Holiday Bites #9: Silver and Gold

OK, now that I typed that title I now have Burl Ives' voice playing in my mind. Silver and gold, silver and gold .....
Excuse me. I came across the Christmas videos today as I was cleaning out the coat closet. (Pardon me as I toot my own horn and tell you that I am throwing away an entire trash bag of old videos, donating another two boxes of videos and in so doing, created enough space in the closet to move my husband's tool boxes to the closet from their current spot in the middle of my bedroom floor. Go me!) I'm back from the rabbit trail ... where were we? Oh yes, Christmas videos. I wonder if I will be able to wait until after Thanksgiving to start watching. I do love many of the stories and the music as well.
However, none of this has anything to do with the Holiday Bite for today. I spent some time in the last couple of days working on filing expense reports and gathering info to file some medical claims. Both of these jobs require some time filling out forms but the reward is that we get reimbursed for a significant amount of money that was spent paying for doctor's visits and ministry expenses. The reimbursement check should come to us right at the time when we can most use a little bit of "extra". Now you may not have the same kind of paperwork as I do, but is there something you can do to put a little extra in your bank account? Could you spend an hour or two putting some items on ebay? Do you have quality clothes that a consignment shop would buy or sell for you? Any rebates that you need to fill out and mail? Could you plan to use more coupons in the next few weeks and set aside the amount of money that you "saved" with coupons and place it in an envelope to use as "mad money" during the week before Christmas? A little ingenuity now could save you even more if it means keeping you from pulling out the plastic at the last minute.
Can't think of any way to add a little silver and gold to your wallet? Try today's "alternate" Holiday bite: Find your holiday videos/dvds and while you are in there pick a few (or several) old ones to get rid of. Less clutter = less stress and less work cleaning up for the holidays.