Being Generous While Staying Frugal

Kim and I had a conversation this past weekend.  She accused me of being generous even though I see myself as frugal and sometimes downright cheap.
Well, I do love to give gifts but I don't do "over the top" gifting.  I am frugal in that realm as in most other aspects of my life.

So when Kim and her Sissie surprised me for my 60th Birthday in January by coming here I knew I had to send them each a box of goodies when their Birthday rolled around at the end of March.  It wouldn't be as thrilling as a surprise visit but I thought I could brighten their birthdays a bit.

So I set about compiling them each a box of goodies tailored to each of their personalities while keeping an eye on the money because, well, that's how I roll.........

Since I knew I had to mail these goodies I took that cost into consideration.  Mailing stuff has gotten quite expensive if you haven't mailed anything in awhile!  My go-to box is the Priority Regional Rate A Box--you can cram quite a bit into it but the most I've had to pay to mail one of these is approx. $14(and that is clear across to the West Coast).  Regional Rate boxes may save you money if you ship Priority Mail a lot, so check them out.

First Sissie's box...........

I included a few personal grooming/toiletries in her box.....toothpaste, a nice shampoo and Neutrogena facial soap.  These things came from my Rite-Aid stash so nothing OOP.
Then two cat themed items-a tote/grocery bag and a birthday card. 
I picked up a grocery bag for each of them at JoAnn's in February as I had a coupon so they cost me less.
Sissie's bag says, "One Cat Short of Crazy". hehehe  The birthday card was also cat themed and from Dollar Tree.
The strawberry Lindt Truffles came from Rite-Aid so free.
Sissie is a coffee drinker(big time)so I pulled this nice Pfaltzgraff mug out of my stash for her......

I had gotten this mug plus another one I have since gifted to my eldest son(which is beer related)at Macy's during their Christmas sales 2 years ago.  After my $10 off any thing in the store Coupon both mugs cost me something like $1(mostly sales tax).  It was just waiting for the right person to give it to and Sissie became my victim du jour.  8-)

I also enclosed a pair of socks I found online that were perfect for Sissie!
The bottom of one sock says.......
"If You Can Read This"
and the other.....
"Bring Me A Glass of Wine"
lolz
These were the priciest item I sent but well, she is worth it....

Onward to Kim's Box..........

She's got the bigger sweet tooth of the two so she got a bag of Strawberry Lindt Truffles(that were free after sale/Q)but in addition, I put a small heart-shaped box of Russell Stover chocolates in(bought at 75% off after Valentine's Day).
Her bag from JoAnn's had a sewing theme.

Sew perfect for her.....lolz

Kim's toiletries were 2 boxes of root touch-up hair color(gotten free after sales/Bonus Cash/Qs at Rite-Aid)and a blush/shader palette(also free from Rite-Aid).  This one is a Cover Girl variety so she could try a different brand than I gave her before.
She showed the card I sent on her blog already so you know it's appropriately snarky. Her card came from Dollar Tree as well.
The snarky note cards were found at Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!)in early March.
I also enclosed a bag of Nestle's baking chocolate(75% off at Ollie's in February)since she is always destroying her kitchen by baking.  ;-)

The best thing is I put a loose penny in Kim's box(see it in the photo above?).  Well I don't think she noticed/found it since she hasn't said anything about it yet.  I thought that would be the first thing she'd mention when we talked on the phone......she found a penny!! lolz

Altogether I spent under $34 OOP on theses birthday boxes.
And the shipping was over 50% of that cost!

My only regret is that I couldn't mail these boxes to show up the day before their birthday and I had to give them each a heads up that they were coming so it wasn't a surprise.
But I did write on the envelope of each card that they were NOT to open anything until their actual birthday, under penalty of death!  One of them needed threatening......can you guess who??  *snort*


So call me cheap if you want for spending so little and then blogging about it.
Not everyone "gets" being frugal.

I just wouldn't be "Sluggy" if I didn't stick to a budget(or at least try to). ;-)



Sluggy

Even Though You Are Frugal, You Can Still Be Nice

One of the gals I am friendly with up at my local Rite-Aid store is expecting a baby.
She is due in the next couple of weeks actually.
This is her first baby and she is super excited. 8-)

She is a sweet person, so I really wanted to do something nice for her.
Even though I am not what you'd call one of her friends in her personal life, I wanted to give her something for the new baby.  But I wanted to be frugal about it, because, well......that's what I am, frugal!lol    I went about getting a gift together without spending money.  It took planning and time to pull off.  But I had time on my side, since I've known about her impending bundle since about March.

So as soon as I found out that she had a bun in the oven, I set about entering Giveaways online for baby items.  There are always tons of giveaways out there for all kinds of baby stuff on the internet.  You name it, you can find someone giving it away in order to promote a company and/or a blog.

I know she is like me, in that she doesn't believe in having a lot of "stuff".  She's not into newfangled products that aren't "needs"......she doesn't have the room in their tiny apartment for all kinds of gadgets and doo-dads that aren't necessities for raising a baby.  She is also very big on being "natural", using natural products.

So I entered giveaways for baby stuff that was useful.
And I scored some 7th Generation diapers for free and a hardcover copy of The Lorax by Dr. Seuss back in March.  Even if she does cloth diapering, she will have occasions where disposables will be needed.

And 2 weeks ago, I bought a bunch of Johnson's Baby body wash and lotion from their "Naturals" line in a couple of my Rite-Aid trips.  These products didn't hardly cost me anything.
Combined it all made for a nice little gift for her new baby.

Now I didn't have a baby themed gift bag to put it all into but I did have a Summer themed bag(watermelons!.....so appropriate when you look like you are about to give birth to a watermelon!lol).   The bag was done in soft blue and rose colors.  There was a gift tag on the bag so no baby greeting card was needed either.

This baby gift cost me only cents on my gift card and I used something I had already.  Can't get much more frugal than that! ;-)

And the mom-to-be loved it.  She didn't expect this and she was thrilled to get it....especially the book since she said it is her favorite Dr. Seuss book and she told her hubby she wanted to get the baby a copy of it when she got older.
And she loved the irony that I got all the Johnson's baby stuff from where she works.....she may have checked me out on one of those trips too.lol

And it warmed my heart to make her happy.
And I got to be a nice person but still maintain my miserly frugal ways.

But if anyone ever says I'm a nice person, don't you believe them..... ;-)

Sluggy