Yay! for Stuff & Save at Old Navy!

Since today was the first day of the Stuff & Save event card holders were able to get 40% off their in-store purchase. This is one of the few times of the year that I try to stock up on some good deals on clothing for the kids and myself. My son and I were the ones who were able to get the awesome deals this time.

First I go in the the strategy of searching through all of the clearance racks to find anything we like and hopefully at the lowest prices possible. It also helps to get a size or two bigger for the kids on items that are from the season that has just ended and save them for next year. At the last Stuff & Save I was able to get quite a few winter pajamas for my daughter for less than $1 each that I will be using this year.

Everything I got today came from those clearance racks except a Chicago Bears shirt my son was so excited to find and some new undies for him, which he needed.

Second I look around for any sales on items that we need or will be needing for the next year.

So here is all of what we were able to get...

My very favorite deal was the shorts. They were on clearance for only $1.47!!! Plus the 40% off!!! My son was also able to pick a few shorts out by himself and I'm so glad to be able to make him happy and feel like a big boy.

I also has a $25 rewards certificate from using my Old Navy card over the summer.

My total in the end came to just $21 for over $280 worth of clothing!

I also received $10 in Super Cash that I can use the first week of November. You have to use it on a minimum of $25 purchase, but I have that covered with a $50 gift card that I earned from a daily e-mail site. If you want more info on earned gift cards like this just send me an e-mail including your name and I'd be glad to share it with you!

At the beginning of the month I had set a budget for clothing  and left the cash in our checking account instead of putting it in our envelopes. After the transaction posts to the account I will just make a payment so it is almost like paying with cash except I get the benefits of having the store card! Just need to be sure and stay below the amount you have budgeted and this is an awesome toll to use to keep us on track financially.

Hope this can help someone to go out and score some great deals on clothing for their family!

Weekly update Oct 7

I'm not sure why my blanket pic is upside down, but anyway this is the bottom of the T so there is still a lot of work to be done. I am hoping to have it completed by their last game this season. I am finding it tricky to attach the colors at the edges of the letter. It should all turn out alright in the end.

Other than that I have been participating in Clean Mama's 31 days to clean. All week I have been completing the tasks and actually got ahead on Friday so I could have the weekend with the family. That is a pretty big accomplishment for me to stay on a task for any length of time do we will see how this next week goes.

Weekly Update Septrmber 30th

I want to do a weekly post every Sunday to track my progress on the many projects that I am always working on. Life keeps going on an even though I am on my feet running around most of the day it is hard for me to see any progress.

I am hoping that through these posts I will see that my life is not just unproductive chaos. I do get dinner on the table each night, the house cleaned up and laundry completed like any other stay at home mom, but I am talking about things in addition to those normal daily chores.

So for this week I obviously got quite a bit of work done in our "office" which I posted about here.

I also started working on a Tennessee blanket for Mike. Even though I jokingly told him to expect it for Christmas next year I'm really hoping to have it finished before the end of their season this year.

So here it is so far... it is 4 ft wide and will be 6ft long when it is completed. Don't worry it's not just going to be all that orange :) we have plans. 

Since I am not at all an expert crocheter this has taken quite a bit of time to get though. Mostly that time that I spend on the couch with Mike after the kiddos have gone to bed.

Other than that I am on my second month of once a month shopping or in this month's case it will take two days since on Friday we made a trip to BJ's and Tuesday I plan to get over to the commissary. Planning all of the meals and shopping lists took quite a bit of my time, but I am so glad that it is over and I know what I will be preparing for the entire month. And no more running out to the store wasting my time since we will have it all at the house already.

A pretty productive week in my opinion and I hope I can say the same about the next :)

Week #4 Office

I will admit I did have to spend some money to complete this room. I did try to keep it as low as possible though. My husband has been giving my crap about this room pretty much since we moved in. He obviously had the right to as you can see from the pictures and this isn't even at its worst point.
This room has caused me so much frustration because I could not figure out how to use the space wisely for all of the things that go on in here.

First of all this is not just an office, but also my craft space, computer room for both my son and I, game room for my son, sometimes a play room for the little one, and I also teach my son preschool here. I obviously need this room to be very multifunctional. The furniture has been moved many, many times and I never end up satisfied and more frustrated than when I began.

 Before...

and this is actually an improvement from what it used to be like in here

This is what you used to see when you first walked into the room.

and... the closet... YIKES!

I didn't clear out the room, but I did fill up the truck again with recyclables and donations.

I was sitting in here one night just looking around trying to figure out where to put the furniture when I realized how much space was being wasted by having the tv up on the table. How silly! The table is exactly what we need to be able to work on! As soon as I realized this the rest just fell into place. 

I wanted the table to be white, but I didn't feel like painting it so I covered it with white contact paper and then some clear plastic fabric with a design on it that I found at Walmart. I figured that this would be very easy to clean paint, markers, or glue off of from crafts with lil man.

My sewing machine has a home now where it can actually be used and I won't have to drag it out to the dining table to use it.The green tote is for coupons and sale flyers and the clear one has all of our papers organized in hanging folders. Then the black shelves have lil man's school books, kid crafting items, and my laminator. Finally the white one has my fabrics and sewing items.

Desk is cleared as well as the night stand beside it. This is where I keep paper for the printer, photo paper and extra ink.

Lil man has a gaming and tv corner. I cleared out the dresser which used to have a whole drawer stuffed with photos, another filled with cooking magazines, and another with random cords and electronics. All of that stuff I have a separate crate for in the closet now. The bottom two drawers now have lil man's games, movies, and accessories. 

Yes, the closet is still kind of scary. I use it as kind of a holding place. I promise I did empty the entire thing and attempt to divide things into the totes and this was the result. There are two totes that are filled with my old text books that I have for sale on amazon, that huge dog will be going back into the kids room once we get the bunk beds built, cushions will go on dining table chairs once I get them painted... my to do list goes on and on :)

So there is still a lot of work, but I do think it was a huge improvement again this week. At least the room is useable now so I can knock out more of my to do's :)

Make your own training panties

I've been starting to potty train the little one and she's doing pretty well at it for only 14 1/2 months. So I went to Walmart today looking for some training pants for her. There were none to be found and I didn't really feel like ordering them online and waiting for them to be shipped or paying what they are asking for them. Next best thing is to figure out how to make my own :).

I got some of the smallest panties I could find for girls which were still 2T, but I was hoping they would fit her. For a pack of 6 it was about $5.50 with the tax. They did have to be taken in just a bit. I would still just rather do it my way instead of paying $15 for 4 though.

When I got home I cut two of her cloth diapers into thirds.

Then I sewed them into the bottom of the underwear.

Trimmed off the extras between the legs.

I got three done today and it will be very quick and easy to make a few more.

*Note- They are not waterproof and only intended to tolerate small accidents.

Once she's done with the training I hope to be able to just rip out the stitches in the bottom and where I tightened them  a bit so she can use still them as they were intended.

Little One's New Clothes

I've been wanting to get my sewing machine out for a while now, but I wasn't really sure what to make. I've been seeing a lot of cute toddler clothes so I figured I'd give it a try since it looked pretty simple and I am not a very experienced seamstress. 

My mom stayed with us for a few days a couple of weeks ago and we went a little crazy making some super cute tops for my daughter. They are almost long enough to be sundresses on her now at 14 months. Next summer and maybe even the one after that as well they will probably be more like cute shirts.

The first one took a little figuring out, but then we got going so good that night we pumped out four of them for her. They are so quick and easy my mom has even made three more since she's been back home to send down for next year.

She doesn't slow down much so it's hard to get good pics of her :)

Supporting Tennessee with daddy.

Week #3 Pantry

Before

I had shelves that I was trying to designate for types of food, but everything starts to run into each other and fall over with these type of shelves. 

I started by taking everything out of the pantry. Then I dusted and vacuumed the floor. 

 All the way at the top my husband put in a smaller shelf so I can keep the turkey roasting pan  way up there and out of the way. My husbands chips are in the white stackable bins and we still have at little my son's candy left from last halloween since he doesn't eat it often at all.

I like hiving these big crates that I can easily slide in and out to get to what I need. I can easily

fit everything in them and keep them categorized.

 And here's a look at the whole thing.