When it Needs to be a Simple Christmas – You Have No Time

by kathilipp | Dec 11, 2013 | Home | 8 comments

When It Needs to be a Simple Christmas – When You Have No Time

There could be a million reasons you are time crunched this Christmas – family obligation, a huge project at work, etc. One of the things I would ask you to consider – do you feel a time crunch every Christmas? If so, I would strongly recommend that you not only make some accommodations this year, but really take a hard look at your own expectations for the holiday season.

Fellow author Jill Davis, was forced to look at every area of her holiday celebration after her life took a decidedly different direction:

“When I got divorced 8 years ago and had to make huge changes in life with my four children, I asked them what was most important to them. We chose two traditions – the advent calendar and sugar cookies, plus their favorite gifts of pajamas and a book on Christmas eve. Since then each year I make the same offer, so far it remains the same traditions. So much easier than all the shopping, baking, cleaning, decorating I used to do. Instead of having a beautifully decorated home, fabulous things to eat and lots of Christmas presents and a frantic mom, they now have an easy going, low key, lightly decorated Christmas with a very present mom. Life is better. Christmas is easier. We are all happier.”

Sometimes we are so afraid of making changes because we’re sure that everyone is going to be so disappointed by what we’re not doing. The reality probably is that we’re doing a lot of things that are only important to us, and possibly only for tradition’s sake.

I did an advent calendar every year. It was big and cute and had 24 pockets at the bottom, each holding a wrapped ornament for my kids to take turns placing on the big felt tree.

One year I brought it out, hung it up, and announced to my 11year old, Justen, that it was his turn to unwrap the advent surprise. His response? “Is there money in there?” Um, no… “OK, then just let Kimmy do it.” I was crushed.

Truth was – Justen didn’t care about the advent calendar, and after a couple of years, neither did Kimberly. Yes, we still celebrated advent, at church. But they were past the age of wanting to unwrap knickknacks every morning for a month.

I wrapped up the advent tree and put it away, a little sad, but also realizing that it still had a future: seven years later my brother had a daughter, Elsa, who now does the advent tree, and someday Elsa will outgrow it, probably about the time that my kids will start having kids and the tradition can continue.

Here is what I’ve learned about Time and Christmas:

1. You need to ask your family what is important. Immediately stop doing anything that your family doesn’t find important to their own holiday celebration.
2. 2.       You are the one putting the most pressure on you.
3. 3.       Everyone gets a pass. Give the rest of the people in your life a pass as well. Have the conversation. I told my extended family that we were happy to host this year, but I would be buying the entire meal. My mom wasn’t in a position to host this year, but was happy to shop and cook for us at my house. Everyone is contributing, but no one is being stretched.
4. The phrase, “It just won’t be Christmas without…” must be banned from your vocabulary. The only thing you need to celebrate Christmas is a relationship with your savior. Not trying to get all Pharisee-ish up in here, but we must remember the rest is the fudge on the ice cream that is our true reason for celebrating. Don’t make yourself crazy with ideas like “It just won’t be Christmas if I don’t put all the ornaments on the tree.” Or “It just won’t be Christmas if we don’t see the Nutcracker this year.” Yes – it will still be Christmas – it will just be a Christmas where you aren’t stretching yourself too thin.
5. Changing traditions gives you freedom. So you only put up a tree with lights, no ornaments (like we are doing this year.) Think how much fun it’s going to be to see those ornaments next year! Tradition can be a merciless slave driver.

What are your time tips for when you just don’t have time at Christmas – how do you still make it the kind of holiday you want to celebrate?

When it Needs to be a Simple Christmas

by kathilipp | Dec 9, 2013 | Home | 9 comments

When it Needs to be a Simple Christmas

This year we are doing “Simple Christmas” not because we want to create some more space in our lives, or we are intentionally making room to give more to the needy. This year it’s out of total necessity.

As most of you know, two weeks ago I had surgery, but it turns out it was a double-whammy: both a gastric sleeve (elective) and a hiatal hernia (not so elective). We knew the sleeve surgery was a big deal, but it turns out that what we thought was a simple procedure for the hernia, turned out to be just as big of a deal as the sleeve.

And then one week after my surgery, Roger went to the same surgeon and found out that he needed a hernia surgery. This being his third surgery this year with this doctor, if he had it done before the end of the year, we would have almost no out of pocket costs. (Yes, it’s just like buy three yogurts and get the forth one free.)

Since Roger’s surgery would be completely covered by insurance, and it comes just two days before he has a mandatory shutdown at work, we would have been crazy not to do it.

But there is a lot of crazy in the decision to go ahead as well:

• I’m just coming off surgery, and will probably just be fully recovered as Roger goes in for surgery.
• I have a book due in January and another one due in March and planned on using that time to write while my healthy husband handled life for us.
• It’s Christmastime.

I’m sure you’ve had a year just like this. OK, maybe not four surgeries in twelve months, but some other circumstance that has forced you into not just wanting to simplify Christmas, but needing to do it as well.

The need to simplify usually comes from the lack of one of these three areas in your or your family’s life:

• Time – There is a huge time crunch in your life. It could be from a work situation, or something going on in your family, but there aren’t enough hours on the clock to complete the Christmas miracle you normally plan each year.
• Energy – You’ve been sick, or you’re caring for someone who is. Or maybe there are external pressures (like a job change, a move,) or a recent tragedy that has left you drained. Whatever the situation is, you know that the wisest thing to do this year is pull back.
• Money – Job loss, job cut backs, increased expenses, or a firm resolve to not go into debt. There are a thousand reasons why you won’t be spending the same as you have in year’s past.

So I want to spend this week talking about how you do Christmas when it needs to be a simple one. Each day we will discuss one of those areas listed above: Time, Energy, Money.

And if you have any wisdom about how to scale back, please leave it in the comments below. Painful choices you’ve made in the past may give someone else the freedom they need to make hard choices for their family.

What Do You Want to Get Done Before Christmas?

by kathilipp | Oct 24, 2013 | Home | 8 comments

What Do You Want to Get Done Before Christmas?

I am a list maker. I love a good list.

As I’m sitting here making lists of things I want to get accomplished before the end of the year, one think looms heavy in my sight: Christmas.

Don’t get me wrong- I LOVE Christmas. LOVE it.

But most of the Christmas prep does fall to me. And some years, it’s downright overwhelming. Because not only are there things I want to prepare for the holiday, but I also want to get some major stuff done around the house like:

Clean out the garage.

Sort through my kitchen cabinets.

Swap out summer clothes for winter clothes (in CA, you never do this until November 1st.)

Etc.

So I would love to hear from you: What is it you want to get done in the next two months? Because wouldn’t it be great if we could all get it accomplished together, cheering each other on, swapping ideas and tips, strategies and solutions?

Share it all in the comments, and we’ll tackle a project a week. It could be as big as cleaning out a room, or as small as washing the pillows in your house.

Share it in the comments, and let’s come up with a master plan to get organized, and make Christmas  manageable!

Better Than Starbucks Day 1 Don’t Go Broke on the Beans

by kathilipp | Sep 22, 2013 | Home | 17 comments

Better Than Starbucks- Don’t Go Broke on the Beans

Today is the first day in our five part series on saving money by making great coffee at home. People have a hard time believing me, but it’s true – I like the coffee I make at home just as much as I love my Grande nonfat misto which I consider the best kept secret at Starbucks. So when I’m out with friends, or traveling, I happily order my favorite drink, but you can tell how much I’ve cut down my Starbucks runs because the barista recently came up to the window and said, “Kathi! I thought I recognized the hum of the motor on your car! We’ve missed you!” Now that’s frightening.

All week we will talk about not just saving money, but making the at-home coffee experience the best it can be so Starbucks can stay a treat – and not have to be a necessity.

Saving Money on the Beans

• Check the Sale Rack Recently, I’ve seen my favorite brands of coffee on sale in the back of our supermarket (you know, that weird looking shelf that has the unsold Easter candy and matzo on it.) Just this week they had my favorite blend of Starbucks Decaf (Blonde) on the shelf for 50% off. So that $8.99 bag is marked down to $4.49, plus I get a free tall drip coffee at any Starbucks by turning in the bag. (A tall drip is $1.85 which is a drink I would normally order there while driving or traveling, bringing the price of my beans down to $2.64. Huzzah!!!) I bough six bags- which should supply my decaffeinated needs for several months.
• Keep Your Ear to the Ground (or the Web) Subscribe to money saving sites like Money Saving Mom to find out about all the coffee deals going on out there. Crystal has a network of women who are out looking for deals for you, so you won’t miss valuable coupons like this one for $2 off 2 bags of Starbucks beans If I’d seen that coupon before buying my decaf beans, that would have lowered my price to $1.64 a bag.
• Stretch those Beans Once you’ve made your first pot of coffee, don’t throw away your coffee and filter. Just add about 50% more ground coffee the next day and I bet you won’t even taste the difference. (And once you’ve stretched it to two days, go ahead and add those grounds to your outdoor plants as a natural fertilizer.)
• Use Expired Beans No one has ever died from using expired beans, and unless your one of those people who is so picky about your coffee you travel with your own coffee pot, you probably won’t be able to tell the difference. The decaf coffee I bought has three months until the “Sell Date”. Don’t believe them. My daughter’s boyfriend worked at Starbucks and saved up about a dozen of the bags that employees get once a week for free (plus a mug and other fun goodies) and gave it all to me for Christmas. Because I had just laid in a supply of beans, I had more coffee than a girl could handle. (Hard to believe, but true.) I lived off that coffee for over a year and never detected a drop in the quality of the beans.
• Use Beans You Don’t Like Remember that bag of beans you bought at Costco of French Roast that were SOOO cheap and what a genius you felt like for saving money, but then you got them home and realized they were WAY too strong? Oh, just me then? Anywho… I took those beans, ground up some, and mixed them with a light roasted coffee that I bought that normally would be too weak – turns out the custom blend was perfect.
• Choose a Finer Grind The finer you grind, the less coffee you can use to get the same results. Experiment with grinding to a powdery consistency and see if you can use less beans.
• Make Your Coffee Last It’s tempting when your coffee has grown cold to just want to make a new pot. Instead, make your coffee last as long as possible by using insulated containers to keep it totally drinkable.
• A Desk Drink Warmer
• Contigo Mug
• Insulated Coffee Pot

Yes- true coffee coinsurers will balk at some of these suggestion, but I figure if you’re going to drink coffee every day of your life, it’s worth testing out what is important to you when it comes to coffee. Don’t blindly follow what your coffee snob friend says, experiment, and figure out what works for you.

And the best way to save money on beans? Win them! Tell me your favorite way to stretch your coffee budget by midnight Friday, September 27th, 2013 and I’ll send one person (picked randomly) a bag of my favorite Starbucks coffee. Only true coffee lovers need apply.