A couple years ago the HH and I feel in love...with this guy, DAVE RAMSEY. He is so incredible inspiring and motivating. He is exactly what we needed at that time in our lives. I am so glad that we found him sooner then later. He teaches about getting and staying out of debt and how to use your money wisely. By following his plan, it has given us so much more freedom, control, and peace of mind with our money. Pretty much he's AMAZING!
He is a BIG reason why I did this project in the first place and a HUGE reason why I've stuck with it. He has a radio show that I listen to almost every night while I do the dishes and clean-up the kitchen, it continually motivates me to 'stick with it'. If you haven't checked him out yet, DO!
One of my most favorite things to buy (second-hand or not) is pajamas for the kids. They just look so darn cute in them! Pajamas can be one of those really expensive things though, especially if you buy the fun Character ones from the Disney Store, which the kids LOVE. I have gotten me, or rather the kids some great second-hand jammies for a GREAT price. Here are just a few of them.
Miss J sporting her Princess Arial PJs. She has worn them so much that they are starting to come apart along the bottom, but "who cares, no big deal, she's got more" and I only spent $2 on them. :) Wear/love them all you want. :)
Mr. C in his "How To Train Your Dragon" pajamas ($1), and Miss J in ALL PINK PJs. (.25 for both the leggings and the shirt.)
Mr. C in Mario Jammies which were a huge hit and his Valentine's Day present ($2.99), and Miss J's Tinkerbell jams that I purchased a year and a half ago for our Disney Vacation. ($2 and legging were .50) Much cheaper then buying them brand-mew at Disneyland, and she loved them just the same. :)
I was going through pictures and found this little JEM. I did this last Summer, and I love it. Just spray painted a MASON JAR and threw in some wild flowers (thanks for sharing Ash!) and I had instant happiness.
Have I told you lately how much I love me some MASON JARS?
I wish I could say that I made this cake, but I can't.
I wish even more that I could say that I ate some of that cake, but I can't. :(
I CAN say that I made the cake stand though. :) It cost me a whole $1.75 to make. Cute right? It was a birthday gift for My Sis-in law and it looks like it went to the right person if she's going to be putting things like this on it. I can only imagine how yummy that tasted!
I also made her a really cute yellow and gray one that I almost had to
keep for myself. ;) Hopefully I'll get a picture of that one on here
too.
I recently saw this cake stand on Pinterest and it's pretty much exactly what I did, so go HERE for the tutorial.
She got her stuff at the Dollar Store, but I got my plate from a Thrift Store (has a lot more character) and bought my candle stick off my cousin. I'm thinking she got hers from the dollar store also.
Really cute, cheap, and easy gift, and I'm ALL about that. :)
Coupons... ... sometimes I LOVE them other days I HATE them. As you all know I love saving money...LOOOOOVE IT. That is were the love part comes in. On the other hand I HATE being stressed out and that is what coupons seem to do to me. I feel like they take up too much of my time. I feel pressured to use them because I'm paying $20 a month for them. I won't go to the store without them , but I don't have time to go through them, so I never go to the store and then we have nothing to eat in the house. That makes me very ornery/stressed come meal time! It's a vicious cycle! I know I'm probably not doing it right and I need to find my own niche and what works for me but as for now I've canceled my newspaper, and I feel A LOT less stress in my life. But I have to admit as I shop I often think, "I bet there's a coupon for that." and I feel a little sad that I don't have them. :( True fully though I did save a lot of money especially when it came to non-food items. Such as, razors, ziploc bags, face wash, shampoo, laundry soap, etc.. I found myself not using a lot of the food coupons though. I don't know...see my inner struggle!
On Wednesday I went out shopping by only doing price matches. (I did use 4 coupons that came on the package of the lunch meat I bought) I spent 1 hour the night before making my list and doing my meal plan for the next week. I then spent 1 hour at the store, that's with two kids. I spent a total of $104.53 and got...
...all this..
...and this...
...oh and this...
That is A LOT of food people. It is over 2 weeks worth for us on most items. I even had to have a CM come over and okay my total because I saved so much money. :) I LOVE IT when that happens! I know you couponers out there are thinking, "I could have gotten it down to $20." Still I did pretty good with only two hours spent and NO STRESS. :)
Oh, and did you notice my stack of Ramen Noodles? I can't wait to try out my new Cookbook. Cost me .25 at last weeks yard sales. Whoot, whoot!
Here is a video that KSL ran on Couponing vs Deal Shopping. What are you're thoughts? I really can't make up my mind. Should I give couponing another shot? What to do, what to do...
