{Frugal Friday} A Piratey Christmas

Yesterday my friend sent me a link on Facebook for AThriftyMom.com

The link was regarding a 2 pack of pirate costumes for $1.98.

I was pretty excited. I headed over to the blog, 

then I followed the link to Little Tikes.

Actually, I had some trouble with the link 

so I just went to LittleTikes.com and searched Pirate Costume.

There they were.

A two pack like this is $1.98.

A single costume is .99.

I bought three two-packs.

I paid $14.96 out the door after shipping.

I bought so many because the shipping is flat rate.

I am pleased to say that there are some boys who will be receiving 

Pirate costumes this year for Christmas.

Very sweet deal!

Go check it out. 

Maybe there are still some left.

Happy Friday!!!!

I am so excited for it to be the weekend.

{Frugal Friday} Five Frugal Party Tips

Since parties are sort of the theme of the week,

today I am going to share with you five things that help 

me to stay on track while planning a party.

Parties in today's society can be a bit exorbitant and costly.

#1

Plan early. Plan often.

Yes, when I say early I mean EARLY!!!

Seriously early.

You should pretty much start thinking about the party

 a minimum of nine months ahead of time.

This allows you to catch deals when there are clearances 
andto spread out cost.

It allows you to not impact your budget with a 
$500 plus dent at all once.

Food clearly cannot be picked up early 
which is why it is important to pick up the other things early.

Food costs alone can be between $80-$200 depending on the 

number of guests and what is being served.

#2

Plan. Plan. Plan.

And when you think you have it all covered 
plan some more.

Plan a budget, 

both overall all and per item.

For example,

this year for Roly Poly's first birthday I knew 

that I wanted the invitations to have matching paper.

I will be making a majority of the decorations from this paper.

Thus, these two items will make up the majority of my budget.

I set an overall number for the party,

but then I set a separate number for what
 I would spend on this bulk order.

I was exactly within my budget and ordered three months early

so the cost is already done even though the party 

isn't until July 23rd.

It is also important to plan table cloths, silverware, etc early.

What games, prizes, favors will you be incorporated.

This allows you to make a Target run and see plasticware in the

 seasonal section on clearance and pick it up.

I did this for both parties this year.

Monster's decor was inspired by some items I picked up in the Halloween clearance at Target

and 

Roly Poly's silverware was purchased from this years Easter section at Target.

Pictures of both will come after the actual parties.

#3

Cut Costs!!!

Yes, in some ways this is easier said than done,

but it is truly feasible.

One simple area for cost cutting is drinks.

Limit the number of options that you serve.

You do not need to purchase a 12 pack of 5 different types of soda.

Instead, you can serve filtered water in a large decorative pitcher.

Make some Crystal Light or Lemonade in another decorative pitcher.

Then, you are free to have one or two soda choices (purchased on sale with a coupon)

for your guests who have this as their preference.

The way that I am incorporating this idea for Roly Poly's party

is by serving only IBC rootbeer 

because the color goes with the theme

and then I will have some other refreshments in dispensers.

In the past I have spent way too much on drinks

and been left with more left overs than any one family needs.

There are several other ways of cutting costs.

• Sewing your own favor bags.
• Reusing items from past parties (eg glassware for center pieces--this is what I am doing for Monster's Pirate Party)
• Make your own cake/cupcakes/desserts
• Skip the pinata for an alternative game
• Avoid the bounce house trap at all cost (sorry if you are a bounce house lover. They are a cost though)
• Borrow chairs and tables from friends who have them or ask your church
• Serve only cake and ice cream, thus cutting your food costs astronomically.
• Have a breakfast party where you serve fruit and cereal.

#4

Taper the guest list.

This can be a hard one, especially for a first birthday party.

Just know that sometimes you can't taper and others you can.

When you can taper the guest list,

there are several possible strategies.

• You can throw a family ONLY party.
• You can make it a gender only party.
• When the child is old enough it can be a drop off party. No parents=less mouths to feed.
• Have a destination party where your child invites one-three friends. This is clearly a choice reserved for older children, not infants or toddlers.
• Make it at an inconvenient date or time. Seriously, this way you don't feel bad. Last year Monster's party was on a Thursday at 11. This pretty much excluded all extra dad mouths, including my husband's. This year his party is on his birthday, Fourth of July, at 10am. It is at my Mother-in-law's house 40 minutes from where we live. We limited it to family because we didn't want to obligate any of our friends to drive or cancel cooler plans. This wipes away any guilt. Everyone who is coming lives within 15 minutes of where the party will be. We are the only ones who do not live nearby.

#5

Don't be Embarrassed.

Be true to yourself. Be true to your budget.

People are they to have fun.

In the end people don't REALLY care how awesome your party was.

Instead, they just want to hang out, have good conversation, and love on your kid.

If you can't afford it or you just don't have time to manage it,

then just have a classic party like your mom threw you.

This was what I did last year.

I bought Little Caesar $5 pizzas,

a cheap but cute cake from Target,

simple favors, 

and that was that.

I was sick, pregnant, tired, hot, perturbed, and just a bit over it in general.

I still had fun. 

The kids were enamored with the day.

All was well.

Okay, so this post was mostly wordy, 
but I think that it is worth reading.

Lots o Love for this 

AWESOME< AMAZING< FOURTH OF JULY WEEKEND!!!!

Mimicking Mandi

I am sure you all know Mandi from Vintage Revivals.

She is pretty much the bees knees.

I mean, she's even been on TV.

Okay, so she made this SUPER awesome rug.

Yep!!!

Well, I wanted to create a rug of my own following 
some of her directions. 

Area rugs are just RIDICULOUSLY costly, 
so I thought this was a great way to save.

I had my eye out on these bathroom rugs 
that were in the Target clearance section.

I watched the price drop and drop 
until I found it to be acceptable.

Then, I snatched all the rugs that they had up;

of course I laid them all together in the middle 
of a Target aisle first to make sure my idea looked good.

I came home with 8 bathroom rugs.

This was a price totaling under $20, 
which would have originally been the price of just two.

Yippee!!!

The only other supplies that I now needed were 
scissors to cut the tags and carpet tape.

I bought this carpet tape at Home Depot.

I laid out my design again.

Then I switched a couple around for uniformity.

For some reason one rug just had way more blue than white.

There is absolutely nothing that I can do about it though.

Once my layout was set, I flipped all of the rugs over

and began to tape.

It took a total of two packages of tape 
in order to complete the project (really one 1/4 packages).

Here is the final result as it now sits in my front living area. 

In some ways it's a Monet

(gorgeous from afar and a mess up close).

Up close you can clearly see the seams.
Actually,
 that one row of seams is even ridiculously 
apparent in these photos,

but for $30 total cost I really cannot complain.

{Frugal Friday} These Boots Were Made For Rockin'

Oh my, oh my!!!

 Did I score.

I was at my local thrifting haunt,

and I decided to mosey on over to their

"Designer" rack.

You know it has all brand name stuff

from Volcom and Phat Farm to

real designer stuff from time to time.

This was one of THOSE times.

I saw some lovely boots sitting right on top.

I have been in dire need of black boots for

almost two years.

My pickyness prevails over my purchases, 
so finding some good ones has been difficult.

I did buy some Ninas at Ross last year,

but they are not my favorite AT ALL!

However, these bad gals

were on sale at the thrift store.

Oh yes, that makes me EXTRA thrifty.

They are ANNE KLEIN.

What?

Designer for under $6.

One heel is a tiny bit scuffed, but other than that . . .

BRAND *** SPANKIN'*** NEW.

I thought that I should show you how I will be rockin' them 

when boot weather returns.

Dress: Lucky ($10 at outlet), Belt: Nine West, Ballet Tights: Bloch,
AWESOME Boots: Anne Klein thrifted.

See that suitcase? Be lookin' for it sometime in late June or early July. It is part of Monster's B-day gift.
I have plans for it. I picked it up the same day for $7.

So do not avoid the dreaded thrift store.

Check it out.

Purchase.

Bring it home and Lysol it up.

Then ROCK EM!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have an amazing Mother's Day weekend.

Love ya, mean it!

{Frugal Friday} Less than a Dime

What can you get for under a dollar?

Okay, anything at the .99 store, but beside there?

Hmmmmm . . . Well, even a kids strawberry milk at Starbucks is $1.10.

source

Maybe, a Target brand juice box.

source

How about .50?

I think that the juice box is .47, so we're good.

What about for less than a quarter. 

Even kiddie toy machines are two quarters now, and sometimes even more.

Well, I know what I got for less than A DIME!!!!!

It came from the FABULOUS Michael's clearance.

It is this here mini canvas.

Yes, it currently has a castle on it, 

but that does not mean I can't completely cover it and make something lovely 

for Mother's Day.

I am pretty excited about this absolute steal.

I did get some other good deals this week, but this was the most

 FANTABULOUS!!!

Have you had any frugal luck this week?

Tell me about it.

I love to hear the steals that are out there.
I find it inspiring.

{Frugal Friday} Menswear

DON"T FEAR THE MENS WEAR!!!

Yes. My tip this week is as simple as this.

I purchased these three shirts for $1.98 each.

speckled blue                                              speckled green                                                plain white tee

They are mens XS, but S would have fit a little nicer.

I adore a mens white tee on a gal.

I ALWAYS have!

Most likely it is just because I love to wear them.

I may refashion one or more of these.

For now I will leave them this way 

because I just have too many other things to do right now.

Enjoy your weekend and remember to be frugal.

{Frugal Friday} Simple Monogram Frames & {Spring Fling} Day 6

I am in the midst of creating some photo gallery walls in our home.

One such wall is in our bedroom and will have my

Magical Mirror on it,

in addition to this project.

These are a set of matted and framed monogram initials.

This was crazy simple (and cheap) to make.

I picked up the letters at Michael's just after Halloween for .29.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them at the time,

I just knew that I couldn't pass up the price.

Then I realized that I wanted to frame them.

So, I picked up two black 8x10s at Dollar Tree.

Total cost is up to $2.58 pre-tax.

Once I realized that the fabric I used on the heart for my Valentine's garland

(seen here and hereguest post coming soon, then link will be enabled)

coordinated with my room decor,

I jsut knew that it would make the perfect matting.

We are still at $2.58.

So here are the simple steps to putting it together.

1. Remove the glass from the frames so that the metal letters can fit. 
Also, remove the stand thingy from the back.

2. Cut the fabric to fit the frame, iron it smooth, and glue to backing using hot glue gun.

3. Adhere the letters using hot glue gun or Gorilla Glue.

When I was doing this I realized that my "d" was actually a "p" because of where the hangers were.
No biggee though.

4. Return to frame.

TA DA!!!

This is currently Monster's favorite saying when he does something.

Like many of my projects, that was completely painless.

You are now ready to hang your creation.

Oh yeah, and did you notice that there were no more additional costs

because all other items were on hand.

Yippee!!!

$2.58

Speaking of frugal endeavors.

Getting great items for free is ALWAYS a frugal choice.

So don't forget to check out today's Spring Fling Giveaways

from the og so special event hosted by

Wildflowers and Whimsy

Todays giveaways include:

A Cleaning Apron and a Box of Magic Erasers from Nat Mac

and an AWESOME headband from one of my favorites Luxe Boulevard

I might have to ask you to not enter this one so that I can have a better chance of winning.
WINK!WINK!
Sorry, I am just partial to ALL things nautical.


Have a great weekend and remember to be frugal.

{Frugal Friday} Charity Edition

Okay, so this is a bit atypical for a Frugal Friday,

but I am going to ask ya'll to do something.

Charity is an important part of frugality.

You may be thinking, "What?"

"How does giving my money to someone else save me money."

Well, trust me it does.

It does because it shifts your paradigm of thinking.

It does because it causes you to look at your resources from an entirely new perspective.

So today,

I ask that you help out.

That you partake in aiding those who have suffered from the recent catastrophes in Japan.

A few ways you can do this is to donate via one of the links below (courtesy of Eisy Morgan)

If you would like to donate click here for the 

American Red Cross 

or here for the 

"For Japan with Love"


Also, Cheri from I am Momma Hear Me Roar
is allowing us all to pre-order the pattern for he 
Tohoku Tote if you donate $8 or more to a humanitarian campaign for Japan.


For details follow this link

See I told you that giving could be frugal.
Happy weekends to you all!!!

"And above all these things put on charity, 


which is the bond of perfectness."

Colossians 3:14 (KJV)

{Frugal Friday} Coupon Crocodile/Blog Love

A new blog that has been helping me to get coupon motivated is 

Coupon Crocodile.

She has been getting some ridiculous deals.

For instance she walked out of Target last week for under $5 

with all of this:

Transaction #1:
1 Tide Stain Release - clearance $3.48 (reg: $6.99)
- $3/1 manu coupon
1 Hormel sausage links - $1.89
1 Excedrin (includes bonus baby bottle too) - $3.34
- $3/1 Target coupon
- $1.50/1 manu coupon
3 Granola bar boxes (4 ct) - $1/each
- $1.50/3 Target coupon
- (3) $0.50/1 manu coupons

Total out of pocket: $1.37
Earned: $1/1 Excedrin manu coupon


Transaction #2:
1 Tide Stain Release - clearance $3.48 (reg $6.99)
- $3/1 manu coupon
3 Granola bar boxes (4 ct) - $1/each
- $1.50/3 Target coupon
- (3) $0.50/1 manu coupons
1 Excedrin (includes bonus baby bottle too) - $3.34
- $3/1 Target coupon
- $1/1 manu coupon
1 dozen fresh eggs - $1.19
- $1/1 manu coupon that I can't figure out but it is listed on my receipt

Total out of pocket: $0.17
Earned: $1/1 Excedrin manu coupon

Transaction #3:
1 Tide Stain Release - clearance $3.48 (reg $6.99)
- $3/1 manu coupon
1 Excedrin (includes bonus baby bottle too) - $3.34
- $3/1 Target coupon
- $0.75/1 manu coupon
1 Dentastix dog treats - sale price $3
- $2/1 manu coupon

Total out of pocket: $1.59
Earned: $1/1 Excedrin manu coupon

Transaction #4:
1 Tide Stain Release - clearance $3.48 (reg $6.99)
- $3/1 manu coupon
1 Excedrin (includes bonus baby bottle too) - $3.34
- $3/1 Target coupon
- $1/1 manu coupon
1 Kelloggs Nut Crunch cereal - $2.50
- $1/1 Target coupon
- $1/1 manu coupon

Total out of pocket: $0.60
Earned: $1/1 Excedrin coupon

Grand total paid at Target today: $3.73
Earned: (4) $1/1 Excedrin coupons and found a $2/1 toy coupon
Saved (figuring in the Tide at regular price): $53.78

SAY WHAT?

So if you too are looking for some great inspiration to save, check her out.

She is awesome!!!!!

She has another blog called 

PreppyPinkCrocodile

It is also filled with fun.

{Frugal Friday} Coffee

Mmmmmm . . . Coffee.

Mmmmmmm . . . Starbucks.

Mmmmmm . . . Coffee Bean
Mmmmmm . . . Gloria Jeans

Mmmmmm . . . I LOVE IT!!!

I have pretty much been a coffee gal since 7th grade.

I used to make my own cappuccinos at home.

A family friend owned a coffee house nearby.

My favorite drink was a cappuccino add mocha and caramel.

Healthy, right?

In high school we went EVERDAY, unfailing to Cafe Luna.

It was the absolute BEST coffee shop I have ever visited.

Although, I would often just get a Cherry Coke;

that was the best Cherry Coke too;

I would also buy Mocha Lattes. Hot.

When the owner Rose closed it down I was soooo sad.

We all were.

We were the Lunigans after all.

Yes, that is what people called us because we were there so often.

Well, Starbucks came along and the small guy moved on out.

Bye-Bye!

I have grown to be a Bucks Gal, 

but I would love to have a small coffee house all my own again.

Luckily, I married a coffee connoisseur.

My hubs, I think we will call him DL from now on, 

is of Cuban/Spanish Basque decent.

Needless to say this means he loves his coffee.

He has enjoyed it since he was about 5;

this is not uncommon in other parts of the world.

So, in order to save on money, and preserve some culture, we make Cafe con Leche on the weekends.

This is just a fancy (okay the Spanish) way of saying a caffe latte.

We use an Italian style espresso machine (Cafetera/Moka) 

Here's ours. It's pretty new courtesy of my MIL who always has at least one extra, just in case.

I love that this one has a clear window on top.

The espresso we favor is Cafe La Llave.

It can be purchased at most Latin-American Markets, Stater Brothers, and some other retailers.

Other brands we have tried are Cafe Bustelo and Don Francisco.

La Llave is our favorite though.
Here's an article from a fellow lover of this brand.

Okay, so in order to help keep my resolution of 1 Starbuck's per week 

(not quite happening yet, but improving), 

I have begun making my own espresso at home during the week.

It costs less for a package of La Llave than one Starbucks drink.

Here's a quick look at the iced mocha version.

Ingredients:

Espresso

Leche/Milk

Chocolate Syrup

Ice

Whip Cream, if you have it

Sugar/oppitional

After you cook your espresso on the stove top,

fill your oh so cute glass with ice.

Now you are going to add milk.

I do between 1/2 and 2/3.

Now add your espresso.

Mmmmm . . . look at that swirly goodness.

Next, chocolate syrup to taste and stir.

If you like add sugar.

I got so excited about my morning pick-me-up that I forgot to take more pics.

OOPS!

I normally would've put whipped cream but we were out. 

So Sad.

It is ready to drink.

Your own latte from home.

Really I think they taste better too.

You could do soooo much if you buy syrups and other things as well.

Have fun with it!!!

Enjoy your weekend.