The Sewing Mom

We all know that this is the time of year for giving. We’re all busy decorating and buying gifts for our friends and family. We’re making plans for family get togethers over Christmas and next thing we know, it’s New Years Eve and time for more celebrations. Time goes by so quickly that it’s easy to lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas. Sometimes I like to take a step back from all the hustle and bustle and look at what I could be doing for those people who are less fortunate.

Many times we don’t have to do anything out of the ordinary to help those who maybe aren’t in a position to help themselves. Sometimes, while doing our holiday shopping we can also help, simply by making a purchase. This is the case at [tag]JacarandaStyle[/tag] where a portion of every item sold is donated to[tag]Ethembeni School[/tag] in South Africa. This school serves 300 physically disabled and visually impaired children in [tag]South Africa[/tag].

The products sold by www.JacarandaStyle.com  are beautiful and many of them are hand crafted and hand painted by local artisans. This company’s products and charity work has been featured in several publications including Marie Claire, Food and Wine and The New York Times. I found the most beautiful cake stand, hand painted in earth tones, it will look beautiful in my kitchen. Plus, I can get 10% off by using coupon code JSTYLE before December 14, 2007. I also noticed that by spending over $100 I get free shipping.  Isn’t this beautiful?!

I’ve been talking so much about my holiday decorations that I thought I should start taking pictures of some of what I’ve been doing.  I bought a fresh wreath at one of the home centers and today I bought battery operated lights to put on it as well as a bow.   In the picture you can’t really see the lights because it is daylight right now, I’ll have to try to take a night time photo this evening.  I can’t wait to see what it looks like at night, but I also like it as it is.  The entire wreath and added decorations cost a total of about $27. 

I mentioned in my previous post that we are running out of funds to spend on holiday decorations, we do, after all, still have gifts to buy. Because we’re in a new home, we are having to purchase new lights and wreaths for our outdoor decorations. We’re also decorating more inside because the layout of our new home is so open that to make it feel like the holidays we have to also decorate the kitchen, eating nook, and entry hall in addition to the family room. It all flows together. Unfortunately, decorations don’t come cheap.

There is such a temptation to use [tag]credit cards[/tag] at this time of year. That’s good if you have the available credit and know that you can pay those bills off when they come due in January, but if you can’t, maybe you should think about not using them. If you are going to purchase on credit, it’s a good time to [tag]compare credit cards[/tag] and make good choices about which card to use. Will you earn cash back? If you’re not going to pay the full balance due, what is the interest rate?

Sometimes a credit card company will offer [tag]0% balance transfers[/tag] which can be worth looking in to. Check these offers carefully for transfer fees which can be a % of the amount you want to transfer. Also check for rate expiration dates, know when the rate will change so you’re not surprised with a higher payment down the road.

The biggest thing I recommend is creating a [tag]holiday budget[/tag] and sticking to it. Write a list of everyone you need to purchase a gift for, then assign a dollar amount to that gift. Know how much you can and will spend before you go out shopping. Remember, even if you find something on a spectacular sale, if you end up paying a high rate of interest over a long period of time it will cost you a lot more than what you paid initially.

It’s been two weeks and I’m still trying to finish off the [tag]holiday decorating[/tag]!  It seems like it is never ending.  I need to make sure to write down additional items that I want to have for next year because we are running out of funds for purchasing decorations this year.  I need to put the rest of the money towards Christmas presents!

 Last night when the outdoor lights clicked on, one tree by the front door didn’t light up.  Turns out that somehow, the cord to one of the light strands on the tree had been cut, right at the plug.  It was the strangest thing.  If it had been cut a little higher, my husband would’ve been able to repair it, but the way it was he just couldn’t do it.  So, this morning I ran to the store and bought a replacement strand. 

While I was at the store I bought a battery operated strand of lights for the wreath on the dooor.  I also found some pretty red sleigh bells to hang on the wreath to dress it up.  So, guess today I’ll be putting up more decorations and dressing up a few that are all ready up.  It really does seem to be a never ending process!