The girls have been doing lots of painting and drawing this week — mostly abstract type art pieces. I love to see them being creative and having so much doing it!
Bonus: it’s such a frugal activity — especially when they use art supplies we already have on hand.
My sweet friend, Victoria, sent me this Craft Night in a Box — complete with a Starbucks gift card! It made for a free night of entertainment and relaxation for me.
I had so much fun working on it last night and am planning to finish my project tonight. If all goes well, I’ll share the finished results tomorrow.
{Isn’t this SUCH a great gift idea? If you know a crafter or a wanna-be crafter, this might be a great last-minute gift idea!}
The kids have been enjoying some books and this drawing DVD we got at the library last week. Have I mentioned how much we love the library?
If you haven’t visited yours recently, you should take some time to do so — it’s like having thousands of unexplored worlds and ideas at your fingertips, for free!
I’m loving reading this Lynn Austin novel I requested used from PaperBackSwap, one of my favorite frugal sources for books!
We’ve been making memories by working on this 2000-piece puzzle that we got from a White Elephant gift exchange earlier this week.
I got a $5 iTunes gift card with my points on Recyclebank. And I spent it to get some songs from one of my favorite movie soundtracks.
{Oh yes, I know, you might think it’s a little kooky that I love Frozen as much as I do. But here’s the thing: the songs not only make me so happy when I listen to them, but I can relate to many of the themes in the movie because of my own personal journey with being more authentic to my true self in the past few years. So yes, it might be juvenile, but I don’t really care! :)}
One way I didn’t save: I could not figure out why the “cream” I was pouring in my coffee this morning looked so watered down. And then I actually read the box. Yikes… Clearly, not all brain cells were firing this morning. Needless to say, I had to pour that coffee down the drain and brew a new cup!
We LOVE our local library … a bit of a walk in the winter but a great bike ride in the summer! And I LOVE that my older two (11 & 13) have learned how to put books on hold for themselves … with two avid readers it saves a LOT of money!
I saved money at the library this week by putting my book club read on hold and waiting for it there as opposed to going out and buying it! (My book club has decided to meet every two months this year so hopefully I should be able to continue doing this!)
I also saved a great deal at the Christian Book Store this afternoon getting our spiritual gifts … great sales! (I saw you were reading The Best Yes and it was on sale so I picked it up for my hubby to give to me 🙂 )
*Side Note – I’m taking a page from your planning, goal setting, etc. and this year my goal is to read 3-4 books a month but to NOT BUY ANY NEW BOOKS! I have SO many books here around the house I can read/reread and I’ll use the library as a resource as well. Putting it out there to keep myself accountable!!!
I love your commitment for 2015!! And I’m cheering for you — you can do it!
Thanks for the encouragement!!
LOL! And here I was thinking the egg in coffee was some kind of on-purpose-protein-boost. Hmm, I haven’t heard of that before… But grabbing the wrong carton is totally something I would do. Eww…At least you didn’t drink it first.. right?
I’m dying to know what’s in your craft in a box! I need a gift like that for a friend and am curious as to what’s in yours!
We’re huge Frozen fans too. I love the way it challenged all the stereotypical Disney themes about love at first sight, true love *must* mean a princess and handsome lover, etc.
And as someone who has lived way too long fearing what other people think, letting manmade rules dictate what I do, and living in hypocrisy, I think “Let It Go” is a really good challenge. (So I don’t think you’re weird at all for loving Frozen!)
I saved hundreds this week buying my twins their first “big-kids bed.” I had allocated about $1,000 for two brand new twin-sized beds and dressers for each. Until now they’ve been sharing 1 dresser, and it’s bursting at the seams, so we knew they’d each need their own. Well, after searching, and searching, and searching, the cheapest bed we could find made with decent materials was $600 each, not including dressers. Resigned that I was going to have to go over my budget, we went ahead and ordered them. However, there were problems with the shipping of the product, and we ended getting frustrated and just cancelled the order. God works in mysterious ways, because we were able to find amazing deals on beds and dressers this past week. In the end, I only spent $700 and got two beds, and two dressers made with quality materials and am $300 under my budget! I’m so excited!
We love Frozen and my daughter is in high school. She had our coffee fail this week, I brought her coffee while she was studying for finals sitting on her bed and in an amazing acrobatic feat she knocked the full cup off her bedside table with her legs. But the bonus is along with scrubbing her floor, we cleaned and organized her basket of nail polish 🙂
And now those songs are stuck in my head. 😀
Who cares if you like Frozen lyrics. I loved the songs so much the Frozen soundtrack was my Christmas gift last year from my sister — at my request. Its probably the most listened to album on my phone over the past year!
My favorite song is one you don’t have though “Fixer Upper”
My husband and I had that exact puzzle. We got about 1/2 done and I felt overwhelmed by all of the blue so I quit. Then I accidentally hit the puzzle with my leg and it fell in the floor. We just put it away 🙂
I’ve used my dog’s goat milk in my coffee by mistake before!
I am glad you realized about the egg whites in your coffee. Several years ago my husband thought he was going to surprise me and bring me some coffee in bed and when I tried it, it was so salty. He put canning salt instead of sugar into it. Ugh I can still taste that coffee and it has been almost 20 years ago now.
Your egg whites in coffee reminds me of the day I served cumin on oatmeal, yeah, the kids noticed that mistake right away!
I completely laughed out loud at the egg whites!! This week I had a moment at Starbucks where I was over tired, and using a free coffee coupon I had won… I stood at the creamer station, poured three packets of sugar, and my cream INTO THE GARBAGE RECEPTACLE!!! The poor barista was looking absolutely dumbfounded at me, and I ran out of there so quickly, without actually adding anything to my coffee at all 🙂 glad to see I’m not the only one having a rough coffee week haha!
Oh, that is way too funny! And sounds totally like something I would do! 🙂
You aren’t the only one pouring the wrong thing in your coffee…My mom recently put baby formula in hers thinking it was the creamer haha!
Yikes!
I used a 15%off coupon, $20 in Kohl’s bucks and $5 in Yes2savings to buy 3 jar candles, a lotion gift set and a lapel pin for Christmas gifts for a grand total of only $5.07 out of pocket. (gifts for my son’s speech therapist and the secretary at that office, an additional gift for a friend from work, and a small additional gift for my mom and my brother’s girlfriend. )
I went “shopping” in my closet of hand-me-downs/thrift purchases for a total of 11 pairs of pants, multiple sweaters and shirts, a pair of sneakers (for outside play for 8 year old), and a few pairs of pjs for my little boys. Plus I created a large box of outgrown items to send to Goodwill that I will use toward my taxes. (I have an 18 year old son as well as five and 8 year old sons. I saved hand-me-downs from the oldest and have been buying little boy sized pants at thrift stores for $2-4 a piece to have ready for the inevitable holes in the knees. My little guys are really rough on their pants!)
I created an inexpensive gift for our piano teacher. I know she’s a thrifter and an advid “garage sale” gal. I created a “Garage Sale Survivor Kit”. I purchased an inexpensive basket from Dollar Tree. I filled it with hand sanatizer, tissues, re-usable snack bags (bought on clearence earlier in year), water mug, and cookies. One could also include a roll of quarters and re-usable grocery bag, but I had set a $10 budget.
We also saved money by visiting our local warehouse used bookstore. My son had $5 to spend for his birthday, and he found 10 books. Research to see if such a warehouse is in your area.
I am attempting to make vinegar. We had a huge amount of apples this year. We saved the cores and peelings. The concoction has been brewing for several days. It may be a bust, but it is smelling like vinegar…?…
Happy Savings! – Candlewick Mama
I saved this week by deciding not to dump the bottle of red wine my husband and I weren’t crazy about. Instead I poured it into an iced tea pitcher and added an orange and some raspberries (that I got on sale for $0.88) and let it sit in the fridge til the next evening. Voila! Yummy sangria.
Instant scrambled eggs with coffee for breakfast…hmmm, you could’ve been on to something! Too bad it didn’t turn out well 😉
We have a Christmas Eve tradition of spending with my husband’s extended family that includes a simple gift exchange. I saved this week by having the kids decorate pine cones, we found on a neighborhood walk, with paint & glitter hanging with twine as a decoration for the gift exchange. I’m planning on using brown lunch bags as the “gift bags” and have the kids color/decorate the outside.
One way I am saving this holiday season is by using some of my son’s artwork to write his thank yous on (I use the back side). He creates so much more than I will keep and our family and friends love receiving such a personal thank you!
Oh, I love this idea! Thanks for sharing!
Well, I don’t think you’re kooky for loving Frozen. I really liked it, and I’m not a Disney movie fan. I thought it was the first Disney cartoon movie I’ve seen that actually had meaning. The whole “true love can warm a frozen heart” theme I thought actually had depth and real-life inspiration. And it didn’t have a super scary lady or bad guy to give my kids nightmares!
Too funny about the egg whites! That is so something I would do!
I agree! I thought there was a LOT of depth in the movie. Glad to know I’m not alone in this being a 33-year-old Frozen fan thing! 🙂
45 year old Frozen fan. I love my sister. Sister love.
Haha about the egg whites! I just hate when the morning coffee gets messed up (cannot say I’ve ruined it with egg whites though!). I have had it brew and spill onto the counter, down the cabinets and onto the floor though. Mistakes like this wouldn’t happen AFTER the coffee has been consumed 🙂
😉
If i get rushed getting the kids out the door in the morning. I end up leaving me coffee on the kitchen counter.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who had a complete bizarro moment this week. I’m normally incredibly organized and am the stable, keeping things running parent in the house. This week I just kept doing the weirdest things. I’m blaming it on the winding down of the semester, Christmas preparations and trying to wrap up work to take a two week vacation! 🙂
You and me both!
Have a great two-week vacation!
No one is commenting on the egg whites? I will! Gross gross gross! Poor you LOL 🙂
🙂 I know. Icky!
I was laughing too about the egg whites. Some containers just look TOO similar! I still remember years ago when I was living at home yet, my mom sprayed what she thought was deodorant on but instead it started foaming up really big. She didn’t have her glasses on and called me into the bathroom (being the only girl in the family). We had a good laugh when we discovered she had sprayed foaming “Scrubbing Bubbles” bathroom cleaner under her arms instead of deodorant! Yes, she did BOTH armpits! She felt pretty disinfected at least! I’m glad you didn’t actually drink the egg white coffee combo. Hilarious!
Oh my goodness, that made me laugh out loud. Too funny!!
Filled up my van for only $10 from almost empty with Fuelperks! We spend our gas budget on gas gift cards when that store has bonus Fuelperks on gift cards. Then we buy gas on the cheap every few months. Hubby would rather use the gift cards anyway.
Way to go!! That’s AMAZING!
I feel like the only parent of a little girl who hasn’t seen Frozen! 🙂
We love the library too. I give my husband a list and he picks up books for us so I don’t have to load kids up and expose them to all the germs we have going around right now!
Maybe see if your library has Frozen?? 🙂
We actually just bought a house (YAY) within walking distance of our library. I am hoping that there will be many homeschool days there. =)
Oh yay! When we lived in Kansas City, our house was just a few blocks away from the library and we always loaded up the stroller on Fridays and spent at least a few hours at the library. Such fun memories!
The last two house I lived in were less than 5 minutes from the library. I would stop in there more often than Starbucks! When we moved to Texas last year, I was disappointed that my nearest library was almost 30 minutes away. I still make the trip with one, if not both, of my boys once a week. It’s my happy place!
FROZEN IS AWESOME…. totally needed all CAPS to emphasize how awesome it is too. 🙂
We can be Frozen fans together, okay?? Glad to know I’m not alone!
I Love the library too. We go there a few times each week to take advantage of all the free resources. We saved at the library today by giving can food items to the food drive to pay off our fines.
I also love Recycle Bank and Frozen.
Oh, I love that your library allows you to give canned food items to pay off your fines. Brilliant idea!