Get crafty, and get back to school!

I have been using Evernote  to make running lists of pretty much everything, including birthday and Christmas ideas.  I love this because John and I can both access it on our phones and our computer.  So if we are out and see that the used book store is having a huge sale, we can bring up his school book list or the list of home school books we want, and start searching for them.

Anyway, I thought I was going to have trouble thinking of birthday and Christmas ideas for both Maryn and Josiah and boy was I wrong.  I started those lists months ago and they just keep getting longer and longer.  In fact, I just ordered some things for our neighborhood VBS that's coming up from Oriental Trading and was so pleased with what we got, that I looked through the magazine for birthday presents for Maryn.  Sometimes my aunt Cathy sends us these mini stampers and we LOVE them.  They last for a really long time (our Valentine's Day ones are still working!) and are less messy than stamps.  They're also less annoying than stickers (Josiah loves to eat stickers, which are a huge choking hazard, and of course Maryn LOVES to stick them all over the place).

So if you have a three year old who likes to get crafty, please get him/her some of those stampers.  A whole set of ABC stampers costs $7.00.  24 dinosaur stampers, 24 ocean stampers, 24 zoo stampers, etc. all cost $7.00 per set.  Fantastic!

And, did you see the dollar spot at Target lately?  They have lots of great school books to get ready for school, for just a dollar.  Workbooks for ABCs, phonics, 50 states, presidents, math, etc., and quite a few good easy readers for kids K-3, plus lots of classics (Anne of Green Gables, Robinson Crusoe) for cheap, cheap.  We got Maryn an ABC one and she's having a blast coloring it.  She doesn't really follow the directions, but those books always have such easy pictures to color...plus she loves to trace letters.

Happy back to school season!

My First Ever CVS Post

I don't have a cute little picture of all my purchases like Teri and Michele would, but I thought some of you might be interested in the good deals I got last night after our "Clipper Chicks" meeting. Yes, after our meeting, Teri took us on a little field trip to two CVS stores.

I spent $1.81.

And that truly is what I spent. I went into CVS with quarters and came out with:

2 Schick Quattro Razors w/ cartridges
2 Blood Glucose Monitors
4 Colgate Toothbrushes
1 Bayer Crystals
1 Pack of Gum

and $9.00 worth of Extra Care Bucks, which can be used as cash at any CVS store.

So why the blood glucose monitors? Well, to be a true Clipper Chick, you must have diabetes. Just kidding. :) Blood glucose monitors are often a "money maker" at CVS with coupons. CVS paid me to get them, so I got them! We are just donating them along with some other things to our church's Helps Outreach. Unless one of my blog readers out there lets me know they need one!

I am really, really excited about my razors. I haven't had a fancy girl razor since college, I think. I've been using disposables and John's razors when I can sneak by him. Goodbye razor bumps!

The great thing about having little money is that we have been forced to find the best deals. We do a lot of things we just wouldn't have taken the time to do before to save a buck here and there. It's made a big difference, and I think, even if we do have money to spend on extras someday, we'll be much more wise about it.

Check out John's blog to see what he did to figure out the best moving deal. He has spent the last month on the phone with movers, exchanging emails with movers, and arranging meetings with movers. He has a spreadsheet of ten different movers, comparing their rates and weighing the benefits of each. So, if you know anyone moving, feel free to send them our way! We are definitely in the know.

Also, I got a video of Maryn crawling (sort of) today. I'll try to post it later.

Penny Savers

Yep. I have a bag on my head. :)

I have decided to start slowly putting some meat into Maryn's diet. This week we will try chicken. Here is a picture of the stew I am cooking right now. It includes green beans, carrots, apples, a tiny bit of green pepper, a tiny bit of onion, and chicken breast. I really hope it turns out all right because I'm making it without a recipe. When it's done, it will be pureed (yummy!), poured into a Ziploc, squeezed into ice cube trays, frozen, and then the cubes will be kept in a Ziploc (okay, it's really not Ziploc--it's the off brand) freezer bag.

I like making our own baby food, but it is getting a little harder now that Maryn is eating a large variety of foods. And I still love using our cloth diapers and wipes, though it is a lot less stressful when I know I have disposables to fall back on if I need to. Right now, I think using cloth diapers is easier than making baby food. I guess that's sort of surprising to me.

Making baby food is great for two reasons. 1.) It saves us a little bit of money. 2.) I'd like to think I'm getting Maryn used to the taste and texture of fresh vegetables.

However, by the time Maryn is a year old, I think all we'll be able to afford is canned vegetables anyway! That's all right, though. God will take care of us, whether our food comes canned, frozen, or fresh.

I find it interesting to see how other families save money and in what areas they splurge. For example, John and I work hard to make most of our own meals, our own baby food, we use cloth diapers, and we do a lot of things to try to save money on groceries. But we still try to go out to eat once every week. It would probably save us a good bit of money if we stopped eating out, but it's important to us. I know some women, even though times are tough, still really treasure their once-a-month mommy day that may include a pedicure, or something "splurgy" like that. I, however, don't really enjoy things like that. So I don't spend money on them.

In these economically difficult times, I think it's easy to fall into jealousy. Especially when we women see our sisters spending money on things we consider wasteful. God's teaching me to be more loving and sensitive. He knows that I spend money on things that many would consider extreme luxuries. I can be happy for others, even when I don't feel like it. Because God blesses us all in different ways.

So I am curious to know, in what areas does your family work hard to save? And in what areas do you still try to find ways to splurge?