Grow Your Own

Yesterday I decided it would be the perfect day to get out in the garden and get some food planted; so I walked into town and picked up some cheap seed pack from 99p Stores and Poundland. They're doing multipacks of 4-6 and 8 in Poundland of different seeds so I thought why not? Mike picked me up from town after he finished work and we went to B&Q and bought some compost. We now have planted salad leaves, chillis, peppers, tomatoes, herbs, carrots, beetroot and more. We used a combination of regular plant pots and old ice cream tubs, margarine tubs and cut down plastic milk bottles - all with holes made in the bottom with a metal skewer for drainage. These all sit nicely on our kitchen window sil. I also topped up the potatoes with more compost. I'm hoping they'll yield loads of yummy potatoes as these were grown from the shop bought ones I found in the cupboard after who knows how long and they had sprouted like crazy, and I mean crazy! The apple tree is blossoming, the pear tree too. The plum tree has just started as well. I've seen a tiny little fruit coming on one of my Poundland plants I bought last year. We're not too sure yet what it is, but we think it might be a blueberry or a blackcurrant. Oh, Ayse wanted a raspberry plant so I bought her one from Wilkinson's. They had some in Poundland but they were just the sticks and didn't look too good. The one in W's was £3 but had leaves and looked really healthy so I decided that would be better. Just need to get some more rhubarb (the ones I grew before went into a tub without drainage holes and they've been submerged for the past 6 months or so!) and some more strawberry plants (nextdoor's cat decided to pull them up a year or 2 ago when she was a kitten by running over them loads of times!). Fingers crossed we'll have lots of lovely yummy food straight from our garden soon. Just wish we had a veggie patch rather than tubs. Oh well, you just gotta make the most of what you already have eh?

Finished the cross stitch today, for the magazine, and that's all packaged up and ready to send later. Did my second crochet square the other night too! Must, must, must take photos of the 2 to put up here!!!

Hmmmm anything else? Oh yes, tomorrow is a big day... My dreadies turn one year old tomorrow!!! i'm celebrating by dying the top half red! Lol. I was originally only going to dye one then realised I'd end up wasting loads of dye, so was gunna do a few... Then I kept seeing the root bulbs which remain in my hair after old hair gets shed and it really doesn't look good! Little white dots everywhere :o( so I decided to try and cover them with dye too - hence all the top ones. Bonus is it will cover the grey too :-p I'm not bothered about the greys, I'm 32 which is quite a respectable age to flash the grey strands, but hey, if it gets in the way when I dye my hair, I'm not gunna complain lol! I might even give you a before and after photo of my birthday babies tomorrow :-p

A Summer Frugal Tip...
Get that washing out on the line to dry! No need to use a tumble drier in this lovely weather when mother nature can dry it for you for free!

Hugs to all xxx

Update And General Musings... I Think That's The Right Word?

A little update on the washing soap - 30 drops of Peppermint has worked much better for us and we get a hint of scent with the clean clothes :o)

Speaking of clothes, I don't think I've bought any new clothes this year at all - other than the warm gear for Sweden. That really surprises me as I used to buy waaaay too many new items, just because I liked them and not because I needed them. And of course, every item was cheap and a bargain, but still, I DID NOT NEED THEM. Once I realised this, I was able to stop buying new clothes. I'm working my way through the ones I already have. When something gets to the point of being totally unwearable and unfixable anymore I will just move onto other items that I already have and which will serve as a substitute.

I spend most of these cold days at home wearing comfy clothes, so I have 2 pairs of tracksuit bottoms, 2 pairs of velour-type trousers, 2 black fleece trousers and 1 pair of fleece skull and crossbones trousers. Even if I could no longer wear 2 of these trousers, I would still have 5 pairs which would last about 10 home days without washing - more days if I only wear them a few hours if I have a late shower and spend the morning in my jammies. If I go out into town, to see a friend etc I will usually wear a pair of skinny jeans of which I have 4 pairs (have been after a plain black pair for ages but can't find any that both fit nicely and are a decent price). I have a purple pair, grey and black leopard print, black and grey checked and a purpley-blue with a subtle black lace print. They look better than I can describe them lol! But again if I can no longer wear 1 or 2 pairs, I still have 2 or 3 left for going out, and I don't go out very often so... But even then I don't *have* to wear jeans; I have skirts and a couple of other trousers or jeans which I don't wear very often and leggings too. so even if ALL my jeans were to magically (and tragically, as I do love them!) disappear from my life, I would still have other clothes to wear in public. I have t-shirts by the tonne, so if one gets too shabby it's no big loss. I have a few dresses which I wear when going out-out and I don't mind wearing them time and time again, if my girlfriends don't like it - tough! Lol. But I'm sure they must know I'm a skinflint by now lol :-p I expect I'm the only person they know who only takes £10 on a night out and expects to come home with change! And to be proud of it too! Hehe :-p

The only thing I can see me buying in the next 6-12 months are bras because they're getting a little tatty. One is tearing apart and one has a hole in ont of the cups. Quite a few are starting to dig in with the underwires which isn't very comfortable! Also one has a bent underwire somehow which isn't pleasant either! Bras are the new shoes for me - when I was a kid it was a HUGE hassle finding me new school shoes. I have wide feet and a stubborn and fussy nature lol. I so feel sorry for my Mum, bless her, she must have despaired every time my feet grew! And now, it's bras. I can never find them to fit properly and at a decent price too. I managed to find some amazing ones from BHS a few years ago and loved them so much I would buy one whenever they had a sale and had some in my size. Sadly I don't recall seeing them in there anymore and the ones that I'm guessing replaced them aren't as good. I have a few, but I rarely wear them due to them being uncomfortable and they end up rubbing and digging in to my skin after a while :o( Oh well. I just need to sew up the centre strap on one of the good ones so it lasts a bit longer :oD I really don't wanna have to go bra shopping!!!! *Insert shocked, scared and traumatised face here*

Hmmm... What have I been buying lately? Did I tell you about my "new" Pyrex dish? No, I don't believe I did! Well, I went to my favourite charity shop the other week and saw a retro Pyrex casserole dish for £2. It's similar to the one below and has that design which I discovered is called Matchmaker.

Then the last trip I went into town I saw a couple of bowls which I just had to buy. One was a creamy colour with a brown retro pattern and is to replace one of the chipped cereal/pudding bowls. It was 20p too so I definitely couldn't leave it behind! The other was a bit of a naughty purchase as it was 50p and wasn't really needed. It's a small bowl and would be great for a dip or to put in carrot sticks or a handful of nuts or dried fruit as a snack. What really won me over was the colour. It was a purpley colour with black marbled type effect. If I remember to, I will take pics of these bowls so you can see them :oD I'm especially proud of the first one. Not only was it needed to replace a chipped bowl (them along with glasses get broken all the time in our house!) but it was only 20p and it was retro style :oD And of course, all the money went to charity which makes it a sweeter pill to swallow when spending money!

Ooh ooh! Guess what I did the other night? I actually made the first crochet square from the partworks magazines I get!! I know, I know, about bloody time right?! I was very proud of it too lol :oD I'll have to take a piccie of that as well... Ooh ooh! And I was a busy girl yesterday! I finally turned my Poundland tea towels into napkins!! YEY!!! We now have about 20 napkins which have been kind of neatly sewn up using my sewing machine which I realised I have had for about 10 years now! Think I got it for my 21st birthday and I turned 32 last month. Lol, I had to work that out - wasn't sure if I was 31 or 32 now!!! Oops! But yes, we have about 20 napkins all ready to be used and about 4 which have been washed prior to sewing up - not a good idea as they frayed - oops! Ah well. So we have 24 napkins, made from 12 tea towels which came in packs of 2 and were 3 packs for the price of 2. So 24 napkins - £4. Not bad even if I do say so myself :oD Definitely beats the 6 I bought at Christmas, from Poundland again but were actual napkins, packs of 2 which made them £3 for 6! If I were to buy 12 packs to equal the 24 I made, I'd have to spend £12!!!! A huuuuge difference to the £4 I did spend!

What else have I been doing? Ooh I started another cross stitch kit the other day - for myself, not a magazine for a change. I finished this one first:

Please excuse the pattern coming through from the bag underneath lol! Something else I think I got as a gift for my 21st birthday lol! Only taken me 11 years to complete!!! And now I have started this....

And a frugal tale? I bought this about 10 years ago from Trago Mills down Plymouth way. The price sticker says £17.50. The price online now? Around £45!!!!!! Yikes!!!! I don't think I'd ever pay that much for a cross stitch kit! It would have to be something extra special for sure! At the moment, I'm doing the white bit in the middle. I got so excited today as I got to add a little pale blue lol!!! It's quite a challenge as there are lots of whites and pale greys so far, and it's on evenweave which makes it more challenging! Give me aida any day!! But yes, a past time using stuff you have already accumulated instead of buying more! Love it! And because evenweave likes to fray, I decided to whizz round it with the sewing machine which led to me thinking I might as well finish off the napkins :o) something else I can tick off my to-do list :oD I'm hoping to get another project from the magazine folk tomorrow - she sent it today so fingers crossed there isn't a backlog at Royal Mail. I love receiving them in the post, opening it up and seeing what stitching I'll be doing :oD hehe.

Well, thank you for reading down to the bottom. I would love to know what amazing finds you've found at charity shops lately and what cross stitch project you're doing. Are you also doing the crochet or quilting blankets from the Hachette Partworks series? How are you finding it? Are you a model stitcher for magazines too? I would love to hear from you :o)

Hugs xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

2nd Shop of the Year and Under Budget!! :oD

Yep, just did my second budget shop and came away with £1.97 out of a £25 budget :oD

Items I bought were:
Tin of hotdogs x2 - 55p each
Tin of baked beans - 28p
Tin of garden peas - 21p
Stuffing mix x2 - 15p each
Pork mince x2 - £4.39 each, 2 for £6 (saved £2.78!!)
Stewing beef - £2.02
Streaky bacon - £1.06
Beef mince - £2.34
BLT sandwiches x4 - 25p each (reduced from £2 each)
Breaded chicken, frozen - £1.15
Bread x5 - 23p and 20p each
Hula hoops (7 pack) x2 £1 each
Citrus fruits - £1.19 (reduced)
Mushrooms - 75p (reduced)
Apples - 82p
Small potatoes - 69p
Bananas - £1

Total = £23.03

I originally picked up the mushrooms and they were reduced to 89p which I thought was good... Then I went round to the normal fruit and veg isle and saw them in their usual spot reduced to 75p! Needless to say I swapped them over lol. Was hoping to get some meaty bargains but never mind. I've sorted out 4 peoples lunches, got loads of food in for the week and have stocked up the freezer with bread :oD I wanted to try out Frugal Queen's faggot recipe:

http://frugalincornwall.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/saving-time-and-money.html#comment-form

but they didn't have any pig livers so I shall have to seek them out elsewhere and try them then. Could make for an interesting meal and I shall call them pork balls instead so as not to have Ayse turn her nose up at such a weird name lol :-p

Now on to stitching! Sigh, a stitchers work is never done :-p altho I will have a 25p BLT first lol!

Hugs xx

Edit: Frugal Tip #6 - Don't forget to check produce at the supermarket, even if reduced they might be reduced further somewhere else!

Frugal Restaurant Eating

I'm feeling happier about having to go out to a restaurant tonight and we've even managed to look at their menu online and work out roughly how much we'll need for the night. All 3 of us know what we're having so fingers crossed it won't be too painful when the bill comes!

Frugal Tip #5 - Eating in Restaurants

*If you can choose where to eat, have a look round at their menus, see if they have any deals or offers on any specific nights
*If possible, look at the menu in advance so you know roughly how much cash to take with you, if you haven't got the money to buy the tasty looking dessert that the woman on the table next to you is eating then you won't be tempted to buy it
*Order some table water rather than buying expensive drinks
*Don't feel that you need a starter
*Don't feel that you can't share a side order with someone else at your table
*If you want to finish the night off with something sweet or a coffee, have something at home when you get in

Fingers crossed for a pleasant evening. It should be, but if the food isn't nice then it'll hurt even more when handing over the money as I'd know we could have eaten better at home for a lot cheaper :-s

Hugs xx

One Step Forward...

...And two steps back. That's how I'm feeling at the moment with regards to money. My step son turns 21 tomorrow so will be having money for his present and as he has an older brother, he kind of has to have the same amount as he did (I personally think it's too much but don't really have a say in it). So that's one big chunk of money having to be spent. The second chunk of money we have to spend though, is really pissing me off. He's having a family meal out, I'm guessing he arranged it with his Mum. We weren't consulted about it but are expected to be able to afford to go and we can't really not go. For myself, Mike and Ayse I think it'll cost about £50!!! To me, that is sooo much money! Almost 2 weeks worth of food shopping spent in one night on food. I feel like eating dinner at home and then sharing a pizza between the 3 of us there. It wouldn't bother me to do that, after all, what's more important? The food or the company? Grrr! We're definitely eating from the freezer! I have gotten out leftover chicken korma for me and Mike tomorrow and we'll just need to boil up some rice. No spending there. Saturday is the meal so even if we do eat prior to going it'll only be something on toast - tinned spaghetti, scrambled eggs or something. No spending there. For Sunday, I'll have a rummage around in the freezer, see what meat needs using up.

Mike made some bread today, had to buy some powdered milk for it - £1.15. Also had to buy some more regular milk - £2.78. Looks like we'll be under £25 for this weeks groceries though :oD I need to source some cheap and tasty recipes for next week as I don't think we have much more to scrounge out of the freezer lol. I can feel a slow-cooker casserole with a little meat but plenty of veg and pulses coming on :o)

Hmmm any more news? I'm enjoying Mountain Men :o) just watched the second episode :o)
Used the new to us sky control - it's so nice to be able to press the tv guide, i, play and volume buttons lol!!! Love it! Just gotta wait until the rest of our programmes come back on the planner after their christmas break so we don't miss any lol, then we can swap the actual box too.

Hmmm as for my frugal tip for the day... I would say don't settle down with anyone who has an ex wife or kids but that would be mean and just display the unhappiness and lack of control I'm feeling at the moment, which would be wrong and unfair. So....

Frugal Tip #3 - Lists

Write a list of items you *need* to buy - stuff you have no choice in the matter of and which you can't do without. Also write a list of items you *want* to buy. These are items which you can do without but if you find one really cheap and can afford to buy it then you would consider doing so. These want items can also be looked at in a few weeks time and you might even realise that you no longer want something on there and it can be crossed off the list and you can feel happy knowing that you didn't buy it and that you've just saved yourself some money :o)

Another important list to make is for when you go food shopping. Make a meal plan for the week and maybe even have a couple of meals which you could swap out depending on if there are any reduced items or offers which would make sense to buy instead. Don't buy anything that's not on the list unless you need it and had truly forgotten to buy it.

Another list which is useful to do, especially at the start of the year is a list of birthday presents you need to give. Write down all the people and write down how much you want to spend on them or what you want to make for them and if you need to buy any materials for them, how much they would be. Total the amount up and this will help you plan for saving money for them. You can also do this for Christmas too.

Can't wait to get this weekend over with so we can continue NOT spending so much. I'm hoping the changeover of suppliers will be on the quicker end of their estimated time too! I read an interesting quote on someones blog or website recently. It went something along the lines of:

We are the only animal on the planet fool enough to pay for our food and housing.

Yep, that made me think. Life is definitely weird and definitely and unfortunately centres around money. Perhaps other species have it better than us?

Hugs xx

Happy New Year 2013!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I hope 2013 is happy, safe and frugal for you all :o)

I shall start off today with:

Frugal Tip #1

A night out clubbing for free
I never pay to get into clubs so this will be free, check online or phone your local clubs for any cut off times.
If you want to be super frugal and go out for zero £ then drink tap water. I've never been charged and they sometimes even put ice in the glass too :o) If you want an alcoholic drink then limit yourself to one or two and see if they have a "happy hour" or any offers. Alternatively start the night off with a couple at home bought from your local supermarket. One of the main things to be frugal is to pay for your own drinks whilst you're out, and make sure your friends know that this is what you're going to do so that they won't include you when buying a round and then expect a drink bought back. This also helps you to drink at your own pace and drink less therefor paying less. If you drive and not bothered about drinking alcohol then you could also be the designated driver and ask your friends to buy you a soft drink or two. This will be probably be cheaper for them than paying for a taxi so they would be more than likely to accept that offer. Just make sure to sort out everything *before you go out* so everyone knows where they stand and what's happening re drinks, lifts etc.

Complete free night = only go to clubs with free entry, drink tap water all night, take some mints or chewing gum with you to freshen your mouth. Extra bonus - dancing is more fun than going to the gym and on a free night out it will be much cheaper too!

Now onto the bloggy part of today :o)
I took my daughter into town today as she wanted to spend some of her birthday and christmas money. I was very well behaved and bought us both a thermal vest for our holiday which I needed to buy. I did however forget to take a drink and some food with us so I bought 2 drinks for 89p for us and a multipack of crisps for 99p to stop the tummy rumbles. And I bought Ayse a 3 pack of hankies for £2.99 as she only has one. She likes to take them to school as if she runs out of tissues, she's kinda buggered whereas hankies dry and can be used over and over ( I wish I had have had some when I was at school!!). I'm also weaning us off of tissues although I know there will still be a place for them. Phlegm and hankies don't mix lol!!

Really disappointed last night; we bought our Chinese and they didn't do calendars this year!!! They said it was due to the recession so I guess I can forgive them :o) we bought a set meal for 2 plus some egg fried rice for little miss fussy and we still have loads left so will have that tomorrow for lunch or dinner :o) yum!

I made Mike hang back up the washing line today :-p it was lovely and sunny so I hope they've dried somewhat. They're currently back indoors on the clothes racks to finish drying. They were quite cold when they came in. Even if they didn't dry an iota, they would have aired so will smell better (sometimes they come out not smelling very nice - we use eco balls so aren't scented). I will leave judgement until the morning I think :o)

Hugs xx

First Shop of 2013 (Kinda)

Just did the first shop in preparation for 2013 as I wanted to get loads of cheap bargains especially meat, veg etc. Well, apparently 2 hours prior to the shop closing was too late and pretty much everything had gone :o( I did however manage to pick up some treats for us which will be a nice pick-us-up for when we want something sweet to eat. We bought 6 tubs of Tesco finest custard £1.50 down to 15p each (will go into freezer and is cheaper by 2p than buying value tins of custard. Value powder is 7p but milk is needed too), 3 boxes of 2 Fresh cream strawberry jam slices £1.19 down to 18p (unfortunately can't be frozen so we will eat one each tonight and the same tomorrow night), 3 boxes of 4 fresh cream Belgian chocolate eclairs £1.28 down to 19p each (to go in freezer), fresh egg noodles £1 down to 15p, 2 packets of stir fry veg and beansprouts £1 down to 10p each - these 3 will be for dinner tomorrow night along with the 3 chops I took out the freezer today. In effect tomorrows dinner will cost 35p :oD although I'm sure Ayse won't want the stir fry so she will have just noodles and raw carrot with hers, but still so cheap :oD Just wish we had have gotten loads of meat bargains. Oh well, never mind... Maybe they'll close for Easter Sunday and I can stock up then? :oD

So besides them bargains, I bought:

Loo rolls x6, 400 sheets - £1.96
Sugar 1kg - £4.50
Eggs x15 - 1.79
Longlife milk - 53p
Dairy spread for baking - 89p
Salt - 34p
Tinned pineapple - 32p
Soup mix - £1.09
Cannelini beans - £1.09
Diced chicken - £2.94
Carrots - 89p
Onions - 69p
Mushrooms - 50p

Grand total = £19.89
Am gunna try and not get any more food this week so it will keep it to £20. I'm gunna get Mike to bake some bread when this loaf runs out - I think we have all the ingredients in the cupboard. Might have to buy some fruit.  We shall see, I can't quite remember what we have. Definitely gunna cook from the freezer and cupboards where possible this week, get us off to a good start :oD

Hugs xx

Hurry Up 2013!!

I can't wait for the new year to begin so I can officially start for how I mean to go on. I've been looking at my finances again (makes me feel useful lol!) and it's quite depressing to see how much the outgoings have increased since September when I last did them. BUT I am determined it will all go well and I will succeed! i will NOT go spending to make myself feel better. I was going to allow myself £10 a month which would include bus fares, toiletries - toothpaste etc but I might even whack that down to £5 a month seeing as I get the Crochet and Quilting part works which are quite frankly too expensive but one thing which I want to see to the end otherwise it seems a bit silly to have bought so many already. Ok, just had a look and I believe there are 90 issues of the Quilting magazine (currently up to issue 47 ) and 120 of the crochet mag (currently upto issue: 8? ). Hmmm so quite a way to go with both. 43 left for Quilting and about 112 for the crochet mag which should finish in 2 years time! Yikes! Ummm I know I should really stop them, I really really know this but I won't and part of me feels quite bad about that.

One of my new years resolutions is to complete (at least) one of the magazines every month for both crochet and quilting and slowly build up the throws for each. Hmmm so if I do one each a month that would be £7 so maybe I should only give myself £3 a month? This would (in a round about way if you stretched it out until i finish the throws) make up the £10 allowance a month. Of course this would take 90 months for the quilting one and 120 months for the crochet one... And I would only be allowed to do one a month. Ummm that would take 10 years!!! Ok so maybe I will start off with £3 a month allowance anyway and see how it goes, an experiment within an experiment :o) with any luck I will surprise myself and go months without spending anything at all :oD that would be great!! My birthday is in March so I plan to ask for consumables such as a particular (yet expensive) deodorant, razors, Sensodyne toothpaste, Lush shampoo bars, feminine products etc which will mean I won't have to buy these during the year :oD I have an abundance of socks, don't take baths so have a huge bucket of bubble bath, too lazy to use body lotion so have bottles and tubs coming out of my ears! Yes, I will pass around my list to my nearest and dearest and watch as they fall about the floor laughing :o)

Well, it is 00:00 and in 24 hours time it will be next year and I can finally start properly and it's so exciting. I do have the feeling that my house in Sweden will have to wait even longer but hey, who knows, I might surprise myself! I might even do away with my mobile phone in 2 years when the contract ends!! Eeek!! That would save £7.50 a month. Maybe go onto pay as you go for £5 a month instead. Every little helps (as Tesco keep telling me). Ooh I went onto their website and put in "Tesco Value" into their search engine just to see what goodies they have and I was quite surprised I tell you! Lots of yummy different things which I hadn't seen before and will need to keep an eye out for :o)

I have to say I LOVE LOVE LOVE their current packaging :oD and their new bags. The style is right up my street :o) I'm hoping to get some uber bargains with their meat, fresh fruit, veg and bread tomorrow (well, later on today) as they're gunna be closed New Year's Day so hopefully they'll be trying to shift products with sell by the 1st Jan on them :oD I made Mike clean out the mini chest freezer in the garage hehe so fingers crossed I can fill it with super cheap produce to last me all month for the price of a week!! :oD

Hugs xx

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! I hope you're all having a wonderful time and staying safe and warm; and if you're in the UK, dry too! We seem to be inundated with rain lately, thankfully we're not in a flood risk area although I wouldn't like to put it to the test, just in case!

As much as I loved Christmas and seeing family etc, I'm sooo glad it's over, lol. It's good to get back to normality and get my New Years resolutions sorted and in order - one of which is to get this house sorted and in order! We had a decluttering session a while back but there's still so much I want to sort out and declutter some more (I daren't even look in the craft room!).

New Years Eve will be our last day of "decadence"; meaning that  we will have a Chinese take away to celebrate New Year. We're not too fussed about going out, everywhere is too expensive, I have a 13 year old daughter and it will probably be raining anyway! I would much prefer to snuggle up on the sofa, have our Chinese (so we can get the free scroll style calendar for 2013!!) and watch a film or tv then watch the countdown and fireworks on tv too.

1st January - The official start of our frugal year (except holidays - we had our first one this summer and if we plan it sensibly we shouldn't need to stop). I'm hoping to see the savings made increase and the debts decrease! I need to sit down though and make a thorough list of resolutions! I like lists lol, they mean I know what I'm doing, and with my memory, well, I need all the help I can get!!

Santa is on my naughty list at the moment coz he gave me a cold in my stocking and I could feel it getting worse and worse on Christmas Day and I'm still suffering with it now. I hope to be fit and well soon so I can get to the supermarket and do some frugal food shopping! I cross stitch for magazines so I'm hoping my productivity will increase once I'm better too. Did I tell you that I told my wonderful fiance about our personal "allowance" of £10 each month? He didn't seem to impressed but I'm sure when we're completely out of debt and living a happier, less worrisome life that he'll understand (I hope it will turn out that way lol).

Ooh I am introducing my MIL to the joys of recycling your old christmas cards and turning them into gift tags :o) I think she's going to give us her cards from this year and I'm gunna punch them out using a scalloped circle punch and hand them back to her for next christmas :o) we need never buy gift tags again! :oD awesome!! Although a bigger punch might be better...

I'm thinking of blogging a frugal tip every day next year... I have a good imagination so I think I should put it to use in order to help others be more frugal too :oD

Hugs xx