Passing the winter blues!

This winter has been really hard on us alot of indoor play which can get old fast! During one of our giant nor'easters this year we made a puppet theatre and puppets! I used a few boxes we already had laying around the girls painted it and I cut the hole and hung the curtain! This provided with hours of entertainment not only watching the shows the kids created but making the theatre! Every time the kids get bored we make new puppets!

Planning a Party for under $20.

Start with the invitations. Make your own or print some from a website. For my daughters last birthday we did a Rock theme! I found a website to create my own concert tickets with all the information! For my nephew I printed pop up cards from playhousedisney.com/celebrationcenter
they came out great!

Next think about the Food: Simple food is always better look through your cabinets before buying anything. Hot dogs and buns, burgers, chilli and nachos all feed alot and are very inexpensive!

For the Decorations: print out pictures of your theme and hang them from streamers bought at the dollar store! I also bought die cut letters in an alphbet pack at the $ store and made a happy birthday banner! get 2 or 3 brightly colored plastic table cloths (also the $) I use them to decorate all kinds of areas! Make party hats out of construction paper.

Activities: play games that dont require alot leave out blocks play a version of Duck Duck Goose (mouse mouse mickey, Miley Miley Hannah, abby abby cadaby) limbo, art projects all can be done for no cost!

Goodie bags: My goodie bags are always fun and cheap! My daughters first birthday we bought 12 shovels and pails on from oriental trading for $5! add a tube and some sand toys from the same sight and voila! Once kids get older it gets a little more difficult this yr for my 6 yo we made CDs we gave out blow up instruments and microphones and I had inexpensive t-shirts made. For my nephew this year I made magnets and printed themed coloring pages along with a 4 crayons from a large pack and some party blowers both from the $ store I threw in some animal crackers and Im done!

alot more time and effort goes into a cheaper party. The dollar ($) store is my best friend. Decorating and cooking take more time than buying pizza! In the end though its always worth it!

Disney Party packs!

We all know I LOVE PARTY PLANNING! I adore it decorating setting up cooking its so much fun and its even better when you do it thrifty!

I was playing on the computer with my amazing nephew today and we stumbled upon these AMAZING FREE party packs from playhouse Disney! They have all our favorite friends Handy Manny, Little Einsteins, Imagination Movers, to name a few!
They all include:
Printable invitations (ALL very cute)
Gift Wrap (to small to wrap anything but cute to decorate gift bags!)
Recipes (including cute cakes and appetizers that match party themes!)
Decorations (some include things to hang, Party Hats, 3D center pieces, and plenty of ideas for using $ store items!)
Games and activities (such as Stretch Limbo and musical Einsteins!)
Ideas for cheap party favors using paper bags!
Printable Thank you cards!
I found this to be an amazing bargain and have already got the ball rolling! Poor Kaleb had an awful time deciding which party to pick! You never know maybe Ill surprise him with a mixture!

Homemade gifts in '09 1st Edition

After making most of my Christmas gifts and getting wonderful results! I have decided my goal this year is to make all gifts I give for anything be it birthdays anniversaries or mothers day. Im not saying this is entirely possible or if I wont give up. I definitely know that some people dont enjoy homemade gifts so it may not always be received as well as Id like but none the less I am going to try and I am going to chronicle my efforts here for you all.

My first trial. My Nephew Kaleb is going to be 5 on Jan. 28th. Now this is going to be extremely difficult because my husband and I like to do alot for Kaleb and I dont intend to skimp on the gifts because they are homemade! Im starting today! Wish me luck!

Aha moment #1

Im sure that this will continually happen to me as I look deeper into the ways my friends and family save thats why Ive named this #1!

I was on FB chatting with an old friend last night the conversation went towards savings she happened to mention she wasnt very good at saving. Of course I said check out my blog!! (which she now follows!!) I love it when people say the only thing I do.......because its almost always a great idea this was no exception!! My friend bought some foaming soap dispensers so she only has to buy hand soap once a year! Where did she get these dispensers I had to have one!! Gulp...pampered chef but they have to make them somewhere else right? I had flashbacks to the days I so desperately wanted a batter bowl to bake barbie skirts in. I went on in my new quest to find these after searching quite a few different wordings I got nervous all I could find was the one the hospital uses. I decided to search pampered chef foaming soap dispensers.How expensive could they be? Wow!! Scrolling down a bit I happened to read " these are the same maker and model that pampered chef sells at 1/10 the cost" Jackpot!!!

http://www.bottlesandfoamers.com/cart/71oz-foam-pump-set-c-2.html

at 1.10 a bottle why stop at 1 BAM I kicked it up a notch I bought 3! 1 for my bathroom sink for hand washing, 1 for my daughters shampoo (she loves to wash her own hair this way she wont waste as much) and 1 for my kitchen sink! Take that Dawn foaming!!

Normally I buy concentrated Dawn in a 36 oz bottle when its on sale I bought 2 for $5 back in August and Im about 1/4 way through the second bottle with these that will last me a year!!

As soon as they come in I will let you know how everything works out!

More on School lunches.........

at 2.50 a day school lunch can add up here are my tips for sending healthy cheap lunches!

for 1.85 I bought 4 small square containers with lids at my local grocery store.

6 Cent Servings!
I buy things like applesauce in bulk and pour them into the containers in each jar there are roughly 25 1/4 cup servings (give or take a few for mom)
Buy 1/4 water melon for 1.20 and get 20 servings out of it!!

Veggies!
2 cucumbers for .99
3 servings per cucumber .16

6 bunches of Broccoli for 3.51
5 servings per bunch .11

My daughter loves ham pita pockets (but PBandJ is WAY cheaper!!)
ham 9 1 oz servings for 3.00 (.33)
pita pockets 1.30 for 6 (.21)

make Jello/ pudding @ .5 per serving!!

chocolate milk in a water bottle dont Buy juice boxes!!!!
Lunch That covers ALL the food groups (including dessert my favorite!) for under $1 a day thats a weekly savings of $7.50
Monthly savings of $30
yearly savings $360

Popcorn without the waste!

Making Popcorn!
so I have to confess I got my hot air popper for christmas so I dont exactly know how much it costs but I looked it up and they start at $12! Its also totally easy to just put a scoop of popcorn into a small brown paper bag and put it in the microwave!
A 2 lb bag of yellow popcorn is $.99.

The bags you buy can be easy but they arent as fun, all of the popcorn never pops and stick your hand in there then look at your knuckles yuck!

We have so much fun making homemade popcorn! The girls watch it pop and then get to eat it mmmm!!

pennies matter!

So today I was reading up on many savings tips and I realized so many that are so close to me are looking for ways to save ever penny as am I. Ive compiled my own list of savings that I decided to try and share today.

First of all the point is not only pennies matter but we are all going Green!!

Cleaners are so expensive and so bad for all of us!!
Easy cleaner
1/4 C Baking Soda
1/2 C White Distilled Vinegar
2 Liters of Hot water

This cleaner works great for cleaning floors tables and counters! It does kill bacteria and it is just as effective as anything else if you dont like the smell add some essential oil!

Groceries: The biggest expense for most of us!
Plan your meals off the weekly circulars!
I get a paper every friday that has all the online circulars FREE!
I go to all the stores for those items only!
I also keep a list of how much things I need every week cost at different stores (milk, eggs etc)
Use Coupons little known fact, The Sunday paper is FREE on monday!

Freebies I just received a free sippy cup in the mail from juicyjuice.com!
I apply for freebies whenever I have time Ive gotten coupons, diapers, juice, water bottles,make up and lots more!
2 Freebie sites are
mommysavesbig.com
freestufftimes.com

another great place to swap free stuff is Freecycle.com lots of people post stuff they dont need for you to grab up if you need it and you can do the same to declutter your house!

School lunches!! I save TONS of money by packing cheap and very healthy lunches!!
1 large container of apple sauce 25 servings 6 cents a serving!!!
keep that strategy and you can save $360 a year!

Potty Training and Diapering
Heres where I get a little crazy!! CLOTH ok now this is much easier for potty training Gerber makes some great padded underwear at about $6 for 3 you can save lots off pull ups!! I bought 4 packages for a little over $20 I rinse them if they get "used" and I keep them in rotation in the wash! The best part about them is your child can actually feel it if they have an accident ( I know they have pull ups that do this but cmon its not the same!!)
Diapering I have to admit I didnt do this but I wish I had! There are numerous websites that sell great cloth diapers that dont leak and if you have a strong stomach (ewww child what did you eat!) try them out!!
Biggest pointer DO NOT USE FABRIC SOFTENER! It coats the fabric making it less absorbent!

Entertainment
The Library
did you know the library has movies?? Not only can my kids spend hrs. doing puzzles and picking out books at the library. We can actually borrow free movies that we've wanted to see!
The library also has free passes to local museums!

Making Play dough
We make our own play dough there are so many recipes I'm not going to list them but we have tried many different ones and we spend lots of time on them all.

Outdoor fun
Winter: Sledding and snowman building!
Summer: There is so much! Beaches,parks,picnics, picking fruits (strawberries,blueberries etc)
Spring: MUD PUDDLES! planting a garden is so time consuming and its so much fun! Entertain the kids everyday picking weeds and watering either flowers or veggies!
Fall: Apple orchards, pumpkin patches, try building your own scare crow and entering it into a contest!!

On those days you must stay inside try walking the mall they often have kids activities/playgrounds.
Cheap movies in our area the Hooksett regal cinemas play movies for $3.50 a ticket brown bag your popcorn (which you made yourself in a hot air popper!) maybe even stop by the $ store for some movie candy and you outing for 4 can cost under $20!!

Make a budget for everything, make a game out of how much you can save off of it. Put all that money towards a vacation for the family now thats some incentive!!

saving money is fun and easy and I am always searching for new ways!! Ill keep you posted as I find them!