Chaos-Free Christmas Countdown - 3 Days

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The house is clean, the groceries are ordered and the cookies are baked. There is not much left to do but wrap gifts. Block out some time in the evening tonight and tomorrow to get through the pile without going crazy. Recruit help when possible from your hubby and tiny humans...make it a family affair! Strategize your wrapping based on who you are seeing and when you are seeing them. Have a Christmas Eve exchange? Start there...end (or don't bother) with the gifts you are mailing or exchanging after the New Year.

Chaos-Free Christmas Countdown - 4 Days

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We're in the home stretch...hopefully the house is cheery and bright, free of dust and smells of delicious cookies (that are hidden out of the reach of rumbling bellies).

Today is all about you. T-Minus 4 Days is the midpoint in the one week countdown. Take a break and treat yo'self.

Chaos-Free Christmas Countdown - 5 Days

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Hopefully by now your T Minus 7 Days and T Minus 6 Days Checklists are all checked off, the side dishes are prepped and a batch of cookies is put away.

Luckily for both of us, the Monday is pretty easy. It's just time to decorate. Stop, I know what you're thinking. "Decorating for Christmas takes days, weeks." Well, this isn't Christmas. The motto of the Ultimate Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Guide: Decor is "If you don't have it, don't go buy it". This saves money, time and ultimately the headache of trying to head to the store the week of a holiday. So work within your attic, storage closet or your backyard! Head over to my Christmas Pinterest board for inspiration, but here are some of my favorites. Customize them to what you have packed away.

Chaos-Free Christmas Countdown - 6 Days

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The key to a smooth and easy Chaos-Free Christmas is leveraging your free time this throughout the week and weekend for prep. Use lunch breaks to run last minute errands when the stores are less crowded. Recipe prep in the evening while dinner is cooking and the kitchen is already messy.  It seems early to start cooking, but that's what your freezer is for! Focus on prepping and freezing the dishes that can stand the cold to minimize your cooking on Christmas morning. Watch the daily guide for thawing instructions later in the week!

Chaos-Free Christmas Countdown: 7 Days

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Happy Monday...just one week until Santa unloads his sleigh in your living room and family bursts through the front door! Are you ready? Fear not, I have the ultimate Chaos-Free Christmas guide. Watch for daily guides and to-do lists for the perfect Christmas day, starting with tomorrow (Tuesday).

The week leading up to Christmas usually looks like the whole year took a big poo on the page of my planner and left a years worth of plans crammed into a week. As everyone prepares for a week off of work or home with their tiny humans, deadlines at work are inevitable, half-days at school for the tiny humans make the schedule more difficult, and surprise drop-ins from friends and family have us turning off the lights and locking the doors. Follow my Chaos-Free Christmas Manual for a smooth holiday spent outside the kitchen and tucked into bed before the crack of dawn every morning.

DIY Wednesday: Push Pin Map

Ross and I have done a fair amount of travelling since beginning our relationship in 2011. With a fair amount of bargain hunting and penny pinching, we have been fortunate enough to travel to...

• Atlantic City
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Niagara Falls, Canada
• East Lansing, Michigan
• Las Vegas, Nevada
• Williamsburg, Virginia
• Cancun, Mexico
• Istanbul, Turkey
• Orlando, Florida
• Long Beach Island, New Jersey
• Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
• San Francisco, California
• Chicago, Illinois

Besides the countless travel photos that adorn our walls, this Christmas I wanted to gift Ross a push pin map to keep track of where we have been over the years. When I started shopping around I was stunned to see a map, mounted on cork or foam-core and framed, cost several hundred dollars. More absurd? Simple maps mounted on foam-core or cork ran near $150. I knew I could do this myself and at a much more reasonable price, especially if I was patient and waited to take advantage of sales and coupons.

Happy (Belated) New Year!

2017: The Year of the Budget

Happy New Year! Better late than never - and in the grand scheme, it's not that late. Week 1 of 2017 isn't even over yet! Looking forward to an exciting and frugal 2017 with my hubby.

Terra's Kitchen - Our First Vessel

I spend evenings private tutoring once or twice a week after work. This means that I don't usually walk in the door until 7 PM, meaning dinner doesn't hit the table til 7:30 (if we're lucky). Ross knows his way around the kitchen, but most of the recipes we eat are foods I grew up helping cook and the recipes exist in my head. For the last several months, we have been relying on pizza as a staple on my late nights. We call it in and I swing by to pick it up on my way home. This is great, but ultimately expensive and repetitive. Terra's Kitchen to the rescue!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! I hope Santa treated everyone well. Need some last minute recipes to bring to grandma's?

Coco & Chanel's Christmas (Dog) Cookies

Chanel licking her lips for that cookie!!

I love baking Christmas cookies for Ross and other family members during this time of year, but I always feel like I'm leaving Coco and Chanel out of the fun! After Coco's Birthday Biscuits were such a success, I have tweaked the recipe with a seasonal spin. Next time you're making cookie dough, whip up a batch of Christmas Doggy Cookies for your favorite four-legged friend! When wrapped up right, these make unique hostess gifts for friends and family with a dog. I made a triple batch for my pups, my parents and my in-laws. They are a hit all around. Shout out to my mom for helping mix all of that dough, what a work out!

Best Freebies & Money Making Gimmicks of 2016 - Treat Yo Self!

Over the course of 2016 I stayed a loyal member to many of my survey panels but sought out product testing and other incentivized apps and websites to bolster my income, especially this holiday season (who can't use a few extra dollars for that festive peppermint mocha?? not me!!). It paid off. To date, I have earned $600 in PayPal and Amazon gift cards and the year is not over yet. Now do I have your attention?! Yeah, I thought so!

Hello, December!

December to me means fuzzy boots (sing along with me...apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur, the whole club was lookin at her...), peppermint everything especially mochas, twinkling lights (and makeup), and SNOW. Where is the snow?! It was 52° in Denville this morning. Nothing like getting out of bed on a December morning covered in sweat. I don't even need snow, I'm not that high maintenance...maybe just some seasonal temperatures? Lower temperatures will definitely be more comfortable for all of the running around we have to do this month...