A Proper Thank You for my Love Bomb!

How Does a 'Love Bomb' Work?

Stéfan / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

I am still trying to work out how the love bomb works - I understand the concept and love that I was the recipient of one, but am stuck for what happens next. I feel a bit like the picture shown here - Indiana Jones and an avalanche of presents.

What's the protocol?

How does one respond?

Indeed, how does one thank people properly when contact details are so scant? If anyone can clear up this little problem for me, I would be very grateful. Perhaps you could all send me your addresses via the contact page on this blog and allow me to send each of you a frugal, micro McGonk. Yes, that's a good idea... please will the following people send me their return addresses so Clan McGonk can begin infiltrating many more frugal homes! :)

Edited in at lunchtine:

Look what the postman just brought into Thrift Cottage! An awesome collection of wools, the likes of which I have never seen before, from an anonymous frugaler. Wow! Can you tell this knitting game is new to me? Last time I knitted (prior to the wrist warmers) was when I was pregnant; the result of that period of my life is my 25-year-old daughter who now has two daughters of her own!

Ooh, what fun I am going to have with all these fabulous yarns! I can't even think about where to begin...

My sincerest gratitude goes out to all of you and I hope there is some small way in which I can show my appreciation.

I'd also like to include this:

It's a photo of a few of the little McGonks I have been making from all the lovely Secret Santa and love bomb bits and pieces I've received. (The speckly fabric is from the offcut I bought via eBid.), It's the start of my frugal micro-business project, all helped along by some wonderful, kind-hearted frugal bloggers.

The grey McGonk at the front is one I made last night. This is being donated to the local children's storyteller and will, hopefully, help introduce the pre-school children who attend her story-telling sessions in the library to the joys of frugaling and recycling during her 'Frugal February'. :)

Froogs, I have been tracking your Secret Santa parcel and it seems to be doing some amount of travelling between depots, I really hope it reaches you soon. Current update states it's at depot (it doesn't say which one) and arrived there at 3am this morning. Maybe that means it has gone out for delivery today or has even reached you by now, after leaving here on Friday. Fingers crossed!

Frugaldom.

The Secret Santa Competition

SECRET SANTA COMPETITION

How can I possibly NOT write about #MSMSecretSanta challenge? I mean, Frugaldom is taking part in the challenge! It has been so difficult trying not to talk, post or blog about anything that could possibly give away any of the secrets!

So here goes with the first of a couple of posts for today, as this is the day I finally get to put my Secret Santa gift together to send it out to my allocated 'partner' in all of this, Frugal Queen in Cornwall.

I guess the first thing you have to think about when exchanging gifts with a stranger is, let's try to get to know a bit about the other person. So, I went back to the start of her frugal journey to get up to speed on the Cornish frugal situation and then tried to put myself into that self-same situation, wondering what I would really like from a Secret Santa. £25 is a fairly hefty budget in any frugaler's eyes, so this was going to be like a major gift of indulgence and luxury.

There are so many things one could do with £25. For a start, it's more than my entire weekly grocery budget, so careful planning had to go into even the minutest detail. There couldn't be waste. Posting the gift means packaging it and sending it off by courier. Mine hasn't been collected from here yet, but Frugal Queen's has already arrived - and I love it! Thank you! It really ws like Christmas here yesterday! (Can't say what it is until next week.)

[At this point I should explain that we live in a fairly rural location, I have no car and the nearest post office is a 7 mile round trip on foot. There is no pavement or footpath once you get to the main 'A' road, and it's bitterly cold & slippery. Walking to the post office with the secret santa gift isn't an option, so mine is being couriered. It also means we are at the mercy of the van drivers, if they have sufficient time to reach us before evening then they will, but it may end up being Monday collection for Tuesday delivery. We can't really get guaranteed overnight delivery here.]

Back to the present (another pun)!
Packaging - minimal waste, so it's recycled in a very frugal way. Having been fortunate enough to have already received my parcel from Cornwall, I am doing a cheeky return, popping my gift to 'Froogs' in the packaging that arrived here, from there. The actual gift itself is inside the posh, reuseable chocolate box that I requesitioned, complete with these beautiful ribbons! (Sacrilege to even consider binning such a box!) I think we're allowed to show the parcels, just not divulge what's inside!

"But what's in the parcel?"

Well, we actually called a meeting about this in Frugaldom, because where I live isn't exactly known for its abundance of shops. We have two small grocery stores and a post office down in the village; that is it, as far as general shopping goes! (NOte to readers, I like it this way as the less I spend, the more I can afford.)

Frugaldom isn't on a bus route, so jumping on a bus and travelling the 20 miles or so into Stranraer or Newton Stewart, our nearest shopping towns, isn't a quick option, either. For starters, it's a mile walk to the main road to flag down the bus - hoping that it sees you and stops.

But we frugaling types from small communities do have a feather in our caps when it comes to gift buying and shopping locally... We have craft fayres and exhibitions, plus an abundance of very talented people!

So, my frugal gift from southwest Scotland to southwest England is not only a Secret Santa gift that I think Frugal Queen will absolutely adore, it is also what I consider to be a true represetation of the spirit of Galloway, and Scotland on the whole. (Minus the whisky made by our local distillery at Bladnoch, sorry.) The gift represents friendship and wanting to share the best of what we have to offer. This is a very user-friendly, non-alcoholic (sorry, again), luxury gift that will last all year round. It will be absolutely unique, in that it's not something you can buy in any mainstream store, and it will be absolutely frugal, in that there should be no waste - even the packaging is reuseable.

We all like to be able to keep warm through winter and cool through summer. When they talk about '50 Shades of Grey', I see life as fairly black and white, just like right and wrong, rich and poor or, even, trial and error. We all like to feel good about something and indulge ourselves now and again with a little luxury, we need a bit of fun in life to keep us smiling and, I guess most importantly, we need to be able to appreciate what we see, even if we sometimes forget to look for the littler things. As one frugal blogging lady (you know who you are) once said,

 

"Every time I look out of this window and see the trees, the park and the houses on the hillside, I spend just a moment being very grateful for what I have."

To 'Froogs',

I hope I have managed to find something to make you feel good and that you'll love your Secret Santa parcel as much as I loved putting it all together. Many thanks for being such a great partnering blogger in all of this and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas early, when this parcel arrives on your doorstep.

Best wishes from the other 'Froogs'

And finally, many thanks to moneysupermarket.com for putting this fabulous challenge together and inviting me to become a part of it.

Frugaldom
www.frugaldom.com

Frugal Fun with Crafting and Fast Food!

WHERE IS ALL THE TIME GOING?

 

garlandcannon (on hiatus) / Foter / CC BY

It's been a crazy month so far and we've only got to the 4th. I'm going round in so many circles that I'm getting dizzy from chasing my own tail - or tale, as the case may be. In fact, you could say that 'The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get!"

What with the car catastrophe, the launch of the Frugaleur Challenge, the arrival of a new month and the Moneyspermarket.com Secret Santa competition, the days are just flying past, like a rollercoaster ride that won't stop until 2013 arrives. Even at that, it's youngest member of the extended Frugaldom family's second birthday on Hogmanay (31st of December), so the celebrations will easily take us clear into the new year.

Festive shopping is always a bit different for frugal ruralites like us. For starters, we have no shops nearby, so it's always wise to plan ahead. This year, my plans have gone askew, as we now have no car to take us into town. It's very much a case of even more creative thinking and thanks, once again, to the glorious world of online shopping.

I've been trying to think what Frugal Queen would really like as her Secret Santa gift and am hoping that we have been so well matched in the competition that my thoughts may be similar to her's. This has given me free rein to shop like I'm in frugal cyber paradise, like the proverbial king (pardon the pun if you know me) selecting a gift fit for a frugal queen! As for the wrapping and packaging, well, that's another thing completely because I think I surpussed myself with the ingenuity of this! :)

Aside from this, I've been working hard at preparing the McGonks for their 2013 adventures, even managing to get as far as setting up the Frugaldom shop online at http://frugaldom.ebid.net  where the various little characters will be offered for sale. I completed 5 furry frugal pets and listed 4 of them yesterday, as a trial to opening the shop. I was delighted (and shocked) to discover three of the four had sold within 24 hours! Lucky for me, friends and fellow bloggers have pulled together and supplied me with a selection of bits and pieces to be recycled into more McGonks. I am honoured to associate with such a lovely bunch of people!

This morning, amongst the buttons, bows, ribbons and offcuts that have arrived trough my mailbox, I have set aside a lovely piece of  checked fabric that will be perfect for making miniature "Tam O'Shanters". (Scottish hats.) For those of you without the benefit of colour screen, the fabric is a combination of jade, wine, navy and yellow - I love it! Among the other goodies, a length of white trim from which I can salvage pompoms for adding to the hats.

Crafting is such fun, even when trying to develop it into work! I have been so busy 'playing' at working, that time slipped completely from my hands until well into the afternoon.

Food! Why do we always have to stop to eat? I sometimes feel like it's one mealtime after another with nothing in between! Speedy, hot food is a blessing in this house. Today we had wholemeal pitta sliced through and served with melted cheese and a spoonful of delicious chilli jam. Warming, filling, frugal and tasty! If you don't have pitta breads, use the outside slices from your loaves, tortilla wraps or ordinary bread rolls. The only reason we had pitta breads is because they are on offer at the moment, 3 packs for £1, and the spare packs got popped into the freezer. Frugal is as frugal does, we didn't even switch on the oven or grill, the filled pittas got wrapped in a bit of kitchen paper and popped into the microwave for a quick blast!

But back to the recycling and what's been dubbed my 'reco-arts' project. One tiny problem I thought I may have with recycling an assortment of 'stuff' into frugal pets (my clan of McGonks) is what I would do when mistakes get made. The solution to this, I am hoping to find out very soon, as just such a mistake got made.

Being a bit out of practice with the glue gun, as you already are aware, I inadvertently managed to glue my thumb nail to a pompom that I had just finished sticking onto a McGonk as a nose! (I can see the eyes rolling and hear the sniggering already!) Anyhow, it made a little bit of a mess trying to peel off the glue, resulting in the pompom growing, somewhat, as the wool was being teazed. Cue a hair-cut for the pompom to try and remove it and replace it... but that didn't go well, either!

I now have a pink McGonk with a shaved pompom for a nose!

'Wee Hughie' seems to have taken rather a shine to the missfit, leading me to believe that perhaps I should let her accompany him to his new home, a bit like a buy one, get another one free. I mean, LOOK AT THEM! I spotted the pair out in the garden just before dusk, snuggled up to one another by the heather that grows between the blueberry patch and the pond. And look closer... wee Hughie seems to have presented her with a beautiful bunch of flowers!

If anyone can think of a name for this little mop-capped misfit, please get in touch soon so I can get her 'birth certificate' completed, enabling her to accompany Hughie on his big adventure. I can't split them up, they're now inseparable!

Until next time,
Frugaldom.

Fabulous Frugal Fun and a Secret Santa!

"I want to garden, grow veg and take in the view!"

 

Frugal living, for me, is a lifestyle choice that was made many years ago (during the last century) in order to pursue other things in life, like enjoyment, relaxation and, most importantly, freedom from debt. I wanted to relax and enjoy more of the little things in life, so frugal living encapsulated every aspect of my life and became more about having affordable FUN. At this time of the year, that means frugal, festive fun!

Christmas needn't be a financial headache, just do your best to make the most of whatever is available and HAVE SOME FUN!

 

Guess what? Recently, someone came along and set ME a frugal challenge! How exciting is that? I was invited to take part in an online 'Secret Santa' competition, on the condition that I didn't reveal any of the details before Monday 3rd December. I was jumping for frugal joy because, believe it or not, I'm a 'Secret Santa' virgin!

 

Relishing the thought of Frugaldom representing our little corner of Scotland, I accepted the challenge with glee! After what seems like an absolute age of secrecy, I am now allowed to reveal the details. (Or, at least, most of them!)

www.Moneysupermarket.com are our sponsors and it is they who allocated us our Secret Santa 'partners'. I am very proud to be partnered with Frugal Queen, who is based in Cornwall. Indeed, it was she who uttered those immortal words in November 2009, "I want to garden, grow veg and take in the view." I'm hoping she is still pursuing the same dream, a dream that includes all the good things in life. I know she loves things like crafts and crafting, fine dining, gourmet food and home cooking, quilting, keeping warm in winter, rural life and, err, chocolate! :)

 

The Secret Santa campaign is for frugal bloggers all over the web and we've each been give £25 with which to do our frugal utmost to get the best possible gifts for our fellow bloggers. (Not only that, the bloggers who send the most creative gifts could win a brand new mini ipad or some high street vouchers - I wonder who I'd give them to, if we managed to secure a win for this corner of frugal blog land?)

What happens next?

Well, I am now allowed to blog about what I'm putting together as a fantastic Secret Santa gift and why I think Frugal Queen will think it is fabulous. Unfortunately, I have to do this without giving away the secret of what the gift actually is! I'm usually rubbish at secrets but am very proud of mysef for having managed to keep this one, so far! (Thank goodness it's now Monday and I can spill the beans!)

Over the coming week, I'll be doing my best to tell you about what's going down in Frugaldom by way of the Secret Santa gift that's being put together here. Meanwhile, frugal bloggers all over the web will be doing likewise, so tune in regularly for updates.

I'll be linking this blog via my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/NYKMedia and on Twitter, where you can follow ALL the competitors' updates by using the dedicated hashtag #MSMSecretSanta

Once the Secret Santa gifts have been exchanged, we'll be blogging about the gifts we have received, so 'Frugal Queen' will be saying what she thinks of the gift that will have winged its way from chilly Dumfries and Galloway all the way down to Cornwall. I am so excited about this and hope she LOVES it! :)

Anticipating loads of fun,

Until later,

Frugaldom!