Ok, not quite.

But it IS almost time to leave work, sit in traffic for 45 minutes – hopefully no more than that – and go pick up the Kiddo from daycare. (Hopefully the wings to her ladybug costume aren’t destroyed.) Then we’ll probably kill about 30 to 40 minutes and then head over to her grandmother’s house to do trick-or-treating once her cousins get there.

And then after that… try to keep her from eating all her loot. LOL Quick! Hide the M&M’s!

Have fun and safe and happy Halloween, everyone!

I think I have figured out how I am going to save money for Christmas.

Since my husband and I decided to start cooking at home a lot more often, and cut back on the dining out, and allocate $100 week for each of us for breakfast & lunch while at work, I determined that if I spend carefully, anything left over from that day’s $20 can be stashed away and go toward my Christmas fund.

I think he is going to use any leftover of his weekly lunch money to have a more pricey meal at the end of the week if he feels like it, since he is awaiting $100/mo from a friend of the family from the sale of his iMac, and will be getting $300 before Christmas in that manner – he’ll have THAT money for holiday spending.

Since I will not have the same luxury, I am going to save up my leftover lunch money, and so far it looks like I’ll have quite a stash of cash on hand by the time Christmas rolls around.

For example:  today, I bought two 20oz Pepsi’s which were on sale for 2 for $2.22, at the convenience store this morning.  And for lunch, I spent $9.00 on a burrito bol, chips & guacamole at Chipotle. (yum!!)  So I have a little over $8 left for today.  If I spend no more than that each day, after five days I will have $40.  In four weeks I would have $160, in two months I would have $320 – already $20 more than my husband is getting.  And another four weeks – which would put me about a week and a half before Christmas – would be a grand total of $480.  That’s not a bad amount for Christmas shopping, especially if I am conservative about what I get people like I was last year…

With the exception of two people (well, four if you count my husband and daughter), everyone else got handmade soaps (not by me, but definitely homemade), handmade washcloths, the women got a homemade facial scrub (made with Dead Sea clay, and other natural ingredients), and a handmade piece of jewelry by me.  Oh, and I also got them these cute little scented wax dipped bears.

My parents got the same except instead of jewelry, I gave them scarves that I knitted for them, and my brothers and sisters just got the soaps and washcloths and lotions.

I think I am going to try to stick with the handmade/homemade Christmas theme again this year.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the soaps and such.  And if I do jewelry again, I will need to stick to supplies I have on hand if possible.

That is a load off my mind.  Now I don’t need to worry about how I am going to come up with money for Christmas gifts.