Frugal Living - gift wrapping

We have some birthdays coming up and pretty soon I will really be focusing on finishing up our Christmas preparations (I start preparing for Christmas and the years birthdays with the after Christmas sales....but that is a post for a later date).  So, I thought I would write today about how we save money with wrapping our gifts.  I like the packages to look nice, but I find spending large amounts of money on wrapping that will just be ripped off and thrown away to be throwing away good money that could be spent on the gift itself instead.
So here are a few tips on how I save money wrapping my gifts.

Save the Gift Bags & Bows
When a gift we receive comes wrapped in a gift bag we save it.  I have a tub in our storage unit that is designated for gift wrapping.  We do the same with the bows.  Of course my husband took a little convincing in this area, especially when you can get bows for really cheap with the after Christmas clearance.  However, as long as its not ripped, torn, or has somehow lost its presentable appearance we reuse.  This has saved us sooo much money!  It also saves on the amount of trash we have from gift giving events.  On the rare occasion that I do need to restock, I go to the dollar store or buy at the after Christmas clearance sales. 

If it isn't ripped, Save the Tissue Paper
Gifts are supposed to be special, so I do have my limits on how far I will go to save a penny.  But if it isn't ripped I don't see a point in throwing tissue paper out just to go and buy more.  I smooth it out and fold it up.  Then off to the tub it goes.  The ripped tissue paper is great for kids projects that they will be ripping it up for anyway.

Shred Used Gift Wrap and Use as a Filler for Gift Baskets
I haven't personally tried this one, but I am making a lot of gift baskets for Christmas gifts this year so I definitely will be.  I found the idea on pinterest  Find the idea here

Turn Old Cards Into Gift Tags
I really got tired of throwing out all the cards we have been given, so I experimented with turning them into gift tags.  I used to cut out the pictures and sayings to use to make new cards, but with two young children I haven't had the time to do that.  To make the gift tag you take a card (preferably with no writing behind the picture you want to use).

Cut out the picture(s) you want to use with plain scissors or the ones with the nice edges.  In this case I used the plain scissors.

This one I will leave as is.

But you can also glue the pictures to scrapbook paper.  Add some scrapbook stickers or glitter.  Then cut out.  For this I used a scissor with a pretty edge.

In this case, I got 4 gift tags from the one card.

Kids and Chores

Not that long ago I was a very burned out mom and my kids were constantly looking for that special time.  I just didn't have the time to give it to them.  I was always cleaning up everyone else's mess - not my idea of fun!  I was stressed out because I wasn't able to do projects or anything to encourage learning.  And I was hearing a lot of "It's your job to pick up my mess" (from my 4 year old).  I could talk to her about it as much as I wanted but she saw that Mommy was always picking up after Daddy.  In her 4 year old mind it meant why should I pick up when Daddy doesn't have to.  She doesn't understand how hard Daddy works all week even though we have tried to explain that to her.
So the Colonel and I talked about it and he agreed to a chore chart.  Each one of us has one, including my almost 2 year old.  For the kids I found pictures online, laminated them and gave them a magnetic background (sorry no pictures of that part).  I bought a roll of magnet and laminate from Michaels with one of their 40% off coupons. 
I used the tile whiteboards and gave each one of us their own color.  I got these on sale for 50% off at Michaels.  Then I took some Scrapbooking stickers that I already had and put our names and "to do" and "done" on each one.

We also used a chalkboard tile to make a menu board.  I used scrapbook stickers to add the quote "Do not put off today what your future self will not want to do tomorrow."

Now everyone knows clearly what is expected of them, they learn how to take care of their own things and Mommy can enjoy life a little more too.  We set up specific times that we do our chores.  For example, we have the kids pick up their toys before we go out in the afternoon.  This way its all done so when they come in and are tired we avoid a fight and they can just relax.  How do you handle chores in your house?

To All that are reading the Colonels Corner

We are sorry for the delay.  The Colonel was delayed this week out on the road and has not had time as of yet to get to the next steps of becoming a truck driver up.  We have opened a small store that we will continue to add to and will also be reviewing some of the items we have up there for all of you that stop by to read. So please feel free to browse the Truckers Family Corner Store.

Highlights From This Weeks Grocery Trip

 

Target:

2 Five Star 1 Subject Notebooks for $0.89 each (Target coupons for $1 off of 2 Mead Five Star products, Coupon from the Sunday Paper for $1 off of 2 Mead Five Star products)

Walmart:

2 lbs of Minute White Rice for $3.98 (only $0.60 more than the 1 lb box)

Market Basket:

 Classico Alfredo Sauce 2/$4 

Dollar Tree ($1 each)

Flash cards (all types: color, shape, first word, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division)

The washcloths that expand in water (we stocked up on these with birthdays coming up and they make great stocking stuffers.  The kids love these!)

Lisa Frank Sticker Packs (400 stickers each!)

Running the Household

It seems like whenever we finally get things running smoothly, something comes along and it's time to reevaluate and reorganize.  That is what is going on now.  I am looking at some better ways to organize some areas of constant clutter - mainly my flyers and pre-cut coupons for grocery shopping and my pile of projects to get done.  If I can get these areas organized I just might be able to see my desk more often!  This is good because too much clutter around me prevents me from really relaxing, creating a lot of unnecessary stress.

Princess is getting older.  She will be starting dance lessons this year and going to school next year.  This means I need to make sure that she knows everything she needs to know to start kindergarten.  I am also working on expanding Buddy's vocabulary and teaching him general things that toddlers learn (colors, shapes, etc.).  My plan is to work in an hour for those days when we don't have a scheduled activity to work on these skills.  That means planning and prepping, which I like to have done so it isn't adding stress.  I'm still thinking about my organization system for this, but it will depend on how big these projects get.

Next would be the fun parts of life, like planning my sons birthday and working on Christmas.  I've been working on gifts since the after Christmas sales to help get the best prices on things and to give me time to make what needs to be made.  But will be focusing more intently on that soon.  Our Elf on the Shelf will be prepping for his appearance.   And there are the fun activities to be planned for our advent calendar. It was so much fun for the kids and I last year.  So many good memories were made!

Then there are the household and cooking related parts of life.  Trying to reduce chemicals and additives from our diet and eating a bit healthier means more time devoted to planning and cooking, maybe even a bit of canning but we will see.  And the chores seems to be an ongoing battle for this household.  Teaching my toddler to start doing chores, getting my preschooler to do her chores without a constant battle, and making sure my trucker has all his needs met (and pitches in a bit when he can).  Fortunately my trucker is extremely dedicated to this family and is willing to show the kids that everyone needs to pitch in around the house.  We do try to finish as much as we can during the "Mommy Days" as my kids call them so that on the "Daddy Days" we can focus on our family time.

As I figure it all out and find ways to make it work, I will update you.

How do you organize and handle all the many parts of keeping a family going so that it all runs smoothly??  I'm always open to new ideas!

Great Huggies Deal And High Value Mattel Cars Coupon

I just received the Babies R Us flier in the mail for our local store.  July 26-August 15 they are running some great deals on Huggies diapers and wipes.
$20 off of any 2 Huggies value boxes of diapers (104 count or higher)
$3 off all Huggies value boxes of wipes (448 count or higher)

In addition to these awesome deals, if you have a toys r us/babies r us rewards card  you can apply for a V.I.B. (Very Important Baby).  It is a gift card that you can add to at any time (but can only be used on diapers, formula, baby wipes, and baby foods).  The added bonus of this card is what ever is put on this card Babies R Us will add 10% to (up to an annual amount of $200 I believe).

Coupons.com is also running Huggies coupons right now.

Save $1.50 on any 1 package of Huggies Snug & Dry Diapers (allowed to print 2)
Save $0.50 on any 1 package of Huggies Baby Wipes 40 count or higher
Both of these coupons expire August 6, 2013.

I personally prefer the snug and dry and they contain more diapers per box than the other kinds of Huggies diapers, helping my dollar go that much further.

Coupons.com is also running a coupon for $4.00 off of the purchase of 1 Mattel Vehicle 2 pack featuring Disney Pixar Cars Characters.  Expires August 12, 2013 (again can print 2)  Buddy is currently very into Cars so these will make great birthday and Christmas gifts!

See You Tomorrow

We won't be posting anything today.  Rough night with my toddler (well several really), I've got a check-up for myself today.  Taking a day to take it easy and spend some time with my family.  See you tomorrow  :-)

Trucking Kids - Helping With the Wait

In our experience saying "See you later" (which we prefer to goodbye) seems to just come with the territory of being a trucking kid.  We have gone through all sorts of stages in how this effects the kids.  Up until He reached about a year old, the constant "See you later" didn't seem to bother Buddy.  For about the last 10 months, he gets very upset when anyone takes the door (especially Daddy).  There really isn't a lot we can do to help him understand at this point other than give him lots of love and verbalize what is happening for him.  For example:  When Daddy takes out the trash we tell him that Daddy will be right back he is only taking the trash out.  Another important thing we've found is letting both our children know when Daddy will be going back to work (especially since he usually leaves while they are asleep).  A simple "Give Daddy extra hugs and kisses.  He has to go to work and won't be here when you wake up" can make a world of difference in the morning.  On the few occasions that we have forgotten, we have very upset children until they can talk to their father on the phone.
For Princess (my 4 year old), she gets very upset by goodbyes.  Routine is very important for her right now.  If we have a visitor, Princess can be upset for days, and on the rare occasion even weeks, after they leave. She will walk around saying "I miss....".  Simply saying you will see them again in a few months does not help because she has no concept of time.  I have found that making a simple chart (either on the computer or hand drawn) can make a world of difference.

We make the chart, add numbers in each box, and put what it is for.  Then we hang it on the refrigerator and every night before bed she can add a stamp or a sticker.  She still misses, in this case Auntie, but she can see that time is going by and the day she gets to see Auntie again is getting closer.  And an added benefit is she gets to practice her counting because we always count how many days have gone by.  :-)

BzzAgent Review: Special K's New Hot Cereal Knourish & Cereal Bars

I am a BzzAgent.  A quick summary is that BzzAgent is a word of mouth advertising company.  They send invites for various campaigns and send me products and coupons to pass out.  I then try the product and give an honest review of what I think about it.  You can learn more here:
https://www.bzzagent.com/index.jsp

The Review:

Special K nourish is a hot cereal similar to oatmeal, but with a much better texture.  It comes in 3 flavors: cinnamon raisin pecan, maple brown sugar crunch, and cranberry almond.  My personal favorite was the cinnamon raisin pecan.  The individual packaging is great for on the go.  To make the cereal you simply need 1/2 cup of hot water.  Because of these features, it provides a great healthy alternative for truck drivers.  If you do not like nuts, like my trucker, then this is not the cereal for you as all 3 flavors contain them.  My very picky 4 year old was really only interested in the raisins in the cinnamon raisin pecan one.

The Special K nourish bars come in 3 flavors as well.  Lemon Twist, Cranberry Almond, and Dark Chocolate Nut Delight.  No one in our household really cared for the cranberry almond flavor, but again we aren't really big fans of nuts.  The dark chocolate nut delight was absolutely delicious with its chocolate and peanut butter flavor.  My very picky 4 year old ate the whole thing!  The lemon was  a little strong for my taste, but my almost 2 year old son absolutely loved it!  An excellent good tasting choice to help them get the fiber and vitamins they need.

Highlights From This Weeks Grocery Trip

Sorry there are no pictures this week.  With the heat we have been having I wanted to get the food in the refrigerator as quickly as possible. 

Things of Note This Week:

Target:
3 Crayola 12 piece puzzles for $1 a piece.  (I love the dollar section at Target!)
2 tubs of Breyers icecream for $2.25 a piece (on sale 2/$6, with a store coupon for $1.50 off of 2)
2 birthday cards for $6.98 with Target's $2 off of 2 coupon (cannot be used for cards $1 or under)

Sam's Club
2 loaves of Freihofer's bread for $3.98 (making it less than $2 a loaf)

Hannaford
2 boxes of Betty Crocker Suddenly Salad for $1 a piece (on sale 2/$3 and a $1 off of 2 coupon from the Sunday Paper fliers)

Market Basket
2 dozen Land o Lakes Cage Free Eggs $1.50 each (2/$4 with two coupons from their butter boxes for 50 cents off of one)

Walmart
Pencil Sharpener for 25 cents

Shaws
2 cases of Mountain Dew and 1 of Pepsi for $8 (3 day sale)
Perri Sweet Italian Sausage (regularly $4.99, on sale for $2.99)
1 lb of Wild Cod (regularly $8.99, on sale for $5.99)
2 pounds of red grapes (regularly $3.49/lb, on sale for 99 cents/lb)
16 oz Strawberries (regularly $3.49, on sale for $1.49) 

From the Kitchen - Diy Pudding Cups

In trying to get the chemicals, dyes, etc. down that we are eating, we have started making our own pudding cups.  The store bought ones that do not need refrigeration are loaded with additional ingredients.  My preference is the cook and serve, as that as the least amount of ingredients, but I will settle for instant.
I went out and bought some bpa free containers and have been making pudding cups for the family, including my trucker.  These kind of pudding cups are less expensive than the store bought as well.
For the trucker that has their own fridge it would be possible to make some instant pudding themselves, with a large enough tupperware container.  The boxes of mix are small enough that they would not take much space to keep on the truck as well.  All that would need to be purchased out on the road would be some milk.

Frugal Living - Cereal Bowls

On a recent shopping trip, and one of the rare occasions my husband was able to go with us, he talked me into buying these cereal bowls at market basket.

 These lovely bowls only cost 69 cents a piece.  We bought 4, 2 for each child.  Now that the kids are eating more cereal they are great for a number of reasons.  First, they eliminate the need for straws.  The kids love to drink the milk out of their bowls.  To save on mess and frustration on the kids part we were using straws.  Now we no longer need the straws and it reduces our waste even more.  Second, it also reduces mess and spilling which makes this Mommy very happy.  Every little thing adds up.     :-)

Trucking Kids - Toddler Fun

This week my oldest is off to day camp.  Buddy has never really been away from Princess, so he's feeling a little lost.  To help him, I've been trying to plan special activities that he and I can do together.  I found some ideas on Pinterest (you can find us there as Truck Driving At a Family Level) that we tried this morning.

We have really been working on Buddy's speech development.  He was on the lower end of the charts, but in the last few weeks his speech has just exploded.  So we took out some chalk and drew circles in a circle on the pavement.  I started with three colors because I didn't want him to get to overwhelmed.

 He really enjoyed this and got in with the coloring.  He liked to color the blue in the yellow circle, so we did some color matching.  I told him he was coloring with blue and asked if he could find the blue circle.  He loved this.  So we did it with the other colors.

Once the circles were drawn.  We hopped around the circle and I would say the names of the colors he stepped on.  He loved practicing hopping and would practice saying hop with each one.

Because of the heat we couldn't stay outside that long, so we took a juice break.  The night before I took some of his cars and froze them into an ice block using my glass loaf pan.  So I ran hot water over the sides until the ice block fell out.  Then I set him up in the tub for some water play.

He had so much fun doing this.  We poured warm water over the ice block until his cars came free.  Then he just sat there for about another half hour pouring the water from the warm water bucket to the cold water bucket and back again. 

Staples Trip

Today we went to Staples for a few things.  Here is what we got.

I wanted to make sure I got my printer ink so I could print out any coupons I might be able to use for tomorrow's shopping trip.  Here is how it worked out:

Printer Ink: 49.99
RoseArt 24 pack of colored pencils for $2
Then Staples was running a deal this week that as long as you bought $5 worth of things the following would be 1 cent (limit of 2 like items per purchase)
2 packs of staples arrowhead cap erasers 1 cent each
2 packs of BIC Roundstick ball point pens 1 cent each (for the truck)
2 packs of 100 count staples 3x5 index cards 1 cent each
There was also a $5 off of a purchase of $30 or more coupon this week in the Staples flier. 
Total cost: $47.05 - less than the cost of the ink so I got 7 things for free.

Frugal Living - Saving Money Raising Kids

The best piece of advice anyone ever gave me when we started having kids was not to get rid of anything until I had something permanent done that would prevent me from having any more children.  I stored everything in the vacuum sealed bags inside of tubs until the next child came.  There was really very little that was worn out and needed to be thrown away.

Another way we saved money was buying things that would grow with the child.  We have the 3-in-1 car seats for both our children.  Our highchair converts to a booster seat.  We bought our crib to convert into a bed, but due to fire damage we won't be converting it.  There are many many products that convert into the next stage that the child will need.  For the most part they cost roughly the same as the one stage or considerably less than it would cost to buy each product designed for the individual stage.

Now that we will not be having any more children, we consign the things that the kids outgrow.  The consignment shops in the area around us prefer name brand clothing only, so my grandmother helps in this area.  We give her all the stain free clothes, toys, and baby equipment as the kids outgrow it  and she takes them to the store for us.  We then take the money made and reinvest it in things the kids need.  

We also never say no to hand-me-downs.  The neutral clothes my daughter outgrew are passed down to my son.  It helps that she has a wide variety of interests (such as Thomas the Train).  If someone offers me clothes for the kids, I gladly accept the sizes they will be going into.  I then go through them and pass on what I will not use, usually to Good Will.


Another way that we have saved money is cutting back on the waste at dinner time.  We give the children smaller portions of things at meal time, even if its something we know that they generally like.  They know that they can have seconds or even thirds if they really need it, but this keeps us from wasting as much food.  If they are trying a new food we may put as small a portion as a bite on their plate, just enough to give it a try.  The same goes for foods we know they don't care for.  If they are surprised and find they do like the food, then they can have more.

Trucker Kids - Learning Colors

 I love activities that I can level easily for both my children ("Princess" is 4 years old and "Buddy" is almost 2).  We read the book Mouse Paint last night.

 It's a simple book about mixing colors.  You can purchase this book here.  With Buddy we are mainly working on building his vocabulary and learning his colors.  Princess knows her colors and about mixing colors so we focused on what primary and secondary colors are this time.

Following the book we made 3 sandwich bags of whipped cream (we used whipped cream so they could eat it after).  We added red food coloring to one bag, yellow to another, and blue to the next.

Then the kids mixed their bags.

Resulting in:

 Buddy was especially interested in adding the drops of food coloring himself.  Princess and I talked about how these colors cannot be made from another color, making them the primary colors.
Next in the story the mice then step in different colored puddles and mix the colors.  We added the puddle color to each bag.  So yellow was added to the red bag, blue to the yellow bag, and red to the blue bag.  Each time we reinforced the color name for Buddy.  Then they mixed again.

We then reinforced the resulting color names with Buddy and talked to Princess about how these colors were made using primary colors and are called secondary colors.

At the end they dumped all the whipped cream into a bowl, made brown, and had a yummy treat.

Frugal Living - Saving in the Kitchen

Creating a Flexible Weekly Meal Plan: We create our meal plan around the sales of the week or what we already have in the freezer from previous sales.  In our meal plan we also include left over nights as needed.  When planning the meals I make sure I rotate out the things that we already have, creating less waste.

Recycling:  In our area mixed recycling is free.  We can recycle just about everything, which has cut our waste in half.  We also have a garbage disposal which helps reduce the amount of food waste we have, something that can also be accomplished by composting.  Great for the environment and it decreases the number of trash bags we use!

Buying in Bulk: Buying in bulk is great for the things that are used frequently.  However, not all things are cheaper when buying at a store such as Sams, so you have to know your prices.  I typically buy most of my cleaning supplies and trash bags , as well as the sliced cheese for the kids, feminine products, shampoo for the kids, bread, bagels, kielbasa, chips, soda, ketchup, barbeque sauce, olive oil and vegetable oil in bulk.  I also buy my milk at Sams because it runs less expensive than the grocery stores.

Reducing the Use of Paper/Wipes:  One of my favorite things to clean the kids up with was baby wipes.  They are very quick and efficient, but they are also very expensive.  To help reduce costs I bought an inexpensive pack of 6 washcloths at Target (I chose a dark color so stains would be less visible).  This has really extended how long a pack of wipes last, decreased the waste, and saved us a lot of money.  We also use dishrags to wipe down the table after a meal.  Now that we are using more and more napkins, I am planning on looking into the cost of switching to cloth napkins as well.

Finishing What's In the Bottle:  We make sure that we get as much out of the bottles of salad dressing, mayonnaise,  ketchup, etc. as possible.  Even if that requires the use of a spatula.  It may save only pennies per bottle, but that adds up significantly over the year.

The Trucker Kids - Fun on a Rainy Day

When we went to the library last week we found Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss.

With all the rain we have been having lately it was perfect.  First we read the story, then we made oobleck.

We started out with one cup of cornstarch and about 4 drops of green food coloring.  Then we added 1/2 a cup of water and began to mix.  We added water until it was the right consistency (not completely solid, but not so liquidy it loses its form when you play with it.

My 4 year old, who I will call Princess in this blog, loved it!  The first round she played with it for an hour and a half.  Of course, we used a smock and put a cookie sheet under the container of oobleck just to help contain the mess.  But the oobleck overall was very easy to clean up.

Princess was fascinated by the fact that it was "hard as a rock" and then the rock would "melt."

We then sealed the ziploc container and put it away.  When we brought it back out to play with we just added a little more water and it was good to go.  Next time I would put it in the refrigerator though, because it starts to go bad fairly quickly.

I love projects like this for a rainy day.  Projects where the kids can get messy, but the mess is some what contained.  Projects where Mommy can get some cleaning done (in this case some dishes and wiping down the stove and counters) and it keeps the kids busy.  I still take breaks to play with Princess and we talk the whole time I'm cleaning.  Definitely helps make things that much easier for this Trucker's wife.

 Interested in doing this with your kids?   Click here to obtain your own copy of this hard to find book.