Monday Stuff On the Way to Other Stuff...Getting Ready for Christmas

This season's flu is just not fun. After a week of off-and-on fever and chills, aches and general tiredness, I am more than ready for it to go away. And it seems to...until you do too much. Then it's back, sneering in your face. 
    Well, yah, Mr. Flu -- I got you! Our Christmas tree is finally up, and decorations are out. Even the Brick, notorious for his bah-humbug attitude, is humming holiday carols. (He even clucks them now and then, just for fun. Not that our hens care.) I'm starting to gather up the ingredients for the seven fish dishes on Christmas Eve, and trying to figure out how to clean up the house without exhausting myself back into sickness. 
   It's not going to be easy. Meanwhile: 

Something to work on over the holidays - a scruffy, beautiful t-shirt shag rug. Tutorial's here. (It's easier than you think!)

Isn't this a beauty...

A totally free Christmas this year? My Frugal Home is working on it...and doing a great job. (That includes stocking stuffers and food, too. Wow.)

Donna Freedman's planning a stripped-down Christmas. Maybe her ideas would help you.

Tip: Donna uses Swagbucks to accumulate 'bucks' for Amazon gift cards. All you need do is use Swagbucks for your regular searches. (There are extras you can do to add points, but they're purely voluntary, and you can still accumulate quite a bit without them.) Those translate into Swagbucks -- and 450 of them means a $5 Amazon giftcard! 
    This may sound like a lot of work, but it isn't. Just by doing the regular stuff, somehow I've earned more than $250 worth of Amazon giftcards over the past few years...roughly two a month! 
    Could you use Swagbucks? Take a look on the right-hand side, and you'll see the Swagbucks icon. If you click on it, you'll get yourself started -- and give me a nice little bonus, too. Trust me -- it's worth exploring.

How to get laid off -- on purpose. Financial Samurai was planning to retire, anyways -- but by getting himself deliberately laid off, he got plenty of extras. (He calls it the "it's not you, it's me" strategy.) You could use this concept to get a raise or other perks. Or a date, I guess.

Just found a new blogger: Mr. Money Mustache. Well, new to me, anyways. This guy is 'retired' at age 37 (actually he has his own construction/rental projects); lives frugally, not far from the Brick house, and talks about everything from renovating a house in Hawaii to his own adventures in saving money. I'm looking forward to getting to know him and Mrs. MM better.

Confessions of a con artist. This man made his bucks by selling fake and overvalued 'opportunities' over the phone. A good reminder what you should be on guard for, courtesy of AARP.

The guy who finally confessed he was a con artist, too -- in his obituary. (You can see the video here.)  I'll bet other people had their suspicions about Mr. Smooth. Sad.

The first things to skimp on, when money gets tight. I love these quickies from Yes, I Am Cheap. (Don't miss on her list of 7 free or inexpensive things that can actually save money.) 

Did you know you can get replacement discs for your damaged DVDs? Cheap? Nope, me neither. 

A clever way with words: one of my young piano students loves this Taylor Swift song. I love the inventive way fonts and text are used to present the message. 

Bavarian crochet - a versatile stitch, lots of step-by-step photos, from Diary of a Stay At Home Mom.

And life goes on. Have a Merry Christmas week. It only comes once a year - take a minute now and then to enjoy it!