from the same nest

“I Spy” Bag

2010-08-31T14:48:00.001-07:00

My toddler is active. Very active. With an upcoming trip to a soccer tournament, I’ve been brainstorming ways to keep her busy during the games. Me chasing her for 1.5 hrs is not my plan. With that said, I searched blogland and I found a project that inspired me, but now I can’t find it to link up. If anyone can send it my way, that’d be wonderful!

I started out with a large piece of stiff felt. Cut it in half to have your front and back pieces.

Cut out a viewing window.

I used pink tulle as my “see through” fabric and sewed it on using clear thread.

Sew up 3 of the 4 sides.

Find treasures for your bag. I got these from the doll house section, the jewelry section and the button section at HobLob.

These items I found around my house.

Put all the treasures inside.

I added about 1.5 cups of rice as “extra filling” and then sewed up the final side.

What have I learned from this project? I think I used too much rice. There is still plenty of room to move the inside treasures around, but I think my toddler would get less frustrated with less “filler.”

Also, some of my treasures grab onto the felt fabric and don’t move around as freely as I wish. Since the sewing part of this project took less than 10 min., I may make a new “bag” with cotton fabric (still using the tulle). This way it’s more of a bean bag type of toy. Either way, I’m excited to see if this keeps her interest for longer than 2 seconds.

How I Coupon Part 2: The Coupons

2010-08-24T06:52:00.001-07:00

Time and money are both precious commodities to me, and I come from the school of thought that time is money. I don’t care to spend endless hours doing something that could be streamlined a bit more efficiently. Couponing is one of those such things.

Clipping coupons can be a tedious task. I have spent entire Sunday afternoons slaving over my coupons. Clipping, sorting, purging… all as the minute hand ticks on.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Definitely not the best use of my time. Even if I know that I’m going to save myself $20 with the coupons I just clipped from that weekend’s coupon inserts.

To think of all of the time I wasted and for such little return. My new process is much more streamlined. It’s definitely much less time consuming and the pay out is much higher.

To start with, I’ve never liked forking over $2.00 for a Sunday newspaper only for the coupon inserts. It seemed sort of counter productive. Spend $2.00 to save a few more. At least that’s how I often felt as a casual coupon user.

Now that I’m trying to earn ranks as “Coupon Queen” I’ve discovered that quantity of coupons is key. A wise blogger, or two, once told me that you should get one coupon insert for each member of your household. In my family there are four members, so every Sunday I purchase four newspapers.

Depending on the city in which you live that could be $8-10 worth of newspaper. Not the case! If you have a dollar type store in your neighborhood – where everything is only $1 – they sell Sunday newspapers for that same price. Even if the grocery store next door has them hiked up to the standard rate, you can purchase a Sunday edition newspaper for only 100 pennies at a dollar store.

We just cut the money we spent on coupons in half!

Now clipping 4 to 12 sets of coupon inserts may seem like a very daunting task. Let me assure you that it is not. There is a simple method to save both your time and the strength in your hand.

Start by disassembling one entire coupon insert. Lay each page out side by side until you have the entire insert taken apart.

Now do the same thing to the next insert. Match the identical pages and place them one on top of another. Repeat with each insert.

Once you have all of your piles neatly stacked it’s time to start clipping! (Some people choose to staple their sheets together. I don't find this necessary, but if you do, make sure that you don't staple through the barcode!) Pick up one pile of identical coupon pages and clip out any coupons you believe you may use. I choose to clip coupons based on product, not brand. For instance, I may not use a particular type of shampoo, but I will clip any shampoo coupons because I do use shampoo. Remember, using coupons does not always allow for brand loyalty. I also skip over all dog food coupons because we do not have dogs. No need to waste my energy clipping the ones you have no need for. Move on.

Once I am done clipping out all of the coupons I want, I then neatly stack all of the unclipped parts of the insert back together to file it away for later. Who knows if a friend will ask you for those dog food coupons, or if a fabulous sale will run on a product you do not need, but could donate. Never throw away coupons… unless they are expired.

I have found the best way to store these unused coupons is in a plastic milk crate. You can find these very inexpensively, I believe Walmart has them for $3 still as part of their back to school promotions. I simply date a manilla folder and slide the unused coupons inside.

As you can see this is a brand new process for me, but I am loving it so far! I also have plenty of room to store my coupon binder. As coupons expire, I will toss out the old inserts. I have also made the decision to save outdated store ads in these folders so that I can begin to track sales. I’m not planning to save every single ad, but for the chain pharmacies and a local grocery store or two I think it will be useful. Again, I will weed out the old as time passes.

By the way, after implementing my new system and trying very carefully to shop with coupons, $20 is no longer a worthy savings in my book. I look to save upwards of $100-200 with couponing each week. Couponing really does work with a good system in place!

Click here to read How I Coupon, Part 1: The Binder.

How I Coupon, Part 1: The Binder

2010-08-18T11:43:00.001-07:00

I can remember as a child watching my mom clip coupons at our coffee table, I also remember helping on occasion. I didn’t understand the magic that came from those tiny pieces of paper for many years. Now it’s my turn to clip and have my children beneath my feet watching and fighting over the expired coupons I discard. The circle of life.

I don’t remember the method my mom used for couponing. If I were to guess she does what many casual couponers do, she clips the coupons she thinks she will use and sorts them by category in a small accordion style envelope system.

That is what I have done many times.

I have actually tried many methods to couponing. All of them have failed me for one reason or another, or I have failed them.

I have tried the clip, sort, envelope file system. I spend many minutes in each aisle searching thru each category. It is rather time consuming, and can be very difficult to have both hands full of coupons, especially since many times my kids travel along with me to the store. I also was finding that I needed more specific categories for items, healthy and beauty alone covers such a large assortment of coupons.

I have tried the clipless coupon system. This worked wonders as a time saver, but it also kept me from using coupons. In this system you file away each coupon insert that comes in your Sunday paper and then only clip a coupon when you need it. For me, I never knew what I had, and I failed at going back and clipping anything. When I gave up this method that I knew wasn’t working, I threw away nearly 25 inserts from previous weeks that were filled with expired coupons. Many for items I knew I had purchased! Talk about frustration.

The method I currently have in place is one that I have tried before, and also found to have problems with, but it was due to my casual couponing, and not because of the system itself. Now that I am focused on becoming a VERY dedicated coupon user it is proving to work well. It is a time consuming system to put into place, but once you have it set up, it works well, and doesn’t take nearly as long to keep up as one would suspect.

I use the binder system for my coupons and I love it!

Let me take you on a brief tour of my binder and show you how amazing it really is. Maybe inspire you in your couponing endeavors!

First of all, I purchased a sturdy three ring binder that has a zipper all the way around to keep anything from falling out. This one I found at Walmart a couple of years ago for about $10. Now that it’s back to school time, this could be a great time to find your own, or in a few weeks when things are marked down to clearance prices!

I do love my binder and all of it’s pockets, I know that some binder users have binders with a handle and strap, and that would be very handy. If I ever find one with just the right pockets and this feature, I will probably switch out binders, but for now mine works great.

In my outside pocket I keep important things like my scissors, my calculator, pens, highlighters, sticky tabs, and paperclips.

Inside my binder is where all the filing and sorting begins. I researched many coupon binders to find some great ideas from many other binder users. Just Google “coupon binder” and you’ll find many systems to steal ideas from, or also binders you can also purchase with all of the parts and pieces in place.

Along the front of my binder is where I keep all sorts of goodies. I have an entire pocket dedicated to Bed, Bath, and Beyond coupons. Did you realize you can use expired coupons there, and also up to five in one transaction? NEVER throw them away! Unless you have a ton like me and no hopes of ever using them. Since mine file so neatly here, I just keep them all.

I also have a pocket for all of the coupon mailers we receive. Costco, Valu mail, and a couple of others that come to our house. I can’t say we use many of these, but it’s a neat and easy way to keep them all in one place and I just trade them out when a new one arrives in our mail.

And last but not least a pocket for the weekly ads. I save the ones for my local grocery stores, big box stores, and pharmacies. They neatly tuck inside and I can reference them in one place at a moments notice.

On the opposite side of my binder, on the three ring system, is where all of my organization takes place. I start with a zippered pencil pocket for storing all of my receipts. This is probably my husband’s favorite feature of my binder system!

After that I have a set of 8 pocket tabs labeled for each major store in my area. In these pockets I file my weekly shopping list for each store, coupon match ups, and any specific store coupons. When available, I’ve also printed off copies of each stores coupon policy to refer to as needed, so they are located in their designated pocket.

Behind each specific store, I keep coupons I know I will use that week at that store. It helps to have as much of a shopping trip pre-planned as possible and that is even more important when using coupons. I haven’t yet purchased, but plan to get two pocket pages (the kind used for photo books) to store these coupons. One pocket for coupons I plan to use, one pocket for coupons that I took, but end up not using for one reason or another.

Following my individual store tabs is where I sort and keep most of my coupons. Just like a traditional accordion file system, I have sorted coupons by categories. Here is my list, but you may find a way that works better for you. Some people choose to sort coupons alphabetically by brand name as another idea.

1. Breads & Grains, Cereal & Breakfast

2. Canned Goods

3. Meat

4. Frozen Foods

5. Dairy Products

6. Condiments, Sauces & Dressings

7. Snack Foods & Beverages

8. Packaged Foods

9. Household Items

10. Misc

Within each category I use 9 pocket sleeves (for baseball card collectors) to sort coupons. I clip, fold and store. When folding a coupon be sure to try and leave the photo, $ off, and expiration date visible. This will make it much easier to find what you are looking for, determine if it’s a good coupon, and toss expired coupons.

I also try and organize each 9 pocket sleeve in to more specific categories per page. For instance, within my canned goods tab, I have an entire sleeve dedicated to canned fruits, one for soups, one for vegetables, and one for misc canned items. This helps when I am standing in a store aisle and see that a certain item is on advertised sale. I can match up my coupon to the sale and score big.

You may notice that I didn’t list any health and beauty items in the 10 categories I had written above. That’s because I have another entire 5 tab section dedicated to them. Healthy and Beauty is a huge coupon market, and where the majority of my coupon usage comes from. The categories I choose to use are:

1. Kids

2. Medications

3. Hair & Body Care

4. For Him

5. For Her

Again, within each category I sort things more specifically… a page for razors, oral care, shampoo/conditioners, etc… the list could go on an on.

On each set of tabs you can also see there is a lined section for notes. I am planning to use this area for my price lists. If I purchase something regularly, I’m thinking I’ll jot down the prices I pay along with the date and track prices looking for the best deals.

Behind all of my coupons are one last set of pockets. They aren’t all designated as of yet, but I’m sure will be as time passes. One pocket holds my mail in rebates, another my weekly meal plan, and printed coupons (until they are assigned to a store pocket where I will use them) In the very back of my binder is where I store my weekly coupon list print out for reference.

As you can see this has taken a lot of work to get organized. However, most of the work was in the set up and now I just have to do some grooming each week as I weed expired coupons and replace with new ones. It’s a system I’m very excited about and love to use!

This is definitely not the system for a coupon beginner, but I’ve progressed past the beginner stage and am working toward status of Coupon Queen. I’ll share more of my couponing tips as I continue to work on my system and find new and exciting things that work well for me.

Click here to read How I Coupon, Part 2: The Coupons.

Fabric Bracelets: 5 Min. Tutorial

2010-08-19T07:38:00.001-07:00

Last night I was sitting at my sewing machine and staring at a stack of fabric. I didn’t want to create anything that would take too long (it was already 10:30 PM), but I had to make something. Then I discovered this piece of scrap fabric. (You might recognize this fabric from my shorts mishap.)

I suddenly decided to make my daughter some bracelets. She loves putting circular toys on her arms, so I thought that a bracelet would be fun for her! And of course, since they are made out of fabric and not beads, they are much more practical for a toddler. Here we go.

First, cut your fabric to size. I just eyeballed the length.

Then you’ll fold the fabric so create the thickness that you want and pin it in place.

I did 2 stitches lengthwise to hold my fabric in place.

Now is the time to make it into a bracelet. Fold one of the ends under and then place on top of the other end. Hopefully the picture will help explain.

Now sew across. I did several stitches… some were straight and some were angled. Do whatever you would like.

Ta-da!

Fabric bracelets. They would be even cuter if you added some fabric flowers, jewels or even a fake watch face. I’ll be experimenting with some ideas, but let me know if you come up with anything fun!

And here they are on my daughter.

And we are hookin' Up with the HoH.

Garage Sale Find

2010-08-14T18:12:00.001-07:00

I.love.garage.sales!

One person’s junk truly is my treasure. Not everybody can appreciate digging through boxes of books or bargaining for a great price, but it’s a thrill for me. I sit at work on Fridays and daydream about the garage sales that I’m missing out on.

Maybe I have a sickness?

About a month ago I asked my husband if he would ~~help me~~ build a new toy shelf for our crayfice. I want something with multiple shelves and doors. Doors make a room look put together. (Especially when they are hiding lots of toys and art supplies. Right?) He said that once some other projects got completed, he’d be glad to.

Today I found this diamond-in-a-rough.

It’s perfect. Well almost. A shelf needs replaced, the whole thing needs refinishing and I might add doors to cover the top 3 shelves. But it’s fantastic.

Oh, I should mention that I paid $10 for it. Yes… true story. They guy said it was mine for $5, but I felt bad so I offered $10. What was I thinking? Ha! My husband isn’t as thrilled with this purchase. He thinks that I should finish the other projects that I’ve already started. That’s probably true, but I couldn’t pass this deal.

So, I should be honest with you. You might have to wait a few months before I unveil this finished project… But hopefully in the meantime I’ll share a lot of other finished projects!

Homemade Buttermilk Waffles

2010-08-04T05:54:00.001-07:00

One meal I really enjoy making from scratch is breakfast. It just seems to be the perfect kick off to our day. Plus, it gives me a great feeling of Susie Homemaker accomplishment, whether I get anything else right the rest of the day or not.

My children love waffles. I’m thankful for the waffle iron we received as a wedding gift many years ago, or else I’d have to resort to Eggo for our waffle cravings. Truth be told, we do on occasion, but only when we’re in a time crunch and I happen to have some in the deep freeze. Homemade waffles however, are so much better tasting! And better for you!

I’m wanting to stock my freezer with a large amount of already prepared waffles soon, so I’ve been testing waffle recipes. There are plenty of recipes to dig through, and many variations to a waffle. My requirements for a perfect recipe are:

1) basic ingredients I will always have on hand

2) no fancy cooking required – separating egg whites to stir back in later, no thank you

3) taste must be approved by all members of my family

I have since prepared a perfect waffle recipe. One our family loves and leave my children with very full tummies. They are soft throughout and almost have a cake-like taste. Yum!

Homemade Buttermilk Waffles

· 1 3/4 cup flour

· 2 tsp baking powder

· 1/2 tsp salt

· 2 beaten eggs

· 2 cup buttermilk

· 1/2 cup oil

Mix flour, baking powder, salt and set aside. In separate bowl mix eggs, oil and buttermilk. Add dry ingredients. Let sit a few minutes while waffle iron heats. Bake high about 2-3 minutes (depending on waffle iron temperature). This will make 5 1/2 waffles in our Belgian waffle maker. Note: I nearly always make my own cup of buttermilk by substituting 1 T white vinegar mixed with 1 cup of milk.

Pretty Ribbon

2010-06-21T07:55:00.001-07:00

I’m almost embarrassed to show you this. This box has been home to my fabric and ribbon for many months.

It started out looking pretty. It was well organized. It inspired me. Then everything spiraled downhill because my ribbon suddenly looked like this.

I decided to do some damage control. It was obviously needed. But now, my ribbon is beautiful and once again, inspiring.

And it is all stored in a pretty leather box that I already had. I love when projects don’t cost me anything.

I'm linking up here.

Christmas in July

2010-07-26T13:49:00.001-07:00

You won’t believe me when I tell you this.

I can hardly believe it myself.

I have nearly finished all of my Christmas Shopping for this year. Minus a few items like stocking stuffers, Christmas Eve pajamas & books, and one or two other small things.

It feels so refreshing. To know that December is going to come this year without fighting about spending, without stress of last minute shopping…

… it already feels soooo good!

So how did I do it you ask?

First of all I rethought what Christmas is about. I love the idea of showering my children with more gifts than they can imagine, overwhelming their senses when they see the piles and piles of plastic stuff under the tree on Christmas morning. It sounds like a whole lot of fun, but “gift getting” is not what I want to focus on. In the past I’d heard the idea of giving your children only three gifts on Christmas Day, just as baby Jesus received the three sacred gifts after his birth. I love that idea! It’s a fabulous concept, but I admit I don’t have enough self-control when it comes to shopping for my children. So instead, I decided to tweak this concept slightly to fit my family, and my shopping habits, better.

In our house each of my children will receive three gifts from Santa Claus and three gifts from Mom & Dad. Now in addition to that they will also get a stocking filled with trinkets and goodies, a gift from their sibling, and will be part recipient in a larger gift for either the children or our entire family. It really is a large amount of “gift getting” when you look at the large picture, and hopefully not so much at the same time – at least that is my intention.

Anyhow I made the decision on how much to buy, and then I had to set a budget. Such a daunting task. This was the hard part, but the most important. One problem I have when saving my shopping for December is that I tend to disregard having a budget at all. I shop sales, I watch for falling prices, but I don’t really set a limit for myself. I just shop. I decided on a limit of $100 per child. This amount may be huge for some of you, it may seem meager to the rest, but for us it was a good fit this year.

The good news. I am currently leaps and bounds under budget and have a significant amount of my shopping done. Here’s my secret:

A friend of mine clued me in on the fact that Target has great toy clearances during late July (I’ve since learned K-mart, and probably other large retail chains do as well). I admit, I’ve been quite the Target stalker this month. I have 3 stores in my general vicinity and I’ve been to each of them 2-3 times in the past 2 weeks. I’ve discovered that each store varies on it’s clearance prices and that some stores will have an item marked on clearance while another store may not. I don’t know the rhyme or reason behind it, but I do know that it pays to shop at more than one store if you’re able to.

I am thrilled with the toys that I’ve purchased. I’ve gotten name brand, quality stuff that I’d have been happy to pay full price for, had I been shopping in December. Fortunately I paid 50-75% less than retail price for it all. I also took the opportunity to buy a few items that will be great for birthday gifts for parties my girls get invited to in the next year.

Now I didn’t buy all of my gifts at Target, I did make a decision to give my children a few toys that I had already gotten inexpensively in the past and hadn’t yet given to them. I also am going to give my older daughter my My Little Pony items from when I was a little girl. I know she’ll love them and being able to give her something freely, that I use to love, will be a great gift for each of us.

The term “Christmas in July” has taken on a whole new meaning for me this month!

Mission Failed: Shorts

2010-07-26T08:15:00.001-07:00

My good friend Amy & I have started something called “sewing night.” We get together at one of our places to sew while the husbands get to hang out and play with our kiddos. It’s a pretty sweet deal.

I usually have a plan for what I’m going to sew. Our first night, I made my curtains. Our second night, I made felt food. This weekend… I had no plan. None. I had a large stack of fabric in front of me and didn’t know what to do with it. Honestly, I was a little overwhelmed.

As I looked through my pile of fabric, my pink and white seersucker kept calling me. It was begging me to do something with it. I decided to do shorts for my daughter. The problem… she was already asleep in bed. That meant… no measurements and no extra pair of shorts to use as a pattern.

I tried my hardest and made the cutest little pair of shorts. Seriously… I’m in LOVE with them. They are the cutest things ever. And I’m not at all biased. ;) Unfortunately, I don’t know how to do zippers… and elastic scares me, so I decided to use ribbon and just have them be drawstring shorts.

(Notice the cuffs on the shorts. That is my favorite part!)

The next morning I tried them on my daughter… and they don’t fit. :( I obviously didn’t consider the “big, baby-diapered-butt.” The shorts didn’t even cover half of her bottom. Ha! I suppose that’s what happens when I don’t have measurements or a pattern.

I failed. But I’m okay with it. I’m eager to try another pair… but only after I take a few measurements. ;)

Click here and here for other great projects across BlogLand.

Santa’s Workshop

2010-07-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know it’s July.

But Santa’s helpers are busy all year long, right?

This year, ~~I’m~~ Santa’s elves are doing crafting some for my daughter’s gift from the North Pole. Here’s what the elves have made so far:

Orange slices.

Stack of pancakes. Complete with syrup and a pat of butter.

Strawberry poptarts.

Bacon.

Eggs.

Quesadilla.

Cheese slices.

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A Work in Progress

2010-07-19T10:14:00.001-07:00

Last summer I scored a major deal at a couple of garage sales. I got 2 wing back chairs for $5. They were dirty, but overall in pretty good condition. One has been sitting in our bedroom and the other has been sitting in our crayfice. They’ve been begging us for new fabric.

Finally, the day has come. Since we’re working on making our crayfice a fully functional space that we’ll enjoy, I’ve decided to reupholster the chair in there first. And instead of just sitting it in a corner, I’m going to use it as our desk chair. I can’t wait to craft there and be sitting in style. ;)

This is the fabric we chose.

It’s playful, but not over the top in some wild kid print.

This is our first time to reupholster. And we are LOVING it! We aren’t done yet, but it’s been a blast getting to learn something new. Hopefully I’m still saying that when we finish this project. My goal is to have it completed by the end of the month. Wish us luck!

PS. I’m thinking of painting the wooden legs green. Your thoughts?

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Curtains

2010-07-13T11:09:00.001-07:00

We moved into our house 2.5 years ago…

I finally put curtains up in our office/playroom/craftroom on Saturday morning. (from here on out this room will now be referred to as the crayfice)

What a huge difference curtains make to a room!

The journey to my curtains was a long one. I had found the perfect curtains. They were the perfect balance of playfulness and seriousness. Since our crayfice is multifunctional, the curtains fit the bill. BUT, they were too short. And since I was too nervous to add fabric to the bottom (for multiple reasons), I searched and searched and searched for different curtains. I wasn’t happy with anything other than those original curtains.

I almost gave in and decided to add fabric to the bottom when I found this fabric at HobLob.

It had the exact same colors as my original find. After some careful thought, I decided to try making my own curtains. It cost me less than $10 for two panels and I love what they’ve done for the crayfice!

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A childless afternoon well spent

2010-07-12T20:18:00.001-07:00

I love Costco.

I really love Costco.

There is just something about the place that really excites me. Maybe it’s the aisle of gigantic bags of candy… or maybe it’s the free samples you can get at the end of every food aisle… or possibly even the fact that their carts will seat both of my children and I still have room to haul all my goodies around.

No matter the reason, it’s a store I absolutely enjoy going to – until I see my total bill at the check out line. Yikes! My husband refers to Costco as the “One Hundred Dollar Store”. We know how quickly even just a few things add up, so we try and be very careful not to grab everything our heart desires. We could go seriously overboard on spending at Costco, but usually we stick to about 8-12 items and it’s another $100 spent.

I’ve been wondering lately if the $50 membership fee is really worth the savings I get over a year. Am I only saving pennies, or is it more?

So today I made my first price list. I spent my afternoon without children wandering up and down each aisle making a list of items I see myself buying over the coming months as I work to stock up my freezer and begin cooking and baking many items from scratch… or at least preparing and not buying as premade convenience foods.

As of now I haven’t compared my prices to other stores, but I am impressed by a few things I hadn’t even taken notice of until now. It’s just a list of odds and ends, but I’m very excited as I know I pay quite a bit more for some of those things elsewhere.

100 oz cans of tomatoes for $2.69

15 lb bags of long grain rice for $5.75

32 oz packages of yeast for $3.69

2 L of EVOO for $9.99

135 oz of dish soap for $7.79

1 lb of organic spring mix salad for $4.29

42 lb of cat litter for $13.98

18 organic, cage free eggs for $4.45

Buying Coupons

2010-07-01T07:56:00.001-07:00

Let me start by explaining that it is illegal to sell coupons, but it’s not illegal to sell the service of clipping coupons. I have recently, as of this morning, made my second ever coupon purchase. There are many different websites that sell this service, The Coupon Clippers and The Coupon Master are only a couple. These are usually priced around $0.05-$0.50 each, depending upon their value and demand. You’ll have to pay shipping, which is no more than the cost of mailing a slightly weighted envelope – for me it’s been around $1.25 each time for about 50 coupons.

The process I use is to search through a coupon deals website, such as Coupon Mom, Deal Seeking Mom, Couponing 101 – really there are many more, but I pared it down to just a few so I don’t spend too much time or go overboard on my “hunt”. I look for current store deals that match up to current coupons and then order coupons based on what deals will work best for my family. Oftentimes you are required to order a minimum of 5 of any given coupon, so you will want to make sure you are ordering an item that is worthwhile for you to stockpile – essentially something you know your family will use before it expires.

For example, a pretty well known W*lmart deal at the moment:

Pamper’s Wipes Single Tubs - $1.97
Use $2 Off 1 Mfg. Coupon found in the 6/6 Sunday paper

Final Price: !FREE!

Now this is a higher value coupon with a limit on most clipping service sites. I paid 50 cents for 5 coupons, a total of $2.50 – but I will save $7.50 on something I would be needing anyways.

Another deal I matched up today:

Bar-S Hot Dogs – $0.68
Buy 2 and use $1/2 coupon from the 5/16 RedPlum insert

Final Price: $0.18 each after coupon

For this coupon I bought 5 at $0.10 each, a total of $0.50. I will purchase 10 packages of hotdogs for $1.80 total. Yes, quite a few hot dogs, but they will freeze and we eat a lot of hot dogs in this house.

Purchasing already clipped coupons may not work for you, but I am discovering it will work for me. My total today for coupons shipped was slightly over $11, and they will save me over $90 on products I will find useful for my family. I haven’t quite figured out a system to ordering yet, which day of the week is best and which website I prefer. I have decided however to focus primarily on W*lmart deals so as not to be driving to and from many stores each week, and may eventually learn to price match there.

Have you ever purchased clipped coupons before? What was your experience like and do you have any suggestions?

My new role

2010-06-28T14:10:00.001-07:00

I’ve been a missing blog partner as of late. It’s not something I’ve been proud of, but it’s something that has happened more consistently over time as priorities in my life have been changing. You see, this blog started out as a craft/hobby blog for the two of us, it’s slowly turned from that with each passing day, which we are both alright with. Bring on the spontaneous posts, more variety, lots of great things to be found here at From The Same Nest.

In all seriousness, my blogging travels are taking me in a whole new direction on this blog. I have always been interested in frugality, but somehow even with my efforts my family has found itself needing the help of Dave Ramsey. Many of us have been there and have done that, many of us are doing it. Right now we are doing it…

… and we’re going to be doing it for a loooooong time :(

But, it’s all worth it. It’s going to be so worth it! To quote Dave, “We must live like nobody else, so that someday we can LIVE like nobody else.” That will be the day. And I can not help but get myself excited and pumped up for that experience – to be debt free!

So what does that mean for my blogging life? Well, first and foremost, I am returning to work full time and possibly will be working extra nights each month. My time is going to be affected in many areas of my life. Fortunately I don’t have money to be spending going shopping, enjoying vacations, or expensive activities… so I should have some free time on my hands for blogging. Many of my posts will begin to center on saving money, how we save money, how we are eating for less. I do hope to continue to craft and decorate with what I have, so when those days arrive I’ll be sure to share them. I will be thrifting, but mostly for necessities… but again, if the findings are worthwhile I’ll share those as well.

It may get interesting, it may be all too boring for some of you. Fortunately I think it will be a pretty exciting journey with a great return!

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Time

2010-06-27T12:49:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I had a date night. I don’t really remember what all we did… but I do remember that we ate a molton chocolate cake at Chili’s and visited one of my favorite stores, Hobby Lobby.

Anyways, while we were at HobLob… we were just walking around when we stumbled upon the “make-your-own-clock-aisle.” My first thought was boring. But then I saw the most amazing thing EVER.

Check out this beauty.

Please ignore the wrinkled curtain and the fact that the Roman Numeral 4 is incorrect. Ugh. I decided that I could live with the mess up because this clock only cost $15. And yes, it really is a working clock!

The upside, our bedroom finally has more to it than a bed and piles of dirty clothes. The downside, I don’t have an excuse to be late for work anymore.

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This Room Needs Serious Help

2010-06-23T06:42:00.001-07:00

I’m starting a new project that I’m thrilled about! This project will involve a little crafting, a good amount of decorating and a lot of organizing. Our home has a wonderful little study that is just off of our living room.

I have a love/hate relationship with this room. I love it because it’s multifunctional. It serves as our playroom. Our home office. And my craft room.

I hate it because it is a catch all for junk. We’ve never had a great way to organize the desk area. When I try to clean off my kitchen counters and I don’t know where something goes…. it gets thrown onto our desk.

Do they have groups for people like me? “Hi, my name is Maria and I move junk from one room to another.”

Here’s my plan. The upper cabinets will be strictly for crafts. The lower cabinets will be strictly for the home office. The two shall never meet. My hubby will get involved with the playroom portion of the room.

I want him to build me a big cabinet (with doors) that will hold toys, kids art supplies, etc. Unfortunately, it’ll be awhile before he gets to this project…. he broke his elbow yesterday. :(

I also have some ideas in mind for this wall.

The ideas involve lots of interactive things for little ones to enjoy. So, stay tuned and I’ll keep you up-to-date on my room makeover. And, if you have any ideas for me, please share!

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Seasonal Word Blocks

2010-06-16T18:54:00.001-07:00

This is not a new project around blogland. I repeat, this is not a new project around blogland. But, I fell in love with it the first time I saw it…. so, I felt like it deserved it’s own post on our blog.

These are seasonal word blocks.

It’s super easy to create. And I love that you can change them to say a variety of words throughout the entire year!

Some of the words include:

dream, faith, family, welcome, blessed, harvest, spooky, winter, freedom, snow, home, hope, monster, mother, easter, smile

I took 7 wooden blocks and spray painted them. Then instead of using vinyl (like a lot of others are doing), I used foam letter stickers (super cheap!). I may add more blocks with even more letters later, but until then… these are the letters on each block.

Block 1: h y e d

Block 2: a c r s

Block 3: r p e t

Block 4: v n l o

Block 5: e o m d

Block 6: s m k i

Block 7: t f b w

I’m excited to change my word to “freedom” in the next week…. in honor of July 4th, of course. I think my favorite thing about this project is that I can constantly be trying to come up with new words. Ha!

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Baby Shower Gift

2010-06-15T11:13:00.001-07:00

This past weekend I helped to hostess a baby shower for my sister-in-law who is expecting to deliver her first baby in a couple of weeks, or less. She and her husband made the awesome decision to not find out the baby’s gender until the big birthday day. In order to prepare for their little one, they chose to decorate the nursery in a gender neutral theme of ABC 123. So fun!

As hostesses we chose to use her nursery theme as our shower theme. We wanted to use something familiar that would excite her senses as she anticipates the nearing arrival. To continue along the theme I chose to make her some wall art to display in the nursery as my gift to her. I do hope she loves them!

So, let me show you an easy tutorial on this fun project.

1. Start by choosing wooden or chipboard letters for your project. You may want to spell the child’s name for their bedroom wall, or a word like dream, sweetheart, prince, etc. to place above their crib. I chose ABC to play off the bedding theme.

2. Next choose coordinating scrapbook paper. This is the fun part!

3. Once you have made your decision, turn your scrapbook paper over, and then lay your letters on top of the paper reversed. Trace along the letters as close to the edges as possible using a pencil.

4. After all of your letters are traced. Cut carefully along the outline trying to make smooth cuts and edges. If they are not perfect, do not worry, once the letters are on the wall little imperfections are less noticeable.

*Note – If you are so inclined, you can also skip the tracing and cutting step by using an exacto knife and cutting your scrapbook paper with the letter still placed on top. I have not had success with this method, but you may have a steadier hand and more patience than me ;)

5. I choose to cut out two of each letter. This allows me to have more colors throughout the piece and also allows for me to cover any mistakes from cutting a bit easier. You can use one color of paper per letter or multiples, whatever you want.

6. Once you have your letters cut, then you must decide where you’d like to overlap papers and use a bit of creativity in your layout.

7. Now it’s time to bring on the Mod Podge! Coat your wood very well some mod podge. This is not the time to be skimp. I use a foam brush and just paint it on. Once you have a nice smooth coat, lay your scrapbook paper on top. Be sure to match the edges of your letter with the edges of your paper on all sides.

8. Once you have your paper attached, you can use something like your library card to smooth out the paper, rub firmly. Let dry.

9. Once dry you can lightly sand the edges of your paper or trim them with an exacto knife for a closer finish.

10. After your paper has dried, then brush a coat of mod podge over the top of your paper if you so choose. You may prefer to use 2-4 coats in order to get the finish you are looking for. You may also choose not to put this top coat on.

11. Once finished applying paper and any top coats, this is the time to embellish. Have fun!

Mine & Yours Monday: Organization

2010-06-07T18:09:00.001-07:00

We know how much you’ve all been waiting for our organizational tips. *Wink* But, we apologize for the delay and won’t bore you with our excuses.

Organizing our homes seems to be a daunting task, but the result is well worth it. There is something about having things picked up, in it’s place and organized that helps us sleep a little better at night. We don’t claim to be 100% organized in our households. Trust us… we are far from that. New organizational ideas always intrigue us, inspire us and make us realize that we should get off the computer and get busy. With that said, let us show you a few of the ways organization keeps us a little less crazy.

Mine

~Stay tuned for Michelle’s tips~

Yours

My pantry needs to be organized in order for me to function. When I realize that it’s starting to get a bit messy and thrown together, I take the time to pull everything out and start over. One of the ways that I keep it orderly is by having a couple of baskets. One holds only baked items, such as buns, tortillas, and english muffins. The second holds my potatoes and onions. I used to let all of these items just sit wherever, but found my bread getting squished and my potatoes getting piled on top of.

I’ve shown my baskets before, but I’m convinced that I’d lose my mind if we didn’t have these. Since taking this picture, we found a 6th basket. Hooray! These are the catch all for toys and books in my living room. They work extremely well because I can pick up in a matter of seconds. And it’s very nice that when the toys are put away, they really feel put away because I don’t have to stare at them even when my daughter goes to bed.

I’ve also shared this picture, but I want to tell you about my love for freezer bags. Since freezer cooking at the beginning of the month, I’ve transferred most of my freezer goods from their original bags to freezer bags (including veggies, fruit and tater tots). I love being able to open my freezer drawer and see at a quick glance what I have and how much. Before, I had to shuffle through and try to read what each thing was. This makes planning my grocery list so much easier!

Promise Broken

2010-05-24T18:50:00.000-07:00

So, you may recall the promise I made...

yea... to spray paint something.

Well, my free days last week were full of rain around my parts, and then I went out of town for the weekend. So, unfortunately I fell thru on my promise. The good news however, I've personally extended my deadline to this Friday ;)

Stay tuned...

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A Serious Problem

2010-05-18T10:16:00.001-07:00

I need your help. Really. I have a serious problem.

My garbage disposal stinks. And it has been awful for the past couple of weeks. Sometimes I don’t notice it, but other times I can smell it from several feet away.

Gross.

I’ve tried baking soda and hot water, orange slices, cold water and ice cubes and I’ve even just squirted a bunch of dish soap down it. Nothing is working. I repeat, nothing is working!

Do you have any tricks up your sleeve? I’m going to try some bleach later today and if that doesn’t work, I’m going to try some vinegar after I make it to the grocery store tonight.

Please help! I’m begging you.

PS. I’d also like to note that we realize we never posted our Mine & Yours Monday post about organization. We’ll get on that. Really. It might not be until next Monday, but I promise we’ll share lots of great tips that work for us!

What’s the hang up?

2010-05-10T15:21:00.001-07:00

I’m not sure what it is, but I’ve been having a hard time getting started with projects. I do have about a million projects on my to do list that have just been sitting and waiting to come to fruition. My basement is the holding ground for a number of great bargain finds I’ve come across, yet haven’t taken the action of getting started.

The decorating, crafting bug is going on full force inside of me. Problem is, I can’t seem to let it loose. Our family room project is still in it’s early stages. We did get the primer up on the walls this past weekend (Yes, 2 months later. How has it really been that long already?) I did take a good look at our coffee table and side table this weekend and thought long and hard about starting that fun project. But did I?

No.

I must confess a big hang up I have about many of my awaiting projects.

Spray paint.

Really? Am I really that scared of something as simple and non-threatening as a can of spray paint.

Photo courtesy of http://spraypaintcolors.com/

Why yes I am.

Maybe it’s that I spray painted our front porch concrete one time and my husband has never let me live it down. That has at least added to the anxiety a bit. I sure think so… I sure do.

Probably once I take the plunge AND take it slow, I will do fine. Until then however I continue to just collect pieces to add to my piles.

And that’s not really working for my husband either.

So, here and now, I promise to spray paint something to show you next week. It might be small… and it might be next Friday, but I’ll spray paint something. By golly I will.

Freezer Cooking: Attempt #1

2010-05-02T19:01:00.001-07:00

Each week I spend ~~countless hours~~ too much time trying to plan my next week’s meals. I do this in an attempt to save money and it helps me feel less stressed by not trying to plan dinner at 4 pm.

But, I’ve realized that I hate spending so much time to figure out my meal plan, so I’ve been searching for the best way to solve my problem. My solution is from the blog Life as Mom.

And let me just say, I LOVE the blog Life as Mom.

She has taught me the art of freezer cooking. I’m still a newbie and definitely feel like I have a long way to go, but I’m so stinking excited right now knowing that my freezer has lots of goodies for the month of May.

Last week, I sat down and wrote my meal plan for the entire month of May (dinners only) and then determined what parts of those meals could be prepared ahead of time. Let me explain something… I enjoy cooking. I really really enjoy cooking. But when I get home after working all day, and have a toddler who wants my undivided attention… cooking isn’t as relaxing as it used to be. So, this weekend I prepped all ground beef for the month, put together two pizza kits, and made red sauce for the very first time.

I want to share with you how easy (& delicious!) freezing your own sauce can be.

After my ingredients simmered all day long, I labeled 6 quart sized freezer bags.

I knew that I couldn’t hold the bags and fill them without making a mess, so I put them in my largest glasses.

I used a measuring cup to dip and fill each bag with approximately 2 cups of red sauce.

To finish, I got out as much air as possible and then sealed the bags closed. Now they are all in my freezer and I can’t wait to see how they taste once thawed and on my pasta. Yum!

Maria’s Garden Update

2010-04-28T09:11:00.001-07:00

Slowly, but surely our garden is coming together.

Last week I bought 4 strawberry plants and I’ve been anxious to get them transplanted. Mostly because I’m afraid they’ll die if I don’t. Remember, I don’t have much a green thumb quite yet.

Here is our daughter trying to throw them across the yard. If this is any indication, I don’t think she has a green thumb either.

Last night was our first free night to get started on our garden, so my husband built me this garden box that measures about 3.5 feet x 3.5 feet. I have a small fear of power tools. Seeing it once he moved it to our yard, we thought it looked itsy bitsy. We are now thinking that we may make another.

I’ve been planning to use the square foot gardening technique, but I’m realizing that I’m definitely not going to be a strict follower of it. I may not use the exact soil mixture that they recommend and my squares will all be slightly larger than 1 sq ft, but I’m okay with that. Tonight we will add the dirt and finally transplant the strawberries. And throughout the rest of the week, I will slowly start adding my other plants (which I still haven’t finalized).