When celebrating the queens in our lives on Mother’s Day, there is no doubt that all of us want to give them the Moon and more.
When celebrating the queens in our lives on Mother’s Day, there is no doubt that all of us want to give them the Moon and more.
However, during economically challenging times, we have to be smarter about spending, while still making the women in our lives feel just as special.
Because of this, I wanted to take you on a journey to give my mom, Stephanie Gray, a beautiful surprise for an early Mother’s Day while being money-aware.
Many of you know that my mom lives in Arkansas, but she loves to visit San Antonio whenever she can.
This makes celebrating holidays on the actual holiday a bit difficult, but we work with what we can because of my crazy work schedule.
This recent visit allowed me to celebrate Mother’s Day with her in person, but I did so in a way where I saved money in one area, while spending a little extra money in another.
For me, I know Mom usually loves starting her day off with a good breakfast, and with Dad cooking dinner later that evening, I figured making a homemade omelette with her favorite ingredients would be a great idea.
The chefs over at the St. Phillips Culinary Department helped me make a decent omelette on a tight budget.
“Many of the ingredients can be found inside your household,” said one of the chefs. “That could be anything in your veggie bin inside the fridge. Eggs are a bit pricey, but you may have some also ready to go. Then you have to think about a good side. Perhaps some toast or a parfait.”
As she said, I ended up having many ingredients in my kitchen, but the small things that I did need, like an onion, bell pepper, fruit and tomato, I only spent around $12 at HEB for a really solid omelette.
Now, I know what you are thinking: How dare you act cheap for Mother’s Day? Trust me when I say that was not all I wanted to do for my mom to make her feel special.
For her entire setup, which she also had no idea I was planning, I got her a large vase of glittery roses, Mother’s Day-themed balloons, greeting cards, wine, and a special gift for her favorite cat that had just passed away.
We all know how expensive the gifts, flowers and extra things can be. For me, in total, I spent a little more than $200 for Mom’s special day.
The moral to the story is you can totally do whatever you want to make the queen in your life feel special and appreciated in whatever capacity you can. Again, I wanted to spend more in the gifts category versus the food area, but you can do the opposite.
Me walking you through this is not me saying I have all of the answers or to do exactly as I did whatsoever.
I’m simply saying to people who need to see this, who are like me, living paycheck to paycheck or close to it, no matter if you can spend a lot or not, there is nothing wrong with doing some parts of your celebration on a budget, especially if your finances are tight.
The main goal, as we all know, is to make sure Mom feels loved and appreciated, and by the grace of God, I was able to do just that with my mom, while walking you through the particular steps I took to save in one area and splurge in another.
