Monthly Archives: October 2022

Worst Halloween Candy

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When it comes to candy and sweets or even chocolate, I am no stranger. I am for sure in a love hate relationship with it. That being said it can be somewhat hard for me to choose a list of the worst Halloween candy. Instead I kind of cheated and dug into twitter to see what everyone else thinks, or agrees with for the worst Halloween candy! I will also state some of the things on this list I totally disagree with because I eat them when the season is right. However they were popular answers so I feel like not putting them on this list would be doing a major disservice to my pocket friends on twitter, not to mention if I were to not put some of the worst candy people may not help me “cheat” on blogs like this again!

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Licorice – was mentioned, that being said red licorice is great. I can eat it all day every day. What isn’t so great is the black licorice. I feel like you either love it or hate it. A few people mentioned the black licorice. I personally enjoy red and if even offered the black licorice I find it very hard to not reply with a snarky comment. Maybe it is due to the fact that the flavor is so strong but I am not a fan at all! Seems that quite a few others are also not a huge fan of these either.

Candy Corn – is another thing people mentioned which for the record I absolutely do not agree with. I eat candy corn for Halloween and I even buy the Christmas ones called Reindeer Corn or something like that. I even buy the candies that don’t even look like candy corn but taste like it. People again either love or hate candy corn, I am a huge fan and it pains me to even put it here! Some people have commented that it is a sugary mess, while others have said that it taste like fake color and far too sweet. Obviously the word too sweet is not in my vocabulary though so for me it may just be sweet enough!

Toffee Kisses are nasty. These are the candies that come in the orange, black, and yellow type wrappers. I feel like anyone who has gotten them remembers them because multiple times it was mentioned how the wrappers are still to this day a sort of retro feel to them. No matter how fresh they were too they ALWAYS stuck to the wrappers before they began to stick to your teeth. I think the only people I remotely remember enjoying these were my Dad and my Grampie. So I guess maybe the older generation may enjoy these cavity inducing chewy paper attracting pieces of yuck but they were a popular favorite of who don’t like them.

Raisins should not be a Halloween candy. Raisins are there for people who feel bad about giving our candy so they buy raisins for people when in reality all of them end up in the trash. Not to mention raisins are stuck to the box more often than not so they end up in literally one big chunk. These also go along the lines of giving an apple out. That little fruit would ALWAYS be bruised by the end of the day because they always sank to the bottom with everything else that was heavy and as you walked they would get beaten around.

Necco wafers are another popular candy people mentioned. With references to it tasting like chalk. They also write like chalk if you gave it a try too (don’t ask). They are a thin pressed powder type candy which is next to no flavor. If I remember correctly they aren’t even that sweet either!! Sure they may be fun to look at, but they certainly are not enjoyable to eat.

Homemade popcorn/anything – may be something that is more of an older treat in terms of ideas. I know personally growing up we rarely ever got food that was homemade in our sacks. That being said if we did ever have any homemade treats it was normally a special treat from a family member it close friend. Any random homemade things we literally were thrown in the trash, you can’t trust anyone now a days you really can’t trust a treat even with the beat intentions. I think it is important to remember too, that someone may even have the best intentions but could accidentally give something out that can hurt you in some way or another.

Wagon wheels/pastries – as delightful as they may be are the worst for Halloween. One main reason is when they are tossed into your treat bag, they inevitably become squished. Literally squished. Not to mention think of a few cans of pop in there and they become just a powdery sugar mess stuck to the wrappers. Just, no.

Plain suckers or filler candy, Think those plain suckers that have no flavor only color and they all taste the same, tootsie rolls, or even some knock off candy that you may have found cheaper than everything else to put into a treat bag that you make. Think, the very last candy to survive the good stuff that you ate within the first little while. Or the candy that you hang on to because you aren’t eating it and your mom or dad or guardian finally throws it away because it will become a sticky mess for ants and bugs when the weather warms up.

Rockets, finally, them. I know this pains me to put on because they are quite possibly one of the top 5 favorite candies for my spouse but I personally cannot stand them. They are a pressed powder mess. They are literally pressed sugar with no substance to them at all. I personally MAYBE eat one or two roles and that is about all. And that is maybe every few years. They are so similar to the toffee kisses in regards to they have been around since the dinos have become extinct however they just are a boring candy.

What are some Halloween candies that you can live without, These are mostly mine though I am sure if you give it time I will be more than happy to add to this list because quite frankly, there is a lot of junk that is just, junk!

Halloween Party Planning Tips

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As you may know if you have been following this blog for a while, I am no stranger for holidays and going over the top with decor and tips and tricks. Halloween is kind of a secret love. While I do love Christmas the most and Halloween is a close second. I normally really only decorate now for my kids however at one time and I’m sure that time will also pose later in life, I was about decorating for a party! Now a days we don’t do the Halloween party thing but we did do something though when we had enough friends to actually throw one! Mind you also, this was pre-kid era also so it made things a bit easier in terms of wrangling them up and hoping they don’t destroy anything before guests could arrive!

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Planning a Halloween party TAKES TIME! Especially when it comes to foods. There is many dishes that need to take time to even set up. Though yes, you can probably wing it and get things done on the fly if you wanted to but there are specific things you need to just do the day before (At least!). Think about those punches people make, you know the ones with the floating hand ice. You obviously need to figure out how to put the water in the glove, tie it off, or many you want to use a different color and or juice to make the ice. Then you also have to freeze it. And no, I don’t mean just the outside like it needs to be totally solid. If you don’t give your hand enough time to freeze, not only will it probably melt way faster than you expected but the whole gruesome hand in the punch may just look like melted ice chunks and nothing really spooky about that unless maybe it was referring to the Titanic and that iceberg.

Or maybe you are doing something with jello and you need to make some guts or brains or even worms out of it, you would also need to have time for it to set up properly. If you don’t then you could have a super gross nearly inedible mess which is not a good look at any party! Even if you look at the worms in dirt with chocolate pudding, if you don’t do it early enough may end up more like a soup.

Another thing is decorations. ESPECIALLY if you are planning on making some of the decorations yourself. One year on Pinterest I had seen a design on the ceiling with bats and they looked like they were soaring across. It was such a cool idea however I did not have a way to make them solid black and so towards the end I actually ended up using a black marker and let me tell you, it took such a long time to do that I nearly gave up on it. if you are preparing to make your own decorations, which is totally worth it, then you would probably do well if you were to plan and be realistic about how much you will need, Time wise. Or if you want to save time, even photo copying or using a printer without ink that has dried up or ran out may even be a better solution too!

Another thing and this may seem like a total no brainer is give your guests plenty of time. For multiple reasons this is important. One because people need to make or buy or even source their costumes. Maybe they need to find specific pieces to make an outfit. Or maybe they are totally making it from scratch. Or they are trying to buy an outfit whether it be online or in stores so they need to go and find this. Planning and giving guests a bit of time to plan out their outfits is always a good idea. Another reason why this is important is because some people probably are also trying to have a party for Halloween. If they are it is important to give them time and maybe you will decide not to throw one and just visit some instead. Halloween is like Christmas where if people do have a few parties to go to they will need to plan out a designated driver, maybe child care, maybe car pooling if multiple friends are invited together. Giving time to guests is something that they will thank you for in the long run.

And lastly, what type of a party is always a great bit of information. I would like to assume that if it was at night it would more than likely be child free. Or maybe you are having a parents and child type evening. Though if it is in the day time it can be a bit more challenging. You also don’t want to assume there is children or vice versa when the other may be actual party. Especially if you assume there is no children, and perhaps you pay for a babysitter for your own kids when you really didn’t need to. And the flip side is maybe you thought there was kids so you never brought any drinks, or special treats or something when there actually was no kids there and you are feeling a bit left out from festivities.

Regardless of the holidays, Halloween is no exception. Planning a party does not need to be a headache waiting to happen, or a growing to do list to even get it done. There are many ways to plan a party so that everyone (including yourself) enjoys it! Whether you want to have a full family fun day or you want a little adult time, there is no right or wrong way to throw a party to celebrate whatever you want to!

And if after trying to assess what is happening at a Halloween party leaves you still wondering what the details are, Just ask the host! I am sure they would love to clarify things for you too!

Already Planning 2023

Blogging, Life

It should come to no surprise to anyone that I am already planning my 2023 writing year already. As you know by now from the multiple references I make, I write a lot of these blogs in advance. A big part of this is that a lot of times after chasing my sons around all day I just do not have the energy at the end of the day to sit down and write. A lot of times I want to binge a TV show or I want to just do absolutely nothing!

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However, this year has been so incredible for me that I want to really continue the success and set myself up for building my brand. I have released 3 poetry collections with 100 poems on each. I still an in shock that I was able to even write them so swiftly and figure this all out with some help from a family friend who has published before.

One thing I have even started to do for the end of this year is SCHEDULING SOCIALS!! If a social platform gives this option (not a service to do this with I mean the actual platform) then I am using it to the full potential. I schedule these blogs ahead. I also schedule my tweets that are for blogs, tweets for my graphics that I created for the poetry collections, as well as facebook posts for the graphics for the collections also. One thing I personally find hard to see and I am sure I am not the only one, is that when you see a social profile that has little to no interactions or posts no one is going to want to follow or keep tabs on it. Normally I can do well on socials being active however I do struggle (like anyone) to be active all of the time. In particular, weekends are really hard for me to keep active. I nearly shut off my brain and can go nearly a day or two without posting.

To purchase yourself a copy of this collection of poetry brought to you by Stacey J Girard click on the photo to b brought to the page!

What I am doing for blogs is pre-writing a lot. I want to have a good majority of blogs typed. These are not subjects that are time sensitive. My idea for this is so that I can hopefully be able to do more time sensitive blogs quicker. If something happens in the world or even local that I want to write about I will be able to do it quickly! I think this will be great in reaching new people and what not. I also am recycling old blogs. One thing I have a major issue with is that I am bad at only posting a blog once it is live and leaving it into the world to hopefully be read. I am not scheduling a blog post on off days and that is hurting me. I have a lot of followers across socials and I should be using it more!

Another thing is my poetry collections. As you know based on the amount of time that I have posted about it they are very important to me for multiple reasons. It is a major career change and not an easy one to break into. I have been majorly taking the plunge into tiktok to hopefully break into some new readers there. I am also hoping to put some more things on instagram too. Break into there also. Social medias are huge. I also am working on trying to think of a few giveaways in the coming months to help grow those pages as well too. It is so very challenging though.


I really want to take 2023 in stride. For so long I have had a tough time with keeping on track and really seeing how I can make this stay at home mom thing work that I am totally focused on that. Not to mention when I have a puff at night I get distracted and that can be challenging. I am also hopeful that as 2023 comes into our worlds that I will be pregnant with our 3rd baby which will also give me a lot of free time in the evenings since as you may be familiar with when I wrote the blog about quitting weed for pregnancy here you can see that I will need to find more things to do. With Vincent and Felix I spent a lot of time sewing plastic canvas and doing art things. this time I kind of would like to do writing as a focus. And probably continuing to workout and keep active which I too need to get back into.

Even though we cannot plan the future, we can certainly try our best though to actually prep for it. Of course there will be different situations and things popping up that we don’t expect and throws us off course but it is important to remember that we do have goals as we may end up being stuck even longer than we had hoped. My hope is that by planning my year I am able to keep reaching different milestones and writing goals to hopefully, eventually, make this an actual, money making career.

Though, I should say, that I also have next to nothing in terms of marketing so I really need to try and prepare myself for the year not only by doing certain things but also by trying to learn as I go. Maybe some time in the future I will try my best to take a few marketing courses even, however it can be challenging to say the least! Those things are something that does cost money, but I think with the right planning and a bunch of determination I should be able to reach each and every milestone!

What is the Covid symptoms no one talks about ?

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As you know since I have been posting a lot about how Covid finally hit our family here after 3 years of avoiding it. You can read more about those blogs here:

What it was like as an adult to get Covid
What it was like for my Children to get covid.

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You will know that this is not your “Bad cold” that people may try to convey. Sure it may present itself like that with some people however there is also a lot of things that people do not talk about honestly. These are symptoms that happen to people that literally happened after I had in fact had tested negative. It was a Friday when this happened to be later in the evening. I had actually felt great for the first time since I tested positive. The previous Wednesday I was positive and this Friday I finally was Negative (Though a lot of people it can take longer to get a negative on a rapid test). I felt so great in fact that I had gone to Walmart, I went and did some shopping and came back with grocery’s and feeling fantastic. Not even kidding I thought things were on the up and up and that I was feeling so much better. I was wrong.

Friday night I woke up just after falling asleep with a pain in my belly. You know kind of like cramps or poop pains. Obviously I chalked it up to something I had eaten and that maybe that was the case. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t something I ate. It was horrible. I had diarrhea. I would say the best way for me to even describe it would be that it literally felt like someone was grabbing my stomach fat, as tight as they possibly could, and that they were actually twisting it, not like on the surface but deeper. it was pain that I could not shake for the entire day. To the point I didn’t even move from my bed. My partner watched out kids because by this point they were back to normal aside from the poops they too would have in the next days following I just seemed to have it first. It was not a fun time. By Sunday I was feeling a bit better however the poops lasted far longer. By Saturday night I was feeling pretty decent though because I was had sent my spouse to go to the pharmacy to get a few things though. Pepto was a great choice and helped my stomach.

To purchase The Darkness, the first installment of my debut poetry collection, Click anywhere on this sentence to be brought to the buying page. This is available on both Kindle and Paperback versions!

As I mentioned in the blog post about my kids getting Covid, and I will say a bit more here. This cough literally has GOT TO GO. We all have a cough that we just cannot shake. Mind you it is slowly getting better. I would not say that it is long Covid as I dont think time has passed enough for it to be that, however I have read and heard from friends who had previously had covid that this cough is around for a few weeks to maybe even 2 months. Which also sucks however hopefully it goes away. I can’t really attest to myself since I smoke weed that it is not a contributing factor. However I know my kids sometimes have this cough and it can be super random. It does diminish and they haven’t had it a whole lot but it was still there. For me it was like a really bad asthma cough without the cold. It was a cough that I would have if I was say sick and laughing and had to catch my breath.

This is more to the people who have a menstrual cycle. This would be a symptom that was more so annoying than anything. For me, my cycle was a week late. As a family that is hoping to try for our 3rd and final kid in a few months when my youngest is a year old, it is more a pain. It is a pain due to the fact that sometimes it has been known that your cycle will be skipped or sometimes it is late. I even took 3 or 4 pregnancy tests just to MAKE SURE that we were not pregnant a bit earlier. Now that it has arrived though, There really hasn’t been any type of different in terms of flow though. Just the fact that it was late sucked. Waiting around, wearing pads, hoping that I am not anywhere that is necessary or wearing something that if I was to leak or it to randomly start that I wouldn’t have to figure out how to cover my butt (Literally). This was something that was totally normal however no one really talks about it until it happens.

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Seeing these symptoms though, if I was to say I wasn’t nervous about getting long Covid symptoms I would be lying. It can be a bit nerve wracking thinking about how many people months and months later have long terms effects from this stupid virus. I hope that my children don’t see any of these symptoms and that the cough we all have soon is gone and just a memory to us. I also hope that in terms of my cycle it continues to be on time now that it was late and I’m not trying to guess when it will start again too. That does not sound like a great time at all either.

Did you have Covid? If so what were some of your weird symptoms that happened long after you were testing positive? Maybe even a week or two later like myself. All I know for sure is I feel like this virus needs to buzz off and let people live their lives because obviously there is still soooo much that we are trying to learn and understand.

5 “Me” Things To Do This Fall

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Self care is hard. Regardless of the season. I know, I am just as guilty of it too! I never want to do anything for myself and when I do I feel guilty about it. Not this year! This year was one of the first times since becoming a Mom that I try to do more things for me WITHOUT the guilt. I am so excited to share a few thing with you and hopefully also hearing things from you that you may do that I have never thought of before! Regardless if you are a parent or not we need to spend time on doing things for ourselves, if not the burnout will be fast and swift in letting us know we have spread ourselves too thin.

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One me thing I am doing more is binging my own shows. Sometimes I put every show on hold that I want to watch because I think my spouse will enjoy it. Spoiler alert: there are a lot of shows that I watch that he has literally no interest in at all. I need to take the time to watch some mindless show whether on Netflix or prime. My list of shows to watch is not getting any smaller by me not watching things or waiting for my partner to watch them! Even just re-watching some good comfort shows that I already know and love is a small thing that I want to do for myself. After all, they may even disappear before I have time to watch them! And then I would be the one losing out by waiting so long.

Bubble baths are something I always talk about doing and that is true, I do have baths maybe more often than some. But in the summer time, I don’t typically have a lot of baths. I associate baths with feeling cold. When I feel cold I want to warm up and having a bath is a go to way to do that. I really don’t take a lot of baths except maybe an occasional one in the summer but that is only due tot he fact that I love to shower with the window open (Yes we have a window in the shower) and looking outside. Plus in the heat who wants to put your sweaty body in to the tub and just chill in there. Winter I can say I don’t sweat that much and enjoy a nice bath, sometimes even the same day I have had a shower too! Nothing beats just laying around with special salts or bubbles or maybe even a nice favorite drink and a good book to just lay around and totally relax your body!

Hike somewhere new or visit a park is something that I too want to do. I won’t lie I do not like the heat. But having children I feel like we need to be outside more in nature and what better way than to take advantage of the cooling temperatures that are happening. Plus how beautiful is it to be out in the world, maybe away from technology, and admiring the changing season with fall leaves and colors changing all around you. Just breathing in the crisp air and really trying live in the moment. One thing that we are planning on doing ourselves is going to a local park i Halifax called Point Pleasant Park. We have waited though until the older kids are in school because again, not huge fans of crowds and if we have older kids I school it may just be less busier.

Getting a new book can be for any time of year but why not make it about fall. Did I mention that I too have 2 poetry collections out, one called The Darkness and the other called The Light. What better way to spend some me time with yourself reading and exploring a brand new world of whatever topic you want to read about. This is something that I need to do more of. There are so many great authors that I am learning about while writing my own books that I want to dive into reading a few that I have had on my wishlist for a while. Not only that, but I feel like as an author I should be doing even more reading to try to really hone in on my own skills in poetry writing as well as prepare for my writing of short horror stories (Half the reason why I got this new laptop that I am typing on now!).

Changing appearance in some way shape of form is one easy way to spruce up yourself. Personally I am one to change the color of my hair often so it makes the change easy however you don’t have to do it with hair. You could get a tattoo or piercing, maybe even up upgrade your wardrobe as well too. You really don’t need to spend a lot of money on this, painting your nails a new and wild color that you maybe have never done before is one way to o that for next to nothing cost wise. Even if you want to update your wardrobe and don’t want to spend a fortune there is plenty of thief stores around I am sure that you could take an adventure to with a friend or two and try on totally different styles to help to create your own, new, reinvented one.

Regardless of what you are planning on doing this fall, there is never anything wrong with doing something for yourself. I know, With everything in the world it can be hard to be a little bit selfish, but at the end of the day when you do take that time to be a little bit about you and not everyone or everything around, you will be wondering why you never did it sooner! Everyone deserves a little bit of me time, whatever that may be, and regardless of background. You deserve it!



Outdoor Seasonal Take Down

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As another warm season winds down and we prepare for fall, there can be a lot to do depending on how much you live outside. For me, I enjoy our large deck the most and then we have an abundance of flower beds and things that also need to be taken care of also. Though some people may find the fall depressing for various reasons, I welcome yet another reason for me to stay inside of the house if it is too chilly outside! Not that I don’t stay inside a lot for the summer but I feel a little less bad when I have to stay inside from the weather being too chilly unless I have to go somewhere!

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The easiest part to take down is the deck. Mostly because it can be done in one evening and put into a few boxes and BAM, finished. Right now I have lights up, some are homemade so I need to actually remove the shades from the bulbs. Mostly because I do use them for our Christmas display out front too. The shades and lights are separated though as if they are put into a box together they risk the chance of the shades being damaged and well, I obviously dot want that to happen! I had made them and talk about them here and have a photo of them at the old house too. They should be protected and I should be working hard to ensure they don’t need to be remade often as it can be quite pricey.

Click on this photo to be brought to the purchase of The Light for Kindle and Paperback!

Another aspect is all of the little trinkets and candle holders that also will need to be put away. I don’t need to do a whole lot though. I use the place mats and things to insulate the breakable items so that I can save them from year to year. Since half of our deck has an extended roof though I will leave the chairs up. And we do leave the table out also too. As mentioned in previous posts, unless I’m pregnant which we do hope would happen this winter, than it will just sit there but at least we won’t drag it up and down risking breaking it. And it is pretty well protected because snow doesn’t normally pile up underneath. We are pretty lucky to have a deck that can basically be used the entire year if we really want it to.

Next is our gardens. They basically have been self sustaining since we moved in not to mention they are overgrown with weeds. Maybe I’m dumb but I also am really hoping to weed them when the weather gets colder. That way they can be prepped for the next season where maybe we can put a little bit more effort into them now that a lot of the indoor things have been done! There is also a large section to the left of our backyard that has little trees and overgrown plants. I really want to make this spot cleared in hopes that by next year we could perhaps have some sort of play set for the boys to play on. Right now we are good with the deck but still, a play set will go there eventually and Id like to start clearing now sooner than later.

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Another thing is planing on decorations as well. Not necessarily a take down but I will be making decorations with left over wood from the basement so planning on where that does is also a good thing as well. I want to prep and already think about where that stuff will go eventually also!

Plants are probably one of the last things I have to really take care of before bringing them into the house. Mainly because I hate bugs and I need to really prep them to not have any bugs though! I have never really taken to plants in my entire life until this year when I had some tropical ones and outdoor plants to take care of also. I really want to make the ones I am bringing inside of the house successful and healthy so I don’t want to have to worry about bugs being brought in. I also have to really pay attention to them and take good care of them. Never did I think I would be a house that would have plants regularly however that is okay too! Before I planned to bring some of the plants in I had started to spray them with a diluted rubbing alcohol mix with water, this was to prevent the bugs from wanting to stick to the actual leaves and things. Next I used a sort of peroxide and water super diluted also solution to water then few that I was bringing back inside. This is to kill any bugs that were actually in the soil, however I will say that the dirt for a lot of them has been dry and the weather has been not so hot so I’m sure that there maybe bugs that have moved on too!

Regardless of what you have to do, The changing from summer to fall can be a somber, sad place for many people. Days get darker faster and for longer, sometimes people even are dreading the time change. I just know for me, embracing the outdoors for the first time since I was a small child has been some what therapeutic for me. I welcome the coming seasons and what they have in store for me to continue to grow and try new things. In fact, the plants have shocked me the most because I legit had no idea about anything and I also could have cared less about them before. But I know that they can really make a home feel great and that is exactly what I am all about here!

Prep for Early Christmas in the Fall

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It may come as no surprise that I am addicted to Christmas. And that is saying the very least of the extent of my addiction. I love everything about it. This year there is so many things that are far beyond expensive especially where I am in Canada that I have only just started to think about it in August (Though I know you are probably reading this in the early fall!). My goal for this is to spend the least amount of money possible without breaking the bank, which as we all know with kids can be easier said than done. finding yourself in the overspending hole of endless toys that if I am being honest, they barely use half the time anyways, is something that I am really trying to avoid doing this year.

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One major thing I have been doing is shopping around. I typically check Amazon first for the convenience of it being one site and trying to add things to the kids wish list. I will say for example, the beginning of August I had bought an Elmo guitar doll. My thinking was for my youngest to use when he transitions into a big boy bed however my oldest always talks about Elmo now due to the sesame street, I bought it for nearly 35$. Not more than 2 weeks later it is now on the website for 55$. With more than a 20 dollar increase. The same could be said for the Blues Clues lullaby doll that I had got for our oldest last year. This was about the same price also, It was something that he brings to bed and still plays with as I write this. The highest price that I had seen if go up till though was 70$ which is nearly doubled the price. Shopping a bit earlier if you do have the funds to slowly purchase gifts may save you in the long run as apposed to the rush towards the holidays. If retailers can capitalize on those last minute shoppers, believe me, they certainly will.

Another thing I have been doing is kind of prepping what I would like to give everyone else. My parents we gift things to, my siblings I normally do some sort of a movie night where I put in sweets that I have baked or even some little treats and popcorn since I know they all have Netflix. I even start brain storming for my partner and his stocking too. Thinking ahead about what you want to gift others is huge. This can help you pay or even budget better so that you are able to see what the holidays will cost and predict when and where you can find deals if in fact you know things will have deals. Amazon again makes this easy because you can browse the lists once a week or so and see the price differences, obviously though if they increase they do not advertise that. Don’t be fooled either with a high cost and then it jumping down and looking like a great deal when the price was inflated to begin with too.

Another expensive thing I do now a days is during the Holidays I bake. I bake Bits and bites (Recipe here) Also Peanut Butter Fudge (Recipe here) as well as I have started making Millionaire Squares too, (Recipe here). What I have started doing even last year since we moved back home was I try to shop the sales. In terms of things I try to get things at the local grocery store where I can earn points, also through my credit card, to purchase the items needed for baking there. This is a huge help because I normally would be saving this money for a rainy day. It also helps because the side clothing brand to the grocery store also accepts these points. Every 10k is worth 10$ which believe me adds up. I have used these points when I was pregnant before too to buy clothes and tops that would fit my growing belly also too. finding a store that does this type of point system can be such a life saver towards the holidays when people are trying to hopefully not go into debt for it either. This year at the time of writing this blog, towards the end of August (I know sorry I write them early!) I have about 50$ in points that I will be putting towards the baking. This will be a great help too for the family party that I will be trying to also hold the first weekend in December so this saves a lot in terms of thinking about what I will make for that too.

And finally, another good thing is that if you are like me, having a list of ideas and gifts you have bought can be huge in trying to play things out. Let’s remember. This is Christmas. You are not competing with every person you know that also has kids and you also do not need to buy the best of every single thing out there. No holidays is worth going into debt for because you can spend months or even years trying to dig yourself back out. This is especially true with younger kids, I know for me people are trying to out do one another, and let’s be honest. Kids under the age of 3 and especially under the age of one will not remember a single thing that you got them. Start with building memories and creating traditions when they are super young so that as they go on they not only appreciate the gifts they see under the tree but they are more fascinated with the family time that they can spend together.

And let’s not forget about you too, I have 2 poetry collections out right now The Darkness and The Light which are great for the avoid reader in your life! The Darkness has some themed that may not be suited for a younger audience due to the subject matter and The Light is more of a collection about winning things, and overcoming some of those tough subjects from the first book.