Birthday Week Celebrations!

Before we were married the hubby and I decided to make it a tradition for our family to celebrate a "birthday week." Neither of us had grown up with this concept, but some friends of mine celebrated birthdays this way and I always liked it. Birthdays are so special, and they're hard to celebrate in just one day. I mean, it's a celebration of a whole year of life, a year past, and a future one to come. Birthday weeks are far more interesting.

Here are some ways we celebrate birthday weeks on a budget.

• Cards/Notes. Throughout the week place little notes or cards in different places for the birthday boy/girl to find. Maybe in their lunch box one day, on their nightstand the next, or in a purse or bag. This year the hubby went so far as to line up dear friends and family to send me notes on each day of my birthday week—some came on Facebook, through the mail, and some via text message.
• Time: This birthday my husband took over ALL the chores, as in cooking, cleaning, laundry, EVERYTHING! Which enabled me to have more free time to read, play online, and relax.
• Favorites: Purchase or make little favorites throughout the week, such as a favorite candy bar, favorite meal, play a favorite game etc.
• Gifts: Instead of opening up all the gifts on one day consider spreading them out so they can be enjoyed throughout the week.
• Servitude: Maybe your spouse or child likes to have their nails done or receive a massages. That is something you could easily do for them during their birthday week. My hubby gave me a wonderful pedicure which included a foot soak, scrub, massage and finished off with painting the little piggies pink with white polka dots.

If you consider making this a tradition in your family be sure to plan ahead to make it a lot easier on yourself. It'll give you more time to implement your ideas, come up with alternatives if something doesn't work out, and involve friends and family if that's what you decide to do. Enjoy your birthday week!

Keep pinchin' :-)

Dani's Birthday Week: Birthday Celebrating on a Budget

Before we were even married Dani and I had discussed the idea of making the "birthday week" idea a tradition in our family. A birthday week can be many things, but essentially it is designed to honor the birthday girl or boy all week long.

Guys, I know, it can be tough enough trying to remember to honor your wife on just ONE day a year, not to mention seven in a row! But it's worth it, trust me, and she'll deeply appreciate your efforts.

DISCLAIMER
If your wife doesn't really enjoy her birthday, or if your family has decided not to make a big deal of them, a birthday week celebration might not go over well. Some women are extremely sensitive about their age, and if they can't stand to have their birthdays celebrated even for one day, a whole week is going to be a nightmare.

Celebrating your wife on her birthday doesn't have to be an expensive or time-consuming task, especially if you're on the road a lot or are trying to stay within a tight budget. Here are some suggestions for making your wife's birthday week a celebration of her.

1. Create a top 10 list of things you love about her and text them to her throughout the day. (If you're really ambitious, you could make a top 10 list to send to her every day!) This is a good idea if you travel a lot or can't be with your wife on certain days of the week.


2. Cards never fail to express at least some heartfelt sentiment, especially for guys who aren't good with words, but who know how they feel once they actually have the words. Stick a card in your wife's purse. Mail her one at work. Hide one in her favorite book, or some place that she'll find it at some point during the day.


3. One word: chocolate. Few women don't love chocolate. Buy a whole box of chocolates and leave them around the house. Set them on top of little notes that express your hopes and wishes for her in the coming year.


4. Make her dinner. If you're fortunate enough to be home when she isn't, surprise her with some grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, and veggies. (Seriously dudes, that is a meal that I have never ONCE screwed up, which must mean it's super easy to make!) Here's a terrific Red Wine Vineager Marinade for chicken. Let the chicken soak in this for four hours or so and you can't go wrong! (NOTE: I didn't include the dry mustard because I hate mustard, and we didn't have any lemon juice, but it still tasted fantastic!)


5. Write her a love letter that lets her know how glad you are to have her in your life. I know, I know, you told her "I love you" on your wedding day, but, generally speaking, women need emotional reassurance. She knows that you loved her on your wedding day, but inside she's wanting to know if you STILL love her. Make it a point to tell her every day on her birthday week.

The point is, a birthday shouldn't be a recognition of age, but a celebration of her life. Use the time to express to her how grateful you are for her, that she married you, that she's a wonderful wife and mother, and pretty much the coolest chick of all time.

Keep pinchin' :-)

Free Dates For A Year - Drive-In Movie At Home

For those of you just tuning in, one of the things I've been blogging about is the "Year of Free Dates" that I gave my husband for his birthday back in October. Since then we've been enjoying some great times together every month. It's been a blast to see how creative we can be, how silly we can be, and just how much fun we can have when we put our heads together to come up with something entertaining.

Our very first Free Date Night turned out to be super fun, and I thought I'd share it in case anyone else likes the idea. The idea is to have a "theme night"—outer space, Alice in Wonderland, celebrities—and center all of your activities for the night around that theme.

Jake chose the 1950s, so I made diner-style cheeseburgers, fries, and chocolate milkshakes, which we ate with 50's rock tunes playing in the background.

After dinner it was time for a movie!

Someone had given us a DVD copy of that wonderful 50's classic, "An Affair to Remember," with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. We decided to watch it "drive-in style." Jake set up a projector and movie screen in our backyard, along with some comfortable seating where we watched the movie accompanied by an appropriate amount of necking. Cause, come on, who ever went to the drive-in just to watch a movie?

A Crafty Christmas Creation With Thrifty Décor Chick

For that creative penny pincher, here's an awesome craft idea that comes from Sarah, the voice behind the popular DIY and decorating blog Thrifty Décor Chick. Sara was a guest blogger on Dave Ramsey's blog this month to share this unique craft idea just in time for Christmas.

"Silhouettes have been big in design again for years now," Sarah writes. "I think it goes back to the nostalgia of them. They became popular in the mid-18th century as a less expensive version of the portrait. I love them because they are graphically interesting and can capture your family in a different way than photos."

Her step-by-step instructions will teach you how to take an everyday photograph and turn it into a work of art that would class-up nearly any room, and for very little cost!

"Silhouettes are inexpensive and relatively easy to make," Sarah writes. "Dogs and cats look especially sophisticated in a silhouette."

To read her post on Dave Ramsey's website, click here.

Or if you're looking for other thrifty gift or decorating ideas, Sarah's your girl! Visit www.thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com.

Free Dates for a Year

When you decide to jump into paying off debt with both feet you may find yourself in the predicament that my husband and I did: tight budget and no entertainment or restaurant included. One of two things will probably happen when you do, either you will go insane and be miserable for the duration of the trip and quite possibly throw in the towel, or you can make the best of it, be creative, and look back on this period of life with lots of great memories.

I prefer the latter.

So to help accomplish this I went on a mission to create a year of "date nights" that were practically free. (I got the initial idea from Shannon Brown at Find Joy in the Journey. The idea here is that you would purchase tickets, gift cards, etc., for a year of pre-paid dates. The problem with that plan for me was that there was no money to purchase those date nights.)

So I got to scouring the web and searching for free, at-home ideas. The Dating Divas helped out a lot with their list of at home date ideas here. Between looking through their ideas and Googling for others, I was able to come up with about 24 date night ideas, which would give us roughly two date nights per month.

With my free date nights in hand I set out to give my hubby a birthday present that would keep on giving. I created 12 envelopes, one for each month of the year, and put a couple date nights in each envelope. At the beginning of each month he opens up an envelope to find out what's in store for him, and together we work out a time to do it.

Here are some ideas to get you started. Bear in mind that you can be as creative and wild as you want to be, or adjust the suggestions to suit your resources, location, personal tastes, and what-have-you.

Theme Night

My husband and I chose a 50’s theme. I made cheeseburgers, French fries, and milk shakes on our red checkered table cloth while we listened to some great 50’s rock'n roll. My husband rigged up a DVD projector outside for us to watch "An Affair to Remember," drive-in style!

Wanna Be Famous?

Create a YouTube video, fake commercial, or whacky video and then post it on the web for all your friends to see. My hubby and I chose to write a rap song about our experience of going through Financial Peace University and we had a blast. A week after we posted it we ended up on the Katie Couric Show! Click here to view our "Penny Pinching" Financial Peace University Rap video here!

Top Chef

Work together to make a dinner using a secret ingredient in each entrée. Go outside your comfort zone and try something new!

Out of Character

Choose a character for each other to dress and act like throughout dinner. Maybe it’s their favorite character of all time or maybe it’s just something you want to see them dress up as. Try to stay in character throughout dinner, or go the extra mile and do it all day!

Stargazing

If you live in a place where you can see the stars, spread out some blankets in the yard and spend time snuggling and seeing what constellations you can pick out. There are phone apps that can help you with this.

There are plenty more ideas out there to be had! Let me know if you find any.

Keep pinchin' :-)