Christmas Presents

One of the things I hate about Christmas is the hype and the money spending. We had a wander around The Range the other day. If you don't know it,  it's one of those shops where you can buy anything and everything. Craft stuff, sewing, hardware and building bits, kitchen stuff, furniture, food and more!

We had a wander around looking at things for present ideas for the kids. OK, this may shock people, but while we were there we allowed them to pick something each that they wanted to be their Christmas present. And then we bought them, with them right there with us. And brought them home and put them away. I expect we will get a few little bits and pieces for them that will be a surprise, but right now they both have a big ish item, that they know about, and that cost around £15.
Yes, that's it. £15 is all I spent on each of my children for Christmas.  As I said, we may get a couple of other things, but I very much doubt we will spend much more than £5 or £10 on each of them beyond that initial spend.

We will read books during December about the story of the Christmas nativity (more about that idea in another post, maybe). Each of those books came from the charity shop and cost 20p or 50p. They sit in a basket that cost about a quid, also from the charity shop.
We have a tree we bought last year from tesco, and the box was a bit battered, so it was reduced. I forget what to, but I think it was under ten pounds. We have a bunch of Christmas decorations. There are the ones the kids made, like the angel that sits at the top of the tree. We have a lot that we found in charity shops for a small amount of money.

I bought presents in Sainsburys the other day with some of my nectar card points. I've done the same with amazon cards I earned doing swagbucks and an online market research website.

Other presents we give will be homemade - jams and chutneys, most likely homemade chocolates and maybe biscuits.

I share these facts from our little world, to perhaps inspire, maybe make you stop and think. Perhaps you'll just think that I'm a cheapskate and leave it at that. But I'd like to inspire people to not just think about spending lots of money, not to think that is has to cost the earth. But instead, perhaps Christmas could be something different and something more than that.

Money

I want to blog about some of the ways I save our family's money and some of the ways I spend it, but I don't want to come across as presumptuous or preaching. Knowing what you know about me (many of you will have seen my reduced meat and veg hauls on Facebook) what would you like me to write about? Give me some questions to answer to get me started!

How to run a kids' clothes swap (beautiful assistants not included)

Last year I was sorting through Soph's clothes and had a bag of bits and pieces that we no longer needed, and that I wanted to pass on to someone, but I wasn't sure who would need them.
Why not get a bunch of friends together, all bring clothes their kids didn't need, and swap them, at  the same time we could drink coffee and eat cake (Mums are especially good at multitasking!).
The idea (not original, but my version thereof) was born.
That clothes swap was in my house. Today we had our second one, in the meeting room of my church's offices. I think it was even bigger and better than last time. Here's how I did it... and how you can too.

Set a date and a location. If the date is quite far off (as this one was) make sure you promote the event nearer the time, and remind people lots, but in a non-annoying way. (I hope I managed that).
Our planned location actually changed twice over time, but it was fine!
So second I would emphasise be flexible and don't panic!

Once you've settled upon your time, date and location, start telling people. (I went for 10.30 start this time, cos that meant those of us setting up didn't have to be up at the crack of dawn. I arrived at the location about 9.20am)

Invite all your friends with kids. Set up a facebook group. Think about how big your location is, but don't be scared to invite more than double the number you can actually fit in your venue - not everyone will be able to make it. Go through your phone and text all your friends with kids there too.
Pretty much everyone will bring baby clothes, so also invite expectant mothers, or those you think might be planning to have kids (get cheeky, people can always say no!)

Co-opt a couple of friends to be your beautiful assistants. You could do it all yourself, but you'd probably get a bit stressed. And your friends will bring new perspective and together you'll come up with some great ideas. I've had Rachel, Claire and Corena as my beautiful assistants for my clothes swaps, and I honestly couldn't have done it without them.

Think about child care for your kids during the event, cos you'll probably be busy running it and it would be handy to have another pair of hands and eyes around. Last time I had my mum and today my wonderful husband (and Claire's) were these to help with the kids and be oh so gentlemanly and assist with carrying etc etc. (Thanks!)

Think about how to display the clothes - we used a variety of boxes (pretty much anything I could find!) Last time we had a hanging rail.

Make labels. If you laminate them, you can use them again next time. Stick the labels on the boxes, thinking about which sizes are likely to have most clothes. For us, we had a lot of baby clothes, so I had my biggest boxes at that end and put them in small age ranges (Newborn and 0-3 month, 3-6m, 6-9m, 9-12m, 12-18m, 18-24m, 2-3years etc)

Ask your friends to presort if you can! It's so much easier if you can come and just tip a bag into a bag and go, but be prepared that you will need to help sort on the day too.

Think about what else you want to swap and share - we had bedding, towels, toy, 'baby equipment', shoes, socks, etc etc. But try to have a place for each item, so people can find the right boxes to put things in, and find things to take away too!

Consider telling people with older kids about the event (I set a rough guide of newborn-age 10 for the event). But sometimes people with older kids are ready to have a turn out of baby paraphernalia and are happy to donate it to those with the littles.

Don't feel like you have to make all the cakes - buy some, or ask folk to contribute too. People like doing that.

Tell people as they arrive, what you want them to do - We asked them to sort their own stuff into boxes, and then they could start taking. But be prepared to muck in too!
Have a plan what to do with leftovers (you will have leftover!) - we gave to charity, including my church, and I sent the people who were around at the end away with a bag or two to take to their favourite charity shop. Last time we stored some of the baby clothes because a number of our friends were expecting babies soon!

Be prepared to feel totally exhausted afterwards!

Start small the first time so you get a feel for it, but be prepared for it to all take off.

Above all, have fun!

(Of course, we're considering changing this system slightly for next time, with potentially a bigger venue, and asking people to bring their donations the day before so we can sort them better)

Extreme couponing?

I've been watching extreme couponing all day today (admitedly on the 31st Dec when I wrote this, and not on the 6th Jan when it will post. I'm taking a leaf out of Kathleen's book and writing posts ahead of time)

I've found the ones who hoard it all a little sickening, and the ones who give it away to charity an inspiration.

I honestly don't think that we get as many coupons here in the UK as they appear to in the USA. But it's inspired me to look out for coupons and also deals like buy one get one free, and to consider putting aside the extra to donate to our church food bank.

Wear your cape with pride

This is a word of encouragement for mums, inspired by a friend's facebook status about her son wearing his superhero cape, and then she went on to say she was off to do some cleaning, and I asked if that would be while wearing a cape?!

Hey mum, yes you, the one over there feeling frazzled. You are a hero. You run your home despite a million adversities, you take care of your kids come rain or shine, sickness or health, you cook, you clean, you do a million and one things and yet there's no company award or pay bonus for doing what you do.

But you know what? You're a super hero. You are!

So go ahead, wear your cape with pride, knowing that you're the best woman for the job.