Weekend Wrap-Up

What a great weekend!  Friday night after we put the kids to bed, friends came over and we played Settlers of Catan and talked theology until almost 1:30 am!  I know those of you who are childless don't think that seems late at all, but with kids, that very seldom happens.  It was a great night.  Saturday was an Ikea trip and then watching the Steelers win over the Ravens - always a good time!!  Sunday was a day of church, setting up some of our new Ikea finds, and then youth group in the evening.  It was a fast but fun weekend.

One of the things I was so excited to find at Ikea was a shelf for the laundry room.  It's the perfect place to put my Mason jars. 

I think one of the few things that could make my weekend better would be to win this giveaway that The Shabby Chic Cottage is hosting right now.  Head on over for your chance to win a Silhouette!

And.....there's another Silhouette giveaway going on here!  Go there and sign up - if you win and don't want it, you can give it to me ;)

Secrets of Saving: Stockpile

I love to save money.  It's a slight obsession/passion of mine.  There's a lot of reasons why I love to save money....

• I want to be a good steward of what God has given me.
• I want to be able to continue being a stay at home mom.
• I like to be able to splurge once in awhile - go out to dinner or away for a weekend!
• I like to save on the big things - money saved on the little things sometimes means we are able to put more down on our mortgage payment - which in the big picture, means it will be paid off sooner!
• It's good to have some money saved and put away "just in case" of illness, job loss, etc.
• Not gonna lie - it's the thrill of the hunt!  I get a rush when I know I saved money!

When I'm on my A-Game, which is obsessive couponing, watching sales, etc etc....I aim to spend about $40-$50 a week on groceries, which includes diapers and toiletries.  Lately, I have not been on my A-Game.  The couponing I was doing was definitely saving me money, but I just did not have the time to put into it.  I fell behind and now it's going to be a monumental task to catch up again.  I'm still doing pretty good on the weekly budget though, largely in part to my stockpile. 

I know some people will cringe at the mention of a stockpile, but before you judge, let me give you a list of stockpiling tips....then you can decide for yourselves if you think I'm a wacko. 

• Only stockpile what you have room for.  The goal here is not to end up on a Hoarders episode.
• Only stockpile what you will actually use in a reasonable amount of time.  I don't care if the flea & tick shampoo is 75% off....if you don't have a pet, don't buy it!!  Along with this...pay attention to expiration dates!  Some things are on sale for a reason!
• Never pay full price to stockpile.  This is not brain surgery - if you pay full price just to have your stockpile, you aren't saving money!
• Some good things to stockpile include pantry items you use all the time - for me those are things like chicken broth, diced tomatoes, etc.  I also love to stockpile toiletries - CVS is my main source for these - seems like almost every week you can get a free toothpaste, razor, or deoderant!  Cleaning supplies are another great thing to stockpile because they can get so expensive if you end up having to pay full price.  Thanks to my favorite savings website, For the Mommas, I stocked up on Purex laundry detergent last February, and I haven't had to buy laundry detergent since!!!  All I had to pay for were the coupons I bought on eBay.
• Wondering what to do with your stockpile (besides USE it?)  Those items can make great gifts!  Give a bride-to-be or someone moving into a new house a big box of cleaning supplies!  You can also donate!  Did you buy that flea & tick shampoo because it was a great deal, get home and realize you don't have a dog?  Donate it to a local animal shelter!  Donate food to a food pantry, or toiletries to a local rescue mission!  There are always people in need, just look around!!

Want to see my latest stockpile purchase?  CVS is running a great deal on Finish Dishwasher Tabs & Gelpacs....normally they are priced at $6.89 (yikes!) - this week they are on sale for $3!  I bought some coupons on eBay (for a very little amount)...$2.25 off each box, making each box only 75 cents!  So, I bought 10 boxes for $7.50.  Each box has 20 tabs or gelpacs, so I won't have to buy dishwashing detergent for a very very long time.  To sweeten the deal, I also earned $10 in ExtraBucks for spending $20 on that particular brand (before coupons - I love CVS!)  So technically, they are paying me to do my dishes 200 times!

Even a picture of dishwashing detergent is made cuter with a baby in the background, right?

If you are a local, don't worry, I left some finish at CVS for you....but just in case they are all gone when you get there, don't worry, CVS has a GREAT rain check policy - they never expire!

PS - Another great thing to stockpile is toys, especially when you find them on clearance!  Great for gifts or donations!!!  See my previous post here for the toys I picked up during Target's after-Christmas clearance sales!

Linking up to the Penny Pinching Party here! and to the homemaking linky here!

Laundry Room Reveal

Ok, you caught me.  The laundry room still is not 100% complete.  There's still some minor things we need to do and a few things we need to get.  Nonetheless, I'm ready for a reveal.  Just as a reminder, at some point, previous owners had used these two rooms for their dog breeding stuff.  (Check out this previous post for a few "before" pictures).  Obviously not something we were thrilled with, but when we bought the house, we knew someday we could turn it into something useful.  Fast forward 3 1/2 years and we are so pleased with how it turned out!  I just wish I had more "before" pictures for some better comparisons! 

Here's the still-to-do/get list (doesn't include things like fill up the walls with artwork that are more long-term things):
*Putty holes & paint trim!
*Paint doors
*Baskets for shelves
*Shelves for above washer & dryer  (done!  see it here!)
*Doormats!
*Curtains

Now, be prepared for a lot of pictures....sorry for the poor picture quality for some of them....
First, another "before" picture (yes, I was too lazy to scan this so I took a picture of the picture)...it's the view standing in our kitchen looking out to the hallway - the door straight ahead leads to the garage.  Lots of wallpaper.  Lots of blue.  Wallpaper and blue seemed to be the main themes of the house.  And yep, those are ducks on the border.  Or possibly geese.

And the after - new flooring, wallpaper stripped, walls, doors and trim painted - door to garage removed due to the hallway added on to connect the old hallway to the new rooms (along with a peek at my daughter's jammie-covered bum):

Continuing forward:

Turning left around the corner, the laundry room looking into the mud room:

Straight ahead:

I need to find something to sit on it, but I love my little green bench!  It was a great find....in our basement when we moved in!  Here's a close-up - I love that old look that just can't be duplicated - I just wish I knew the story behind it:

Now looking to the right - I want to put baskets on the shelves to hold hats, mittens, etc.  The sliding door on the left leads to a little porch area:

And now, turning around for the backwards walk-through:

The metal bucket is to store "outside stuff":

Just on the other side of the door is the utility sink:

"What is that thing hanging above the sink?" you might ask....and I might tell you - it's a drying rack!  More specifically, a drying rack I saw 2+ years ago at a store going out of business.  I didn't buy it because I didn't have a place for it, but my husband told my mom-in-law about it, and she surprised me with it!  It's been sitting in my closet for a few years, just waiting to be hung up and admired in all it's glory....



And now continuing our backwards walk-through, a view of the laundry room (the wall opposite the washer & dryer)....our freezer and pantry shelves....I also have a great cabinet to put under the window, but I'm using it in another part of the house right now:

On top of the freezer I have these great vintage-y looking grape boxes that I don't know what else to do with (any ideas?):

And on top of the pantry shelves, is this collection of stuff I don't know what else to do with - the Hops bottle is from the (now out of business) restaurant that Jon & I went to on our first date (awww!), the crock and some of the blue mason jars (I loooove blue mason jars) are from my Grandma's house:

And the other wall looks a little something like this (to help put it in perspective, the utility sink is to the right of the dryer):

In the above picture, Jon built the box to stand the washer & dryer on ($200 per pedestal - no thanks).  The rug may or may not still have a Target  price tag, because I may or may not be returning it.

Besides the green bench (and the washer & dryer of course), my favorite thing would have to be this...

I first posted about these letters back here - we found them at an antique/flea market place - they are letters from an out of business movie theater.  At first I was going to spell out "LAUNDRY" but Jon thought that was too typical.  He was right.  When I saw the "&" it all fell into place.  The only problems were that some of the letters were red and some were black - we solved this with a little spraypaint - also, there were no "A's" - we solved this by turning a "V" upside down and adding a little piece of Armaflex (with an insulator for a husband, many household things are fixed with Armaflex). 

And for the last close-up, I have this little dandy - Pottery Barn used to sell something similar as a Christmas card display but I bought this on Etsy from curlywire (again, a few years ago, just waiting to be used).  I'm not sure I love it in this spot, but I think it will look better when I have more pictures and cards to display - in the meantime, it's a cutie picture of our niece & nephew, and a birthday card from a few years ago that still makes me laugh:

Well, there you have it - The Laundry Room Reveal!  I am loving the extra space and not having to trek down to the basement to do laundry!

Click here to see some of the parties I may have linked to!

I also linked up to:

and:

EEK!  *Lots of jumping and clapping!*  I'm so excited becase this project was featured on my very favorite crafty blog!!

Wowzers!  Lots of excitement on this post, becase....

Freezer Cooking/OAMC

I am a big fan of OAMC (Once A Month Cooking).  I love that a few hours work will stock up my freezer with meals, and I love those days when I don't know what to cook and can just pull a meal out of the freezer.  It ends up saving money, too, because I don't go to the grocery store at the last minute looking for a quick and easy meal.
I've been cooking freezer meals for a few years now.  When I first started, I used this book pretty much exclusively. 


It's a great book that I highly recommend, especially if you are just starting out doing OAMC.  Sure, it's easy to double a casserole recipe and freeze one, but this book gives you everything you need - down to the grocery list and step by step instructions.  I still use the book quite a bit for recipes but don't follow their meal plans much.  Instead, I try to go by what is on sale or just what we are hungry for!
My last batch of freezer cooking went a little slower than expected.  Typically I try to do all the work in a day.  This time I spread it out over a few afternoons.  Our refrigerator and freezer broke, so that put a dent into my plans.  We got a new fridge/freezer (that I LOVE) and then I continued on with the meals.
Here's the list of what I made with links to some of the recipes (the ones without links are from the book).  Many of them are new recipes, so fingers crossed they turn out good!

Slow Cooker Cranberry Pork x2
Chicken Fried Rice x4
Meal on the Run Pork Loin (shredded pork for sandwiches)
Beef Taquitos (this one turned out to be a FAIL since my corn tortillas kept breaking.  I scratched the idea and instead just froze the meat for tacos x3).
Denise's Black Beans (my favorite!) x4
Sausage & Spinach Stuffed Shells x2 (we had this earlier this week and it was delish!)
Crabcakes x3

And because every post is better with a picture, check out this beauty....so new it's still wearing the plastic!  (Just don't look too closely at my hideous blue cabinets...eek....but while you are looking, you can check out our new flooring - there have been a lot of changes around here lately!)

While it was a pain to have to buy a new refrigerator, I did have to hide my excitement a little!  In the 6 1/2 years we have been married, we have lived in 2 houses - both came with their (old) appliances.  It has been SUCH a blessing not to have to buy appliances when we moved, but I'm not gonna lie....it was pretty exciting to get a new washer & dryer, and now refrigerator these past 2 months!  (Although I'm hoping all the other old stuff doesn't die too soon!)

Today's Target Deals

Yay for Target clearance!  I went on a mini shopping spree today and restocked my gift closet (and got a few other things).  Pictured below are my good deals.....the total of everything should have been $289.36...

I paid $85.01!  My favorite thing was the Baby Care Center....marked down from $99.99 to $24.98!!  I can't wait to give it to Carly for her next birthday....so sad I have to wait until November!  Here's a breakdown of the other items...
Pampers Wipes (not on sale but I had coupons):  Original $1.97, I paid 47cents.
Box of mini Candy Canes:  from $2.47 to 24 cents
New rug for my laundry room:  $19.99 to $13.98 (I left a few there hoping no one else wants them and they get marked down more).
3 pairs of shoes for the kids:  all 75% off
Christmas ornaments:  $5 marked down to 50 cents
5 sets of Disney Cars toys (no, they are not all for Jackson, I got a few extras for birthday parties):  all 75% off - 2 of the sets were marked down from $30!!!

Hitting the clearance sales is a great way to save money - plan ahead with your gift giving and you'll never have to pay full price!

Anyone else find any good deals lately?

Around the House: Labels & Numbers

In my last post, I mentioned how I'm a sucker for anything numbered, labeled, lettered, etc.  I thought it would be fun to go around the house and look for some of these items - so here we go....
You've already seen my new numbered coat rack (which is already coming in so handy!):

Next, just in case I forget where the butter goes:

Same thing for the coffee:

In our living room, we have this  (the "M" was from Kohl's and the vinyl was from Uppercase Living....and no, it's not actually crooked, I promise.  it looks that way because the letters are different sizes....believe me, we've measured repeatedly):

And for another laundry room sneak peak, I'm planning on using this to store all the goodies I find in pockets before doing the laundry (wahoo for $5 deal at Pottery Barn Outlet!):

And here's some instructions on what actually goes on in the laundry room (more about these later):

My latest find, labeled measuring cups (from Christmas Tree Shops for less than $3!):

And, one for my wish list - "Comfort Food" casserole dishes, new from Pottery Barn (here's hoping no one else likes them and they come to the outlet soon!):

So there you have it, my slight obsession with all things labeled.  It will have to stop soon or you might see my children are walking around with their names on their foreheads.

Numbered Coat Rack

Well, I'm still not quite ready for the laundry room reveal.  But I'm loving the mini-project we just finished for it!  As soon as I saw our little half-wall that hides our washer & dryer and creates a hallway, I knew it would be the perfect spot for some hooks.  Any extra spot to store something or hang something is always great in my book!  I was planning on buying this the next time we made an IKEA trip (one of my most favorite stores EVER), but then I saw this idea by Kierste at Brown Paper Packages, and it inspired me!

So cute!  I love anything distressed, and also anything labeled.... so we made our own version!  We had plenty of leftover material from the pedestal Jon built for the washer & dryer to sit on, so we just cut it down to the size we wanted.  (Perhaps that phrase should read "he just cut it down to the size I wanted"....but anyway).  I found the exact same hooks at Target....right down to the oil rubbed bronze finish.  As you have probably already realized, I only have two kids, and to use their names would have made for a pretty small coat rack.  So we used numbers instead!  Instead of using vinyl like Kierste, I used stencils and paint, and our color scheme is different - so here are my revised DIY instructions:

1 - spray paint board black and let dry completely.

2 - paint white over the black (we used leftover trim paint) and let dry completely.

3 - sand the edges and a little over the whole board.

4 - screw in hooks

5 - use stencils to paint numbers (this time I used some craft paint I had on hand)

6 - after drying completely, sand like crazy for that cool distressed look

7 - realize some parts look weird, so repeat #5 & #6 (not so crazy this time) until you like it again

8 - hang and admire!

Just in case you were wondering (we have already gotten this question) - Why 5?  No, we are not trying to assign numbers to our children and the future children that may come someday!  I wanted at least four hooks, and five was more visually appealing to me and fit better in the space.  There is no hidden meaning in the 5 :)

Click here for a list of parties I may have linked to!

and there's this one too -