day 175: christmas stockings and no spend november update :)

the completed stockings, ready for embellishing :)

day 175 and i don't know what happens in your house, but christmas stockings are BIG in mine ... i have only had three stockings for my entire life to date.  their was my first stocking that was actually a band sock of dad's mum turned REALLY pinky red in the wash by accident.  that sock lasted about 8 years before my nana made all the grandchildren one :)  this one lasted until i was about 20 and then steve (my sweet) and i purchased matching ones i embellished and that is the one i still use each year.

as for the kids they all had the "my first christmas" stocking their first christmas and then we purchased my mum and ben matching ones for ben's second christmas.  my UN-CRAFTY sister and mum sewed stockings for pollyanna and sam (my nephew) the year they both celebrated their second christmas as we couldn't find any nice ones in the shops.  last year i wanted to make my mum and ben home-made ones, which i did but they were TERRIBLE :( we used them but santa found them horrendous to fill.  so today's pinterest creation is to fix this problem with mum and ben's and make them new ones so we can get back on santa's good side ;)

on pinterest i found some wonderful tutorials for making your own christmas stockings.  the one i am using today is from fabricworm.  i am using the tutorial as is except for adding the batting.  ben's i am making out of two of steve's business shirts he no longer wears, i figured this would be an exceptional recycle idea ... teehee!  for my mums i am using some fabric i had at home so i didn't need to buy anything for today's stocking creations ... bonus.  and in the interest of fairness, i used a tracing of polly's stocking as my pattern ;)

i used one of steve's old business shirts for the outside and
 the other one was the lining of ben's stocking :)

the stocking base ...

then cut out your tops :)

sew the top on and turn out ...

a completed stocking ready to personalise!

outcome:  the tutorial was so easy to follow and if you don't have a stocking pattern they have one to print off and stick together ... very handy!  thankfully these stockings will impress santa as they are lined, the lining is sewn into the outer fabric and they will not hold him up unduly trying to fill these babies :)  what do they say ... i got your back santa (or something like that :])  and tomorrow after my first trip to the craft store in over a month, i will embellish them both to give them a personal touch!


many thanks to fabricworm for the wonderful, easy to follow tutorial, if you need stockings in your house and can't find anything to suit at your local shops, give this a go.

update: no spend november
we did super well until 5 days ago when i purchased ben's birthday present (it was on sale so i couldn't leave it there) and then the black toner in the printer ran out so i also purchased that and the magenta i need from weeks ago because i can't live without my printer on a daily basis for schooling or crafts!  my adorable mum was hopeless at not spending, but at least she gave it a go.  for steve and i we really saw the benefits and while we didn't quite make it to the end of november, we will definitely do it again, hopefully twice yearly.  we managed to save ~$2000 ... yay us :)

day 145: no spend november

downloadable cash envelopes from today's nest :)

day 145 and the family and i are embarking on no spend november so we can all spend in december :)  i absolutely love and adore and treasure and embrace christmas ... it truly is my favourite time of the year.  that means i also spend a lot of money on christmas, lucky for me my husband never complains but it does put a strain on our budget big time :(

inspired by all the wonderful budgeting advice on pinterest, i came up with the no spend november motto for our family. literally this means we have decided to give ourselves a weekly allowance for petrol, milk, fruit, vegies, rhooibos, and the emergency items required for the survival kit over the next month.  the remaining money will go to paying off debt and saving for christmas.  more scarily this also means for the next month my pinterest creations will all have to be from stuff we have at home ...eeek!

that said, i am really looking forward to this as we have a ton of food in the freezers and pantry that would otherwise go off because i fail to use it because it's so easy to pop to the grocery store and buy everything for dinner rather than scouring the cupboards and freezers! i hope at the end of november mother hubbards cupboards will be bare and clean of chaos, clutter, and unloved foods.

to help with this task i am going to use the cash envelopes from today's nest that you can print out and make up with a register of money outgoings on the front and a handy pocket on the back for receipts. theses envelopes i found on pinterest and pinned them to my ideas for organisation board. each fortnight during november i will fill these up with my allotted money for each thing and that will be it until the following fortnight.  i am also freezing my credit card and eftpos card so i am not tempted (think of the movie confessions of a shopaholic!)

outcome: SO VERY VERY PENDING, but please wish us the best :)

my thanks to the pinners of pinterest for all the wonderful ideas for making life more frugal but still fun.  it has totally inspired me to curb the spending of this family and get the budgeting of my family sorted.  granted, no spend november is rather extreme but so is doing 365 days of pinterest creations and i am almost halfway through my year!  my thanks also to today's nest for the freely printable envelopes which will no doubt come in very handy for dispersing the fortnightly money so petrol money doesn't get chewed up by the fruit expenditure!