Contest Entries
As a single father raising two toddlers, I have to be very creative with the stretching of my money. I am blessed to have these children whose mother abandoned them at an early age. My daughter was 4 1/2 months old in April of 2004 when their mother left us. Unknown to me, was that she was already pregnant with my son who was born in October of that year. Since she was incarcerated at the time of his birth, I was able to pick up my son from the hospital and he has never known his mother. My finacee has been a great help to me, but we still struggle day to day to make ends meet and provide the children with all they need and most of what they want. My fincee recently obtianed an online loan from National Payday in order to provide us with the greatest Christmas present ever, a trip to spend Christmas with my family. This will allow my children as well as my fiancee the opportunity to meet and get to know my father, brothers, and sisters. I come from a large family and it has realy hurt me that I have not been able to afford a trip so that my children can meet their extended family. All the gifts under the tree mean nothing without loved ones to share them with. This year we are going to be able to laugh and cry with family as I renew bonds and my children forge new ones with the greatest gift of all....FAMILY!
If i had $400 dollars this year to spend it will be a blessing. The first thing i will do is take some of the money and buy grocery and cook for me and my two kids and I would buy enough food so I can take some food to the shelter down the street from my house. I recently lost my job so i cant afford the fancy turkey,hams,pies etc. My youngest daughter came up to me and said that it aint no santa and she dont believe in christmas because she ask santa at the mall to bring her daddy back home and he hasnt came home yet. I just broke down in tears. See this will be they first Christmas without there father and I would do anything to put a smile on they faces. They are good kids ages 7 and 9 and they had a ruff year and I just wanna treat them special that would be my christmas gift. He was my financial backbone and I wont to show them we can still have christmas even though daddy's gone and mommy lost her job. I will run out and buy a real christmas tree and 2 christmas stocking full of gifts and candy for the kids. Then I would rent some christmas movies and me and my kids will have a traditional christmas and I would actually look forward to Christmas this year
My best idea to save money this year is and would be to buy my gifts online through ebay or an online stores like that. Most every site has what they call online stores and they sell real and brand new authentic merch. They are almost always way below the price you would pay at a conventional store. And it makes the reciever feel like you went well out of your way and really care by getting them that so called "over priced" gift they asked for. I myself am buying the woman I love more than anything in this world a new digital camera from ebay with the cash advance I got from National Payday! Times get tight the couple weeks before the holiday and the camera we have broke. I know she wants to be able to take pictures of our three beautiful kids and she doesn't know how she is going to be able to do that. Trust me she isn't taking it well cause she thinks she will miss all those memories. But thanks to National Payday I am going to be the hero of the year and she'll have no clue I only paid about half price if not less for the camera. Thanks National Payday for making her dreams possible and mine of making her feel like the queen in my life!!!
I'm a single mom with two girls, 8 and 2, that I raise on my own. The oldest really knows what's going on and what to expect at Christmas, the youngest really doesn't. With ridiculous daycare expenses, utility bills, and rent, there's little money left over for groceries, let alone Christmas presents. This year, me and the girls are making gifts with things around the house for our extended family. I'll need a loan from national payday to take care of Santa's annual visit for the girls. To help make that stretch, I'll go to a second-hand store for used toys and clothes for the girls. My oldest needs winter boots, too, so I'll use some of the loan money for that, and get some groceries of course! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year to you all! Thank you National Payday!!
Being a single mother of two wonderful little girls, I am always looking for a way to save some money, especially around Christmas. This year has been and is going to be especially hard. So as I have thought about this last year about being hard, I thought of hard candies. So, being poor and needing to come up with gifts for my family, the girls and I went to the store and purchased some corn syrup and peppermint flavor. We made some VERY HOME MADE holiday candies! We went to see my mom to borrow her candy thermometer and some double pots. My girls were 4 & 7 at the time. We used some left over craft popsicle sticks for the lollipops and poured some candy goo all over the top ½ of the stick on the baking sheet. These things looked a mess! We broke up some candy canes and pressed them into the goo to decorate some. Others got chocolate or multicolored cookie sprinkles. At this point, I was almost embarrassed to give them out. But, We wrapped them up anyway and gave them out in home made tins (some old cookie tins we got from grandma and painted with craft paint.) Everyone actually smiled and loved them. My girls were so proud of themselves and their candy. It was very sweet, ad I mean the experience, not just the candy! My mom is asking for some more of that wonderful candy again this year. Thinking back on the making of it, I had the most fun with them that year than any other!
