Buy Next Year’s School Supplies Now!

 

Now that school has been in session for a few weeks now might be the best time for you to stock up for next year.  Stores tend to put leftover school supplies on clearance in order to move them out and make way for holiday merchandise.  I would often stock up on paper, spiral notebooks, markers, pens and pencils, crayons, scissors, glue and water color packs.

 

I kept a bin in my hall closet to store these clearance items so that once the annual supply list was sent out by teachers at the end of summer I could go through my bin and pull out what we needed for the year.  Then I would repeat the cycle again always buying what I needed on clearance.  I rarely ever had to pay top dollar for any school supply.

 

This bin was also very handy when in the spring the kids needed extra supply as they ran out.  It also served me well if I needed to make a gift bag for a child as I almost always had an abundance of crayons and markers on hand so all I had to do was grab a coloring book or an activity book along with a favorite candy bar or a package of gummy worms and I was good to go.  Extra school supplies also make great stocking stuffers.

 

If you have an extra $20 go buy as many extra supplies as you can and squirrel them away for next time.  Your busy mom self will thank you!

 

 

2020 Christmas Gift Idea #3 - Homemade Granola

A couple weeks ago I made some homemade granola for our prepper pantry and used my vacuum sealer to keep it fresh and keep it long term.  As I was working on this it occurred to me that this would be perfect to give as a Christmas gift.

Dried cranberries, raisins, coconut, walnuts & sunflower seeds

I really thing food gifts are going to be much more appreciated this year than ever before.  How nice would it be to receive a nice package of homemade granola.  I've shared the recipe for my granola before so if you might be interested in giving this as a gift click here.

You can package it or put it in a jar to give as a gift

Have any of you made your own granola before?

2020 Christmas Gift Idea #2 - Journals

A few weeks ago I took an old spiral notebook we had laying around and started using it as a journal of sorts for retirement planning.  I thought it would be a good thing for me to make all of my many lists in.  I love to plan and part of that is making lists of all kinds for all kinds of reasons.

This notebook still had most of it pages inside, still very usable

This spiral notebook was one my daughter had used only a few pages out of for her math class last year.  The cover had worn spots on it and it wasn't overly pretty.  Not like my cute retirement planner I put together a couple weeks ago.  So I grabbed my scrap bin full of various size pieces of scrapbook papers I had used for card making and got busy.

Lots of scrappy leftovers

I "laminated" the cover with strips of packing tape

I had a lot of fun selecting the papers and arranging them on the cover.  I used my glue stick to slap them onto the notebook cover and arrange all of the pieces like a crazy quilt.  Once I was finished I let it dry overnight.  In the morning I decided to "laminate" it for added durability.  I don't own a laminator so I grabbed a roll of packing tape and covered it with strips.  I also went along the edges to add some extra reinforcement too.

I added some cute little tabs to separate my lists

A handy little pocket

When I was finished I cut some short pieces to make tabs so I can easily separate and locate my various lists.  I also used a scrap piece of cardstock which I covered in more scraps and let that dry.  I "laminated" that too and added it to the inside of my cover as a pocket to hold slips of paper.  It worked so well I made another one for inside the back cover too.

I think this is the perfect companion for my planner

Afterward as I sat and admired my work I thought what a super cool idea for a gift.  How fun to make one of these and include a notepad and pen, a sheet of fun stickers too and give it as a gift.  What do you think?  I love it!

2020 Christmas Gift Idea #1 - Mug Gift Set

This little gift is one of my favorites and is super easy to put together and not expensive at all.  You can tailor it specifically to the recipient or make up a bunch to have on hand and ready for any gift giving occasion.  Part of the fun it is to come up with all the varieties of mug gifts.  My favorite part is finding the mugs.

I like to find my mugs at thrift stores and antique shops so I can make the gift that much more special.  Especially if I have a particular recipient in mind.  Then I can hunt down a mug that they would especially enjoy.  I have a co-worker that loves, loves, loves Christmas so I found this darling Ho, Ho, Ho mug and knew it was perfect for her.

Once I have found the mug it is a simple matter of deciding what to put inside.  I decided to do an assortment of teas.  Because I am a big tea drinker I didn't need to go any further than my tea cupboard to find a nice assortment of teas to pop inside the mug.

K cups for the coffee lover

Cellophane treat bags, like the ones you find at the Dollar Store, are perfect to wrap up a mug.  I tie them closed with curling ribbon and attach a homemade gift tag.  When I give mug gifts I also like to include a homemade goodie.  Some yummy cookies or fudge is always a nice treat to enjoy with a hot cup of tea or coffee.

Homemade chocolates

Other things you can add to a mug are K cups, cocoa packets, soup packets, spiced cider packets or mug cake mixes.  Pair some cocoa packets with mini marshmallows.  You can also make your own homemade mixes and put them in plastic bags.  By using your imagination you can easily come up with loads of different ideas.

Our New Gift Wrap Organizer

I am bound and determined to get my house organized so I have all like items stored together.  This not only makes a lot of sense, but will certainly make tasks much easier as I will know where everything I need is to complete that task.  Our new craft center has been amazing.  Far better than I ever could have imagined and I'm super happy about it.  I want to continue with the organization and decided my gift wrapping supplies would be next.

I was happy to see how heavy duty this organizer is

The selling feature here is the roll storage - yes!

I had a nice large tote to hold most of our supplies, however the rolls of wrapping paper have always been problematic.  They've not had the best home propped up against the wall next to the hot water heater.  They fall over and get bumped, just not ideal at all.  I found an organizer on Amazon that would hold everything in one place, including the rolls, and it hangs up on a closet rod eliminating the bulky tote being stored on the closet floor.

I couldn't believe the pockets were large enough
to hold all of my gift bags & gift boxes

Loads of pockets on the other side to hold bows,
ribbons, tape & scissors as well as my gift tags

The organizer is a gray canvas bag much like a garment bag.  It has different sized clear vinyl pockets that zip closed so I was able to sort and keep everything neat and protected as well as easily accessible.

Tags, scissors & tape in one pocket

Two pockets hols all of my sticky bows

These are pretty large spools of ribbon

Once it was all loaded up I realized just how much wrap, gift boxes, cello bags, bows and ribbons, tissue paper, gift bags and tags I actually had.  

In retrospect I probably didn't need this wrap after all

But I have a great place to keep it while I use it all up

Way too much, in my opinion, and likely enough stuff to last me for several years.  I don't plan to purchase anything new for a long time to come.

Thrifty Easter Goodies For My Girls

As I've shared with you several times one of my goals this year is to be really mindful with our spending.  Another goal I've shared is to use up what we have on hand rather than purchasing something else.  Easter is going to be a great way for me to work within these two goals.  My girls are at an age where they've let go of their Easter baskets and lowered their expectations.  Nonetheless, I still like to make the day special for them when they wake up in the morning.  I plan to make a nice brunch for all of us to enjoy and typically we have an early afternoon dinner.  We often have guests for Easter dinner.

Easter themed gift bags and pastel tissue paper I've saved to reuse

In my gift wrap bin I have Easter themed bags save from when their grandparents gave them goodie bags in years past.  I plan to reuse those this year and fill them up with goodies I've been collecting for them.  I set myself a $10 budget to spend on those items and I think I've done really well.

They always got a new toothbrush and tube of toothpaste in their Easter baskets and this year I planned to put that in their bags.  I picked up Colgate toothpaste on sale at Fred Meyer for 88¢ a tube and three packs of Colgate toothbrushes for $1 at Dollar Tree.  They'll be all set with toothbrushes and toothpaste now until Christmas.

The last remnants of my gift box fit in this bag

I've gone through my stash in my gift box and dwindled it down to nearly nothing, but that's okay.  Part of the goal.  In the past few years I've redeemed enough "Free Gift" coupons at Bath & Body Works to amass quite a collection of the small sized lotions and shower gels.  Some of those made it into the bags.  Fred Meyer Friday Freebies have also netted my quite a collection as well.  I've picked up several full sized candy bars as well as some I picked up on sale and used coupons with to make them super cheap.  I think the most I've paid so far for one is about 38¢.  I picked up two packs of sugarless gum on sale and used a coupon to make them 50¢ a piece.

At Dollar Tree I found cute little notepads cutout in each girl's initials and used a 50¢ OFF coupon I printed from Coupons.com to buy a tube of deodorant.  I picked up another one on sale for $1 at Walgreens.

I think the bags are darling and the girls will love all the goodies I've stuffed inside.  How did I do on my budget?  Total spent came in at $9.78!  I'd say I did just fine, I stuck to my budget and my goals.  Yes!  Now to figure out what to do for everybody else.

Valentines & Gift Tags

Last year I made some cute little Valentine Gift Tags to use on some goodies I gave to my loved ones.  In my continuing endeavor of using up what I have on hand I decided to make some again this year.  This weekend I will be digging out my glue, scissors and scrap stash to make new gift tags for the goodies I have planned and will be making on Sunday.

I also want to make a few cards.  I am sending out Valentines to loved ones that live far away.  I had one left from previous years in my stash to use up so I will make a couple more cards to send using up some more scraps from my stash and a piece of card stock.  I have loads of envelopes on hand too, otherwise I would've made some of those.  Tons of stickers left too from what I bought at Dollar Tree last year.  I'm going to be busy using stuff up for a while.

Here is a thrifty little gift idea I posted last year in case you are in need a small little something.  What do you have planned?

Gift Wrap Supplies & Saving My $$

In the spirit of using up what I already have and spending less I took a good look at my gift wrap supplies.  In fact, on Christmas day I gathered up any reusable tissue paper, bows, gift boxes and gift bags.  I went through all of the supplies I had leftover and did a little bit of a purge and reorganize of everything I have.

I have loads of bows I collected and put into a box and several spools of ribbon.  I have more than enough Christmas gift tags to last several Christmases.  Some I made and some are from a grab bag I purchased at a thrift store last year.

I folded and put all of the tissue paper into a gallon size Ziploc bag.  I gathered up all of the gift bags and tucked them inside a large gift bag to keep them together.  Gift boxes were flattened and I was able to fit them all inside a larger gift box.  I have a small assortment of boxes for treats as well as cellophane bags for Christmas, Valentine's Day and Halloween.  I also have two gift card boxes.

The only thing I can think that I would want to buy would be a single roll of gift wrap that would work for any occasion like birthdays or a shower gift.  I am completely out of birthday wrap, we used it all up last year, but I'm not 100% sure I even need to do that, but I might want to.  If I do decide to pick up a roll I will likely get one at the dollar store.  They have a nice selection to choose from and you sure can't beat the price.  So, if I do purchase anything  I guess I only really need to spend a $1.  I'd say that is pretty good.

For the most part it looks like I am very well set for all of the holidays.  More than enough to wrap gifts for the next couple of years.  Maybe I need to give more gifts.  Ha!

Christmas Came Early!

We have a coffee bar setup at work even though the company provides coffee and tea service for us.  The coffee bar has a variety of more expensive fresh ground coffee as well as a Keurig and a HUGE variety of K cups.  We all contribute to keep it stocked and whenever I see things on sale I pick things up or if we can get coffee bricks on sale on Amazon we'll pool our money and I place an order.  We've been doing this for years.

I've often thought it would be really nice to have a single serve coffeemaker at home for those occasions where a fresh brewed cup of coffee would be nice to have.  This is totally a want for me and a luxury I item I can certainly live without, but fun to have nonetheless.

Last week I was at the store with the girls and I started looking at them.  Again.  No way was I interested in shelling out the money for a Keurig right now, plus they are kind of big and my kitchen is kind of small.  We looked at the tiny ones and I wasn't overly impressed with the quality of the ones they had although the price of $19.99 was certainly more appealing than $169.99.  But they did have one that seemed to fit all of my requirements.  It was sturdy, a brand I know well, Farberware, and not too large.  And only $35.  It came with a filter basket so I can use regular grounds or K cups with it as well as it makes various size drinks from espresso cups to large travel mugs.  Hmmmm, not too shabby.

My youngest daughter picked the box up off the shelf and told me I was getting it.  My oldest chimed right in and told me it was a good one and to go ahead and buy it.  Seriously?  I really didn't their need help to buy something I don't need.  But I sure got it.  They stated their case and it ended up coming home with me.

I love this thing!  I haven't had any buyer's remorse about it either.  Totally a luxury item and I love that I can have a fresh brewed cup of coffee, plain or flavored, anytime I want.  It looks nice, it doesn't take up much space and it brews a nice cup of coffee.  I think I will use it often enough to justify the expense as well as the real estate it takes up on my counter.

I find K cups on clearance and on sale a lot so it won't be overly expensive to keep some on hand and use.  And again, I can use my own grounds in the little filter basket.  So there you go.  I have a nonessential appliance sitting on my counter for the sheer reason that I simply wanted it.  How about that?

Christmas Project #12 - Mini Notepads

Need a quick and easy affordable last minute gift idea?  I made these mini notepads using those memo pads you get at the dollar store and some of my scrapbooking paper.  They are super simple to make and there are loads of tutorials for these on YouTube with a ton of variations.  This is one of those items you could make so many different ways and it would be a great gift anytime, not just for Christmas.  I made some for stocking stuffers.

Spread your glue onto the cardboard back of the pad

Apply your paper strip to the cardboard
wrapping it over and down the front of the pad

Decorate the front however you choose

I pulled apart the notepads where the cardboard backing separates each one.  Then cut strips of paper wide enough and long enough to go over the cardboard and up and over the front.  I glued the paper to the cardboard and trimmed off any excess.

Then I used paper strips and stickers to embellish the front of each pad.  You could literally sit down and pump out a ton of these in nothing flat.  I spent about 15 to 2o minutes and cranked out six notepads.  And how cute are these?!

Super cute, super easy and super thrifty!