Saving Families Money Since 2007
The Land of Oz Family took this end table…
…And turned it into this adorable play kitchen. I’m inspired!
You can also see how she turned a $12 nightstand from Goodwill into a play kitchen. Also, check out how Fresh Cut Flours turned a thriftstore TV stand into a play kitchen.
The week leading up to the Relevant Conference went well. There was a LOT to do, but we survived and everything at the Relevant Conference went really well.
However, I came home exhausted, behind on sleep, and travel-weary. We jumped back into homeschooling last week and I made sleep a priority, but everything else in my life was chaotic and messy–as evidenced by the fact that I couldn’t even find my dress shoes on Sunday morning!
And very uncharacteristically, I didn’t set goals–which was a big mistake. In fact, I realized just how much momentum I lose when I don’t put written goals on paper for the week. I felt like I was aimless and going around in circles.
So, I’m re-energized in this whole goal-setting thing and am hoping to really be intentional about implementing more discipline and good habits in my life over the next few weeks. I’m going to blog my personal 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life beginning today in an effort to be publicly accountable for developing more discipline in my life. Look for my first post and practical application this afternoon.
Here’s an update on my goals from two weeks ago:
Family/Mothering Goals
1. Read Did You Carry the Flag Today, Charley? aloud to the children.2. Make Johnny Cakes with the children.
3. Wrap some fun surprises for the children to open while I’m at Relevant.Personal Goals
4. Finish reading EntreLeadership, He Heard Hannah, Kisses from Katie, Getting Things Done, and
In Search of Balance.
5. Get 8 hours of sleep Sunday through Wednesday nights (in preparation for short nights at Relevant).
6. Take extra Vitamin C. (Last year, I came back from Relevant and was sick for almost a week, so I’m trying to make sure I’m well-rested and all “vitamined-up” this year so that I can hopefully avoid getting sick!)
Home Management Goals
7. Get all the laundry done and the house clean before I leave.8. Make homemade ranch dressing (my friend made a mix up for me. I’ll share the recipe later this week.)
Business Goals
9. Attend/speak at the Relevant conference.
10. Host a reader meet-up in Harrisburg, PA for around 50 local readers.
And here are this week’s goals:
Family/Mothering Goals
1. Read Little Town On the Prairie aloud to the children.
2. Take pictures of the children with our just-hatched chicks every day for the photo book I’m doing of our chick-hatching experience.
3. Put together Operation Christmas Child boxes with the children.
Personal Goals
4. Finish reading EntreLeadership, He Heard Hannah, Kisses from Katie, Getting Things Done, and Becoming a Woman of Influence.
5. Go to bed early and get up early, as part of my 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life Challenge (more on that in a few hours).
6. Run 10 miles.
Home Management Goals
7. Do at least one load of laundry from start to finish every week day.
8. Make homemade Shower Cleaner.
Business Goals
9. Email all bloggers who are reviewing my book when it releases.
10. Write daily posts for the 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life series.
How did you do on last week’s goals? What are your goals for this week? I’d love to have you share your progress on last week’s goals and your goals for this coming week in the comments. Of, if you’ve blogged about it, leave your direct link below. Let’s cheer each other on to live purposeful and productive lives!
You can download a free customizable weekly goal-planning sheet here.
After a long and wearying day of traveling with our three children (6, 4, and 2), we were anxiously waiting to disembark at our final destination. I couldn’t have been more ready to get off the plane.
All three children had been especially whiny and antsy that day. I was sure everyone around us was desperate to get off, too, after being unwittingly subjected to over an hour of fussing, loud, and animated youngsters.
The stress levels continued to rise in me as the minutes ticked on and the decibels of whining increased. I was poised for someone to turn around and let out an exasperated sigh or give me a very sharp “what-were-you-thinking-bringing-these-unruly-children-on-this-flight?” look.
Read the full article over at MomLife.
Dillon’s Shopping TripHalf-gallon milk — $1.34
Clearanced bananas — $0.87
Gala apples ($0.99/lb.) — $2.83
Kleenex — $1.49, used $0.40/1 coupon (doubled) from the Kleenex freebie = $0.69 after coupon (I thought this was only $0.99 and was going to be $0.19 after the coupon. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized I had to buy 10 qualifying items to get it for $0.99. Yes, sometimes I overlook the obvious! :))
Progresso soup — used free coupon
Cheese — marked down to $0.99 (don’t ask me why as they expiration date is not until March 2012. I was more than a little stoked to get such a good deal!)
Total with tax: $7.33
Brown Cow yogurt — $1.99
Pomegranate — $0.99
Organic whipping cream — $0.99
2 bags cranberries — $0.99 each
Total with tax: $6.38
Aldi Shopping TripCorn chips — $0.99
Pita chips — $1.99 (total splurge, but these were SO good!)
Bananas — $1.10
Dried cranberries — $1.39
Chocolate chips — $1.69
Artisan lettuce — $1.99
Butter — $1.99 (woohoo!!!)
Baking soda — $0.49
3 blocks of cheese — $1.99
Cauliflower — $0.99
2 cans of black beans — $0.55 each
2 cans of chunk pineapple — $0.89 each
3 packages of strawberries — $1.69 each
Grapes — $2.68
Total with tax: $31.35
Would you like to know what the best deals and coupon match-ups are for your local stores? Be sure to check out the Store Deals section of our site where we post the best deals and coupon match-ups each week for over 100 different stores across the country. You can sign up to receive the top deals in your email inbox each week as soon as they are posted!
Did you snag any great deals or bargains this week or save money in other ways? If so, be sure to post about them on your blog and leave your link below. Please remember that this weekly round-up is to share deals you personally got and/or money you were able to save this week. In order to keep this weekly round-up focused on helping and inspiring others in their efforts to save money, links which have little-to-no content other than promoting affiliate links, etc. will be deleted. Also, to make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Super Savings Saturday post.
I never got this post up last week because I took a 24-hour computer fast while at Relevant. And then life has been busy this past week and I’ve literally finished zero books. The good news is that I did get a lot of sleep this week, so maybe it was worth the lack of reading to instead get caught up on the hours of sleep I missed while at Relevant last week. 🙂
Blogger Behave — As I posted earlier this week, this ebook is filled with wise words, inspiration, and practical advice for how to “make your blog benefit your life so you can love both.” If you are struggling with balancing blogging and life, I’d heartily recommend this ebook. It’s well-written, it’s thought-provoking, and it’s packed with meaty suggestions.
In Search of Balance: Keys to a Stable Life –This book didn’t have any earth-shattering information in it, but it was good to review and be reminded of the importance of making wise decisions about commitments, allowing margin in our lives, and not living in a rush-rush-rush frenzy.
Did You Carry the Flag Today, Charley? — Personally, this book wasn’t one of my favorites. However, the children really enjoyed it and each of them were engaged and didn’t want me to stop reading.
Currently reading: EntreLeadership, He Heard Hannah, Kisses from Katie, Becoming a Woman of Influence, and listening to Purple Cow audiobook. You can see all of the books I’ve read in 2011 so far here. Read all of my book reviews here.
Have you read any good books recently?
(Note: The Amazon.com links in this post are affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy here.)
Guest post from Melissa of Melly Sews
This pretty embellished t-shirt cost me less than $5 to make and the poinsettias are subtle enough to wear it well beyond the holiday season.
Sew 4 beads into the center of each flower.
Arrange the flowers on the neckline of the shirt, then sew into place from the inside of the shirt. You want to sew the centers, and probably a few of the petal edges. And then wrap it up!
Melissa is mom to two young boys and works as a theatre teacher. She live in Texas, where she is married to a football coach and gets to spend lots of time under Friday night lights. Visit her blog, Melly Sews, for sewing tutorials and inspiration.
Do you have a great idea for a handmade Christmas gift? We’d love to have you submit your tutorial for possible publication for our Handmade Christmas series.
A testimony by Kate from San Diego Deals and Steals
Our family is middle class, but we felt called to adopt. When we adopted our son from Russia we fundraised, but planned poorly and came home with $10,000+ in debt. We promised ourselves that we would adopt again, but that we would not do so with credit.
When we started our second adoption process we had a solid and realistic budget. We were completely debt-free (other than our mortgage) and had an emergency fund worth one month of living expenses.
Since we had two healthy children, we requested to adopt a child with disabilities as they are less likely to be adopted. Our adoption process cost nearly $30,000. (Note: Depending upon the circumstances, it can cost less and there are also grants available, such as through ShowHope.)
Our adoption journey was just over a year from start to finish. We saved for it in a variety of ways.
::We got creative and found ways to make extra money. My husband took on a few more hours. I made crafts, babysat, and started my blog.
::We cut our expenses in every way we could. We took advantage of free entertainment and bartered for all kinds of things to cut our already tight budget down. Every extra penny we saved was deposited into the adoption fund.
::We put our tax refund check as well as the small raise my husband got immediately into the bank.
::We stopped buying stuff. We paid for Christmas with Swagbucks and we rarely bought clothing or toys.
::We learned to be content. We didn’t pay for cable or video games. My husband drove his trusty ’99 Camry with over 260,000 miles. I learned to use my crock pot even more, instead of going out to eat.
::We were blessed with donations from friends, family, and strangers. People gave willingly as they understood this was not only a way to grow our family, but also an important ministry for our family to a needy child. We saw God provide as we were faithful in answering the call to adopt.
Our adoption story is long, but the short version is that in late May we were made aware of a girl who was to be born “any minute” that nobody in the immediate network was willing to adopt because of some significant (but correctable) special needs that had been determined by an ultrasound. In June, our daughter was born. With our savings from the previous year and the donations we had been gifted, we brought our daughter home with no debt.
We thought we had a $100 surplus, but we got one last lawyer invoice – for $110! — so we dipped into our emergency fund for $10! It was a tremendous blessing to bring her home without any debt associated with her adoption.
Kate lives in San Diego CA with her husband Harry, and kids, Josie (homemade), Silas (handpicked from Russia), and Charlotte (handpicked domestically). She is passionate about adoption and having fun in San Diego frugally. You can see more at San Diego Deals and Steals where she blogs about both.
Guest Post By Lucky
My 3-year-old son is a gluing fool. I decided to make him a Christmas gift that would embrace this (and keep him busy through the long winter to come).
Here’s what you’ll need to make your own Gluing Craft Box:
1. A shoe box
2. Material to cover the box (I used felt I had on hand and this printable.)
3. Painter’s tape
4. Scissors
5. Glue Gun
6. Washable school glue
7. Foam sheets
8. Snack size bags
9. Odds and ends for gluing
10. A piece of ribbon for decoration
Instructions:
:: Use the felt and a glue gun to cover the box. Use the four sides and the cover as a template, and cut out five pieces of felt. Glue each piece to the proper side.
:: Use the painter’s tape to tape over the seams on the sides of the box and top of the box.
:: Collect odds and ends around the house to fill up 10 snack-sized bags. Be creative. You can use left-over bits of pasta or beans from your pantry, leftover bits and pieces of fabric and string from craft projects, or anything else you can find. I used:
o Two types of pasta
o Two types of stickers
o Dried pinto beans and dried white beans
o Seashells and rocks
o Googly eyes
o Plastic dinosaurs and lizards from various prizes and goody bags that my son comes home with
o String, and rick rack cut into short pieces with buttons
:: Place the foam sheets at the bottom of the box (I got a package of 20 sheets at the dollar store). These will serve as the bases for my son’s gluing projects. You could also cut out pieces of card stock or cardboard.
:: Add the snack bags full of odds and ends to the box.
:: Close the box and use a piece of ribbon to tie the bottle of washable glue to the box.
Lucky is the mother of two young kids and a carb-intolerant kitty. She also loves making homemade bread.
Find other DIY handmade gift ideas in our Handmade Christmas series.
Guest post by Sean from Free Snatcher and One Smart Dollar
With the colder months almost upon us, you may be concerned about the cost of your utilities rising as the temperature outside goes down. The winter months already come with additional expenses due to the holidays, so why not follow a few tips to cut your heating bill down so you can spend less money on keeping warm and more money on the things you enjoy?
Before deciding to take on home renovation projects to save money on utilities make sure you figure out the cost of the improvement and how much you will really be saving each year. Compare these costs and decide if the upgrade to your home is worth it.
The investment you may make in energy efficient windows or a fireplace insulator may not pay off for a number of years, so you should calculate how much the project will cost, how much you will save on utilities each year, and how many more years you are going to be living in your home. This will help you decide whether the project will pay off in the long term. If you do undertake a home improvement project, check to see whether there are any tax breaks or homeowner’s insurance policy discounts you can qualify for adding energy efficient items to your home.
If you decide to forgo the home improvement projects because you do not want to spend a lot of money upfront, here are seven simple ways to reduce the cost of heating your home this winter:
You do not need to be living in tropical conditions at your home during the winter months. Find a temperature that is comfortable that you and the members of your household can live with, and keep the thermostat fixed at that temperature.
Also, make sure to turn down your thermostat when you are out of the house and at night when you go to sleep. You can turn it down manually, but a programmable thermostat works best because it does the work for you!
In addition, only heat rooms you actually use. If you don’t use your spare bedroom, storage room, or parts of your basement, don’t pay to heat them.
In order to keep the heat in your house, make sure that your blinds and curtains are open during the day. This will allow natural sunlight and warmth into your home to help heat it. At night, make sure to close your blinds and curtains in order to trap the heat in and not allow it to escape via the window.
You can buy plastic film to cover your windows, which will curb drafts and keep heat from escaping. Although this may not be the most attractive solution, it can help reduce heating costs.
Inspect your door frames to make sure no drafts are coming into your home through cracks or other spaces. If there is a crack, repair it yourself or have it repaired so cold air is not coming into your home. You can also purchase or make door snakes or put towels in front of the bottom of your door to prevent cold air from coming in.
Check your furnace to see if your air filter is clean. An unclogged air filter will help your heating system work more efficiently.
Air filters are very inexpensive to replace (they cost anywhere from $5 to $20) and will help your heating system to work as it should. You may also want to have your furnace checked by a professional in order to see if it is working in the most cost-effective way to heat your home.
Fans can be used during the winter in order to suck up warm air through your home and distributing it to help keep your house warm. Set your fan to blow air towards the ceiling. This will allow it to evenly heat the room.
Many utility companies offer specific tips by phone, email, or on their website to help you save money on your utility bills. Some companies will even send a representative to your home and conduct an energy audit and will offer ideas on how to help you use less energy and reduce your utility costs.
Sean Bryant is a personal finance blogger at FreeSnatcher.com and OneSmartDollar.com. He enjoys helping people spend and manage their money more effectively.
Let Birdz Fly shows you how to make T-shirt Yarn. You can use this to make a t-shirt yarn necklace or knitted dishcloths.
Do you have a fun and frugal DIY idea to share? I’d love to hear about it! Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.
Guest post by Kelly from Fru-Gal
I have been couponing for a little over two years now and it has become a complete way of life for me and my family. Not only does it save us hundreds of dollars a year on our grocery, drugstore, and clothing budgets, but it has enabled us to give abundantly to people in need on a regular basis!
The relative ease in acquiring free products through couponing, playing the “drugstore game,” taking advantage of daily deal sites, and signing up for freebies quickly replenishes my stockpile each month. Therefore, I have become more creative and proficient in how I use these freebies to bless others in times of natural disaster or personal crisis:
Natural disasters are a continuous reality in our fallen world. We’ve seen this clearly over the past year with the tornadoes in Tuscaloosa and Joplin, the unbelievable tsunami in Japan, and flooding in Minot and most recently the Northeast. Monetary donations are always very helpful during these disasters, but personally, I have been able to give more and more frequently through donating actual needed items from my stockpile.
After a natural disaster, I research online for organizations accepting items and try to specifically donate what they are asking for. Usually, these items include nonperishable food, diapers and other baby products, feminine care products, toiletries, and new clothing. I usually have an adequate supply of these items from my couponing and can quickly pack and send a box to these disaster areas throughout our country.
Operation Christmas Child is one of my favorite ministries. I love the impact of this ministry on children all over the world, and personally know adults who received a life changing shoe box as a child.
It’s rather easy to fill a shoe box with quality items I can get for free or nearly free by couponing. These include toothbrushes and toothpaste, toys, socks, hats, school supplies, hard candy, and much more.
Personally, my goal for 2011 is to fill 10 shoe boxes for $10 total. I have already succeeded in this goal and I’m currently working on my eleventh box. For a thorough list of items that can be included in an OCC shoe box, please see these gift ideas.
Voice of the Martyrs sends “Action Packs” to families of martyrs who are struggling in restricted nations such as Pakistan, Iraq, and the Sudan. They have a specific list of items needed for each country which includes pens, bar soap, blankets, towels, writing pads, flip flops, colored pencils, and more.
For more information on how to send an Action Pack, visit the VOM site.
A Blessing Bag is an easy way to help a homeless person when you drive by them at a busy intersection. Simply put essential items in a gallon Ziploc bag and keep your Blessing Bag in your car.
The next time you see a homeless person asking for help, you will already be prepared to bless them. Potential items to include can be: chap stick, small packages of tissues, toothbrushes and toothpaste, mouthwash, combs, bar soap, snacks, socks, a note of encouragement, and a list of community resources.
Due to my husband’s allergies, we don’t own a pet, but I can still accumulate free pet supplies every few months. Since I don’t need these freebies, I save and then send them to Humane Societies in natural disaster locations. Every little bit helps when shelters become overloaded from displaced pets.
These are just some of the ways I have found to bless people out of the abundance I have through frugal shopping. So next time you sign up for freebies or get free items at the store through couponing, take a second look at these items and see if you can donate them instead. I’m a stay at home mom and our family lives on one income, but I still have enough margin to give when I can get many items for free on a weekly basis.
Kelly is a wife and stay at home mom to a very active one year old. Her blog, Fru-Gal.org, is focused on frugal living to allow for more generous giving to people in need. She is an avid supporter of Operation Christmas Child, Voice of the Martyrs, and Gospel for Asia, and she supplies Disaster Relief Boxes to areas in the U.S. that have been struck by natural disasters using items she has gotten for free.
Paige emailed in the following tip:
Last night I needed two cans of cream of mushroom soup for a recipe, and I saw that we only had one. I happened to have two small cans of mushroom bits and pieces from Aldi that I hadn’t used, so I made my own, instead!
I just heated two Tablespoons of butter in a saucepan and then stirred in two Tablespoons of all-purpose flour. I then added in two cans of mushrooms (undrained) and stirred in a bit of milk (you can also use broth) until texture was creamy.
It was the tastiest cream of mushroom soup I’ve had! Since it wouldn’t be wise to buy the two small cans of mushrooms every time to make this, I am going to go to Aldi to buy fresh mushrooms when they are on sale, chop them fine, saute them in butter and then add the flour and milk. -Paige
Remember when I posted about the gal who made 46 freezer meals in four hours for a total of $95? Well, not only did I get to meet this amazing woman at the Harrisburg Reader Meet-up, but she also told me that she’d recently posted about her Football Food Freezer Cooking Frenzy.
Head over and read how she made a bunch of Football Food for her Freezer in just a matter of a few hours. I promise you’ll be inspired!
You know how I ran a guest post all about the benefits of menu-planning last week? Well, I totally dropped the ball on menu-planning for the first two days of this week.
I had all these great visions of maybe doing an Eat From the Pantry Week and blogging about it. But I didn’t make it very far with that idea–especially after I opened my fridge and freezer and found no motivation whatsoever to pull together meals.
In fact, for the sake of complete honesty here, I’ll tell you I’ve not showered in two days nor have I made it out of my pajamas. (You will be very happy to know that I did change into another set of pajamas, so at least I had clean pajamas on, if that counts for something! :))
There were some delays with our flights coming back from Relevant and we didn’t end up making it home until after 9 p.m. on Sunday evening. So my plans for getting things unpacked, laundry started, and a to-do list made for Monday morning went straight out the window.
I slept in on Monday in an attempt to catch up on multiple nights of little sleep, got up late, and then Monday was a blur of playing catch-up and homeschooling. I had an idea for dinner, but 5 p.m. came and went without me pulling anything out of the freezer to thaw.
So guess what I did? Oh yes, I know it goes against everything I’ve preached here again and again… but I called Jesse and asked if he could pick up Subway.
I know, you probably just fell out of your chair. But it’s true.
And I decided I wasn’t even going to feel guilty about it. Instead, I enjoyed the yummy sub and decided to switch Friday night’s usual dinner out for Monday and call it even. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do and give yourself grace for doing it, instead of feeling like a failure.
However, I did make myself pull together a last-minute menu plan for the rest of the week this afternoon so that I actually had a plan at 5 p.m. tonight! Here’s my very simple menu plan for this week:
Breakfasts
Granola bars
Cereal x 2
Steel Cut Oats with dried cranberries
Pumpkin Ginger Waffles
Toasted bagels, scrambled eggs
GranolaLunches
Hard-boiled eggs, pasta, peas
Carrots, hard-boiled eggs, granola bars
PB&J, carrot sticks, apple slices
Macaroni & Cheese, applesauce
Tossed salad hard-boiled eggs, feta cheese, and dried cranberries
Leftovers x 2Snacks
Fruit/veggies
Chocolate Banana Bread
Cheese & CrackersDinners
Subway 🙂
Barbecue Chicken, potatoes, steamed veggies
Chicken Parmesan Casserole, Easy Italian Breadsticks in the Bread Machine, fruit salad
Cheesy Chicken & Rice Bake, steamed veggies, fruit
Cheese Ravioli, leftover breadsticks, fruit salad
Dinner at extended family’s house
Dinner with friends (we’re bringing a fruit salad)Freezer Cooking
Pumpkin Ginger Waffles
Homemade Applesauce
Cheesy Chicken & Rice Bake
What’s on your menu this week? Share details and/or your link to your menu plan in the comments.
