I forget how much i love dollar tree

I always forget how much I love the Dollar Tree! I go months and months not stepping into the place then think I need a couple things from there, go and realize how much I love it. 

Yes, some of it is junky. But I'm not talking about that stuff. I'm talking gift bags, craft items and even sunglasses.

I popped in there last week to pick up a frame to frame a craft the girls made for Mother's Day. I knew they'd have the frame I'd need and for only $1, of course. But then I started cruising the aisles. I'd forgotten how great some of their stuff could be. It's hit or miss, for sure, but you can find some great stuff and at a great price. 

Here's the loot I came home with:

2 pack of white glue for crafting (usually $2 at other places)

2- 8.5x11 inch frames (for the girls craft to their "Cookie" and "Gigi" for Mother's Day)

1-5x7 frame for our wedding invitation (I've only wanted to frame it and hang it in our room for 5 years)

20 pack of foam for crafting

2-24 pack cupcake tins with cute little American flags (I'm forever baking and taking it with me somewhere)

2 reusable shopping bags to put our Mother's Day gifts in

2 Mother's Day cards that are super cute (they'd be $3.50 anywhere else)

1 pair of sunglasses (I'm forever losing or breaking mine, why pay more than a buck for them?)

I came home with more than I wanted. But a lot of it is leaving our home and the others will be used by the girls to make their craft items. And the sunglasses stay in the car. So there you have it!

Have you checked out a local Dollar Tree or other dollar store lately?

Minimizing: It's A Process!

For the past couple of years I've been reading some pretty amazing blogs about minimizing and simplifying life. I'll tell you that I was just going with the flow, buying what I thought I needed and what would make me happy, but it didn't and sit still doesn't. And all I was left with was a bunch of useless stuff filling up our closets and our floors making life harder than it needed to be. But, thanks to these blogs I saw I could live a different way. I saw that all that stuff that I thought I needed, well I really didn't need it like the world was telling me. So I made a decision and started changing the way I thought about what I brought into our home.

When we started house hunting in April of 2010 and then began packing for the move into our first home I really started paring down what we had. And we had a lot! Or I had a lot. :) Once we got moved in I went through more of our stuff. I realized that 1. we didn't have room and 2. we didn't need it and it hadn't been used and 3. I was tired of it! Being 8 months pregnant when we moved was actually helpful in paring down since I was nesting then. :)

Here we are 2 years later and I'm still de-cluttering. Honestly, it feels like it's been a never-ending process for the past couple of years. But I'm doing a little at a time and I feel accomplished every time I get something done.

In the past 2 months I've gone through our outside closet (this holds decorations and stuff for outside), our laundry room, pantry, both girls closets and our closet. That is all over the place but when the urge comes to minimize I jump at it. Just today I was reading how Rachel is clearing out her boys clothes. She has 2 beautiful boys and while the baby will need the big boys clothes in the next year or so she realized he wouldn't need as much as they have. I have been realizing the same thing, I just haven't been able to figure out what to do exactly. And I kept thinking, "What if Naomi does need more clothes? I don't want to get rid of them just in case." Well that's not the thinking I want to have because then I'll use that every time I start to minimize our things. Nyla didn't wear quite a few items and they were just stored in a box. I have my favorites which means I'll put Naomi in the same clothes I put Nyla in. So I am getting rid of a lot. I went through and filled up a large plastic tub of all kinds of clothes. Next week I'm going to take them to our local kid's consignment store and see if I can get some money for my clothes. What they don't take I'll immediately take to Goodwill so it never comes into my house again. I think it'll be win-win all around!

So, while I am making progress in minimizing, de-cluttering, paring down, getting rid of the excess... whatever you want to call it, I still feel overwhelmed about it all. I am taking it one day at a time, one month at a time and one space at a time. Rome wasn't built in a day! And my house will NOT be the way I want it in a day! This is especially true while I have 2 babies at home who are growing like weeds and they require a certain amount of stuff. What they don't require is a lot of stuff like I originally thought. Nyla is content reading, playing music and playing with her little kitchen. All her other toys are just in the way of her creative self!

Blogs that inspire me:

Frugal and Simple

Small Notebook

I have quite a few other favorite blogs but these two are truly my inspiration for getting rid of the stuff and not be bogged done by it. These are actually two of the first blogs I ran across about 3 years ago. I have no idea how I stumbled upon them but I'm thankful I did. I hope you find inspiration in them as much I have!

Now go out and conquer that pile of stuff that has been getting on your nerves for awhile, you know which one I'm talking about! :)

Repurposing Cribs-30 Great Ideas!

I came across this link on a Facebook page I follow and I love it!

It's a link to 30 ideas on repurposing our old cribs. I have the (now illegal) drop side crib in our house and will probably be doing something like these ideas suggest instead of it just going to the dump with so much other stuff.

Check out this great site!

30 Ideas to Repurposing Your Old Cribs

Living with Less

I love the blog Frugal and Simple. I love that R and her sweet family love living simply and not get bogged down in all the "stuff." Her blog is a constant reminder that you can live a happy life with little. Her blogs encourage me to purge more than usual and get rid of the clutter in my life and house. If you haven't checked out her blog, head on over there. You will be encouraged by her and her sweet family. They love the Lord, save for their future and aren't surrounded by clutter. It's refreshing, when in other cases, the whole world is telling us we need this, this and this to be happy. Well I don't think so and it's nice to have others who feel the same way.

Some of my goals for 2011 include de-cluttering and purging of unused items. I'm not one to keep a bunch of items around, I'm good about through my clothes every 3-6 months, books, etc. I don't like a bunch of knick-knacks sitting around, it's more for me to move around when I have to dust. I don't like picking up a bunch of stuff that we don't need in our lives. If I have to pick up all day long, then I don't vacuum, dust, etc, because I'm tired from all the picking up I just did. It's annoying! So as January is almost over and I feel like I haven't de-cluttered much, that's what I'm spending this week doing, de-cluttering.

We recently added a new addition, sweet Nyla, and she comes with a lot of stuff. But we've really tried to not have an overabundance of baby stuff, we don't feel its needed. We don't buy into all the "stuff" they say babies need now. So today I went through her closet and her stuff and now I have a pile that needs to go to Goodwill. A great start for her stuff!

Yesterday I went through my cookbooks and found about 8 that I've used once or never, they are stacked by the door to leave the house.

Tomorrow I'll go through all the books on our bookshelves. We love to read and our collection shows it! But, why do I need so many books when I have a local library where I can check books out for free?! And Daniel has an IPad, with the Kindle app, so we can buy books (or get some for free) for that and save them there, instead of piling more books on the bookshelves.

Next week, I have plans to clean out the 3rd bedroom closet. It's full of craft supplies, puppet ministry books, Daniel's paint supplies, personalized card packs I never sold, my Mary Kay products for my business and so much more. It needs a good cleaning for sure! It's on my to-do list because it has become a catch-all and it's awful. Every time I walk in there it makes me mad! That is the next big space to be de-cluttered and organized:)

And then, we have a storage closet off of our carport, oh my! It needs de-cluttering for sure. That will wait until the Spring when it's a bit warmer.

I want to live with less. I can't take it all with me, so why do I need it now? And a lot of it, I rarely look at. My rule with clothes, if I haven't worn it in 6 months, I probably won't wear it. I need to do that with all our stuff. If I haven't opened a drawer containing that item or used whatever it is I'm looking at in 6 months to a year, it's time to give it to someone who may appreciate it more than I do.

What do you want to de-clutter in 2011?

How are you making steps to get there?

What areas do you need help to de-clutter?

Convenience Meals-Money Saving Tip

We're all trying to save money, cutting budgets here and there. We're always looking for ways to save a few pennies. There are so many ways to save some money and we do this thing every week day... It's called leftovers!

Yep, leftovers. I think people really overlook leftovers and don't use them and toss them out. What a waste of money! I'm not into wasting money, especially when it comes to food, the one thing we can control.

We love leftovers in our house. I try (yes, I said try) to cook 5 times a week and whatever we don't eat goes in it's own container, with a label, into the freezer and placed on our freezer inventory list. This inventory list is to always know what we have to eat in the freezer, saving us time and money. We call them "convenience meals." They're an easy grab from the freezer and are always delicious. Most everything freezes well, so there's no excuse in our house to go out to lunch every weekday.

Hubby works away from home and he loves his leftover lunches. He gets many questions each week as to what he's brought from home and what smells so good. That makes me feel good and know he's eating a good lunch and is taken care of while at work. I just love knowing he's well fed. :)

Now, I know not everyone has enough food to have leftovers, but if you do every once in a while, this is a great way to save your leftovers.

When I see my freezer meal stock getting low, I try and cook a little more to build this back up so we always have good and hot meals to eat.

Are you Cheap or Frugal?

Go to the link below and watch this video, if you haven't seen it already. And tell me, are you cheap or frugal?

Are you cheap or frugal?

After watching, please read on!

I am happy to say that I am frugal! (Well, most of the time).

In my opinion, and this video says it in so many words, if you're cheap you view money in a negative way and if you are frugal, you see saving your hard earned cash in a positive way, a way that will be useful to you and your family later in life.

Frugal: "I think of the future and want to be able to live a decent life later on." "I don't have a house, so I want to save to buy a house." "I've always had an older car and maybe I want something a little newer, something that won't cost me so much in repair bills." "I have kids and want to be able to send them to the school of their choice." "I go to a church and want to be able to give money to the budget needs of the church."

To me, this is frugal thinking.

Cheap: "I want a bigger house with more rooms, but no one here to occupy them. And I'm not willing to foster a child." "I want a brand new car every year, just because I can." "The kids, well they can take out student loans for school, pay their own way and deal with it themselves." "I go to church, but they don't need my money. I'm looking around, and all these other people probably give, why should I?"

In my opinion, this is cheap. It's negative thinking toward money. Very selfish. But haven't we all felt this? Don't we all think this at some point in our lives?

We spend what most would consider to be very little on groceries each month (only $160). But we spend this little amount because we want to have a house and we're starting a family and we want to give to our church. To me, our food intake is something we can control. We can't control our rent payment, car payment, student loans, etc., so we save money on groceries. I am very strict about meeting this each month. I literally jump up and down when I am under budget. Hubby laughs at me, but it's a big deal to me. I feel it's my responsibility to meet this goal each month. I am the meal planner, shopper and cook of the household, so I feel it's my duty, the one thing I can help control. And it's one less thing Hubby has to worry about.

I think we can all be stingy with our money sometimes. We are. I am. I'm a selfish human beings, who let's face it, thinks about myself too much. This is a struggle each day for me to get out of my box and think about others. I'm human after all. I'm home alone all day and doing my own thing. I live in my sweet little bubble, with a roof over my head, food in my stomach, a family who loves and supports me. I honestly don't have much to worry about. I live in a country of freedom and a very rich country at that. I don't have to worry about starving or a earthquake ruining my life because of all the gifts given to me. And if things did happen, I know there are so many friends and family who would be there to lend support.

But I know God is in control of my life and I give it all to Him. I give Him all my struggles of selfishness. He knows my heart. He knows how I can be. I'm thankful He's there to know all of this too. He's someone I can turn to in my time of need of selfishness. He puts me back on track when it's needed. And believe me, I need it!

So, what do you think, are you cheap or frugal?

No need to answer here, unless you want to.

It's a pretty personal question, more for you to reflect on and think about and pray about.

Favorite Find Friday #1

I ran around town yesterday with a good friend and we happened to find ourselves at Dollar Tree. I have to say I like Dollar Tree; I think they have some decent stuff in there (depends on the day sometimes) and you can't beat everything being $1. I only had $1 in my pocket so I had to find something great, lol.

I found myself on the hair care isle and ran across a bottle of Got2b mousse. I think its a good brand when I see it, but I'm not sure. I haven't really seen this brand or know anything about it. But I'm almost out of mousse so what the heck I get it. I just looked this brand up online and it runs anywhere from $4-$7. Oh wow, and I only paid a buck for it!

I've had a buy one, get one free coupon for a Herbal Essence product, any kind in my coupon organizer for a couple of weeks, and I've been on the hunt to find the best deal for that brand and the best is at least $3.25 (at Dollar General). I have a hard time paying for something that is just fixing my hair and not doing much else. I'd rather spend $3 on some heavy cream to make homemade ice cream, lol.

Obviously it pays to shop around! I found a great hair care product for $1 this week. That is some good frugal living!

Have you found any great finds this week?

Why we budget

Why do we budget and live a frugal life?

To be honest, we have to. The income Hubby brings in is where our budget comes from. If I make money from my Mary Kay business, cards or baking business the money made goes back into that particular business or savings. My income isn't tallied into our monthly budget.

I love to be at home. My heart is at home, not stuck in some office all day long. For all you women (and men) who work full-time outside the home, God bless you! I just don't have the want to do it. I also just can't seem to find my place out there. I've tried a couple of times and was very unhappy. I don't know if I'm too picky or what, but it wasn't ever any fun. And I want to have fun. I love the freedom of going to the grocery store at 9 a.m. when hardly anyone is there. I love to spend Fridays with my mom. I love getting all my house stuff and projects done during the week so I have all weekend to spend quality time with Hubby. I never liked spending my weekends cleaning, organizing, preparing. It just wasn't for me.

So here's some of the breakdown of a couple of things from our budget:

$160 a month for groceries ($40 a week)

$100 a month for miscellaneous items (everything else that isn't food)

These are basically the only 2 things I'll be talking about on here dealing with our money. All our other expenses are rent, car, bills, etc. We all know about how much those are so I won't really discuss them unless I feel the need. :)