Gift cards….how should you spend them? May 19, 2013

When I was a kid, or any time before I had kids, and I got a gift card I knew I was going to blow that money on something I wanted. Anymore that is not the case. Now that the big kids are old enough to know that they got a gift card we give them the joy of blowing the money. We do try and teach them to make good choices with the gift cards.

For example my daughters birthday is in October. She got a $25 Amazon gift card. She wanted to spend it then. We talked to her and we all decided the best thing would be to hold on to it until after Christmas. That way if she did not get something she wanted she would have the gift card. It turned out she got another $25 Amazon gift card for Christmas. We talked a lot about what she could get with her $50 at Amazon. My 7 year old loves to read and thought it might be nice to have an ereader. We looked it up and for $60 she could get the bottom of the like Kindle. With her gift cards and giving us $10 of her Christmas cash she got her self an ereader. I was impressed with the thought she put into it.

My husband took my 3 year old to Target to use a gift card one time. He said that they looked at toys for along time. My son found a $25 toy on clearance that he was able to get with his $15 gift card (I think that mom and dad did pay the tax on that one).

Now how do I spend my gift cards….most of the time….on food. If the card is to my husband and I we by things we need for all of us. An extra $25 in the food budget can go a long way (use some coupons with that and it can go really far!!)  or be that special thing that you don’t normally spring for. If it is a gift card for the baby or as a shower gift I spend it on the baby. I have gotten nipples, formula, and diapers. It has helped our bottom line and they where things that he truly needed…not just stuff I thought was cute or fun.

Do I miss the fun stuff….yep. Have I found other ways to put fun in my life…yep. But in the end teaching my child to make a good choice with money (or a gift card) or knowing that my son has formula for the next month helps me sleep at night.

 

Penny Pinching Patio Project – Sidewalk Chalk Organization April 2, 2013

This is the mess of sidewalk chalk we had. The kids love the stuff (so do I it is cheep fun) but it is hard to keep track of. In an effort to get the outside toys in order I wanted to get it under control. In comes the baby wipe container…….

You can’t tell but the big pieces are in two nice piles with the little leftover bits on the top!  All in one nice place that both big kids and hold easy and open with out help. Easy and FREE!

 

Be on the look out! March 14, 2013

You never know what you are going to find when you are out shopping. I am on the lookout for a good deal all the time. In fact my 7 year old daughter goes to the clearance section in every store we shop at because she knows that is where the “good stuff” is.

The other day I was a Goodwill looking for some baby clothes for a friend but I had to go to the back and look at the big items. I found a name brand double stroller for $15. It is missing on canopy and a cup holder but for $15 I don’t care! This is going to make things so much simpler for me when I have the three kids for a good chunk of the summer by my self. I wanted a double stroller but it is not in out budget at this point.

Today I was shopping at the dented discount food store in our small town. You never know what you are going to find there….it is so much fun! I found the formula we use in a 8 pack of 3 oz ready to use bottles for $4. It gets better….she sold me the case for $18! The case was 8 of the 8 pack flats. Most of the time I don’t get the pre made but this was worth it to me. I scored a good deal and shopped local! WIN!

I was not looking for these deals when I found them but you have to grab something like that when you see it. Just remember to keep your eyes open!

Hand me down organization January 28, 2013

I am sooooooooo lucky to have a sister in law and an aunt (both on my husbands side) that have boys that are older then mine. My sister in law has four boys ranging in age from 11 – 2 and my aunt has a 7 year old. They have given me more bags of hand me downs then I can even count. I have clothes ranging from New Born to a child’s size 8. That being said I have to have some way to keep them organized so they get used. I was bad about this at first and missed three bags of 2T clothes.

After moving into our house we found out that our basement floods – A LOT!! There is a wet bar in the basement that we never use due to the flooding. It now has all of my hand me downs boxed and labeled. I love it I know where everything is.

Not the best looking photo be this is downstairs and other people don’t go down there. My clothes lines are in the way of the photo too – Oh well. I put on each box what size the clothes are and any other info that would help. I also put HAS ROOM on the boxes if there is still room for more clothes. I then have them on the bar in the order that I will need them.

 

You might also wounder where do I get all of the boxes? I save all of the empty diaper and wipe boxes we have. I also save good boxes from when we get gifts (like the Vitamix box – got it from my mom LOVE HER). The other boxes are from the local super market. I know the manager so he saves them for me. All you need to do is call and see if they have boxes that you can come pick up. Free storage!

 

Saving Money On Clothes – End of season clearance

We have been lucky and not had much snow this year. In fact it was all most 70 today. This time most years we have about 4-6 in of snow on the ground. Over the weekend I got to go to Marshells and hit the clearance rack. I love the clearance rack and Marshells is one of my favorite (Target is another one I love). My 3 year old has several heavy coats but has no snow pants. I was so happy when I found a heavy coat AND snow pants for $10.

The best part is he will be able to where them for two years. The pants are adjustable and he is a skinny thing (for dance class he has 24 month shorts that I got for $2 on clearance at Target).   It pays to take the time to check the clearance section you never know what you are going to fine. Two weeks ago I got two NFL jerseys for my son for $3 each.  Talk about some major savings and a happy kid!

Saving money on cloths – Hand me downs January 26, 2013

I love hand me downs! I have two boys three years old and a new born. I am very lucky that my sister and law had 4 boys so I get lots of hand me downs from her. I also have hand me downs from my husbands aunt (she is only 7 years older then us) and she has a 7 year old son. These two ladies, and some friends from time to time,  keep my boys dressed. Today my mother in law dropped off three large bags of clothes.

 

Not the best photo of the bags I know. There where clothes from New Born all the way up to Small Child. Because all of the clothes we have gotten I have had to spend a lot of time organizing them. I will do a post on that soon.

Busy Bag – Spice Container fine motor skills January 13, 2013

This is a super simple busy bag to make.  All you need is an empty (and clean) spice container and some pipe cleaners. Simply cut the pipe cleaners so they will fit inside the spice container so your child can put them through the holes in the top.  My three year old still likes to play with this some. He can take the lid off and put it back on so he will do it over and over. I plan on keeping this in my diaper bag when the baby is ready for it so I always have something for him to do.

 

Complaining pays off January 12, 2013

Last Sunday I was upset when I went to get some formula that I thought I was going to be able to use some coupons on and then get a $15 rebate on. Over all it was going to be a good deal. I was very annoyed when I found out that the formula I needed did not qualify because it did not come in the right size. The container of the gentle formula was about and oz shy to use the coupons and get the rebate. Long story short I sent the company and email ( that turned out to be much harder then it should have been so I told them about that too). I sent the email on a Sunday night, got a response email on Monday that they would be sending me some formula and some coupons, and by Wednesday the formula was here. They where not joking then sent two cases of formula. I got 8 full size containers of formula. The formula is about $24 a container so I got $192 of formula for free!

Busy Bags AKA Learning Bags October 10, 2012

With the new baby on the way I have had a lot to think about. One of those things is how am I going to keep the other two busy when I am doing things around the house or with the baby. I had learned about Busy Bags from the blog Money Saving Mom over the summer and loved the idea just did not have a lot of time to do anything about it. Well bed rest to the rescue. I spent and INSANE amount of time on Pinterest pinning ideas for all of the age groups I would need. I have made some and the kids are LOVING them so far. I have some more to make and will be blogging about them soon.  Be on the look out.

Two Kids One Room – The saga begins! July 24, 2012

I know that many people have to share a room with a sibling and over all it is not a big deal. Now I  have to get a 3 year old and a new baby in one room. As I organize and finish things I will keep you posted. So far it is going better then I thought.

My three year old is kind of on the small side so I moved him into a toddler bed that we had at my moms house  (he had been in the crib with the side off).  I remembered that we had a dresser we where only using as a TV stand down stairs so I have not had to get any furniture!  This dresser is fine but it is not what I wanted. I am thinking of getting some different knobs so it goes with our other furniture better. I also am getting a crib mattress from my husbands aunt so there will be a mattress in the crib.  I had a car/Lego table that we got when my daughter was little that we had to move to my moms house due to lack of space.

This dresser is fine but it is not what I wanted. I am thinking of getting some different knobs so it goes with our other furniture better. I think that I might still have the green that I used on the other dresser.  Not sure if I will use the green. The boy’s room is light blue and brown and has some light green accents. The green dresser was panted to go with the master bedroom two houses ago.

 

 

 

 

 

Finding/making space is on the top of my list right now. With using the toddler bed I save a lot of room and found that there is 7 in of clearance under the bed for storage! Last summer we took off the closet doors and added a closet organizer that let us move several toys and the book shelf into the closet. We gained a lot of the floor space back in the room when we did that.  I plan on adding a curtain rood with two curtain panels as well.

 

I also decided to hang all of the receiving blankets rather then use shelf or drawer space.  In my case I had more hanging space to use. I have two blankets on each hanger and this was a much better uses of the space that I have.

Any tips on two kids sharing a room?