Traveling home for the holidays?

Okay, heading home for Xmas but can’t afford to do so? Here are a few tricks to help get you home:

By air travel:

• Subscribe to Travelocity.ca FareWatcher and input your round trip info and a reasonable price that you’re willing to pay to get home. Make sure to choose the option for them to email you when a flight becomes available at your selected price or lower.
• When checking websites for prices yourself, check a couple of times daily for several days to become familiar with the price fluctuations that occur throughout the day for your specific chosen flight dates/times. You will find that the best prices are available at around midnight.
• If you’re going “home” you likely won’t need the travel insurance that is always offered as an extra but they try to sneak in with your ticket purchase (read everything on the page).

By bus:

How do YOU wipe?

I used to be a firm believer in NOT using paper towels until I had two consecutive incidents that changed my mind about this…  Both incidents involved red wine, embarrassed house guests who wanted to clean up their mess before anyone saw it, and clean white towels…

So this is what I have found to be a suitable compromise:

• If you do not already do so, use old tea towels or rags or even cut up pieces of old clothing that are too destroyed to be donated to clean your counter-tops or bathroom, etc.  There’s no need for you to spend money on cleaning cloths (such as J-cloths).
• Take home all random unused napkins from your fast-food/restaurant/cafeteria experiences.  You can also pick up a “so ugly it’s cool now” napkin holder from your neighborhood thrift shop for under $1 if you can’t find a home for your napkins.
• Use these napkins at home for personal use or for cleaning purposes if you don’t have any available clean rags.
• keep your one paper towel roll hidden in a cupboard (from YOU) to be used when you’ve run out of your stash of recovered napkins! If you use half sheets every time, you’re doubling the life of your roll.  Just tear a piece off without tearing the whole sheet off the roll.
• If you are having a get-together that involves food/alcohol, take that roll out where it can easily be spotted in your kitchen.  You don’t have to learn this one the hard way!

It IS possible for 1 roll of paper towels to last you a year.   Not only is this good for the environment, you’ll save money as well!

Note for you clean freaks: Worried about reusing rags? Throw them in with your dirty laundry or zap them while WET in your microwave for 30-40 seconds on High power to disinfect them.  

How to host a Clothing Swap Party

Hey ladies… Can’t afford to revitalize your wardrobe or just don’t want to spend the money to?  Do you like to party? Want to help people in need, reduce your support of child labor, and help the environment while you’re at it? 

Well then here’s what to do:

1) Pick a date about 3-4 weeks in the future (preferrably on a Saturday or Sunday) to host an Open House Clothing Swap Party!! (This will give people some time to clear out their closets). 

2) Invite a bunch of your girlfriends (you can also use Facebook of course) and let them know it’s a “drop in whenever you want/can” and to bring as much clothing as they would like to bring and it’s BYOB (or if you’d like, have a $5 cover charge and YOU supply the wine).  Put it out there that ”if you haven’t worn it in 6 months, it’s gotta go.”

3) Set up a table or two, where all the clothes are dumped, or neatly folded and if needed, set up a clothes line for hanging excess or fancier clothing. 

4) Post a visible sign clearly stating the “rules/guidelines”.  Here are some possible rules:

1. For every one item of clothing you contribute, you are welcome to take one item from the table.
2. If two or more people see an item they want at the same time, desperately want it and negotiations are at a standstill, they must draw straws for the item and the loser/s “take/s a shot”.
3. Whatever is left over on the table (people should only take what they really want) will be donated to __________ . 

Leftover clothing can be donated to an organization such as Goodwill or a neighborhood women’s shelter, or to one of those clothing bins often found in parking lots of some grocery stores that support other local charities.

5) You can supply the snacks or you can share the cost with a few co-hostesses who will help you set-up and clean-up who will be there for the duration of the party (which means they’ll get the best variety of pickings)!  You can have the open house start sometime in the afternoon and have it end at 10pm or so, just in time to head to the bar wearing your new fab gear!!

6) You can also order in pizza with whoever’s open to pitching in, or just make a quick and easy big pot of pasta.

7) Now kick back and enjoy! and don’t forget to pat yourself on the back for your contribution to your community.  

Additional notes:  The following excellent info is from this website……

“How to organize a successful clothes swap:

• Invite your friends & ask your friends to invite their friends
• About 10-15 people is the goal – aim for all shapes & sizes
• If you are hosting the swap at your house, make sure you have at least two full-length mirrors available
• For those of us who are modest, make sure there are other rooms available to dress and undress. If this isn’t possible, remind people they can wear a body suit or bathing suit underneath their clothing if they wish.
• Clothes swaps can be seasonal, but they don’t have to be: The best clothes swaps have all seasons clothing.
• If two people want the same item, you can have fun with this by either a coin toss, or having each person model the item of clothing and have a vote (do this only if you’re sure there won’t be hard feelings).
• If you have second thoughts about an item you have up for grabs – speak up quickly. A simple “Hmm, I’m not so sure I’m ready to give that up yet,” should suffice, before someone else gets too attached to the item.
• Be prepared – for a good time! You’ll be surprised how much fun you’ll have with a group of women trying on clothing! “

  Want to get involved but can’t throw a party? Join a local clothing swap group!!!