How to Cool Your House in Summer

Good morning! As I’m writing this, it’s 9:30 in the morning on a Sunday, and my house is already cooled for the day. I live in the Sacramento are of California, so I enjoy Rome-esque temperatures during the summer. Our dry-hot summers make California perfect for being the agricultural capital of the US: over 75% of crops that feed US families is grown here. We produce tomatoes, avocados, and just 35 minutes south of my house is Lodi. Bring on the wine!

It also means that almost every house built since the ’60s has central air conditioning, and houses built before that are frequently retrofitted with central air and heating units. So, we aren’t really prepared here for when suddenly the AC unit stops working. Two years ago I was pet sitting for two weeks with huskies, and during the first 110 degree heat wave their AC blew. The homeowners were in China, and for the first time in my life I was coordinating overseas to fix an AC unit. I’m glad it happened, because later that summer when the AC stopped working in my house, I knew how to handle it.

Since then, I have managed to figure out some ways to save money during the summer on cooling my house. These things are crucial when you don’t have air conditioning, but they can save the big bucks when you do.

Fans are key

1. Purchase fans. At my small two bedroom duplex we have three big fans, one small fan, and one standing air purifier fan. Amazingly, the air purifier, the small fan, and one of the big fans are all in the bedroom. One big fan is in the living room, and the most powerful fan is in the office. Through the use of these three big fans, we get the air circulating throughout the house. Air naturally flows through the Northern Hemisphere in a clockwise direction. If you get the air in your house also flowing in a clockwise direction when the outside temperature is 10 degrees cooler than inside, you will be able to get your house temp to drop a good three degrees in a half hour. Trying to force the air to go counter clockwise… just doesn’t work (unless you’re in the Southern Hemisphere!)
2. Timing. Open your house and use your fans at night and in the early mornings. The coolest part of the day is usually at about 4 or 5 a.m., and although most of us won’t bother getting up that early to open the house and get the fans going, purchasing window jamb locks or dowels so you can keep your windows locked open overnight and run your fans will ensure that the house is suitably cooled through the night. Then, a little later in the morning when it starts warming up you can shut everything and close the blinds for the day.

   

   This is the cheapest kind of window lock

3. Keep the sun out. Once things start warming up outside – usually at about 8 or 9 a.m. here we hit 70 degrees – it’s time to shut up the house. Close all the doors and windows, close the blinds, drapes, and blackout curtains. The goal is to keep out as much sun as possible, because with the sun comes the heat. By keeping as much heat out for as long as possible you can keep the AC off for as long as possible.
4. Understand peak hours. An additional cost-saving tip is to understand peak hours. No, these are not the best hours to use energy; quite the reverse, actually. These are the times when energy costs are at their peak. Try not to use energy between 2 and 7 p.m. The best times to use energy are between midnight at 5 a.m. Electric companies intentionally raise prices during the times (read as the heat of the day and when they come home from work) when people want to use energy the most. These are the good times to entertain yourself without electronic devices: read a book, cook dinner outside on the grill, and, if it’s cool enough, eat outside, too. By not heating the house or using electronic devices (which also increase the temperature in your house) you can save energy at the time when it costs you the most.
5. Fix up your house. Clearly, this only applies if you own your home and have the disposable income to alter your house. But, double-paned windows keep more heat out while still allowing sunlight in. It isn’t a perfect barrier for heat, but the difference is considerable and slows the temperature rise in your house during the day. Also, a whole house fan is a worthwhile investment. You can lock your windows open at night and run the whole house fan, and it will pull the cool are into your house through the windows, up through the attic, and back out. In effect, it can cool the whole house to the outside temperature in an hour or two, and it take a fraction of the energy of the air conditioning unit. Getting proper insulation in your walls also helps keep heat on the proper side of the walls – outside in summer and inside in winter – and plant trees on the South (in the Northern Hemisphere and North in the Southern Hemisphere) and West sides of the property to provide shade during the hottest part of the afternoon. Not only do these changes save you a ton on your energy bill, they also increase the value of your property if you are trying to sell!
6. In case you don’t have an air conditioner. If your AC goes out, or if you just don’t have one, there are a few things you can do to cool off. First, you can do as my parents did and purchase a portable air conditioning unit. This requires that you have the correct type of window, and can be more costly as the units themselves can be quite expensive and they still use a lot of energy. But, you can also make your own. Get a powerful floor fan, a bucket, some copper tubing, a water pump, some zip ties, and a water pump that will fit the tubing. Bend the copper tubing into a spiral and use the zip ties to attach it to the front of the fan. Leave a length of tubing free on each end because you need both ends to be able to reach into the bucket. Attach the water pump to one end of the tubing and stick it in the bucket; the other end will pour the water back into the bucket. Then, put a big block of ice into the water and fill the bucket with cool tap water. Turn on the pump and the fan, and once you get freezing cold water moving through the copper tubing the fan will blow the cold into the room. You can get the room a couple degrees cooler at least. If you don’t want to do all that, freezing a case of water bottles in your freezer and then sticking them in front of the fan until they defrost works, too, though not quite as well.

   

   This isn’t the exact one my husband made for us, but it’s the image he based ours off of

7. Run your AC at a higher temperature. Where I live in California, we get a total of about two weeks each year of 110+ degree weather and about a month or two of 110+ degree weather. Most public buildings keep the temperature at 70-74 degrees, but the AC kicks on more frequently and for longer periods with a lower temperature. by keeping the internal temperature of your house set higher – at 78 or 80 degrees, for example – you are able to save a good 25% on your energy bill because the AC doesn’t kick on as often or for as long. Besides, you will adjust to the warmer temperatures eventually. If it really bothers you, spend a few hours outside where it’s hot; the warmer inside temperature will feel great when you come back inside!
8. It may be worth it to turn your AC off. Are you at home in the afternoon? Do you have pets? Do you work full time while your kids go to school? If everyone is gone for the same eight hours in the day and there aren’t any pets that need a cooler temperature, then it may be ideal to just turn off the AC until you get home. Think about it: it may cost double to turn on your air conditioning and cool your house, but if no one is home then it may be better to only have to pay for a few hours of cooling versus all day of cooling. However, if someone stays home all day or there are pets, then keeping the thermostat set at the same temperature all day actually saves energy in the long run, especially if you are using fans to cool the house at night.

I hope these tips help you! There’s nothing better than coming into a cool house at the end of a hot day, but that cool house doesn’t have to cost you a fortune.

Stay cool!

The Keys to Inexpensive Shopping

Do you remember being a kid and watching your mom cut out coupons from the weekly circular? I do. Every Wednesday like clockwork we got our weekly ads, and either that afternoon or during my snack later in the week I would be eating and talking with my mom while she flipped through and cut out alllllllll the coupons for things we regularly bought. Then she would take the clipped coupons and dump them in her giant coupon box that she kept in the cupboard next to the taco and stew seasoning packets.

It may amaze you, but I am very bad about cutting coupons. In fact, when I have coupons I frequently leave them at home by mistake or completely forget to use them while I’m in the store. A big part of this is that, unless I have a grocery store membership that gives me coupons for fresh produce, I don’t usually shop items that offer coupons.

But, I don’t spend a particular lot of money every month on shopping for staples. And I realized why I can save so much every month without clipping coupons (though, they do save a lot of money if you purchase those kinds of things).

1. Make a list. I know this is the boringest thing on this list, but it is the thing that will save you the most money. Make your list only of things you need, plus a couple of snack items, and stick to it, and you won’t be spending a fortune on impulse buying
2. Don’t go shopping when hungry. It doesn’t matter if you are going to Target, Kohl’s, or a grocery store; don’t go when you’re hungry. There’s a couple reasons. First, being hungry makes you snippy and it ruins the experience for you and the poor worker you unleashed your hangry temper on. Second, when you’re hungry you are more likely to impulsively purchase food that you weren’t originally planning to buy. The grocery store is obvious, but how many times have you been out clothes shopping with friends, decided you were hungry, and ended up stopping for coffee that you weren’t originally planning on? Going out is several times more expensive than making the same thing at home, so if you want to save money just have a snack first.
3. Choose your store wisely! I choose my store for grocery shopping based on what’s on my list. If I need a lot of fresh produce, I’ll go to Safeway or Raley’s – both higher quality grocery stores that have good fresh produce and meat. If I need a lot of frozen things and some household items and perhaps some pharmacy things, then I may go to Wal-Mart or Target. Just pharmacy things? Then CVS or Rite-Aid, depending on which one I’m closer to. Having fewer stops saves money on gas and ensures that you will forget fewer items on your list.
4. Join the memberships. Many pharmacies and grocery stores have membership cards, and most of them are free. The coupons they give you are usually tailored to items you typically buy. This makes Safeway and Raley’s – both good grocery stores that aren’t quite as expensive as the Nugget Market or Whole Foods – a better deal closer in price to Food Source or Food 4 Less. Assuming you remember to use them (yeah… I can do better on that one…)
5. Buy Fresh. This one applies more to grocery shopping since a pharmacy doesn’t have fresh food usually (though do not buy milk from CVS! I did that twice and it was spoiled both times!) But, the least expensive foods in the grocery store are the fresh items located around the outside edge of the store. By avoiding processed food, you are paying less because you aren’t paying for the processing! In fact, if you are trying to eat healthy, go to the produce section first, then the dairy and meat, then take a quick trip down the baking, frozen vegetable/meat, and the rice and canned beans isles – you don’t want your milk to spoil! Then go straight to the checkout. Everything else would be extra.

So that’s it: my secrets to not spending a lot on food every month. If you manage to only eat out once a week and eat fresh, you should be able to get away with only spending $200-$250 per person every month on food, and an additional $50-$75 per person on toiletries (like toothpaste and paper towels).

What other methods you you employ to save money when shopping???

Less is More: Money-Saving Tips on Beauty and Health

Pretty picture of me in high school

I was washing my hair the other day, and I was thinking about Kelly from Fitness Blender because she washes her hair the same amount that I do. It really heartens me when I go online and see a person I respect does something the same as me, because it’s a sort of proof that I’m doing things right. It got me thinking – because what else are you going to do in a shower besides sing – about all the other things I do that simplify my life that marketers like me usually try to sell a product for. So, here are a few of those things in a handy-dandy list. (BTW, click on links highlighted in blue to see what I’m referencing).

Hair

Me and my hair when a couple friends and I chopped it off to donate. 

As I mentioned before, Kelly (whom I’ve never met, but I think she’s awesome!) has the same hair regime that I do. It is simple and sounds disgusting, but it really does work. We simply don’t wash it very often. You see, what happens when you wash your hair, regardless of how “gentle” your shampoo is, you strip your hair of its natural oils and nutrients and conditioner doesn’t actually return that to your hair. When you regularly strip your hair of its natural health it reacts in one of two ways: it either dries up and frizzes or your scalp starts to over-produce natural oils to compensate, making your hair look like Severus Snape’s. It took a while for my hair to adjust to infrequent washes, but now my scalp is mostly clear of acne, my dandruff is under control, and as long as I don’t sleep in my wet hair, it doesn’t look so flat anymore.

I still was my hair about once ever three or four days, and I do shampoo it twice and condition it once. But, because I am only washing my hair twice a week instead of 4-7 times, I find that I don’t run through my shampoo or conditioner nearly as often. That means that one set lasts twice as long, saving me about $8 whenever I don’t need to buy it.

Further, I’ve found that getting a good haircut saves me a fortune in hair products. Most women don’t realize it, but if you wear your hair up in ponytails or buns all the time, you will actually look good with short hair because short hair frames your face in exactly the same way. Short hair uses far less shampoo, and you don’t need to use any moose or hair ties because a good cut means your hair naturally falls into place easily. Even if you still choose to go longer, taking your hair’s natural waves/curls/lack thereof and your face’s shape into account will mean that your hair becomes much easier to manage while requiring fewer products. And we all know how much fancy hair products can cost us.

Skin

Soft hands!

Much like hair, skin also gets stripped of its natural oils when washed, and lotion rarely puts much back. That’s why I also shower fairly infrequently: whenever I wash my hair. This doesn’t mean that I sit around in my own filth like Pig Pen because I do wash up in the sink more often and reapply deodorant, but you don’t need to use soap every day. In fact, most sweat and grime we pick up on a regular day that doesn’t involve sick people is water soluble and rinses off pretty well.

If you have acne, you actually don’t want to use a lot of harsh chemicals or exfoliates on your skin because that will likely make it worse. Instead, rinse your face with plain water once a day, and at night take off your makeup and wash with a regular cleanser. Most acne cleansers have a specific harsh chemical that over dries your skin (benzo…. something…. I forgot and can’t find the article I read it from in my Facebook feed since I may not have re-posted it). This facial wash doesn’t have the chemical in it, and it is a generally good cleanser. But, the best thing to keep skin healthy and clear is to eat a lot of fresh fruits and veggies and drinking plenty of water, since most of the acne-causing action happens under the skin.

Makeup is another thing that can be saved on. I have a friend who won’t go out without makeup on because she feels she needs to cover up her acne and bad skin. The thing is, by not wearing foundation and only putting on a minimum on makeup (most of us can get away with mascara and lipstick and nothing else) she would probably be able to clear up a lot of the skin problems that make her feel insecure. It’s a horrible cycle – wear makeup, get acne, wear more makeup to cover up acne – and it is completely preventable.

But, the thing you should put on your skin is SPF. According to my friend Carla with BeautiControl, SPF is extremely important in protecting your skin from the damage of UV radiation, both for skin quality and cancerous reasons (we kind of all knew that already). Carla also said that you want to get a good quality sunscreen that absorbs into your skin, because that film that stays on your skin actually gunks up your pores and causes a ton of problems. More importantly, getting more than 30 SPF is redundant because that’s as much as your skin can absorb at a time. So, this is the one where you want to spend a little more now so you can to save yourself some major medical costs in the future. But, you don’t need two products for this: if you already use lotion on your face that has SPF, you don’t need to apply sunscreen on top of it. Don’t buy two products if you don’t have to!

Multi-Use Products

Deoderant: not just the pits!

The biggest way to save money, though, is to just not buy as much stuff. Single-use products like garlic presses, slap-it mincers can easily be replaced by a really good knife, and there’s so much more where that came from.

You can get rid of all your special cleaners and replace them with four simple products: vinegar, ammonia, baking soda, and bleach. Vinegar and baking soda is a volcanic combo that can clean any tub or sink. Baking soda can be sprinkled on carpet and upholstery and then vacuumed up to eliminate pet odors and help get rid of fleas. Windex is basically ammonia mixed with water with blue food coloring added, and using it as your mop water does the same thing to your floors. Bleach soaking in the toilet will sanitize it and, with a quick scrub, gets rid of brown stains. Vinegar cleans coffee pots. If you run out of toothpaste, just mix up a little baking soda with a few drops of water to make a paste and brush with that, and swishing with it after eating acetic foods will protect your tooth enamel from decay. Best yet, each of these products costs less than $5, and you can also cook with two of them!

But, my favorite and most underutilized multi-tool, is deodorant. Not only does it kill bacteria and help prevent perspiration in your armpits, but it does it anywhere you sweat too much including, but not limited to, between fat folds, under breasts, and even the bottoms of your feet! You can also slide on a layer anywhere that you chafe, because chafing happens when skin becomes moist – usually from sweat – it grabs onto things, and when it grabs onto something that is constantly rubbing the other way, such as your other leg, your skin eventually starts to rub itself raw and create micro-tears that are prone to infections like yeast. Deodorant keeps that area dry so none of that happens.

I hope this helped you out. What are some other ways that you manage to save money while doing things that are healthier for you???

Weddings – Important Things to Know to Avoid Going Crazy

So, that magical thing happened to me last weekend: I got married! It was a wonderful day, with a 30 minute blessing ceremony and a party afterwords. It was a magical day, despite the priest having a minor melt down at the rehearsal a few days before because he didn’t like our choice of music and I couldn’t find a connector I had for the sound system to connect to my computer (I found it! But only after Andy’s uncle drove to our house to look through our mess in a mad dash). Of course things went wrong, but they were handled and I didn’t go nuts. Apparently, that’s pretty rare.

So, I do recommend a few things when planning your wedding so that when you’re in that final stretch you don’t feel the need to rip your hair out. Do them in this order:

1. Choose a date that’s far enough away. This is the biggest party you will ever plan, with the most moving parts. You will have up to two venues if you’re having your ceremony in a place that is different from the reception, photography options, cake and food vendors, flowers and other decorations which need to be put up and broken down, dress, hair, makeup, nails, tuxedos, ties and pocket squares, party favors, invitations, a bridal shower and a bachelor/bachelorette party. Make sure you have enough time to shop around and make decisions because I promise you, that 15 months of time I started with didn’t feel like long enough at the end. I recommend at least 8 months, preferably a year.

 

2. Figure out who you want involved in your wedding. How many people do you want in your bridal party, and who exactly do you want standing up there with you? Is your father going to walk you down the isle? Are your parents going to pay for anything, and what are they going to pay for? Do you want a little kid to be responsible for not losing your rings? You can’t choose an appropriately sized venue until you know about how many people you are willing or able to invite. I was lucky that my parents paid for the reception venue and Andy’s parents paid for the church. Then the best man’s mother offered to make me a wedding dress, and ended up altering my mother’s dress for far less than it would have originally cost despite having to re-fit it after I gained some weight. All that financial help allowed us to put our savings to better use elsewhere.

My husband, me, and our entire bridal party.

3. Decide what your deal-breakers are in advance. Must you have real flowers, or will fake suffice? Do you need professional photos, or will disposable cameras distributed to all the tables be more affordable? Must you have your reception at a restaurant that provides food, or do you need to have it catered? Decide what you have to have first, and get an idea of how much it will cost.

Me and my AMAZING photographer, Dee Yates, who was integral in making my reception run smoothly. Could not have done it without her!

I knew that alcohol at my wedding wasn’t necessary, nor were real flowers, and I found it far simpler to have my reception at a restaurant where food would be provided either by buffet or by plate. I had fake flowers, a real-life photographer, and I knew I wanted to make my own dance playlist. Andy really wanted to get married in the Catholic Church. Our budget reflected that, and we got what we wanted. A friend of Andy’s is getting married later this year and is paying $35,000 because she wants to have a bar and gambling in a casino. So, now you know what you want and what you can live without, it is time to…

4. Create your budget. I know it seems counter-intuitive to not create your budget first, but it is super dependent on who is helping to pay for the event and knowing the things that cannot be sacrificed. Both my mom and I wanted our weddings to feel like parties, and that affected what we spent money on. I have a couple of friends who have had back yard weddings on the cheap, but they spent a fortune on fancy invitations and their party favors need to be shipped from Florida. I bought fake flowers at the dollar store, ribbon from Wal-Mart, and honey sticks from Sacramento Beekeeping Supplies to make bouquets, corsages, boutonnieres, and party favors by hand, but I paid $400 for a live group to play at the ceremony. We figured as much as we could into the budget once we had all our volunteers and we knew what we wanted and how much we could afford to spend. The budget just fell into line after that.

The fake flowers that decorated my table at my wedding!

5. Turning the plan into action is the hardest part. So, between deciding on your must-haves and creating your budget, a plan has mostly formed in your mind of what you want for your big day. It won’t be completely solid, but you’ll have a good idea of what you want and need. That is good – you don’t want it to have too many details because getting other people to do what you want at the price you want will be supremely difficult, and you will find yourself at the mercy of others. Some things you will have a firm vision of in your mind, and other things will be more a concept than a picture. For instance, I knew I wanted to get a manicure, but I didn’t have a picture in my mind of exactly what I wanted my fingers to look like. I’m glad I didn’t because I ended up with the perfect nails.

Diana Nails ladies do amazing things to fingers and toes!

My cakes were beautiful, my dress fit me perfectly, and my music was lovely. By not having a solid vision, I could direct things into the direction I wanted them to go instead of forcing them into my teeny-tiny little picture, and my vendors all appreciated me more because of it. In essence, I didn’t create an impossible standard for others to try and make, and when things turned out beautiful organically, I could be happy about it.

6. Sacrifice hurts, but it isn’t anybody’s fault when it happens. I’m not going to say that I wasn’t disappointed when our Priest started freaking out when he found out that I had chosen secular music for our religious ceremony. I hadn’t chosen anything inappropriate – no swear words or foul subject matters – and in fact had chosen some oldies that Peter, Paul, & Mary and Bette Middler had sung, which are often played at Catholic ceremonies. It was just that, two days before my wedding, my Priest found out and couldn’t get his head around it. It was too late for our musicians, the Issac Howl, to learn new music, so we decided to compromise by not having them sing. It bothered me, but there wasn’t another option. I was fine with it. I had to be. Throwing a fit wouldn’t have made it better, and it wouldn’t have reflected well upon me. And it was still lovely!

7. Remember, there is an after-the-wedding time, which will last the rest of your life. After the wedding we had an after-party, then our honeymoon. This week we paid off everybody who did something for our wedding, and next week we both start back at work. After that we will have to pay off our bills and credit cards where we accrued costs during our honeymoon and during the course of our existence. Life will go one, and one day, no matter how amazing, does not make or break how the rest of our time on this Earth. I want to thank all the people who helped me make my wedding day so wonderful, and I wish you, future brides and grooms, a truly enjoyable day to share with your loved-ones. Congratulations!

Staying Hot… Wait, no, Staying Cool!

It’s finally happened: California jumped into summer. Up until about last week we were enjoying distinctly spring-like weather (for us) of temperatures that stayed at or below the 80s, chances of rain, and days upon days of not turning on the AC. Well, we’ve been in the upper 90s for days now, and today we’re all set to reach 100 degrees. Its time to turn on all our air conditioners and fans, and hope that SMUD doesn’t gouge us for it!

Or wait… It doesn’t have to be that bad. There are always things you can do to save without having to melt your way through summer!

First, purchase some fans and some window and door stoppers. Get a bunch of them – about 4 big fans, 2 small fans, and one stopper for every door and window in your home. Once the temperature drops below the level of your air conditioning in the evening, open all your windows wide and put the fans in front of them, directing the air to move through your house in a circle. This will 1) bring in air from the outside as it cools and 2) move that air throughout your house so the temperature inside drops about as fast as the temperature outside. When you go to bed, just lock everything that slides open with one of your door or window stoppers. Lock it so that its open about 4 or 5 inches, and make sure that there’s a screen there to protect you from bugs. You’re golden!

The thing is, you will need to get up rather early to close up the house before it starts to warm up outside. Around here that means getting up around 7am. If you trap the cold in and close the shades/blinds on your windows, you won’t feel the need to turn on your AC until after noon! After all, fans cost a lot less to run than central air.

Secondly, make your microwave your new best friend. It cooks heatlessly, and in only a few minutes. Canned soup with sandwiches is your new favorite meal because it doesn’t have to be warmed.If you do need something cooked, the toaster oven heats up the house far less than the stove or full-sized oven. I love making salads with leftover meat – they’re cold and the seasoned meat adds something nice to a boring salad.

Third, you may want to keep away from the booze. It warms you up, causing you to want to turn on fans. Not worth it.

And lastly, and as more of a preventative measure if you can afford it and own your own house, make modifications to your house so that it uses less energy and keeps the weather out. Having windows that close tightly, are double-paned, and are made of materials that don’t transfer heat, you keep a lot of the heat from getting into your house. Whole house fans keep air moving and help air things out quickly when it cools off. Also, because so much power is drained (especially in the afternoons) because people are turning on their air conditioners full blast, having appliances that save money not only helps you save money over the long haul, it can also help prevent rolling blackouts.

Now… your car. Keeping it cool can help you save on gas and repair. Keep it in a garage if you can, or under shade if you can’t. Crack your windows open so that heat isn’t trapped inside. Also, keep a small spray bottle of water in your glove compartment so that you can spray your seat belt buckle and the steering wheel – the evaporating water will cool them instantly.

But ultimately, the trick to staying cool is never letting it get too hot. What are some tricks you’ve discovered for keeping cool in the heat?

How to Buy for the Woman Who Can Get Herself Anything

The same thing happens to me every year:

I ask my mom what she wants for Mother’s day, and she tells me, “I don’t want anything.” So, I get her a nice card. Then, about a day or two before Mother’s day, I get a call from my dad.

“Theresa, what did you get you’re mom for Mother’s day?”

“Um… I got her a card.”

“Just a card?”

“…Yeah, Dad. Just a…”

There isn’t a physical explosion, but my Dad doesn’t hesitate to show his disapproval at my lack of gift.

The sad thing is, the whole thing reverses on Father’s day. A few years ago, I told my parents that will be getting them gifts on Mother’s and Father’s days whether they want anything or not. The thing is, I am poor and cannot always afford a good gift, so the guilt trip continues and now includes birthdays and Christmas.

But, this past Christmas I figured out how to get away with a small budget and big expectations.

First, I don’t buy presents anymore – I’m too poor for that most of the time. However, I can make things for her. And no, she doesn’t need another scarf, but one year I made her some potholders for the kitchen table. I also beaded the word MOM onto a magnet. She still has both gifts.

But, that store of gift-giving ran out of appeal, too. Now I’m giving my mom experiences. One time we went to one of those pottery-painting places (which didn’t pan out) and sometimes I take her out to lunch or make her breakfast. Since I’m almost thirty, me making her breakfast isn’t the horror story it was when I was little.

But, when I’m in a bind, I go to a dollar store. When I was in high school the band did a Secret Santa exchange, and I drew the name of the girl who sat next to me. She liked Nascar and a specific racer, but I figured she probably already had all the paraphernalia for those that she could want. So, I went to the dollar store for ideas (and because we had a maximum $10 limit). I knew from her little idea card that she liked red, so I got her a little red stocking and stuffed it with a little red Hot Wheels, a red candy bar, and a couple other red knicknacks. All in all, not a bad gift.

Lottery scratchers are also a good gift. You can get ten of them for $10, and they can keep buying more from their winnings until they run out of money (as my parents do) or they can play and spend their winnings. As long as nobody belongs in a Gambler’s Anonymous meeting, everything should be fine.

So, what did I get my mom for Mother’s day this year? Can’t tell you, since she’s likely to read this before she gets her gift. But what are some of your ideas for affordable gift-giving?