this wasn't in the plan |but life is still pretty good

We picked up this freebie lunch sack at a local event. It was emblazoned with the logo of our local public transportation system, which isn't a problem, but I thought it would be fun to jazz up a bit.

So I drew a picture onto some fabric, cut it out, hot glued it onto a larger piece of fabric and then hot glued that onto the bag.



Now it's all ready for little rockstar to take to school!

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Have you blogged about something you made recently? Leave me a link in the comment section - I'd love to see it. What to join in next week? Send me an email and I'll be sure to link to you in next week's post.

The Tall One was ordering a new computer for work. He saw a decent deal on Dell's webpage, but he wanted a better one so he called them up. He told the CS rep that he didn't need a monitor, would that save some money. It wouldn't, but some money could be saved by leaving out a keyboard and mouse. He noticed that some of the other packages advertised online had the Windows Vista downgrade for free, but not the package he was wanting, so he inquired about that. The CS rep said that if he purchased an extended warranty, he could have the downgrade for free. TTO agreed to that, so the CS rep entered it in and it actually took $40 off the total price..

He was able to save some money by first seeing what deals were available on other systems and then simply asking if he could have them on the system he was purchasing.


Have you ever scored a great deal simply by asking?

Two weeks ago, an article in the newspaper about potty training and money caught my eye. Considering I'm always interested in a money-related article and I'm getting ready to potty train Monkey, this article was right up my alley. It claims that the down economy is affecting the sale of disposable training pants such as Huggies Pull-Ups.  These are expensive, more expensive than regular diapers and definitely more pricy than regular old underwear (even if you add in the cost of several cans of carpet cleaner), so people are opting not to use them when potty training their children. Parents are choosing to save a few dollars over the convenience that such training pants provide. In essence something that was once considered more or less a necessity has become a luxury.

I'm sure this is happening in a lot of different areas. As people try and cut back on expenses they take a hard look at where the money goes and realize that many things aren't necessarily worth the cost. It's worth doing even if you don't need to cut costs. Don't look at it as saying "we can't afford this", but rather "we just want to save some more money for _____"

Is there anything in your life that has recently become more of a luxury?

We recently started getting the Sunday newspaper again, so I'm back in the couponing game. I would occasionally use online coupons, but found that for the most part it just wasn't for me. I'm excited to be getting the Sunday coupons again and snag some good deals.

Anway, more coupons means I need a organization system. I've tried the plastic organizing envelopes, and while I liked being able to separate them into categories, I would still overlook many of them.

My current system is way low tech, I put them all in a business size envelope and write what each coupon is on the outside of it. I list the food items on one side of the envelope and the non-food items on the other side, just to make it a bit easier when I scan the list. I write the product and how much the coupon is good for, though in retrospect I should've made note of the expiration date.

I pull the coupons that match with my grocery list before I head to the store, but I have my coupon envelope at the store with me in case I run across something else.

How do you organize your coupons?

Have you blogged about something you made recently? Leave me a link in the comment section - I'd love to see it. What to join in next week? Send me an email and I'll be sure to link to you in next week's post.

Apparently I took a little blogging break of sorts. I didn't really plan it, it just sort of happened. My house stayed quite clean during the later part of last week, coincidence? Who knows. One thing I did do during my brief hiatus was make a list. While I'm big on grocery lists and gift lists, I'm not much of a to-do list person. I've written about it before, it would just appear I fear productivity.

I did, though, make a nice long list of things I need/want to do. It includes things that should be done relatively soon (such as cleaning out the refrigerator) as well as more long term projects (such as cleaning out the closets). It also includes things I want to do, like work on a blanket for my son.

I'm hoping this will be the start of many more to-do lists and thus encourage a bit more organization on my part. With school starting soon, my tutoring hours will pick up and I know have an extra kid to juggle while I fit those hours in. I can't add more hours to the day, but I can be sure I use the ones I have a bit smarter.

photo by ladybugbkt

Yesterday concluded my state's sales tax holiday weekend. During this weekend, many school supplies, computers, clothing, and shoes can be purchased without paying the sales tax. The sales tax holiday is a big deal here, the stores are pretty much crazy. Our family headed to Target on Saturday mainly for lack of something to do, but also because we did have some supplies to purchase. All of our purchases qualified and we spent about $27, so since our state's sales tax rate is 6.875% we saved a whopping $1.85. Certainly not worth a special trip on that specific weekend and not necessarily worth fighting the crowds.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all about saving some money and realize that every little bit counts, but unless you're spending hundreds of dollars, a six and a half percent savings just doesn't add up to a whole lot. I have to wonder if it was advertised as "save 6.8% on your purchases" as opposed to "pay no sales tax" if it would still be such a big deal.

We recently made a pact with The Tall One's parents that anytime we got together we'd enjoy homemade ice cream. Making things from scratch is often a great moneysaver, not so much when it comes to ice cream, but spending a few extra dollars is worth it to keep up a fun tradition.

The in-laws were in town this past weekend, so we enjoyed some tasty heath bar ice cream. The key to a fabulous homemade ice cream (one that will give you the taste of homemade along with the texture of store bought) is a cooked custard base. Here's a recipe from recipezaar that's very similar to what we use. We chill the base in the fridge at least overnight and cover it with plastic wrap that is touching the surface of the base.

For more What I Made Wednesday fun, be sure to visit Emily at Remodeling This Life and check out her photo wall.

Have you blogged about something you made recently? Leave me a link in the comment section - I'd love to see it. What to join in next week? Send me an email and I'll be sure to link to you in next week's post.