The holidays are here, giving everyone a chance to be overwhelmed by the potential spending landmines that Christmas offers the average consumer. But not everything has to cost money. Some frugal and free fun can be found around Christmas.

Here are six things you can do to for free fun and enjoy your holiday for less:

1. Go to a parade

Most cities host a parade during the holiday season. Denver has a long-standing event called the Parade of Lights. It’s a fun event that almost always ends up happening on one of the coldest weekends of the year — but people still attend it!

2. Christmas lights tour

Find out where there are great holiday light displays for some free fun. Places to start: City zoos, downtown displays, or neighborhoods that are know for elaborate holiday light displays.

If you’re fortunate enough to live near homes with a super light display make sure to check those out too! Be aware that there are usually long waits and a lot of traffic for the mega-displays.

3. Go to the mall

Most shopping malls have huge interactive holiday displays that also include Santa. You can go with your kids or on your own but there is some free fun for the whole family during the holidays.

4. Volunteer

There are numerous opportunities to help others during the holidays. For people who haven’t volunteered before you will find that it can be amazingly fun. Giving to others just feels great.

5. Participate in a giving drive

Organize a giving drive. Partner with a homeless shelter and give unopened toiletries and clothes in good condition. Find a school that needs supplies and do a supply drive.

Get your friends and family involved as well. You will be amazed at how much you have to give.

6. Throw a potluck

Food, drink, and your closest friends are a wonderful combination for free fun. You can go with an anything goes theme or get super creative go from the traditional Christmas theme, to a Roaring 40’s theme. Provide a space to allow people to come together during the holidays and connect with one another.

Free fun saves everyone money

Don’t feel pressured to spend money you might not have or don’t feel like spending to create long lasting holiday memories. There are a number of ways to creatively and inexpensively experience the holiday season with free fun.

Take some time to brainstorm about what how you would like to experience the holidays, with whom, and how much you would like to spend.

Be clear with your friends and family about your budget related goals and objectives. Let them feel good about saving money as well and get them in on the action. If everyone in your circle is on the same financial page it will be much easier to manage expectations and meet the budget related goals that you’ve set for yourself.

There is no reason to go broke this holiday season. Use creativity, some planning, and a sense of fun to create a memorable, inexpensive and enjoyable time without breaking your bank account.

This post was written by Michelle Jackson, a personal finance and lifestyle blogger sharing her story at The Shop My Closet Project. Her goal is to help people cultivate their best life. When she’s not blogging or podcasting for Girl Gone Frugal you can find her riding her bike, going for coffee, or hiking in the mountains.

6 Ways for Free Fun During the Holidays is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

If you’ve never volunteered before and are intimidated by where to begin there are a number of organizations that are looking for the following types of help:

• Financial. Many organizations run fundraising drives at this time. Take time to figure out what causes are important to you and work on your budget to see what you can donate comfortably.

• Your time. There are a number of clothing/food drives that can’t happen without volunteer hours. Volunteer at one of these events so that they can successfully meet their organization’s goals. According to The Nonprofit Times a volunteer hour is now averaging around $23.07 an hour. Volunteers save organization huge amounts of money on wages, tax contributions, and health care that they don’t have to pay for paid employees. This savings allows organizations to remain focused on the organization’s mission.

• In-kind donations. There is an organization for everything. Find the organization that resonates with you as a good volunteer: hunger, animals, kids, clothes, or shelter and then find the items needed for those organizations. Items include: canned food, dried beans, animal food (for animal shelters), toys, cold-weather clothing, or even housing stipends.

Be a good volunteer

Now that you know the types of help organizations are looking for here are a couple of reasons why you should add volunteering to your holiday plans and how to be a good volunteer:

• Volunteering keeps what is going on in your life into perspective. Your life may have some difficulties but you may find encouragement, or encourage others by spending time with people who are in need.

• People need help. If you have the capacity to help someone else, why wouldn’t you help them as a good volunteer?

• It feels great! Helping other people feels great. Studies have shown that people who help others also receive a benefit from the act of helping other people. Ask your friends to join in.

• Be one of the “Good Guys.” There are a ton of good people out in the world making a difference. Counter the daily barrage of negativity by being one of the people out there who is making a difference in the world. What you do as a good volunteer does matter.

• Practice gratitude. Volunteering helps people to tap into gratitude. When you’re dealing with other people who are in need, hungry, homeless, friendless or without family you become very aware of the things in your life that you are grateful for.

Volunteering during the holidays doesn’t have to be a painful process. It can be done in one hour, a day, over a course of days over a month. It’s up to you and howe you want to help as a good volunteer. 

Finally, begin looking for volunteering opportunities before the holidays begin. You will be amazed by how many people will be volunteering during the holidays as well. Don’t miss out on an opportunity to help others and make yourself feel good at the same time because you waited too long.

Start with the following types of organizations: Food pantries, Salvation Army, Homeless Shelters, animal shelters, or even your child’s school.

This post was written by Michelle Jackson, a personal finance and lifestyle blogger sharing her story at The Shop My Closet Project. Her goal is to help people cultivate their best life. When she’s not blogging or podcasting for Girl Gone Frugal you can find her riding her bike, going for coffee, or hiking in the mountains.

How to Be a Good Volunteer is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

Pinterest might be responsible for the uptick in interest in homemade gifts. Gorgeous photos with detailed instructions reassure the uncrafty that they too can produce fabulous homemade or sort-of-homemade gifts for their friends and family.

If you’re not a naturally crafty person the key is to pick an easy gift that looks classy and has very few steps to it.

Here are 10 fun and easy homemade gifts to create projects straight from Pinterest.

1. Limoncello

A fantastic drink that you make with vodka, sugar, water, and lemons, limoncello is easy to put together but you will have to plan the different steps because it’s an easy multiple day process.

The key to managing the process is to put reminders in your cell phone. Or, schedule the steps on your Google calendar.

2. Infused olive oils

Infused olive oils are super easy! The trick is to figure out the types of food or flavors your friend or family member doesn’t like. Once that’s figured out you can begin with creating a simple infused olive oil. Make sure to include a cute ribbon or twine with a cute cardboard label to “tie” it together.

3. Homemade bath salts

For those of you who have family members who enjoy a nice soak in the tub or need a nice soak in the tub, homemade bath salts are the gift for them.

4. Sugar scrubs

You usually just need sugar, oil, and a scent to make sugar scrubs for the skin.  A super recipe and all you will need is a measuring cup and a cute container.

5. Body butter

Body butter might seem a little frightening because most people think where should we begin? Body butter is actually a little easier to put together. You might get messy but it will be great when you’re finished.

6. Cookies

Get a cute box with lovely tissue paper and bake two or three types of cookies! They will be fresh and delicious without you having to do all of the hard work.

7. Pre-made mixes

You’ve probably seen them already premade mixes in a cute glass jar.

You just have to make sure you’re measuring everything out properly and putting everything in the jar carefully so that it looks cute.

8. Fancy toffee

Toffee dipped in chocolate with sea salt sprinkled on it is easy to make. You can purchase the toffee and then melt down the chocolate and sprinkle a little bit of sea salt on the bar. After the chocolate cools off then wrap it in brown paper wrap and top it with twine or a cute ribbon.

9. Mason jar plants

Mason jars are all the rage and they are easy to find to use to make mason jar plants. You can pick up jars from thrift stores or Ball jars from your local grocers. Put nice rocks in the jar and then place a succulent or other plant on top.

10. Everything bag of homemade gifts

A bag with a little bit of everything is my favorite among homemade gifts! Get a cute basket, bag, or box and collect a number of cute little items that the one you love would enjoy. Socks, shaving cream, chocolate, a favorite beer, and the list goes on. Be creative and have fun!

If you’re trying to be frugal, or are a lover of homemade gifts this list is a great place to start. You may spend a little time to put these gifts together, but people will love the perceived time and energy you put into the gift.

This post on homemade gifts was written by Michelle Jackson, a personal finance and lifestyle blogger sharing her story at The Shop My Closet Project. Her goal is to help people cultivate their best life. When she’s not blogging or podcasting for Girl Gone Frugal you can find her riding her bike, going for coffee, or hiking in the mountains.

10 Homemade Gifts for the Uncrafty is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

Was holiday gift giving a disaster last year? Did your Christmas giving go way over what you initially budgeted?  Maybe it was as simple as looking in the eyes of your adorable kids and your loving spouse and you just couldn’t say “no.”

Months later you’re still dealing with the aftermath of your Christmas giving and by the time you finished paying off Christmas 2014, Christmas 2015 is just around the corner. 

Avoid Christmas debt

Every time you look at your credit card statement you see that you’re still paying off your daughter’s Tickle Me Elmo. The question now becomes how do you manage your 2015 gift giving so that it doesn’t linger into 2016?

You have to actively manage your family’s holiday expectations. There are a number of ways to do this without killing the holiday spirit. How to do this? Here are three pain-free ways to manage your family’s holiday expectations:

• Schedule a family meeting and discuss what you would like the holiday to be like.  Talk to your loved ones about what is important to you in terms of what you would like to experience during the holiday. Would you like lots of little gifts, one big gift, a dinner party, or a trip.

• Talk about gift giving price limits, events you would like to attend, should everyone give one gift or three, white elephant gifts, or homemade? Having a half an hour conversation will create clear expectations and eliminate any negative surprises.

• Talk to your friends about your expectations for the holidays. They will most likely embrace anything that allows them to save money — but still have a lot of fun. Suggest alternatives to what you normally do. If you exchange purchased gifts suggest a gift-giving alternative or host a themed pot-luck.

• Set family goals and be clear about the role your holiday related savings plays in the bigger picture. If it’s not clear why you’re making these changes then it will be difficult for your family to buy into the idea.

Communicate Christmas expectations

The key to managing your family and friends’ gift giving expectations is to communicate. People aren’t mind readers and need a certain amount of guidance and reassurance about a change from the normal status quo.

Remember that it’s an ongoing process. Some of your family members will be resistant to the changes if at least the majority of your family is onboard it’s still a positive situation.

Remember that practice makes perfect. After Christmas talk to your family and friends to see what they like and disliked about how you celebrated the holidays. What would they change and how? Were they surprised by the outcome?

Finally, spend some time looking at your budget. Did you save money? Where were your highest levels of savings experienced? Was it food and alcohol because you had a budget? Or, was it in the gift category? How would you adjust your budget so that next year you can experience an even higher level of savings?

Taking time to ask these questions and examine your results will help you have a fun and relatively stress free holiday season.

This post on Christmas gift expectations was written by Michelle Jackson, a personal finance and lifestyle blogger sharing her story at The Shop My Closet Project. Her goal is to help people cultivate their best life. When she’s not blogging or podcasting for Girl Gone Frugal you can find her riding her bike, going for coffee, or hiking in the mountains.

Managing Christmas Gift Giving Expectations is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

Where has the year gone? Christmas is approaching faster than you think, and have you begun your holiday planning yet?  Are you freaking out? Don’t, there is still enough time to plan a debt free and joyous holiday season.

Here are five steps to for the last minute holiday planner who doesn’t want to go broke and be in debt.

Create a plan

Take time to create a plan for the holiday season to avoid debt. Do you want to have a big blow out party?  Or a cozy gathering of friends? Would you like to give gifts to a large number of people or a small group of friends?

Taking time to plan helps to create clarity and a framework for upcoming holiday gift giving and festivities.

Set a budget

Spend time thinking about what you can afford, set your budget and stick to it. Setting a budget makes it clear to you what you can and cannot afford.

Once you set your initial budget cut it by 25 percent just because you can and maybe should.

Use cash

If you set a budget and spend using a credit card that defeats the purpose (unless you pay it off immediately and get mileage points). Once your budgeted cash is spent — you’re done.

For example if you have a $1,000 budget for gift giving and dinners, take time to figure out who is getting what, how much you think your dinner party will cost and be honest about what you will actually spend so that you won’t go into debt.

Don’t buy new clothes for holiday parties

Do you find yourself invited to a number of holiday parties every year? Look in your closet and see what suits/cocktail dresses/etc. that you already have and repurpose those items. People typically don’t remember what you wear.

Use what you have

Double check your holiday decorating stash-Don’t spend money on items you already have. If you enjoy Thanksgiving decorations, Christmas sparkle, and New Year bling around your home look at what you already have to avoid duplicate purchases.

Spend time double checking your sparkling lights, your ornaments, and left over wrapping paper that you will be able to use that season.

Make staying out of debt a goal

Spending a couple of hours going through your closets, setting a budget, and creating a plan will take out a lot of the anxiety that many people experience when planning and preparing for the holiday season. Ultimately, the holidays are about spending time with family and friends, potentially eating too much food, and giving to those who are less fortunate than you. It’s not about going into debt.

Finally, embrace your creativity to craft a beautiful and memorable holiday season. There are so many ways to spend time with family and friends without spending money.

Go for a walk in the park, ride bikes together, host a game night, throw a potluck, have a holiday sweater night, set up a homemade photo booth, and the list goes on.

If you’re not the most creative person in the room, go to Pinterest for inspiration. You will find information ranging from how to decorate creatively, tips to save money, and more.

There is no reason to go broke or into debt this holiday season — even if you started late. Good luck!

This post was written by Michelle Jackson, a personal finance and lifestyle blogger sharing her story at The Shop My Closet Project. Her goal is to help people cultivate their best life. When she’s not blogging or podcasting for Girl Gone Frugal you can find her riding her bike, going for coffee, or hiking in the mountains.

Preparing for a Debt-Free Holiday Season is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and many people are looking for ways to have a fabulous family meal without going broke.

During Thanksgiving hosts are usually busy cooking an extremely large meal, entertaining a large number of people, hosting people in their home, and then going out for Black Friday shopping.

Thanksgiving weekend is a veritable money leak extravaganza. If you are working hard to manage your money, spend time creating a plan that will keep you from going broke Thanksgiving weekend.

Here are six components of Thanksgiving weekend to consider changing to make it more enjoyable for the host and guests:

Transportation

Do you have guests who are coming in from out of town? Do you plan on picking them up or is there an inexpensive transportation option that will get them to you?

Also, once your guests are in town will you drive them around or are they self-sufficient enough to get around on their own? Will they bring a car or need tickets for public transportation?

Thanksgiving food

The food that you will serve is a big consideration. Surprisingly, not everyone serves turkey on Thanksgiving.  There are a ton of regional variations that may serve as an inspiration for your family’s meal that you may not have considered.

Go through your kitchen cabinets to see which meal components you already have on hand so you can avoid purchasing duplicate items. Then, pick up a couple a couple of items early and the fresh items at the beginning of Thanksgiving week.

The average cost of a Thanksgiving meal in 2014 was $49.41 according to Business Insider. Keep that in mind as you plan your festivities.

Food allergies

Ask about legitimate food allergies so that you can prepare dishes for people who deal with food related allergies.

These dishes take some time to plan if they aren’t a part of your normal rotation of meals. Pre-planning this part of your Thanksgiving meal will make things easier for you.

Number of guests

How many people you would like to have over? Will they bring a plus one?

And who is staying over? If people are staying over then you have to factor in breakfast, what should you feed your guests?

Black Friday

Do you participate in the shopping madness after this family holiday? That’s absolutely fine, but are you going in with a plan or do you have a list for your purchases?

Do you having a savings account for your purchases? Or, can you plan another activity that is fun but doesn’t cost money?

If you are in a warm weather state and live near a beach can you go to the beach for the day? Do you live near the mountains and can spend a day in the mountains? Are there free events being held around town? Or, is there a nice park nearby where you can play some corn hole and BBQ? Black Friday doesn’t have to be a day of shopping.

Use apps

Use apps to save money and time. Make sure to redeem what purchases you can using iBotta.  Share your affiliate links for AirBnB and Uber and first time users will be given a small credit toward their AirBnB accommodation or their first Uber ride.

Spend some time creating an action plan for Thanksgiving weekend and work that plan. Thanksgiving doesn’t have to be a budget killer even if you didn’t get a chance to plan until now. 

This post was written by Michelle Jackson, a personal finance and lifestyle blogger sharing her story at The Shop My Closet Project. Her goal is to help people cultivate their best life. When she’s not blogging or podcasting for Girl Gone Frugal you can find her riding her bike, going for coffee, or hiking in the mountains.

6 Ways to Have a Magical Thanksgiving for Less is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

Like any romantic union, your relationship with money probably started out in a passionate state of

euphoria. Maybe you met when you were young, and Money was your childhood friend Allowance. Or maybe you didn’t get together until that summer after high school when you met at your very first job. Every love story is unique, but in every case Money was like a missing piece that made you whole. You should date your money.

This Valentine’s Day when everyone is professing their love for their significant other or proclaiming their happiness in singledom, I encourage you to spend some quality time with your money. Find out where it’s

doing well and where it needs a boost. Talk about your struggles and ask for help. If this is going to be the first time you tell Money about Credit, be gentle. Always make sure your money is getting the love and support it needs to grow. Now might even be the time to make a lifelong promise to your money by putting it in a retirement fund. Just like love, RRSP is a four-letter word! In any case, I wish you and your money a very Happy Valentine’s Day together — may you show your love & affection for one another every day of the year.

Are you going to date your money this year?

This Valentine’s Day, Date Your Money is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

In 2009, my friends & I went  frugal on the gift giving– not necessarily giftless, because it sucked the fun out of what we wanted to do – and gave ourselves a budget of $5 for the supplies we needed. Then we set out & made each other crafts.

Crafting

Crafts are fun and relatively easy. It doesn’t have to end up looking like a preschooler made it.

Crafts could be anything from making & painting your own picture frame, to creating a little scrapbook for the person, to making jewelry, wreaths, throw cushions (if you know how to sew), or soaps and body scrubs.

I made earrings with sterling silver & semi precious stones. I Googled a how-to, went to the nearest beading store, bought the (surprisingly inexpensive) supplies, & set off to work. They looked amazing so I made a pair for my mom & MIL as well.

When crafting something you’ve never done before, I urge you to use Google or Youtube to find out how to do the craft.

The best part about crafting, is that it can be a social thing! My friends & I got together with our supplies and some rum and eggnog, put some Christmas tunes on, and had fun!

You can comment or email me if you need any ideas, but this year I’m getting a ton of ideas from Pinterest (add_vodka, yo!)

Swap

The year before crafting, my friends & I decided to do a swap Christmas party. We all went into our closets, found some things that were nice and in good condition but we just didn’t wear anymore (around 5-10 items, as there were 5 of us), packed them up & brought them to a mutual friends house. We made appies, had some rum and eggnog (reoccurring theme), and spread everything out for people to “shop” from. We then made a game where whoever won – whoever could name 5 Christmas songs first, or whoever knew all the lyrics to one, etc – would get to pick an item first.
This is a great idea only if you have similar sizes as your friends (we all did) and similar tastes.

It was fun because, sometimes, with my group, we’d buy things on sale and never ever wear them, yet our friends could find something that we wouldn’t wear, that they’d wear all the time. This would work well with friends, but not necessarily family.

CDs

I have to accredit this one to my brother. A few years ago when he was broke, he still wanted to get us all gifts. He looked at his Itunes, looked at his friends’ Itunes & CD & DVD collection, & burnt us all CD’s & DVD’s that we didn’t already have.

This was great because a) it’s already been bought, so you’re not doing the artist any disservice and b) it’s free! Plus, its very personal.

This is legal in Canada, though I’m not sure about the States. I know you guys have pretty strict laws on piracy, & I’m not even sure if this counts as piracy, unless you download the stuff.

Photoshop

People love photos of their family and friends. I found this one on the internet, and there are many photoshop tutorials around. I did this for my mom last year.

I went and found a great photo of her dog that she didn’t have already in her house.

I logged onto photoshop – if you don’t have it, download a trial or use your friends – and got to work.

I made it so the dogs red collar stood out on the black & white photo. Her decor colour is red, so it looks fantastic, & it was super easy. Then, I’ll go & send it to Walmart to get printed out for $.20.

I’ll put it in her card so she can put it in her favourite picture frame at home. It was an almost free gift.

Volunteer

For a truly giftless Christmas, I would recommend volunteering at your favorite charity on Christmas day or Christmas eve. I know it is very cliche, and something I am sure everyone has heard before. But it’s a good idea to get your mind off of your giftless Christmas, and you’re really giving a gift to others. Salvation Army is a great cause around Christmas, and I’m sure they could really use the help.

Charities

If the reason you’re doing a giftless Christmas is not because of money – maybe you just want to celebrate in a different way in which consumerism doesn’t dominate, charities are the best.

I’ve wanted to do this for years, where we all donate x amount to each others favorite charities, or, if we don’t know each others favorite charities, charities that we believe the other person may be interested in.

Could you imagine the nice feeling you’d get knowing that your giving your gifts, which you really don’t need, to something bigger than you? To a child in a third world country, or to a women’s shelter?

I’d love for somebody to sponsor a woman in India, Africa, or the Middle East for me in lieu of a gift. I’d love to know that, because I “gave up” something I didn’t really need in the first place, a woman got to go to school, or educate her children, or start a small business, or move her family to a safer area.

Bake-off

When I asked about a giftless Christmas on my blog earlier this month, somebody emailed me about a new family tradition where they did a bake-off.

Their family would get together, & everyone either had to bake or cook something, & they all had fun sharing the food & comparing, etc.

Then everyone got to take home leftovers.

Just Stockings

My family decided, that instead of a 100% giftless Christmas, we’d do just stockings. We’d all get a stocking, & everyone else would put one thing in the stocking. It had to be under $10 (or a couple things for $5, etc). I gave lottery tickets, and assorted things for the rest of the fam. It keeps the cost down, since I have 6 people to buy for, that’s only $60. That, I can do.

What do you do to keep your holiday costs down?

8 Gift and Holiday Ideas to Keep Your Costs Down is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.