Birthday Present

We had a birthday party this weekend and I love to think outside of the box for birthday presents. Ellie, the little girl, has a brand new baby at her house (3 kids just 4 and under) so I thought I would give a easy gift that could help mom. I had forgotten about giving craft boxes until my friend Laura reminded me. But I decided to tweak the idea a little because right now mom doesn't have much time for crafting. I created Ellie a box all her own that she could do at the table during busy times like when mom is feeding baby or cooking dinner. I actually find an art tackle box at target that already had some supplies in it. Paint was one of these but I just gave it anyway. Everything else she can use on her own. I then bought some other things. Here is the list:
-clay
-molds for clay
-crayons
-paint, paint holder & stamps
-markers
-stickers
-mini pom poms
-pack of adhesive foam shapes
-foam door hangers to decorate
-pipe cleaners
-glue sticks
-ruler
-scissors
- a small roll of contact paper
-I put a pack of construction paper in the bag
-mini stamps and stamp pads

Then I had the boys make Ellie 2 splat mats using this technique. I rolled them up and tied them each with a ribbon and put them in the bag. I then made a little card using the same stuff and attached it to the bag. Instead of the card being transparent I put the tissue on a piece of construction paper. On the back of the paper I wrote a birthday note and then stuck it down on the contact paper. It was a fun and creative gift and the boys loved that they got to make part of it. Their faces lit up when she opened it.

the card

Jake's - a castle with a sun and sunset and flowers and a tree with a birds nest

Brady's - he did the background and I cut out her name and put it on top of his masterpiece

Farmers Market Finds

All this for $40.00!!!!
Last week we were in Bham. John had a meeting and so me and the boys ventured to one of our favorite spots - the state farmers market. Yes it stays open year around and my little Mexican friends have some great deals. We got 1/2 bushel of orange bell peppers and 1/2 bushel of yellow bell peppers for $8 each. The 1/2 bushel of apples was 8, the oranges were 12 and the onions were 4. Eating healthy is so expensive these days. I bought this stuff and came home and spent a day in my kitchen slicing and freezing and cooking (the apples) and I ended up with 4 gallon size bags each color of the bell peppers, and onion and about 12 family portions of cooked apples to use for dessert or applesauce. We love cooking with peppers and onions and this way I don't have to chop them each night and they don't go bad if we don't use them right away. Instead I go to the freezer pull out what I need and start cooking. They are flash frozen before I put them in the bag so they don't stick together. This saves me tons of time and money in the long run. The colored bell pepper is usually over $1 each. I got about 25-30 for $8. It just took 1 long day in the kitchen and I am set for about 6-8 months!!!! Oh if you live in bham and are interested I will tell you where exactly to go find my friends!!!!

More CVS Deals

So the doc told us not to take Jake to nursery today and John and I both seem to have sinus stuff so we spent Sun morning relaxing. Because I hadn't bought a stitch of groceries this week we went to Walmart for the basics. I decided to buy 3 papers today because they are $1 each at WM. I made my money back big time on just the coupons I used today. Now before I go any further I need to give my normal stance on coupons. If I am not using the for a steal like this I usually don't bother. I buy store brand for most of groceries and Suave or store brand for most of my toiletries. I know I am cheap but it is what has to happen for me to stay home with the kiddos. So I want those of you who hate the thought of clipping coupons to know I am right there with you but it is so worth it for this. With my coupons and the bucks and sales at CVS this week I spent $4.97 of real money and got all of this:


It is a bad pic but I can give you a run down:
-3 Pantene Pro-V Shampoo/Con
-3 Sunsilk Shampoo/Con
-4 Degree Deo (plus I found ones with travel samples in them...look for these, they are great for gym bags)
-Bottle 24 ct Excedrine (made a buck on this one with the coupon and bucks back)
-Febreze Candle
-Febreze Spray
-Febreze Plug in

Here is how I did it:
I started out with 24.95 ECB's and I bought everything but the febreze products on the first check out. With my bucks and coupons I spent $2.37 and got back 10 more ECB. On the second check out I bought the 3 febreeze products and used my 10 bucks, coupons and spent $2.50 and got back 5 more ECB's to use on my next visit.

The febreze product are definantly splurges but I made bucks on them and had good coupons for them. Plus who doesn't love their house to smell good???
This month is their semi annual beauty sale so a lot of their higher end products are on sale with good bucks so now is a time to spend your up front money so that you can start your savings. It is a lot of fun and you are saving your family money in the process. Love to hear about your deals.

CVS Rocks

Ok so I love to save a buck. Who doesn't? But I occasionally go on line in seach of ways to be more frugal. I read a blog the other day of a women who spends 20 a week on groceries for her and her husband. I thought wow that is amazing because my kids don't eat a ton more so I started looking to see how she did it. In one week she went to 5 different stores to buy her groceries. She will be greatly disappointed at how much her budget changes when kids come along....I dread the trip to one grocery store much less loading and unloading for 5 a week. I admire her for doing it with no children (although I might have been caught doing that when we had no kids???)
I really want to be a good steward of my money and do the best I can to save money on our grocery budget but I also feel like I have to be a good steward of my time. Well about a week ago I learned about CVS and it is great. I will use what I have done to tell you how it works:
If you get a CVS card there are certain items that you get Exra Care Bucks back for purchasing that product. So this week the nivea men's line was on sale and John likes that face wash. The deal with it was that for every $15 you spent on nivea products you get $5 bucks. The bucks are essentially like a gift card for the store. They print out on your reciept and you give them the reciept to redeem the bucks at the next purchase. So I bought the face wash and a few other things and ended up with 15 bucks. Well every week they usually have 1 or 2 items that you get the whole amount back in bucks so it is essentially free. There are 2 places you can find the deals - 1. the weekly sales flyer 2. a monthly flyer they put in the store. The deals are different in each of them. One is good for the week and the other you can get for the whole month. The April free product is CVS brand Tylenol. You pay 3.99 and get 3.99 back. So I went in and bought the limit (5) and it cost me 19.95. I applied my 15 previous bucks and only paid $5 for 5 bottles of Tylenol BUT I got 19.95 bucks back. I did 2 seperate check-outs so I could use those bucks for my next stuff. The item in the weekly ad that was "free" was the Softsoap body wash. They cost 4.99 and you get 4.99 in bucks back. There was a limit of 5 per househould/card. So that was 24.95. I used my 19.95 previous bucks and only paid $5 for 5 bottles of bodywash. BUT I got 24.95 bucks back to use on my next visit. So I got all of this for $10:

The key to getting the best deal is using your bucks to buy things that will replinish the bucks you use. You can also use coupons and then you end up making more money. I also read that after you use your card for like 4 weeks in a row CVS coupons start printing off with your reciept and you can use store coupons plus manufacture coupons to get an even better deal. The first week or so you will have to spend money - and CVS does cost more than Wal-mart but once you start "working the system" you don't have to really spend much more money. I spent 10 on my trip today but I have 25 bucks to use on my next visit. Isn't that amazing!!!!! THIS IS A GOOD THING!