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Archives for 2011

Stretching your Dollars: Creating Special Gifts

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Photograph Credit: Flickr (Stephanie McKern)

Only 8 more shopping days until Christmas! Are you still searching for ideas for someone on your list? In using time wisely and stretching your dollars, you might consider making a gift. If you are saying, “I’m not crafty.”

I get it.

However, all the creativity is done. All you need is your printer with ink, scissors, a few supplies, and your time. Really, you can make these gifts. Enlist some help if you need the extra encouragement. 🙂

Edible Gifts

Download a free e-book for Gifts in a Jar. These options are great for making gifts for groups of individuals. One year, I made cookie mixes for each of my family members. By adding the ingredients in the order supplied, these simple-to-construct gifts were warmly received.

Make one or all four of these snacks in a jar. Mix up a huge batch of your favorite snack and add them to jars, place a tag on it, and ready to give.

Sparkling Gift

Glittering Candles made with Epsom salt. These festive candles would make great gifts for anyone on your list. You can choose masculine or feminine colors depending on your receiver.

Scrapbooker’s Gift

Download 12 months of digital scrapbook pages. Though I have not scrapbooked this year, I do love it, and getting a gift with the pages already designed would be fantastic.

With this download, you can either burn a disc to present or have the 12 pages printed onto cardstock and place them in a nice scrapbook. Either way, your scrapbook enthusiast will have a year-in-review album available for all those pictures.

Family Conversation Gift

Download this free family dinner conversation starter kit. With your printer, a pair of scissors, and a jar, you can give this creative gift to families with children. This gift would be great throughout the year as well as at Christmas.

These gift ideas are special in that using time wisely you will create a present especially for your recipient. The personalized gift does not need a huge price tag. Remember, it’s the thought that counts.

I love to receive personalized gifts since the sender exerts thought, effort, and sacrifice for me. May you continue finding creative ways to stretching your dollars while gifting to your family and friends.

Question: Did you gift 40 individuals a $10 eGift card today? The Feed It Forward program continues until Christmas Day. Keep on giving!

Burger King: Free Fries Friday on December 16, 2011

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Photograph Credit: Burger King

It’s Free Fries Friday today at Burger King. To celebrate their new and improved fries, Burger King is giving away:

  • One free value-size French fry per person per visit
  • With no purchase necessary
  • While supplies last
  • Valid only today, December 16, 2011

You can also “like” Burger King’s Facebook page and enter your guess of how many fries Burger King will be giving away today. If your guess is the closest correct answer, you will win a year’s supply of fries. (Don’t tell your doctor if you win. :-))

If you will be passing by a Burger King today, be sure to stop in to try a free fry and enjoy your Friday!

Grocery Shopping: Giving Groceries a Home – Part 2a of 3

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Photograph Credit: Flickr (Bosch Appliances)

Even after eating a cookie while grocery shopping, my children are usually STARVING by the time we walk into the house. Not sure if it is all the food they see, or just the time of day. Whatever it is, they are hungry.

Upon sending them to the pantry for nourishment (ahem) or junk food, I concentrate on the counter full of groceries that I just unloaded. Before giving my pantry items a home (which will be covered in Part 2b), I turn my attention to the cold items which will be placed in the refrigerator or freezer.

Organizing the Refrigerator

Each shelf or drawer in my refrigerator holds certain items. By keeping the same system, I can quickly put items away and retrieve them while preparing meals and snacks. Though there are exceptions to these guideline when hosting parties, holidays, and other events, my refrigerator contains the following items on each shelf or in each drawer:

    • Shelf #1 – beverages
    • Shelf #2 – butter, eggs, bread, and sourdough starter
    • Drawer #1 – cold cuts and bread dough
    • Shelf #3 – yogurt, sour cream, and cream cheese
    • Shelf #4 – leftovers
    • Drawer #2 – fruits (apples, oranges), vegetables (potatoes, carrots), and spice (garlic)
    • Drawer #3 – all cheeses

As I put the cold items away, I will stack new items on the bottom or in the back of existing products. By doing so, the older item gets used prior to the new container being opened. Though this is the goal, I currently have two opened jars of apple sauce on the fourth shelf in my refrigerator. 🙂

Organizing the Freezer

If I will be using the frozen item in the next week, then I place it in the freezer side of my side-by-side refrigerator in the house. All the other frozen items are place in our chest freezer housed in the garage. Again, having an organized system helps the “putting away” to go quickly. I have our chest freezer organized as follows:

Left side

    • Packaged meats (ham, turkey, bacon, chicken, hot dogs, sausage)
    • Boxed meals

Center basket

    • Hamburger
    • Roasts
    • Steaks

Center bottom

    • Pizzas
    • Breads
    • Desserts
    • Double batch cooking (For some meals, I make multiple portions to save for busy nights.)

Right side

    • Vegetables
    • Pork chops
    • Breakfast foods

When I put these items away, I place the newer items on the bottom or in back of other existing product. Any meats that need to be cut up or packaged together (i.e., chicken, pork chops, etc.), I put in the refrigerator until after all the groceries are put away. Then during meal preparations, I will divide up the hamburger, pork chops, etc., wrap, and place them in the chest freezer.

With all the cold items placed in the refrigerator or freezer, I can then concentrate on meeting my children’s needs. After addressing their starving situation and refilling their drinks, I then continue giving the other groceries a home which will be covered next week. In using time wisely, I have a designated spot for each type of item. This system works for me. Hope it works for you as well. Happy organizing!

Question: Do you designate shelves and drawers for specific items in your refrigerator and freezer? Please add your answer to the comments.

Time Management: Working on a Deadline

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Photograph Credit: Flickr (Lesley Lizard)

If it weren’t for deadlines, I would not get as much accomplished. Knowing that someone is depending on me ignites my energy and gets me motivated. With a sense of urgency to complete the task accurately and completely, I press on until the project is finished.

Life gets really busy and well-meaning intentions fall by the wayside on the excuses of “if I only had more time.” My problem is not that I need more time, but rather I just need to plan better.

How do I do this?

  1. S.T.O.P.
  2. Take a breath.
  3. Sit down with the calendar.
  4. Preview the activities and plan those intentions.
  5. Break down the tasks.
  6. Schedule time to complete each part.
  7. Execute the plan.

Yesterday, I shared how I enjoy kicking off my cookie baking by attending a cookie exchange. When I know that my friends are depending on me, then I will be sure to have all those cookies baked. That deadline will be met because I will make the time to get it done. Due to scheduling conflicts, I had to decline two invitations to cookie exchanges this year. I had two chances, and neither fit into our family schedule. 🙁 Does this mean without a deadline that cookies will not be baked this year? No way! It just means, I need to set my own deadline.

Creating a Deadline

After stopping, taking a breath, and looking at the calendar, I begin to put together a plan. With hubby home and school out of session, next week will be baking time. In preparing, I checked our pantry for basic ingredients and added needed items to my grocery list pad.

When I go to the grocery stores this week and gather my savings, I will purchase the remaining items needed for next week’s baking. Then over the weekend, we will plan our family events for next week.

By planning ahead, breaking down the parts, and scheduling, I can get those well-meaning intentions executed. Without a plan, they remain only intentions. Taking time to plan is the best way to using time wisely. Yes, it means stopping to gather the information. But when one task is finished, you just move on to the next. You don’t need to keep stopping to consider what to do next.

During this busy season, plan to stop, take a breath, plan, schedule, and execute while using time wisely. Your season will be less complicated when you work on the priorities first. Happy planning!

Question: How self-motivated are you to get things done without a deadline? Curious to hear to your answers.

Christmas Party: Cookie Exchange

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Photograph Credit: Flickr (Nikki Aden)

About eight years ago, I was invited to my first cookie exchange. I remember receiving the invitation and adding the event to my calendar. On the appointed week, I baked the 12-15 dozen cookies, packaged them up, and prepared for the party.

As a one-car family, Paul and I showed up to our friends’ house with cookies in hand. The hostess greeted us and welcomed us to her kitchen. As the other participants began arriving, I realized that only ladies were attending. The panic set in.

Questions filled my mind: To whom was the invitation addressed? Did I read the invitation correctly? Oh, no, Paul’s the ONLY guy here.

Admitting that I must have made a mistake, I asked the hostess if her husband would be joining us. When she graciously informed me that her husband was out for the night, I felt horrible. Seeing my expression, she included Paul and made light of my mistake. The evening was filled with Christmas memories, laughter (thankfully, with me and not at me), and lots of cookies.

Paul was a good sport at that first exchange, but every cookie exchange I have attended since, Paul humorously asks if he is invited. Having made that mistake once, I have learned and not repeated. But it makes for a great cookie exchange story and a reminder, to read the invitation.

Basic Cookie Exchange Rules

1. Invite friends to a cookie exchange party asking for an RSVP and type of cookies/treats the invitee will bring.

2. Contact all friends after receiving the RSVP notices with the number of cookies each needs to bring (number varies from 5-12 cookies per participant).

3. Each participant bakes the total number of cookies and brings to the party. If 20 individuals participate at a dozen cookies each, then bring 240 cookies. Nineteen may be given to the other participants while the last dozen can be shared with the group.

4. Exchange cookies at the party. Some exchanges ask the bakers to pre-wrap their cookies while others ask that you bring an empty containers to take home a sampling of the other cookies.

5. Leaving the party with lots of cookies to share, treat, and enjoy.

Though I have never hosted a cookie exchange, I enjoy kicking off my Christmas baking by committing to a cookie exchange. Returning home after a night out with the girls (most of the time) and a wide selection of cookies is time well spent.

As you consider your engagements this season, consider using time wisely to get your baking started by hosting or attending a cookie exchange. Just remember to read your invitation carefully, so your husband is not stuck listening to women all night. 🙂 Happy planning!

Question: What do you like or dislike about cookie exchanges? Rather not leave a comment? Then join the discussion on Using Time Wisely’s Facebook page.