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7 Tips for Planning Christmas Dinner on a Budget

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The holiday season is upon us. Soon, we will be getting together with our family to break bread and exchange gifts. If you’re the lucky one that gets to plan out the large Christmas dinner for your family and friends, then you may want to check out the following tips to help you stay within your budget and save some green this Christmas.

There are several things you need to consider when planning a Christmas dinner menu, while staying within a budget. The following are some of the tips that will be helpful in planning a healthy, but cheap Christmas dinner.

1. Plan & Shop In Advance

Plan the dinner menu in advance, and then buy the necessary items before the holiday season starts. It’s possible that you’ll get the holiday ham or turkey at a cheaper price if you buy it before the holiday season. When you do get it early, store it in the freezer. Not only will it still taste the same, but this will save you a few bucks. Also think about what side dishes you want to have. Buy those in advance also. If you plan ahead, you may also be able to clip coupons for items you’ll be serving at Christmas dinner.


2. Get an Early Head Count

If you know exactly how many people are coming to Christmas dinner, then it will be a lot easier for you to plan out what you need. This will help prevent you from buying too much food, and ultimately spending too much money.

3. Ask Your Guests to Bring a Dish

One of the best options for your budget, is to ask your guests to bring a dish. Not only will this help prevent you from blowing your budget, but it will also help you with preparing the dinner. Whether they bring a side dish, dessert or a bottle of liquor, the less you have to prepare, the easier it will be on you.

4. Avoid Paper Plates & Plastic Utensils

While they may be convenient, using paper plates and plastic utensils at Christmas dinner can be expensive. Not to mention, they are not eco-friendly. Save the money, and just wash the dishes yourself. Or better yet, get that nephew or niece you don’t like to wash the dishes for you. The clean-up may be a pain, but it’s a great way to stay within your budget.

5. Avoid Canned Goods

Eating fresh organic vegetables is always the healthiest options, especially if you grew them yourself. However, this isn’t always a viable option. Instead of buying canned vegetables, try using frozen vegetables instead. Not only are they be the healthier option, but you’ll also prevent your friends and family from being exposed to BPA, a common chemical used in the lining of cans. Frozen veggies also contain a higher amount of nutrients.

6. Don’t Buy Pre-Prepared Meals from Restaurants

Christmas Dinner Fruits

Sometimes, it’s just easier to buy a turkey or ham that is pre-prepared by a restaurant or catering company. While this will undoubtedly make it easier for you, it’s also an easy way for you to blow your budget. It’s still best that you set your alarm to wake you up early and get the turkey in the oven early.

7. Skip the Holiday Décor

Most Christmas dinners have some sort of holiday decorations to go along with the food. Whether it’s a centerpiece, decorative napkins or just stuff around the house, try to avoid buying these types of decorative items. You don’t need a santa clause serving spoon, if you’re only going to use it once a year. The same goes for holiday-themed napkins and plates.

What tips do you have for planning a Christmas dinner on a budget? Surely there are ideas that I’ve missed, so please leave them in the comment section below.

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The 5 Best Exercises to Build Your Forearm Muscles

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Since the beginning of time, guys have known that building their arm muscles is not only important for everyday activities, but also help swoon a few ladies along the way.

However, this goes way beyond just doing bicep exercises. You also have to build forearm muscles, shoulder and triceps as well. Strong arms will do much more than help you pick up ladies. Pretty much everything you do on a daily basis could be improved when you have stronger arms.

When it comes to building forearm muscles, there are many easy exercises you can do. Here is a list of five of the best exercises for forearm muscles, and easy step-by-step instructions for each.

Reverse Barbell Curls

One of the best bets you have for a deep forearm workout is the “Reverse Barbell Curl”. This exercise will help develop both your forearm and bicep. Pick up a barbell, not too heavy, with an overhand hold. Your hands should be about a hips length apart and your feet, a shoulders length. For the best workout, try to keep your thumbs on top of the bar, not under it. Start with your arms straight and the barbell on your thigh. Begin to curl the barbell until your arm is at your shoulder level, perpendicular to your body. Then lower the barbell slowly back to your thigh area. Repeat the exercise.

Barbell Wrist Curls


This exercise works great at building muscle in your forearms. To position yourself for the “Barbell Wrist Curl”, begin by leaning forward slightly, so that you are able to place both your forearms between your legs while sitting on a bench. When you grab the barbell, keep both of your palms facing you. With your wrists fully extended, slowly lower the barbell. Loosen your hold on the barbell slightly, and then move it lower again. Afterward, tighten your grasp and return your wrist back to its usual position. Raise the barbell once again, after you lower the barbell slowly. Repeat this exercise.

Hand Grippers

For this forearm exercise, you will need a “Hand Gripper”, which can be easily attained at a sporting goods stores or online. There are numerous exercises you can do with a hand gripper. The first exercise is pretty simple. Grab the hand grippers and close them. Keep them closed for as long as you can.

Another exercise you can do with a hand gripper, is to change hands while you are gripping it and then progressively increase the number of times that you grip with each hand. Heres a breakdown of what you must do. First, with one of your hands, grip the gripper once. Then, with your other hand, grip the gripper once again. Grip one more than the previous time when you alternate hands back to your original hand. Keep up with this process up until you don’t see it possible to do more.

Farmer’s Walk

The “Farmers Walk” is one of the best exercises for building forearm muscle. Doing it regularly will help strengthen your forearms over time. With both hands, pick up two heavy dumb-bells. With your arms down and back straight, walk as far as you can with the dumb-bells in hand. Once you feel that your arms can’t hold them any longer, safely put them on the ground and give your arms a break for a minute or so. Then, pick the dumb-bells back up and continue to walk as far as you can. For this forearm exercise, it may be best to wear a back brace, to help provide support to your lower back.

Newspaper Scrunch

This last forearm exercise targets the tiny muscles in your fingers, as well as your forearms. Take an individual sheet of newspaper. Using no other finger but your thumb and forefinger, grab on to the top corner. With only your thumb and forefinger, crush the piece of newspaper into a ball and put pressure until you feel unable to hold the ball. Do it again with the remaining hand. When you complete with your other hand, use your starting hand again, and so forth.

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Core Exercises: How to Strengthen Your Core

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Before we discuss the best core exercises for you to follow, we need to take a quick look at what the core is and does for you. The core is essentially a group of 29 muscles, making up the lumbo-pelvic hip complex. This group of “core” muscles include the abs, pelvis and back. When you have a strong core, it makes it much easier to do everyday physical activities. These core exercises are designed to target the mid-section of your body, and will help you lose belly fat and build six-pack abs.

These core exercises help not only make you stronger, but they will also make you feel better and have proper posture. Repeating these exercises will help you feel more efficient in your everyday tasks.

List of the Best Core Exercises

The best core exercises for men and women are the exercises, which help stabilize the core muscles. To explain it further these exercises help in maintaining the draw in maneuver during the duration of each and every exercise. The draw in maneuver is when the belly button is sucked in towards the spine voluntarily. One can do the core exercises at home as well. You can do the core exercises with medicine ball too.

Bridge Pose

This is one of the best core exercises for women and men. Start by lying, with your back flat on the floor. Bend the knees and draw the feet closer to your butts, so that you are able to touch your heels with your hands. Gradually lift your hips as high as you can. When you lift your hips, draw the core towards the spine and contract the glutes. Interlace the fingers and place the forearm on the floor for added support. When you are in the bridge pose your back should not be arched at any point of time. This is one of the easiest core strengthening exercises, however it helps to draw the core towards the spine and contract the gluteal muscles. If while doing the exercise, you feel a cramp in your hamstring, then release the position and stretch your hamstring.

Plank

This is one of the core exercises, which is also a yoga pose. It is a fundamental core exercise. Doing this exercise regularly will help you develop the core to its full potential. To do this core exercise, lie flat on the stomach with elbows and forearms placed on the floor. The elbows should be so placed, that the shoulders are aligned with the elbows. Lift your hips, stomach and chest off the floor, so that your body is parallel to the floor. Only the forearms and balls of the feet should be on the floor. When you come into this position, make sure that the core muscles are sucked in towards the spine and the back is not arched.

Side Plank

This exercise is similar to the plank pose. Come down on your fours, such that the shoulders are placed exactly above the wrist. Rotate on the balls of the right foot and turn towards the left, so that the body forms a straight line from the head to the legs.

Hold this position, by drawing in the core muscles and contracting the gluteal muscles. Come out of the position and repeat the exercise on the other side as well. For an enhanced core workout, try lifting your arm slowly in the air, until you achieve the pose on the image to the right.

Leg Raises

This core exercise can either be done with a single leg or with both the legs. Lie down on the floor and extend the legs out straight in front of you with hands placed next to your body. Lift both the legs off the floor till they are perpendicular to the floor. Then gradually lower the legs, but do not touch them to the floor. Repeat the exercise 12 to 15 times. The same can also be done using a single leg, where the movement is similar to the walking movement.

These best core exercises should be done after you have done some warm up exercises. You can also do the sun salutations for warm up. At the same time, do not forget to do the cool down, while you are “working to the core”!

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Thigh Exercises: How You Can Get Thinner Thighs

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Thigh Exercises

Most of us have certain body parts, which bother us. Abs are a common concern for men, while women commonly fret over their thighs. In both the abs and thighs, fat can accumulate easily, more so when you follow a sedentary lifestyles, along with an unhealthy diet. Therefore, how to get thinner thighs is a question a lot of women ask. Remember, there is no magic trick that will give you skinny thighs. You will have to make the effort to reach your goal.

The first thing you need to do, is take a look at your everyday diet. What do you eat during the day? If you follow an unhealthy diet of junk foods and fast food, that is a contributing problem to the problems your experiencing. Eat more fruits, veggies, whole grains or any other foods high in fiber. Stay away from the fatty junk food.

Once you improve your diet, the next step to thinner thighs is to follow a frequent exercise routine. There is simply no alternative to daily exercise. Just taking a quick walk around the block will help keep your body feeling younger and energized. But in this case, you specifically want to target your thighs and to do this you need to try the following thigh exercises.

The 5 Easiest & Best Thigh Exercises

To notice a difference in the way your legs look, you will need to make these thigh exercises a part of your daily routine. The more often you do them, the quicker you will see results. It won’t happen in a day or a week, but if you make these thigh exercises a routine, you will definitely notice a difference a few weeks down the road.

Power Walking

Power walking is one of the easiest and best thigh exercises you can do without equipment. It’s pretty simple, as the name suggests, all you have to do is walk faster, harder and with more intensity. Don’t strain yourself, but try to take a strong step every time. Power walking may feel awkward at first, but you’ll quickly fall into a groove. Go for a thirty minute “power walk” everyday. Once you get on track, try walking twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. For an added bonus, walk up inclines as much as possible. But remember to stay hydrated!

Lunges

Lunges are one of the best thigh exercises that will tone the upper part of the muscle. Stand straight up with your feet shoulder-width apart. If you are using weights, hold them in your hands and place your hands to the sides. Take a large step forward, such that the leg is aligned with the hip joint. If the leg is not well aligned, you could injure yourself. Lower your torso gradually, till your knee on the back leg about to touch the floor. The thigh of the leg in front should be parallel to the floor. Make sure your back is straight, when you are in the position. Hold in the position for a few seconds, before you come back to the starting position. Repeat the exercise on both the legs.

Walking Lunges

This is an exercises that should be a part of the thinner thighs workout. It is a great thigh exercise at home. It is similar to the previous exercise. The difference lies that you move ahead when you do the walking lunges, which exerts more pressure on the thighs.

Squats

Another great thigh exercise for cellulite. Stand erect with shoulder width distance between the feet. Like is the case with the lunges, you can make use of weights to do this exercise. Slowly bend your knees, as you lower your torso, as though you are about to sit in a chair. Come down, till your thighs are parallel to the floor. Squeeze your buttocks, as you come down and hold the position for 20 to 30 seconds and come back to the starting position.

Inner Thigh Squats

As the name suggests, this is an easy thigh exercise that will work the inner thighs. Place the right leg on a step and extend your hands in front of you at shoulder level for balance. Slowly lower your torso, till the right thigh is parallel to the ground, hold for a few seconds and release. Repeat on both the sides 10 to 12 times.

Without a doubt, there are many other thigh exercises you can do, but these exercises listed above are not only easy, but can be done with little to no equipment. Always remember to warm up your body before doing any of these exercises. With the proper nutrition, hydration and exercise routine, you will reach your goal of thinner thighs in no time!