It may only be October, but the full holiday frenzy will be upon us before you know it. For those caught unprepared the holidays can be a big budget buster! How do YOU plan for your holiday spending? How do you Plan your holiday spending?customer surveys
Tutorial: Easy, Elegant and Professional Cupcake Decorating
It is very trendy right now to serve cupcakes instead of a full sized cake. There are entire blogs, books and even bakeries dedicated to cupcake design. Some brides are even opting for wedding cupcakes instead of a cake. One of my new favorite frugal tools is my Wilton Cupcake Decorating kit (no-they are not… Keep Reading
12 Ways to Use Up Leftover Halloween Candy!
Halloween might be over, but it is not forgotten at the Frugal Upstate household. Despite the fact that we get over 200 trick or treaters a year, we still somehow wound up with leftover candy and the perennial question: “What do we do with leftover Halloween Candy?!” I asked my friends on Twitter and we… Keep Reading
Recipe: Big Dog Kahlua
In the last few weeks I have posted my recipe for Homemade Amaretto and Homemade Bailey’s Irish Cream. Just to round it out I figured I better also put up my recipe for Homemade Kahlua. This recipe came from our good friend from Army days-Randy. He would have all our friends save their dark glass… Keep Reading
Oreo Cookie Truffle Recipe
If you want to be a total rock star at the next holiday party you attend, make these. I am not joking. People will fall down at your feet. Trust me-folks are going to leave comments below backing me up on this one. And they are the easiest thing EVER to make. Here is the… Keep Reading
How to Reuse/Recycle Christmas Cards
Photo by Patrick Q Remember how, when you were a kid, it used to be so exciting when you got mail? It was thrilling! Then, as you grow up, the mailbox quickly became the source of bills, statements and junkmail. I rarely get an actually note or letter these days. But at Christmas, ah Christmas,… Keep Reading
Easy Children’s Christmas Craft: Paperclip Angels
Need a quick and easy craft for your kids to make for teachers, bus drivers and friends? How about angel necklaces? This idea comes courtesy of my good friend Cherie, and has to be one of the easiest and cutest gift projects for little kids to make. It only takes a few minutes, the kids… Keep Reading
Best of the Frugal Thanksgiving Mini Series (aka The Round Up)
This week was fabulous! We all joined together to share ideas on how to have a fun, frugal Thanksgiving. For those of you joining us late, the topics were: Frugal Thanksgiving Side DishesFrugal Thanksgiving DessertsFrugal and Fun Thanksgiving Craft/Decorating IdeasFrugal and Fund Thanksgiving Family TraditionsFrugal Recipes for Thanksgiving Leftovers If by chance you write an… Keep Reading
Halloween Traditions-Trick ‘o Treating and Pumpkin Carving
I’m one of those people who just loves traditions. We have traditions for Christmas, Birthdays, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Labor Day and yes, Halloween*! For Halloween, it’s all about the trick ‘o treating (of course) and the Jack ‘o Lantern. For Trick O Treating, we go simple. We set a pattern the first Halloween in… Keep Reading
Make Gift Tags from Christmas Cards-Quick, Easy, Free and Green!
Yes, I realize Christmas is over, but hey, it’s only 353 days until next Christmas! Just kidding. The truth is we took down all of our Christmas decorations last weekend, including our Christmas cards. I know from past experience that if I try to “save” the cards somewhere to craft with next year, they will… Keep Reading