Last Week's Thrifty Moves

After the craziness that was our week I slept in a bit Sunday morning and didn't crawl out of bed until 8:00, just as daylight was beginning.  I got up and started my day off by clearing everything out of our refrigerator and giving the inside a good scrub.  Then I put everything back and neatly organized the shelves.  I took some leftover salad and rice out to the chickens, collected an egg while I was at it and then took out the trash.  Once that was done I settled in with a hot cup of coffee to do some writing and even watched a few Youtube videos.  The sun was out and with the changing fall leaves my view out of my living room window was superb.  A great start to my week.  Around noon I got busy once again, clearing out and reorganizing our hall closet.  During our construction projects over the summer, this space ended up being a bit of a catch all for stuff that needed to be somewhere other than its usual spot.

All spiffy clean & organized

Monday is always such a tease.  We usually don't have anything scheduled that day so I just come home, fix dinner and spend some time with my kids.  But then Tuesday arrives and we are off to the races.  After meeting my oldest at band practice it was teacher conference time.  Same on Wednesday with my youngest only I picked her up at home and then off to teacher conferences we went. 

My oldest got her senior yearbook picture email prompt so we could go online and order some.  I was super excited and all set to place an order.  Oh my gosh they are expensive!!  Too far out of our budget I'm afraid.  So I did what they hope you won't and snipped the picture and printed them off on photo paper using our inkjet printer.  Not perfect, but not bad either and since I already had the paper and the ink it didn't cost us anything extra.  I printed off two 5" X 7"s and 9 wallet size that would have cost $169 had I purchased them from the studio!  I personally don't know how most families can even begin to afford that.

Oh my gosh, my sweet baby all grown up

After cleaning and reorganizing the refrigerator the week before I made it my mission to use up all the little odds and ends I had found in there so nothing would go to waste.  Lunchmeat, cheese, soup, salsa, juice and some condiments got all used up in lunches I made throughout the week.  I pulled stuffed bell peppers, sirloin steaks and a lasagna from the freezer for supper.  The girls had a canned soup night while I had scrambled eggs one evening.  The freezer lasagna saved the day both teacher conference nights as the youngest was home Tuesday and put it in the oven for us and then we reheated the leftovers on Wednesday in the microwave.  Bagged salad both nights with cherry tomatoes from our garden.  Easy peasy!  We also did quesadillas one evening and finished up the leftover lasagna for lunches.  Quick and easy meals to get on the table last week.  Pretty darn tasty too.

Friday's Fred Meyer grocery haul

I cleared out the bread drawer in the refrigerator and took out stale hotdog and hamburger buns to the chickens.  They also enjoyed all of our kitchen scraps from me making salads.

I picked up our Christmas dinner too! NY Strip steaks

Even better than the sale price, I had a $3 OFF coupon for their meat dept
so five NY Strip steaks for only $13.15!!  Yaaay!

Friday there was no school, but there still was band practice.  I picked up the oldest and one of her band mates from marching band practice (last one!-sniff, sniff) after work.  We dropped off the band mate and then we stopped at Fred Meyer on the way home to pick up a few groceries.

Found some markdowns

  

Saturday was all about the BIG high school marching band competition as Boise State.  We are all about supporting those kids so off we went to drop the girl off at the high school to join her band and then the youngest and I were headed to the stadium to watch and cheer everyone on.  I absolutely love marching band competitions.  I cheer on my old high school (Go Braves!) and my daughter's, plus everyone else for that matter.  It just makes my heart soar.

That's my girl on the left making her mama so proud

I washed out several Ziploc bags to reuse.  I put anything and everything recyclable into our big blue bin and dumped another collection container full of stuff into our compost bin outside.  My daughter added rabbit litter to the compost as well.

I mixed up some more Fabulosa and water (1 part Fabulosa to 3 parts water) in my spray bottle to use as our all purpose cleaner.  I use it on just about everything, including my tile floors.  I also used my Mean Green degreaser to give the new range hood a good cleaning as well as our stove top.

Fall in Boise, Idaho is pretty gorgeous

I mended a couple small holes in one of my favorite NFL T-shirts.  Awhile back one of our kitties had gotten startled and leaped off of me tearing my shirt and scratching up my tummy pretty good.  I don't even remember what had scared him.  Scratches have long healed by my shirt hadn't so I was glad to finally make that repair.

How was your thrifty week?

Day Planner Stuff From Dollar Tree

When I first started using a day planner I made my own using items I already had on hand.  I always enjoyed looking at the various ones at the store, but at the time I couldn't afford to by one.  Still, seeing the value of a day planner, I was able to come up with a homemade option that has worked well for me and as time went by I would tweak it and make it better.  I think this year my day planner is the mac daddy of all day planners and I'm super excited about it.

Last week when the oldest and I stopped into Dollar Tree I got even more excited when I discovered all the day planner options they were stocking.  Mostly the super cool stickers to use in you day planners.

They had a great selection and boy are they cute!  My daughter and I sat on the floor in the office supply/teacher aisle and went through everything they had.  I picked out several packets, more than I need right now, but I was having fun.  So was she.

It is safe to say I'll be set for many years to come with day planner and journal supplies.  I also found a really cute hot pink polka dot zippered pencil pouch to add to my planner.  It will be perfect to keep my grocery coupons in.

I found a few more card and paper crafting items to add to my stash as well as some post-it notes.  I also picked up some mini tablets for a fun little holiday gift/craft project I'll be sharing with all of you in the not too distant future.

If you use a day planner or journal and want to add some fun little touches check out the options available at Dollar Tree.  I know there are some women out there that spend well over $100 on their day planners each year, but if that isn't an option for you, and it isn't for me, then I recommend hitting the dollar store for supplies so you can make your own for a fraction of the cost.

Christmas Project #10 - Cookie Kit

I think this is a fun gift idea to put together and a great one to give anyone on your list that happens to be newly out on their own, a busy mom, someone who loves cookies or loves to bake, or all of the above.

Start with an assortment of brownie and cookie mixes, either in a package from the store or your own favorite recipe in a jar with instructions.

Add a package of cookies cutters and some sprinkles too.  Dollar Tree usually has them for a buck!

A container of vanilla frosting is nice.  They also have the icing tubes and tips for decorating.

Assemble together in a nice little basket, tuck in a wooden spoon and a Christmas potholder and you are all set.

My New 2019 Planner

I can tell you right now that 2019 is going to be absolutely insane!  We have so much happening next year it is just plain crazy and if I'm not organized and on top of things I'll likely need to drive myself to the loony bin.  Most important though, I want to make sure we can get it all done because from where I stand, it all seems pretty darned important.

I have to make sure things are not forgotten and fall through the cracks.  I will need time in order to get everything done because there are only so many hours in a day.  And of course there is always the financial aspect of things.  I want to make sure I can afford everything.  Running out of money won't be an option.  Planning ahead and being organized will help me be far more successful in accomplishing all that we will need to do next year.  Hopefully without breaking the bank.

I got started on my 2019 calendar in September.  I used Publisher (Microsoft Office 2013) like I always do to make up a plain template for the entire year, month by month.  I picked out my fonts and started out by filling in all of the holidays, seasons and plugged in our birthdays.  I went through the school district calendar and added in all the breaks and dates the schools are closed.  Then I figured out a couple days off for me so I can have a break every once in a while too.

I decided this year, rather than write in my daily chores on my planner pages each month, I'd just go ahead and put those on as well.  Save me a little bit of time.  I also went ahead and scheduled a few fun things so we'll be sure to do them and not get too caught up in all of our busyness.

This time I added my monthly goals to each of my pages instead of making that separate.  Along with that I put in some motivational quotes that I really like and then I decorated it with various clip art snips to make it pretty.  Once I was done I tweaked it here and there, added a few things, took some out and once I was satisfied with it I printed it out.

At Wal-Mart I went to the office supply section and bought a really pretty 1" inch 3 ring binder, some plastic dividers with tabs and a really nice pencil pouch with three different zippered pockets in it.  The binder is the same brand and style as the mini binders I bought last year to make my journals.

I used plastic sheet protectors to put the calendar pages in and a sheet of return address labels to print the labels for my tabs, both of which I already had on hand - Daily Planner, Meal Planning/Groceries, Projects, Graduation, Family Vacation.  

I labeled my tabs and put everything together in the binder.  I also added some college rule loose leaf binder paper to certain sections for writing lists or making notes.

I put pens, mechanical pencils, a clic erasure, scissors, paper clips, post it notes and flags into the pencil pouch along with some restaurant coupons.  Under Family Vacation I inserted our receipts and confirmations into sleeve protectors and put those in the binder.  Graduation has our preliminary party plans.

I found a brand new wool Givenchy bag at the thrift store last summer that I plan to use this winter.  It is really nice and my binder fits inside it beautifully with loads of room to spare so it will be handy to pack this puppy around with me.  Along with everything else I seem to need on a daily basis.

Because so much is going on this school year I plan to begin using my new planner next month.  I'm excited to use it and put it into service.  I have great hopes that this binder will help me keep my wits about me and help me hold onto my sanity.  If luck holds out and the planets align I may even get it all done.

How I Paid For Our Home Improvements

We've done a lot so far this year upgrading and updating five almost six spaces so far.  I thought I would share with you how I managed to pay for all of this, keeping the cost to a thrifty minimum.  I got creative!

To begin with I became a wee bit of a gift card hoarder in the past two years.  Every year at Christmas I receive a $200 Visa gift card from my work.  I didn't spend the last two I received and kept them tucked away.  My work also offers incentives to earn $25 gift cards and every time they did I took them up on it and tucked those away.  Our insurance company also offers a $50 gift card each year if you take their online health education classes and I've done it every year.  This year and last year I added that to the stash (haven't spent this year's yet).  And lastly I used my rewards points from my credit card to get some Home Depot gift cards.

First was our kitchen with some cabinet reconfiguring, a new ductless range hood (Lowes gift card) and fresh paint on the cabinetry and the walls.  I used wood and supplies I already had in my garage so I didn't need to buy a whole lot to complete this mini renovation.  It took us two weekends and we were excited and ready to move on to our next project which was our entryway.  It was pretty battered up but we did it up proud by hanging some beadboard textured wallpaper (Amazon) and giving the walls, ceiling and doors a couple coats of paint.  I also updated the doorknob on the pantry.  We completed that project in one weekend and moved on.

Kitchen			Entryway
Cabinet paint	23.00		Wall paint (white)	-
Range hood	44.98		Primer	-
Wall paint (white)	34.98		Wallpaper	25.00
Primer	-		Door Knob	5.98
Roller	4.98		Roller	-
Paint tray	1.87		Sponge brushes (2)	-
Paint tray liner	0.98		Spackle	-
Sponge brushes (4)	3.56		Paint tray	1.87
Spackle	-
				32.85
Visa Gift Card	(25.00)
Home Depot Gift Card	(25.00)		Total	34.82
Lowes Gift Card	(44.98)
Sub total	19.37
Total	20.53

Our next project was to transform our plain and simple dining room space and I think we did that and more.  I really love how this turned out by using leftover beadboard wallpaper to make wainscoting and adding a simple chair rail using trim I had in the garage (FREE WOOD bin near work).  We painted the ceiling, all of the trim and the bead board white and the wall above with gray paint.  Gorgeous!  I moved the light from my bedroom to replace the old dated ceiling fan that was over the table and bought a new light fixture to replace the one in my bedroom.

The living room was next on the list.  We added new trim (had it in the garage) to the door, trim to the living room window (FREE WOOD bin near work) a new entry way (using tiles I had leftover from the kitchen, entry and laundry room) painted the ceiling and all of the trim white and used the gray paint to spruce up the walls.  Lastly we replaced the old ratty carpet with carpet tiles.  It was an amazing transformation.

Dining Room			Living Room/Hallway
Wall paint (gray)	30.98		Wall paint (white)	30.98
Wall paint (white)	-		Wall paint (gray)	-
Wallpaper	25.00		Roller handle	4.98
Trim	-		Roller	4.98
Liquid Nails	-		Paint tray liner (1)	0.98
Painters caulk	-		Carpet	505.38
Roller	-		Sponge brushes (2)	1.78
Light Fixture	59.97		Paint tray set (floor)	5.46
Baseboard heater	40.98		Outlet	1.19
			Paint - floor	13.00
			Trim - bullseye (2)	2.98
Home Depot Gift Card	(50.00)		Molding	-
Visa Gift Card	(59.97)
Sub total	46.96		Visa Gift Card	(66.33)
Total	49.78		Sub total	505.38
			Total	535.70

I bought the carpet from Home Depot online and used my PayPal credit account to pay for it.  Every month I make a good sized payment on that account and as long as I finish paying for it within six months I will accrue no interest.  That is the plan too!

The hallway hasn't been completed yet, but I have everything I need to do the job.  And the stairway project is still a work in progress too.  All I need now is a little more time in my day and if anyone knows where I can find some let me know!

I wanted to share this with you to show you that with a little creativity and a lot of patience you can do big things with not a lot of money.  FREE WOOD bins are everywhere, you just have to look for them.  Craigslist is a great place to find free and low priced items.  Recycling centers and thrift stores too.  New construction sites have trash piles and if you ask they are usually more than happy for you to haul off their junk so they don't have to pay someone to do it for them.  What's the worst that can happen?  They say NO and chase you off with a stick?  So what?  Then you can call them a really not nice name once you are safely locked in your car and driving away.  But seriously, that rarely ever, almost never happens.

Patience is another key.  When we moved back into our home I desperately wanted to do all of this right away, but the reality was I didn't have enough time or enough money to do that.  So I worked on what I could and slowly, but surely I got it done.  The little things add up.  First I scrubbed the place clean and hauled off all the garbage, we started cleaning up and repairing the yard, we made over our flowerbeds, repaired the damaged door, replaced the broken light fixtures and updated some old ones, replaced the damaged gate, repaired the kitchen backsplash, spackled the dings and painted the scuffs with primer, fixed the missing trim piece in the kitchen, fixed the broken closet door, replaced busted fence posts, and so on and so on.  In the meantime I collected trim and wood, I looked at Pinterest and YouTube for ideas, I thought a lot about what I wanted and created a vision of my home that made me really happy.  And I collected gift cards.

And then I got busy.

Anything is possible.  Eventually we get there.

Have I mentioned we are going to Disneyland? 😉