Here’s a quick round-up of some fun, inexpensive DIY Valentines. Check your craft cupboard or your scrapbooking supplies and use what you have to save some coin.

Box of Chocolates Money

My aunt gave us this box of goodies for Christmas one year. So fun! Read my tutorial of how to make it. Varying the denominations would make this a very economical, yet fun gift for a special someone.

Custom-wrapped Chocolate Bars

Wrap your favorite candy bars in colored paper for an easy and sweet treat.

Bake someone happy.

Bake up a batch of heart shaped maple scones. Serve them at breakfast or for an afterschool snack. Or package them up in a gift bag and tie with a bow.

Frugal DIY Valentines is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

Saving money is not a lost art. There are small things that you can do to save money without stressing yourself out.

Money is like water sometimes. It can slip right through your fingers. And if you’re not careful, it spills out the sides of the container and is wasted. This week I propose six small ways to save money. While they probably won’t send your kid to college, they will add up. And many drops do fill a bucket.

1. Borrow or sell your books.

Book junkie that I am, I realized not too far into my adult life that there just wasn’t space to store all the books that I bought. And many that I grabbed on a whim really weren’t worth the cash I spent. Every year I chip away at the bookshelves a little more, keeping only the books that we really and truly love and find useful.

The rest? I sell and make a few bucks.

And when we want a new one, I usually check out books from the library instead of, or before buying them.

2. Examine your receipt before you leave the store.

How many times have you noticed an overcharge after you leave the store? It’s happened to me way too often. I know it’s always better to check my receipt before I leave. It’s still a pain to get the money back from the cashier or customer service, but it is, after all, my money. And better to get the mistake rectified before I leave than to make a second trip.

3. Turn down the heat.

Winter heating bills can really drain your bank account. But, adjusting your furnace settings can save you money. Dress in layers so that you don’t need to turn up the heat as high or as often. Turn the thermostat down when you go to bed or leave the house for an extended period of time. Check with your utility company to see what other tips they have for energy conservation.

4. Audit your phone bill.

There may be extra services that you don’t need or want that could shave a few dollars from the bill each month. I called our phone company late last year and found out that there was a $6 charge for an “active living” package that we had never made use of. Since I didn’t need to use it, I could recoup another $72/year by canceling that service.

5. Drink water.

Water is often free or cheap. Instead of ordering drinks when dining out, ask for water. Offer water more often at home as well. We live in a land where clean water is a blessing, so let’s enjoy it. Save the money you might have spent on pop, juice, or other beverages for other things.

6. Eat at home.

I love to eat out. I really do. And we’ve got it down to a science now. We can take the 8 of us out to eat or bring takeout home from between $10 and $30, depending on where we go. And while that is really inexpensive restaurant fare for 8 people, it’s still a significantly higher expense than cooking and eating at home.

While it takes some work and advance planning, eating at home can be just as tasty (if not moreso!) and save us money a the same time.

How do YOU save money?

6 Small Ways to Save Money (Frugal Friday) is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

Keeping a written record of your valuable (ie replaceable) possessions can save you a lot of stress if a natural disaster, theft, or fire strikes your home.

It’s common knowlege that we frugalites like to make sure we get a good deal on the things that we purchase. There’s also the understanding that we take care of what we have. No one wants to replace something unneccessarily. That’s why buying adequate homeowner or renter’s insurance is a wise way to protect your investment and personal belongings.

However, theft, fire, and natural disaster are events that could force any one of us into shopping for replacements.

Anyone who’s suffered property damage and the subsequent insurance claims knows what a hassle it is to create a list of valuable possessions that need to be replaced. The insurance company can’t replace your child’s baby book or your wedding pictures, but they will often work hard and spend money to replace the lawn furniture that got sucked up into a cyclone or the tv that was stolen.

However, if you don’t really know what you had or what it was worth, you may be on your own to replace it.

That’s why it’s good practice to keep track of what you own.

A quick way to document your possessions is to walk your home with a video camera and capture on film all those special items. However, if you ever do need to file a claim, you’ll still need a written record with a description of the item, serial number, date of purchase, place of purchase, and purchase price.

Download this free printable household possessions inventory. Now’s as good a time as any to start a written record of your valuable household possessions. Log in what you already possess and then as you acquire new items, write down the information right away. And yes, it might take some time to catch up on the bookkeeping.

It could save you a lot of hassle as well as replacement costs in the event of loss of property.

Today’s Frugal Friday!

Keep a Record of Valuable Possessions (Frugal Friday) is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

Random bank accounts, loose change, odd amount gift cards, unclaimed funds are money clutter that you could make good use of in the new year. Clearing it up could help you focus on your financial goals and may just save you money.

Typically when folks talk about clutter, they’re referring to stuff. Physical stuff that takes up space in your drawers, cupboards, and closets. But, there’s another kind of clutter that we don’t often think about: money clutter.

Money clutter doesn’t usually take up much space. Most of us are not hoarding galleons in our closets or dollar bills in our mattresses. But, chances are we’ve all got loose change, odd gift cards, and random odds and ends of the monetary kind that are subtracting from our “bottom line” and could help us achieve our financial goals, if even in a small way.

1. Do you have money in random bank accounts?

Consider consolidating your funds into interest-bearing accounts. A random $100 or $50 here could help you get closer to your savings goals and be less to keep track of. It’s amazing how folks forget about where they’ve opened accounts!

2. How much loose change do you have?

FishPapa is a coin-magnet. It seems that we have always have piles and piles of coins all over the house. A few months ago I corralled them in one large cardboard mailing canister otherwise destined for the trash. I wrapped a world map around it for decoration and now it’s going toward saving for our trip to England. Someday….

But every little bit helps! And loose change is a painless way to save toward something.

3. Where are all those gift cards?

Last month I gathered all the gift cards in the house — and was surprised to stack them an inch high. Some of them are probably five years old if not longer, but still! That’s money that’s just been sitting around. I went online or called the number on the back of each card to find out the balance and wrote it across the front with a sharpie.

Now that I know what we have, I’ve got them in a little zippered wallet along with a list for easy reference. If I’m near the store in question or already planning to go there, I want to use the gift card first and keep the cold hard cash in my wallet. If it’s a store that we probably won’t go to, as gift cards often are, I can share them with folks who might enjoy a little freebie.

4. Claim your missing funds.

Unbelievably, there are billions of dollars sitting in government banks that belong to citizens who might not know it’s even there. Often the funds lie unclaimed because a bank account was inactive for too long (see point 1) or an institution folded and the funds were redirected to the state treasury.

Good Morning America did a series on unclaimed funds last year which shares real life stories of folks who reclaimed monies they didn’t even know they had. Visit Unclaimed.org to search all the states’ databases where you’ve lived. You will be redirected to that state’s treasury site  and have the opportunity to search your name for any unclaimed funds. I found cash for both my brothers by doing a simple search.

Deal with Money Clutter

Money clutter may not be terribly visible, not like the piled up magazines or overgrown clothes you may have stashed in a closet. But, in this case, it could prove to be valuable. Clear it up and make good use of it in the new year!

Clear out the Money Clutter (Frugal Friday) is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

Setting specific financial goals is more effective that just saving money.

About four years ago when we realized we had no money and a whole lot of debt, it was easy to make financial goals. We just wanted to be out of the hole!

Honestly, that was all I could think about. And it was odd to think that it would ever happen. 

After eighteen months of scrimping and saving, we paid off our last credit card, American Distress. We breathed a sigh of relief. At about the same time, we sold our home in Kansas and actually broke even on that transaction; a minor miracle in 2009. We socked the equity (the initial downpayment) into an emergency fund and found ourselves ready to cross off our list Baby Steps 1, 2, and 3.

Those baby steps would be our financial goals up to that point:

1. Establish a $1000 emergency fund.
2. Pay off all debts.
3. Fully fund a 3 to 6 month emergency fund.

Getting to that point seemed like such a monumental victory that we just sat down and rested. For a long while. We saved our money where we could but we just tossed it into a nebulous account that didn’t really have a name.

It wasn’t that we didn’t want to continue, it’s just that we weren’t really sure what to do next. Those who follow the plan outlined in The Total Money Makeover will know the next few steps recommended by personal financial coach, Dave Ramsey:

4. Invest in retirement.
5. Establish kids’ college funds.
6. Pay off the house.

These steps often get moved around depending on your season of life and the income you have at your disposal. We’ve hemmed and hawed about taking the steps in order or out. After a few years of just “saving money,” we’re ready to get more serious about financial goals.

We’ll take Door #4: Retirement investing.

While we do have six kids to send to college, we both know from personal experience that if you want something bad enough, you will find a way to make it happen. If FishKids wanna go to college, they will do it. We fully intend to help them with their college expenses, but since we’re getting a fairly late start at retirement investing (we started at 38 and 48), we need to make up for some lost time.

We don’t have visions of grand retirement vacations and homes in exotic locales. We just want to be self-supporting.

We haven’t totally figured out our plan for this, however, we are going to try to put away the maximum in Roth and Sep IRAs as well as start a 401K with FishPapa’s employer.

Make specific goals

We’ve found that blindly saving is not as effective as giving your goal a name. To “save money” is not as motivating as to put a dollar amount toward a certain project or to specify a certain financial goal.

It’s about time to get back to climbing that mountain.

How ’bout you? Do you make specific financial goals?

Setting Financial Goals (Frugal Friday) is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

Take inventory of your finances before the first of the year to get a clearer picture of where you want to go in the new year.

This week is a great time to see where you stand financially. If you’re not accustomed to a regular financial inventory, then this would be a great thing to add to your list of goals for 2012.

A financial inventory is when you survey your expenses, assets, and liabilities — and come face to face with reality.

It can be sobering, to be sure. In fact, the last time I mentioned this, a reader later wrote to tell me about the very difficult conversation she and her husband had about debt. It was a very tough conversation to have, but I think, in the end, a really good one.

We might not always like to face reality, but it’s always better to do so than to live in denial, or later, regret.

When we were getting out of debt, we made this kind of list every month. Usually there were no assets, just liabilities. But, we saw those liabilities shrink over the months. That was a huge encouragement!

Take inventory!

So, before the ball drops I suggest getting out a sheet of paper and consulting all your accounts. This doesn’t need to be complicated. Simply make a list of assets (cash on hand or in a bank account), a list of liabilities (debts), and a list of where your money has been going over the last few weeks or months.

You may love what you see. Or you may not.

But, at least you’ll know where you’re at as the new year begins. And knowing where you are is the first step to going someplace else.

If you have a realistic picture of your finances, you will:

• be able to create realistic goals for the new year
• be able to spend or save money in the right places
• be able to curb your spending more because you’re not just shooting in the dark.

Taking inventory can, indeed, be hard. But, it’s good to know where you are in your finances.

Take Financial Inventory (Frugal Friday) is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

Last minute shopping doesn’t have to be expensive or entail a trip to the mall. You can find or make bargain gifts even at the last minute.

So, you waited until the last minute? Or maybe, someone just got missed on the list? Or maybe someone came to mind that you want to bless this Christmas. Or maybe life has just been too full to go Christmas shopping.

Often shopping in the final days before Christmas can cost more, but even though Christmas is just a couple days away, there are still some bargains to be had. In fact, in some locations, the sales might be better. The trick is not to overdo or buy more than is really necessary.

Rule #1: Enough is as good as a feast.

Here are some ideas for really last minute bargain gifts:

1. Buy Giftcards

Gift cards are quick to purchase, easy to transport, and help you gift something that the receiver really wants or needs, instead of something to get donated or regifted after the holiday.

You can easily pick up a range of restaurant and shopping gift cards at your local Walmart, Target, or drug or grocery store. Often, they offer promotions for purchasing a certain number of cards. I’ve bought gift cards for some of our favorite restaurants, like Chipotle and Red Robin, at these locations.

Amazon gift cards are amazingly helpful. You can buy almost anything on Amazon and if there’s a balance on the gift card, it is automatically applied to the account, so you can’t really “lose” Amazon money, like you can with physical gift cards. Amazon will even mail the card via mail or email for you.

2. Assemble Some Easy Food Gifts

While you might not have the time to bake several batches of cookies, preparing a few baking mixes can be a thoughtful and economical gift. Check out these options, complete with printable recipe cards and/or tags:

• Three Baking and Cocoa Mixes
• Gingerbread Cookie Mix in a Jar
• Dinner in the Bag

3. Print a Coupon Booklet

Jen at Beauty and Bedlam put together a customizable coupon booklet that you can fill out and print. What a fun and easy way of giving to friends and family.

4. Create Pencil and Paper Game Books

Remember I told you about this simple, retro-style game book? Easy to print and package with a pack of cool pencils for a fun and battery-free game.

Don’t forget to wrap it up quick and easy!

The Happy Housewife recently shared a number of frugal wrappings that you probably already have laying around the house. And don’t forget to fill and print these simple gift tags.

Last minute gifts can come together really quickly, from a few hours to just a few minutes (and clicks of a mouse). And in many cases, you don’t even have to leave the house or spend a ton of money!

Got a great money saving idea?

Really Last Minute Bargain Gifts (Frugal Friday) is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

Do you still have some Christmas shopping to do? Here are some tips and tricks from Mandi at Jungle Deals and Steals to help you make the most of your money now that the day is ever closer.

photo source

The following is a guest post from Mandi of Jungle Deals & Steals and Life…Your Way:

Are you feeling the stress of the items left on your Christmas shopping list? With just 9 days until Christmas, you may be feeling like the mall is an inevitable choice for finishing up those last-minute gifts, but you can still take advantage of online shopping at this stage; you just need to plan a little more carefully!

Here are my three strategies for last-minute online shopping without breaking the bank:

Check the shipping deadlines for your favorite retailers.

Most retailers post a schedule of shipping dates to give you an idea of when you need to place an order for guaranteed delivery by 12/24. For many online stores — like Kohl’s and Gap — that date is Tuesday, 12/20 by 11:59 p.m. EST, but you’ll want to double check each site to be sure. For example, Toys ‘R Us’s deadline is 3 p.m. EST on 12/20 instead.

You’ll also want to double check the fine print. Toys ‘R Us says specifically that only items that say “Usually leaves warehouse in 1-2 full business days” are eligible for the shipping guarantee.

Use Amazon Prime.

These days, you can find almost everything on Amazon — from clothing and toys to jewelry and housewares — all at competitive prices.

Amazon Prime members get FREE two-day shipping, which means you have until 11 p.m. EST on Wednesday, 12/21 for most items.

Don’t want to pay for an Amazon Prime membership? Never fear! You can sign up for a free 30-day trial to get the free two-day shipping through Christmas and into January!

To take advantage of Amazon Prime, you’ll want to be sure to filter your search results to see only Prime Eligible items. To do that, simply scroll down until you see “Prime eligible” on the left sidebar and check that box. Individual items will also show their Prime eligibility with a Prime logo next to the price.

Keep track of your orders.

One of the biggest pitfalls of last-minute Christmas shopping is losing track of what you’ve ordered from where in the chaos of trying to get everything done. Keep a written list of the orders you place and the guaranteed delivery dates so you know what to expect each day between now and Christmas!

Of course, even this late in the game, earlier is still better, so I recommend making yourself a hot cup of coffee, tea or cider and knocking out the rest of your list ASAP, but for those inevitable last-minute purchases (surely I’m not the only one who realizes I’ve forgotten something I planned to get!), Amazon Prime members is your friend!

Mandi Ehman is the chief deal finder behind Jungle Deals & Steals, where she and her mom find and share the best Amazon deals every day! She’s also the founder and publisher of Life…Your Way, a magazine-style blog inspiring readers to live intentional lives.

How do YOU save money?

Last Minute Shopping Tips (Frugal Friday) is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

Looking for an easy homemade gift to give to the children in your life? Take them on a trip back in time with this free printable paper and pencil game book.

Years ago money was extremely tight. Wisdom said that I couldn’t spend a lot of money on Christmas gifts. But, I so wanted to! Wisdom got her way though, and what resulted was a years long quest for homemade, budget-friendly gifts to give to family and friends at the holidays.

This paper and pencil game book was one of those gifts. It’s a far cry from today’s electronic gadgets, but in some ways, that is quite refreshing. You can play a number of games with only paper and a pencil. Believe it or not, Battleship even had its beginnings as a paper game! This is the perfect game to pack for car rides, the boring afternoon with relatives, or when the power has run out on the favorite electronic gadget.

And sometimes, unplugging is just a little more peaceful!

FREE Printable Game Booklet

You can download the booklet for FREE. Print it out on back to back pages, fold and secure with staples or ribbon. Wrap it up with a pack of pencils for a fun gift on the go. The pages will look wonky to the naked eye, but if printed back to back, in order, they should fold up just right.

(An easier, though slightly more expensive, option is to have your local copy shop print and staple the booklet for you. That’s what I did many moons ago.)

Download the booklet here.

Homemade gifts are a great way to save money on holiday gift giving. Here are some other homemade gifts we love:

• Baking Kits 
• Money Box
• Tea Party
• Decorated Candy Bars
• Found Letters Pictures
• Muffin Tin Crayons
• Cranberry Orange Granola

12 Days of Christmas

This week we’re sharing quick and easy ideas for family fun while some friends are sharing tips in different areas.

• Christmas Homeschool Fun: 1+1+1=1
• Christmas Decorations: Songbird
• Tips for a Healthy Holiday: The Thrifty Mama
• Saving Money: Surviving the Stores
• Travel Tips: Mom’s Travel Tales
• Christmas Recipes: Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures
• Homemade Christmas Gifts: The Happy Housewife

How do YOU save money?

FREE Paper and Pencil Game Book (Frugal Friday) is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

Tired of giving gifts that become clutter six months later? Yeah, me, too. I’m on a mission to have clutter-free stocking stuffers this year.

This past summer when I was helping some children clean their room, I found several card games. Correction: I found pieces to several card games. Apparently, we no longer had the rest of the games, nor did we have the instructions to play them. For the record, I’d never ever played the games, nor had I seen my children play the games.

But I had bought them.

Oh, yes, I had. I bought the games, paid cold hard cash for them, wrapped them, and stuffed them in stockings on Christmas Eve. And here I was six months later throwing the bits and pieces in the trash.

Stupid tax.

In the name of stuffing a stocking, I had purchased things that no one had asked for and things that no one apparently loved. And they became clutter. Note to self: don’t do this again.

The Grinch in me wanted to say NO MORE STOCKINGS. But, we love the stockings! The stockings are the opening act of a day full of fun.

How do I reconcile that fun little bag full of treasure with the desire for less stuff later on?

Clutter-free Stocking Stuffers

In my efforts to curb this post-Christmas waste, I’ve set on a different course this year in how I go about filling my children’s stockings. The idea started that everything would be edible. But, I’m adapting it to say everything will be consumable. Edible, washable, stickable, and, hopefully, very little to pick up off the closet floor next July.

I don’t mind if they go through it in a day as long as it brings a smile and doesn’t become more clutter to pick up!

Here’s my little, but growing stockpile of items to stuff our stockings with. (That’s popcorn on the cob!)

Here are my plans for consumable stocking stuffers:

Breakfast

Every year amongst the stocking stuffers is breakfast. This is fun for the kids and easy on me. I know that they will have fun and/or healthy items to eat during that “hyper-excited-it’s-Christmas-morning!” rush. This has traditionally been small, sampler sizes of granola bars or cereal, the prerequisite orange or clementine, juice boxes, and other fun breakfast foods, like those Dinosaur egg oatmeal packets.

You can save on these items by using coupons, watching for sales, or saving up the samples that you might request through different companies.

Snacks

My kids don’t get to enjoy “snack” foods all that often. So, bags of Pirate’s Booty, fruit leathers, and popcorn on the cob are welcome little treats. And a round of Jamba Juice gift cards bought on discount at Costco will make for a fun post-Christmas outing.

Watch for sales on snack foods in the coming weeks and buy a few each week so it doesn’t crunch the budget.

Toiletries

What kid under the age of 8 doesn’t love character bandages? Along with Band-aids, I’m going to include this cool Mickey Method hand soap as well as Tow Mater branded toiletries. My dad always gave us toothbrushes in our stockings, so I’m going to do a round of dental supplies as well. Thankfully, my kids care about their teeth.

CVS and Walgreens do a lot of promotions on toiletries like this, so watch for sales on these items, too.

Cheap Toys

What can I say? Yes, I’m also going to include some minimally priced toys like coloring books and water balloons. Those are definitely consumable! Do you know how fast a 3 year old can whip through a coloring book? My kids get a kick out of these and for a buck, they’re an easy, cheap extra. Plus, they just really, really like them.

Unlike the card games that went to the round file.

Target’s dollar section and Dollar Tree are good places for these kinds of toys.

Stocking stuffers are one of the highlights of our Christmas morning. We open stockings first. They are the start of the day’s fun, if you will.

Giving consumable, clutter-free stocking stuffers is a great way to reduce the things that you (and your kids) have to clean up as well as ensure that there are fun and tasty diversions to start the day off with a bang.

12 Days of Christmas

I’m participating in 12 Days of Christmas, a collaboration to bring you all kinds of great ideas from around the web.

Be sure to visit these blogs for more Christmas inspiration on a variety of topics.

• Christmas Homeschool Fun: 1+1+1=1
• Christmas Decorations: Songbird
• Tips for a Healthy Holiday: The Thrifty Mama
• Saving Money: Surviving the Stores
• Travel Tips: Mom’s Travel Tales
• Christmas Recipes: Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures
• Homemade Christmas Gifts: The Happy Housewife

How do YOU save money?

Disclosure: Disney consumer products provided me with the Disney samples pictured.

Clutter-free Stocking Stuffers (Frugal Friday) is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.