so in addition to pushing heavy shovels full of snow (I know better not to lift them lest I hurt my back), I also climbed our steep driveway at least 20 times.

Not surprisingly, when I stepped inside, I was soaked in sweat. What a great way to get a workout on a winter day–no need for Exercise TV today. Shoveling was all I needed. And according to the One Fab Fit Mom blog, I likely burned about 400 calories (or six Weight Watchers Activity Points) clearing my driveway.

If you’re healthy enough to do fun, free winter exercise, you might want to consider adding that to your regular workout regime during these cold-weather months. It’s amazing how many calories you can burn, just from being outside in the snow or by doing other kinds of outside, cold-weather activities.

Here are some numbers to consider (based on your weighing 150 pounds and doing the activity for an hour):

(NOTE: PLEASE CHECK WITH YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER BEFORE UNDERTAKING ANY OF THESE ACTIVITIES.)

* Building a Snowman: 238 calories

* Carrying Wood: 340 calories

* Chopping Wood: 408 calories

* Ice Skating: 476 calories

* Sledding with Your Kids: 476 calories

* Snow Blowing: 306 calories

FYI, I found much of this information on the Calorie Count website.

What are some other fun, free ways that you know how to stay fit in winter? Post a comment to let us know.

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Please Don't Turn "Dear Santa" Into "Dear Scrooge"

December 19, 2008
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A number of years ago I wrote an article for Reader’s Digest magazine about a lovely woman on Long Island named Laurie Bloom. Bloom had decided to help people who wanted to do something good for the holidays by collecting the “Dear Santa” letters that get sent to the New York Post Office (the same one as featured in “Miracle on 34th Street”), and distributing them to those who wanted to send gifts to needy families in the New York regions. FYI, there are “Dear Santa” programs in a number of other postal service locations around the country, including Boston, Cincinnati and San Francisco.

(For more on what she accomplished, here’s a New York Times’ article about Bloom’s good deeds along with an HTML version of a PDF that reprints my Reader’s Digest story–unbylined, unfortunately. Search the document for Bloom’s name.)

After writing that story I felt compelled to contribute to Bloom’s efforts, and for a couple of years running I had her send me a letter so I could help. It was so cool to discover that, after my shopping and wrapping, when I brought my package to the UPS Store for shipping, they would be able to make the return address read “North Pole.” (UPS Stores are also a drop-off location for Toys for Tots donations. Here are some other ways that frugal-minded folks like you and me can make toy donations this holiday season.)

So imagine how sad I was to read this week that USPS locations across the country had to shut down the “Dear Santa” program because someone who shouldn’t have been trying to reach out to children attempted to use this philanthropic program to do so. (This is a PG blog so I’ll let you read this New York Times story to find out exactly what happened.) Now because this bad person did this, there won’t be any other “Dear Santa” letters being delivered to good souls anywhere in the country this year. And the USPS isn’t sure when the program will resume because it needs to figure out how to safely deliver “Dear Santa” goodies in the future without putting a child’s safety at risk–and rightly so.

Here’s what I think should happen: get community houses of worship involved and put that church’s address as to where the “Dear Santa” packages should be delivered. Of course, put the family or the child’s name on there “in care of,” and then the families that participated will know when and where to go to get their package. This won’t put anyone at risk, and it will ensure that the “Dear Santa” program will continue to live on.

In the meantime I’ll repeat what I wrote in an earlier blog posting about not forgetting good causes this holiday season–even if the money is tight. That is as you food shop and stock up on items when they’re on sale (the best way to remain true to your frugal food-shopping budget), buy a few extra items that you can bring to your local food pantry.

If money is tight for you, imagine how tight it is for the poorest among us who rely on food pantries to help feed their families. And so many food pantries are serving so many more families, putting an extra strain on these good causes themselves. No wonder that a group of New Jersey bloggers banded together to save some Garden State food pantries, and part of the finale on this week’s “The Biggest Loser” on NBC was a pound-for-pound challenge that ties in with Feeding America. That is, when you lose a pound, “The Biggest Loser” donates 10 cents to this good cause.

We may all be frugal but that doesn’t mean that we can’t be philanthropic.

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Suddenly Frugal Seal of Approval: Regifting

December 18, 2008
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Did you know that today is National Regifting Day? It seems that this third Thursday in December was chosen as a day for regifting, because it’s the time of the month when most companies hold their office party–that is, if they haven’t already cancelled their 2008 office party. And I guess that regifting is par for the course as far as business gifts go, though I certainly never suggested this in a New York Times interview I did a few years ago.

I would think that a day for regifting would be some weekend day between Christmas and New Year’s, when folks need last-minute hostess gifts and so they raid their holiday stash to give away the stuff they don’t want and don’t want to bother returning. Nonetheless, today, December 18th, is a day to let you know that regifting is OK.

If you watch the video in the post below, you’ll see that I recently did some TV segments where I shared with people the etiquette of regifting–advice I’ve also shared with Forbes.com and in my book “Gifts Anytime.” Some of that advice suggested items that are perfect for regifting. These include:

* picture frames

* notecards

* candles

* bottles of wine/sparking cider

My advice matches right up with a recent eBay survey that determined that not only do half of those surveyed admit to regifting but also, when regifting, they tend to choose the same items I recommend above. Here is a list of what those surveyed tend to regift:

* wine, champagne or spirits (21%)

* trinkets or collectibles (21%)

* beauty or bath products (21%)

* DVDs, CDs or books (16%)

* electronics/appliances (14%)

* fruitcake (14%).

I have never in my life eaten a fruitcake and couldn’t imagine someone regifting that to me. But fruitcakes aside, regifting really is a green way to give gifts and it’s frugal, too.

That’s why this week I’m giving the Suddenly Frugal Seal of Approval to the notion of regifting. So regift wisely. And make sure that you keep a regifting log so that you never regift a gift back to the person from whom you’d originally received the gift.

Not comfortable with regifting? Then make one of your 2009 resolutions starting a gift closet. It will get you out of a gift-giving pinch every time.

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Returning to Our Frugal Roots

December 17, 2008
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Well, it’s official–frugal is the new black, not so much so with green these days.

So let’s call it a crazy week, with a platform change and a reversion to this blog’s original name Suddenly Frugal. Besides, this makes it so much easier with the URL anyway.

Thanks for sticking around.

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Yahoo! TV: Leah Discusses Regifting

December 17, 2008
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Here is a recent TV segment I recorded on surviving holiday gift giving this season, including how to regift.

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more about “Yahoo! TV: Leah Discusses Regifting“, posted with vodpod

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8 Holiday Safety Tips to Save You Green

December 17, 2008
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Probably the worst thing that could happen this holiday season is for you to forget about keeping your home and belongings safe. I mean, we all work hard for our money, so it would be horrible if you left for vacation–and left your home vulnerable to a break in–or rushed through the last of your shopping only to get robbed in the parking lot.

That’s why I would recommend checking out this holiday safety tips post over at the Frugal Dad. He offers up some great ideas, such as:

* Notifying the cops when you’re leaving town

I never knew that you could ask the cops to check in on your house when you’re away. But a neighbor of mine recently clued me in to this option when she was planning a getaway to the Caribbean. All she had to do was visit the local police precinct, and fill out some paperwork about where she lived, when she would be gone, and how often she wanted the police to pop by. So I guess that means that the next time we go away on a trip, I’ll add “notify the cops” to my list of “stop newspaper delivery” and “have post office hold mail” (also tips that Frugal Dad offers).

* Silence the ringer on your phone

Wow, this was a new one for me, too. Who’d have thunk that an endlessly ringing phone would be a tip off that you weren’t home? In my house the remaining landline rings four times before switching over to voice mail. Maybe if I were going away, I would switch the number of rings before VM kicked in to only one ring. Why do this instead of turning off the ringer? ‘Cause I’m the kind of person who would forget to turn the ringer back on when I got back and then I would miss a ton of calls.

* Keep remnants of Christmas present inside the house

The idea behind this tip is not advertising to thieves the great items you’ve received for Christmas or Chanukah. In other words if you decide to get a flat screen TV or a Wii gaming system, don’t put the branded box outside on trash day–or at least not right away. I know this to be an important tip because I have a neighbor who didn’t do this last year, and the Saturday after trash day–after Christmas–when he’d put out the box for his new flat screen, his home was robbed. The thieves knew to target his home theater, and they took everything in it–including the new TV.

Some additional tips to consider include:

* Stop your newspaper and mail delivery

Newspapers piling up on your driveway/front step, and your overstuffed mailbox are veritable “please rob me” neon signs to thieves

* Have a neighbor take in packages

Though you can stop your mail through the USPS, you have no way of knowing if UPS or FedEx is going to drop a package on your doorstep, where it’s going to sit until you get home. That’s why having a neighbor be on the lookout for telltale deliveries–and then taking them in for you–will help to keep your house safe.

* Put your lights on a timer

This is a trick I remember from my childhood. You can just pick up a programmable light timer at Radio Shack or another electronics store, and it will turn some lights on in your house at “normal” times when people are home and then turn them out at “normal” times when people go to bed.

* Turn your thermostat down

OK, so this is more of a green-and-frugal tip. I mean, why heat your house–and pay for it–when you’re away? That’s why I would recommend making sure that you turn the thermostat down low before you leave.

* Shut off your water to avoid frozen pipes

This article from State Farm offers great advice for avoiding frozen (and burst pipes) and other winter disasters when you’re away from home.

What other tips might you add for keeping your home safe this holiday season?

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The Greenest Christmas Tree of All

December 16, 2008
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Back on the old blog, there was a survey up for the past few weeks, asking readers about their Christmas tree preferences. The four choices were:

* Reusable fake tree
* Cut live tree
* Live tree with rootball
* I don’t use a Christmas tree

When I first posted that survey, I thought for sure that all of the green folks that read the blog would reveal that they used a live tree with the rootball. I mean, that seems like the greenest Christmas tree option of all, doesn’t it?

Lo and behold, here’s how the survey shaked out.

* Reusable fake tree (54%)
* Cut live tree (27%)
* Live tree with rootball (2%)
* I don’t use a Christmas tree (15%)

I have to say that these findings really surprised me. But, then again, if my life really does reflect those who read this blog, then those findings are right on the money.

Why?

Because two years ago, we decided to invest in a reusable fake tree, and that’s what we’ve been putting up each December ever since.

In the past we had done the live tree with a rootball, and even managed to keep one alive until spring so we could plant it in our front yard. The rest of these rootball trees usually died in the garage waiting for the warmer weather. Now that our house doesn’t have a garage, they’re not an option.

Most often, we chose to have a live, cut tree. After the holidays we would toss it in the woods to let it decompose naturally. It always killed me to see people putting their Christmas trees out like trash. Hello, what about composting it? At least this year, my town is organizing a Christmas tree recycling day, when a local landscaping company will accept trees that he’ll turn into wood chips. (If your town doesn’t offer this kind of program, visit Earth 911 to find a Christmas tree recycling program near you.)

The fact that we could never recycle our Christmas tree and it gets expensive when you have to buy a tree each year, well, that’s what clinched the deal for us and the fake tree. Sure, I know that fake trees are made of petroleum but I’ll bet that the tree we have now will last 20 years or longer. That means that in 20 years’ time, I’ll have cut out the drive to and from the tree farms, I’ll have saved 20 trees from being cut down and discarded, and I’ll have taken that expense out of my budget.

Thanks to all that took the survey; now post a comment on why you agree–or disagree–with the survey’s findings about the greenest Christmas tree of all.

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