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By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of BobbisBargains.
Decorating and dyeing Easter eggs is a wonderful frugal activity. For about $4-$7 you can buy dye, a dozen or more eggs that you are going to eat anyway, and create family memories.
Dyeing eggs
1. Boil or blow your eggs. Blowing out raw eggs requires putting a small hole in one end and a slightly larger hole in the other end. While holding the egg over a bowl, gently blow into the small hole so that the liquid egg goes into the bowl.
2. Mix warm water and a coloring agent. I use 1/2 cup warm water to one dye tablet. An egg dyeing kit at your local drug or grocery store is about $1.99 before sales. Each kit includes dye tablets and a dipping tool. The best part is the box. It comes pre-scored so that you can push out holes and then put your eggs in the holes for drying. This is the only product that I actually buy FOR the box, above. Many stores have post-holiday clearance sales and some start before the holiday. Buying your supplies at the last minute can lead to great discounts.
Tip: You can also use food coloring and the empty egg carton for drying to save even more money. Why buy dye tablets if you already have food coloring at home?
3. If you want to be more natural, use natural dyes to color Easter eggs. Use spinach for green, beets for pink and red zinger tea for lavender. Coloring the eggs in this manner is more expensive, but could be more educational.
4. Using some sort of dunking tool (use plastic gloves if you use your hands) put eggs in the dyeing liquid.
5. Wait a few seconds for light coloring or a few minutes for a deep hue. You can double dip but wait for the first shade to dry.
6. Take egg out and put in stand to dry. Drying times vary. If you want to eat the eggs later, do not put the eggs in the sun to dry.
Decorating eggs
1. Disney’s FamilyFun site has a wonderful list of Easter egg decorating ideas that include using cotton balls, string, elastic bands and thumbprints to enhance your dyed eggs. My favorites are:
- Dribble glue on the eggs. Let them dry, then dip in dye. Once the dye is dry, gently pull off the glue.
- Glue small stickers on the eggs. Ensure they are well stuck on. Dip, dry & peel.
- Glue string on the eggs. Let dry. Dip & dry. You may want to keep the string on for a new texture.
- Or… just forget the entire dyeing idea and paint the warm egg with crayon. The warmth of the egg melts the crayon.
2. Put bunny ears on the eggs and hide them. Eat lots of chocolate while you do this.
3. For more decorating ideas check out these Easter egg decorating instructions from eHow.
Is Vinegar Necessary?
All of the articles I found suggested adding vinegar to the dye mixture. However, this is not necessary for every color. My daughter and I experimented adding vinegar and it makes every color brighter except purple and red. For these colors vinegar makes the colors come out duller. Anyone a chemistry major? Why is this so?
A newish site called CouponSherpa has put together a list of holiday shipping deadlines for dozens of retailers, from Amazon to Walmart.
The deadline for a package sent standard shipping to arrive in time for Christmas is Dec. 16-17 for most retailers. Some are as early as Dec. 2 or as late as Dec. 23 (though I really don’t trust that).
If you miss the standard shipping window, you’ll pay up the nose for express and overnight shipping. What’s the sense in using a coupon or looking for discounts when you’ll end up paying that much in shipping charges? Procrastination is expensive!
A few retailer deadlines for standard shipping:
Amazon – Dec. 17
Apple – Dec. 18
CameraWorld – Dec. 18 at 10 a.m.
Crate & Barrel – Dec. 22
Dell – Dec. 16
GameStop – Dec. 21
Gap – Dec. 15
Land’s End – Dec. 18
Macys – Dec. 21
Sears – Dec. 17
Walmart – Dec. 20
This is a post from Alex, Bargainbabe.com’s intern!
After attending a small wedding the past weekend, I thought I might share a few of the strategies that one couple used to save money on their wedding.
1. Pick a naturally beautiful location. Find a place that already has flowers blooming so you don’t have to purchase more yourself. The ceremony I attended was at the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens. The trees, plants, and flowers created the perfect ambiance for the ceremony and pictures afterward.
2. Get your own Priest. I was ordained as minister in thirty seconds for free through the Universal Life Church so that I could preside over the wedding. I’d never done it before, but I put on my best speaking voice and practiced reading through what the couple had written for me to say. It felt good to give them exactly what they were looking for since they had no reservations about asking me to recite any sort of rhetoric that was important to them. To give you an idea of the range of dialogue they felt comfortable using, I’ve posted a few of the lines below:
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has this to say on the subject of love: “Avoid, if at all possible.” Fortunately, Jerad and Jackie have never read the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, so let us continue.
This ring, which has no beginning and no end, symbolizes that the love between you will never cease. May its presence on your hands remind you of your love for each other. Please place them on your fingers as a visible sign of the vows which you have shared today.
3. Keep your guest list small. One way to keep your guest list from snowballing is to pick a venue that is designed for small ceremonies. Holding your wedding on a boat or anywhere with pre-set seating gives you a good reason against inviting anyone you might consider extra.
4. Set up your honeymoon as a wedding present. You can make a website at TravelersJoy.com where people can go online and pay for different elements of your honeymoon instead of purchasing gifts. Guests can buy anything for you, from a night in the hotel to a bottle of wine at dinner. This saves expenses on your honeymoon and makes it easy for them to buy whatever fits their budget. Click here for a sample of what your site could look like.
SpendLessTV, a website that has clips of TV segments on saving money from a variety of channels, has a video about credit card perks you rarely use. It’s worth watching.
Caveats: not all credit cards have the perks mentioned.
Christmas is exactly six months away and Hanukkah is a few weeks sooner than that (Dec. 11), which means…groan…it’s a fabulous time to start saving for the winter holidays. Here are five ways to prepare. I hope one of them works for you!
1. Decide how much you want to have to spend on gifts and divide that total by six months. Set up a special savings account with an automatic deposit each month. Don’t leave it up to chance. If your budget is $500, save $83.33 each month.
2. Look at your budget and see how much you can afford to put towards gifts each month or week. That becomes your holiday budget.
3. Start setting aside gifts you come by now. This is similar to No. 1 but instead of socking away cash you are socking away gifts. I like to keep a box of gifts in my closet that I add to periodically. I currently have a beautiful red sushi plate that I’m going to give to my neighbor, a few small toys for my nieces and nephews, and a handful of cookbooks. Some people swear by shopping for Christmas/Hanukkah year round.
4. Reader Lenita gave me a new way of saving for Christmas when she left this comment a few days ago. “When I come home from each grocery-shopping trip, I check the sales slip to see how much I’ve saved by using coupons. I then put that amount in an envelope to be saved for Christmas shopping. More than $100.00 per month is easily accumulated.” Great idea, Lenita!
5. Hope for a windfall that will cover the gifts you want to buy.
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I’m continuing my theme of giving frugal gifts that have a higher sentimental value than than monetary value for Father’s Day, which is June 21. What are you giving your Dad for Father’s Day? Share your idea in the comments section.
- Write your Dad a card saying what you love and appreciate about him.
- Put a new spin on two old gifts, wallets and ties, by giving him a necktie wallet!
- Ask each of his children what they love about their Dad on DVD. He’ll always have the video to watch. If you have a budget, give him the video on one of those new-fangled flip video cameras.
- Frame a picture of you and your Dad. A picture is worth a million words and all that jazz.
- Get him a fancy schmancy gadget but save money by purchasing a refurb. Apple certifies all their used products and some come with a one-year warranty.
- Write a dozen of your favorite memories of your Dad on slips of paper and put them in a jar (I used a recycled mason jar on Mother’s Day).
- Give him time off so he can do what he pleases.
- Check out CNET’s top 5 WORST gifts for Dad. It gets good at No. 3.
Find more gift ideas at Gifts.com or Surprise.com.
One reader’s story of how she went on a gift moratorium.
We’re switching servers today so please hang on! The site may be down for a period of time, so if it comes up blank please check back later. Thanks for your patience and for reading BargainBabe.com.
~Julia
aka Bargain Babe
A blog I contribute to called Go Frugal has a great post with 10 places to find low-budget wedding dresses. Check it out!
I had a nagging feeling Sunday morning that the memory jar I created for my Mom was just not enough. I did not spend a penny on the gift, though it did take me about an hour to assemble it and make a card. I even hid the present from my older sister, who gives really good gifts, because I was ashamed. My Mom deserves more, I thought.
Why is money so important when it comes to gifts?
I think it’s a combination of being taught and trained over the years that gifts are something you buy for another person. This message is reinforced by ads, marketing, and commercials. The gift of time or thoughtfulness is “just being nice.”
To hedge my bets, I woke up early on Mother’s Day and filled my Mom’s gas tank. When I told her she smiled and said thank you. I could tell she appreciated the gift, but it wasn’t something she would remember.
Later in the day I gave her the memory jar and my card. When she saw it she started to cry. “It was so nice of you to remember,” she said. And I know she will remember it.
As my Mom pulled out the slips of paper, she shared stories about the memories my siblings and I had put in the jar. We ended up talking about the important role music played (no pun intended) in our family’s life and decided to go hear live blues harmonica that night!
I felt much better about my gift after my Mom opened it and liked it. But I still have not completely accepted that my time and thoughtfulness are valuable gifts. What’s your philosophy towards gifts? How do you think I should get over my gift conundrum?
Related posts:
Saying no to gift gifing – one reader’s journey on a gift moratorium
Gift finder for every personality – a helpful Web site
Anything but scissors for my birthday – a woman’s plea for a decent gift from her husband
1) Breakfast in bed – doesn’t matter if this has been done a million times, it still pleases.
2) Make a video – ask each of her children what they love about her on DVD.
3) Frame a picture - choose a picture of you and her or better yet, of her grandchildren.
4) Memory jar – write a dozen of your favorite memories of your Mom on slips of paper. This works best if you can get siblings to contribute.
5) Help in the garden/around the house – do a few hours of work that she might not be able to do herself anymore, or just doesn’t want to do!
6) Make her dinner – have fun with it by creating a special menu and table setting.
7) Talent show – if you have a big family that lives nearby, enlist their help to perform short skits for your Mom. The skits don’t have to be about her or her life because the act of everyone working hard to entertain her will be a fabulous gift.
Personalized tote – purchase a blank tote and decorate it yourself (or have her grandchildren do the honors). Fill the tote with gifts.
9) A Small Indulgence – Erin at About.com’s Frugal Living blog suggests finding “out what your Mom has been denying herself, and then buy it for her.” Perhaps it is a particular beauty product, type of chocolate or magazine.
10) Print coupons - go online and sift through recent newspapers for coupons you know your Mom uses.
11) Picnic lunch – pack a lunch and take her on a hike, to the beach, or to a park.
12) Write a letter - tell your mom what you appreciate about her. Bonus points for special stationary or a hand-decorated envelope.
