Staying Social and Saving Money at the Same Time: Book Club

Being a Stay-At-Home mom, I know how important it is to have that "girls night out" at least once a month. But even going out just once a month with the girls can add up over time. $10.00 here, $20.00 there. And once in a while, maybe $50.00 under the rationalization that "I need to be out with other adults, and it is only once a month." But you can't not go... you'd drive yourself crazy (if your kids didn't do it for you).

So, the question then becomes: How do I stay social without spending money?

Lots of ideas may come to mind, at least they did for me, but my favorite so far; a Book Club!

Starting a book club can solve a few problems at once.

• First, you get together with your girl friends and can talk about the book you just read, visit and have a great few hours together.
•  Second, it takes the stress out of planning each month. No more having to wonder who can afford to go where or even just deciding where to go to eat. Hold it at your house, and each month you're set!
•  Third, the best part about a girls night (at least for me) is getting to know new people! But what if you are all new? At a restaurant it could get awkward if you don't know each other and silence can be deafening if you just met. But at a book club... The topic is already set. Once you start talking about the book and discussing it, the topic will naturally shift into other categories and you may just find out how close of friends you can become.

This article at Vocalpoint  has some great ideas on how to start a book club and get the ball rolling.

Another great thing a bout a book club for me (even though this may still be spending money) is that it helps me expand my library! I love books! Some may argue that it is a waste of money to buy books when you can read them for free from your library; but I strongly feel that owning books can be a great and priceless investment.

Let's say that a natural disaster occurred and you are without power for a while. If you have books, you automatically have entertainment and information (if you have encyclopedias, medical books etc.). Just the fact thst you own books encourages children to invest their time in the written word.

Even if I spend $5-$12 on a new book each month, I am going to be saving a lot by not eating out and going to the movies or the spa each month with the girls. I'm still getting my social cup filled as well as pushing myself to read more (which I think is a very important think to do). Not to mention all the calories I'm saving from eating a few snacks at book club vs. all the fatty goodness of a restaurant.

Happy savings! (and happy reading)

News Paper Molds

Making a short story long:
My niece had a birthday party a few weeks ago, and with our tight budget I thought it would be great if my kids and I could make her some home-made jewelery! I looked online for clay recipes, but then realized we were out of salt! One of the key things in making those clays... so then I wondered what different ideas there were to use newspapers to make beads. I found this site: A Story Book Life and they had this awesome post about how to make beads out of recycled newspaper. I was just thrilled! This was perfect.
Well, I didn't like the texture of those beads very well, but I figured maybe if I did it a little differently I could get a smoother texture? Anyway... Rather than bore you to tears about what I did and tried and the fact that we didn't end up getting things just right for the birthday gift... I did end up coming up with a great variation on the recipe and technique that I like quite a lot and can't wait to do it again!

First, I took the paper as they said to on their site and tore it up into tiny little pieces. ( I wish I had taken pictures of my process but didn't think about it at the time.)

Once I had my large sauce pan full of paper pieces I filled the pan with water. more than enough to cover the paper and then some.

I brought the water to a boil on the stove then reduced the heat and let it simmer (covered) for about an hour or so, stirring occasionally. About half way through the simmering, I added red food coloring to the pan to help the paper pulp have a more even coloring when it was done. I used about 20 drops of red food color.

Once it was done simmering, I let it cool completely (I actually let mine sit on the stove covered overnight, because I didn't get to it till later that day, and was too tired to try to do anything with it then)

You'll want to drain as much water out of the paper as you can, I used my pasta strainer and some pressure. Reserve about half a cup of water.

Add flour to the water you set aside, I used somewhere between 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups. Mix this well until you have a smooth paste. Then add the flour paste into the newspaper pulp, mixing until evenly blended.

Once I did that, I tried a million different ways to make beads and I hated them all! But didn't want to waste all my hard work, so I went to my drawer and got out my letter cookie cutters!

I placed the cookie cutter on an old towel (one I didn't care too mush about) Then I took a generously sized blob of paper mush, and pressed it into the cookie cutter as hard as I could, adding more mush if I needed too. Be sure and press as much water out of the pulp as you possibly can at this point... it will help with the drying process.

Once I had the cutter, or mold, filled to capacity, I removed any excess paper pulp from the edges and popped the shaped pulp onto some freezer paper to dry. After a couple days, they are ready to paint!

I just used regular craft paints that I had laying around:

And this is what it looked like when I was all finished:

I made letter banners for each of my children's bedroom doors. I'm so excited, I can't even stand it! :) I think it turned wicked cute!!!

So that concludes my first idea on what to do with all of those newspapers that you get... just to use the coupons inside!!! And if you are like me, you don't even read the paper itself. So it's nice that it can be good for something.

Happy saving... and happy recycling! :)

I'm Back!

I really and truly hope all of my wonderful readers survived in my absence, but I am back and am hoping to be back to full swing within the next few days.

I plan on posting a bunch of different craft ideas as well getting back into the habit of taking picutres of my chopping trips etc.

I was wondering if there are any crafty tips you guys would like me to share? If so please, I'd love to hear your comments! :)

Some of the crafty ideas I plan on posting in the next month or so are:
Newspaper Molds
Home-Made Beads
Cheap and Fun activities for Kids?
Toddler Walking Harness (Child Leashes, or whatever else you want to call them)
And other crafty and fun projects you can do with all of those Newspapers you get just for the coupons inside! (Any help with ideas for that one would be fabulous!)

I look forward to hearing from you all in the comments section! So don't be shy, sharing is good :)

Walgreens Sneak Peek for July 3rd

The 4th of July is coming up quick, and if you are anything like me, you haven't yet acquired some of the items needed for your festivities.

Well, Walgreens next sale starts this coming Sunday and they are having some great deals on a bunch of the things you may need last minute on the 4th!

In the morning, you are probably going to go to a parade with the kids, don't forget to use sunscreen though, nothing worse than a sunburn to ruin a great day of outdoor fun!

Coppertone Sun Care products will be on sale for $9.99, you'll get a $4.00 Register Reward when you buy 1, and there is a $1/1 Coppertone Products coupon in the 6/26/2011 RP Insert.

Essentially pay only $4.99 after Register Rewards and coupon!

Once the Sun comes out though, it will start to get hot and the kids will get restless quick! So be prepared with some cold treats :)

Dreyer's Frozen Fruit Bars will be on sale: Get 2 boxes for $6.00. Also use the $1/2 Dreyer's Products coupon in the 6/12/2011 SS Insert

$2.50 each after Coupon

That evening, you probably have a fabulous outdoor BBQ to go to with all your family and friends, but since it finally warmed up, the mosquitoes will be out in full force. So arm yourself:

OFF! Clip-on Refill 2-pack will be on sale for just $4.99. Use the Walgreens $1/1 in store coupon and stack that with the $1/1 Off! Clip-on Refill coupon in the 6/26/2011 SS Insert and pay just:

$2.99 each!

Don't forget the amazing food you'll enjoy! :) Burgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob... mmmmmmmmm.... But unless you plan on doing the "Sorry to eat and run" routine, you might want to have something on hand so you can enjoy socializing the rest of the evening without something in your teeth all night.

Oral-B75-pack Floss Picks will be on sale for $2.99. Plus you'll get a $1 Register Reward when you buy 1, and you can use the $0.75/1 Oral B Floss or Glide Floss Picks coupon found in the 6/5/2011 P&G Insert so you just pay

$1.24 each after coupon and Register Reward!

Just a few things that they will have at their sale this coming week. Keep an eye out at our Walgreens GrocerySmarts page for the complete list of the current sales. Updated Weekly!


Be safe this weekend, and I wish all of you a Happy Independence Day!!!

 

Couponing Saved Our Family!!!

Recently my health has gone down-hill... pretty badly. Don't worry - it is nothing serious, I'll be OK after a while! But for now, I'm pretty miserable. Thus the reason I haven't been blogging or anything lately. I feel kind of OK right now, I'm hoping that this is a sign I'm on the up-hill climb now... but not counting on it.

I've been sick for more than a month now and I haven't had energy or strength consistently enough to even organize my coupons lately, in fact I'm about 4 weeks behind! (I'm secretly glad there aren't going to be any coupons in the paper this Sunday.)

Anyway... the point I'm getting to is this... Like I've said before, I started using coupons and after a few months we already paid of a huge chunk of debt. We are still on the track to being totally debt free by the middle of 2012 (out of all of our current debt) and we should also be able to get me  anew car!!! (I'll post more about the car later.) In addition to that, we are even planning our kids very first Disneyland Vacation!!! I'm very excited about this, and I will probably do a small blog-post series about Disneyland too! :)

But, these last few weeks when I've been sicker than a dog (not sure exactly what that phrase even means) I've really been grateful for the fact that I've been able to start a nice sized food storage. Thanks to coupons the last few months, we were able to stock up on a lot of food and house-hold products.

When I got sick, I had no energy at all to go to the store. My husband had to go to work, and when he'd get off of work, he had to come straight home to take car of our kids and myself. So when ever he went to the store, he always had to go really quickly and only was able to have time to get the basics, bread and milk. He has been so wonderful; going to work everyday, coming home and taking care of the kids, making dinner, getting them ready for bed, cleaning the house, doing dishes and the laundry... the whole while I am sitting on the couch half dead and barely able to life my head some days. So a HUGE thank you and I love you to my husband!

Back to the point though... :)

SO... We have been relying a LOT on our built up food storage this last month and it has been such a life-saver.

When I finally feel well enough to get back to our normal routine I will have to play catch-up again on a lot of the things we've used up, but it has been so nice to not have to worry about the fact that I can't even go to the store to get basic groceries for my family.

My kids have had food to eat (and lots of it) as well as clean clothes and all their needs have been met because of our storage.

On a side note... My kids LOVE that I've been so sick. Because all day when Daddy is at work, we all get to sit on the couch, read books and watch a lot of TV. Don't get used to it kids... The TV will be off for about a month once Mommy feels better and we are all going outside for a LONG time to make up for this :)

Smith's Mega Event for Cars 2

This week at Smith's they are celebrating the upcoming release of Cars 2 by having a Mega event! Buy 5 participating items and get $5 off at the register!!! I'm very excited about this... and the movie coming out!

My husband and I are going to be taking our two oldest to the movie for an outing, and this will be the first time my little girl has ever been to the movies! :)

Also, they've got a GREAT deal on Watermelon this week, only .20 per lb. I know I'm gonna go get a couple of them. I love me some watermelon!!! PLUS, did I mention its seedless? :)

Check out this weeks full list of deals at Smith's here.
Or look at other stores this week.

Also, don't forget, that if you are going to go watch Cars 2 in theaters, you can earn Disney Movie Rewards points if you take a picture of your movie ticket stubs and upload them through your account! Click here for more information.

Keeping Up With The Joneses

"'Keeping up with the Joneses' is an idiom in many parts of the English-speaking world referring to the comparison to one's neighbor as a benchmark for social caste or the accumulation of material goods. To fail to 'keep up with the Joneses' is perceived as demonstrating socio-economic or cultural inferiority."

"An inferiority complex, ... is a feeling that one is inferior to others in some way. Such feelings can arise from an imagined or actual inferiority in the afflicted person. An inferiority complex is an advanced state of discouragement."

We all compare ourselves to others at one point or another (and more frequently than we may like to admit) and honestly, I think that is how we are built! We are programmed to see the accomplishments of others and realize the worth of those accomplishments. When we do, that recognition can trigger in us a sense of "healthy competition" that pushes us to then do the beast we can in turn.

This comparison/competition cycle is a very good thing when kept in check and placed in the proper perspective. But too often, and in today's society a lot more frequently that it has been before, it gets out of hand and in a very real way un-healthy!

In my opinion, "Keeping up with the Joneses" is the epitome of self demoralization. When all wea re doing is trying to keep up with our neighbors, or be better than so-and-so... we are cheating ourselves of who we are as individuals. We become obsessed over one-upping each other and loose sight of being our unique best.

Maybe the reason we can never seem to "keep up with the Joneses" in the first place is because the Joneses are happy!

Example:
Your neighbors on the left have the perfectly manicured yard with beautiful shrubbery and blooming flowers. They are always outside caring for their property and enjoying the outside weather.

Your Neighbors on the right have a green lawn, a small perfect house and a beautiful boat in their driveway. They are seldom home on weekends because they take their boat out and enjoy the lake.

You see your neighbors and want what they have! So you work hard, maybe even get a second job to pay for that boat. But because you are working so hard you don't have the energy to work on your own lawn, so you hire someone else to do it for you. After a while, you have the perfect yard, a great boat and can now enjoy your weekends on the lake and your weeks in the yard. But something is missing.

If you looked closer, you would have noticed that your neighbors on the left with the perfect yard, you never see a car in their driveway... It stays locked up in the garage because they seldom use it, apart from going to work. And, that car is a 30 year old heap of metal running on it's last leg. It gets them where they need to go and they don't feel any need to trade it in right now.

While your neighbors on the right have that amazing boat and are able to take every weekend away on the lake, their house is small and barely fits them and their two children, but it is also a lot older than you thought it was and needs a lot of work!

The whole while, your neighbors on your left were looking at your messy yard with all the toys and dead patches where the boys won't stop digging up the dirt longing and wishing they were able to have children of their own to tear up the grass and flowers.

On the left, your neighbors climb into their truck early Saturday morning and pull away from their small, falling-apart-house pulling behind them their inherited boat to get away for the day and take a break from the endless repairs of their home as they try to keep up with the endless chores and kids, wishing they could afford to fix it up for good or just move!


We all need to get to the point where we can see the Joneses and use that desire for what they have as a motivator to get accomplished what we need and want, and what we really need and want, not just the same things that they have because it looks greener on the other side of the fence.

You may not have that boat, or the perfect yard, or the even the children you want right now... But I firmly believe that you are where you are meant to be at this particular moment in time! Be grateful for what you have, long for things you want and work for them. But don't let that longing overcome your entire life. You were dealt the cards you have. You made the choices you made and where you are now is a result of that.
The future will always change, just try to be happy where you are for now.

Remember and learn from yesterday
Plan, hope and prepare for tomorrow
Live Today!