How a Birthday Party is Born

So this is yet another reason why I like to come up with birthday party themes far in advance. On my way into the grocery store this morning I noticed a 90% off sale on some summer items.

After digging through the pile I came away with this:
$100 worth of goodies for... $10*!!

I had already decided that my summer babe would have some sort of ice-cream shin dig this coming year because I found the cutest banner and napkins at Michael's on clearance. Add these fun things above... 2 slip and slides, 5 beach balls, 2 kiddy pools, ice-cream shaped sidewalk chalk, beach toys, bubble blowing accessories, etc... and we've got ourselves a "Fun in the Sun" party. Come July we'll make a big tub of homemade ice-cream with toppings, and I think we'll come in at $25 or less! Not to mention, some of the items in that pile are stocking stuffers and Easter basket items.

I do so love myself a good deal.
~Katrina

* At the "Dollar General" for those of you who might also have access to the savings!

Fall Subway Art

Happy Fall, Y'all! While it's still getting pretty warm during the day here in Western North Carolina, the early mornings and late nights are cool enough to get me good and excited about some fall!

I've seen Subway art popping up all over blogland these days. Most of it seems to be created with some fancy Cricut or Silhouette machines and while I don't own one of those, I do have a computer, a printer and Microsoft Publisher. I love what a big statement some simple words can make.

Want to make your own Subway art? Simply use your favorite publishing program to combine words that remind you of a central theme...like seasons, holidays, or even relationships. Then, print it out, stick it in a frame and you've got some super easy, super cheap Subway art!

Need some other ideas to get you in the mood for Fall? Try these.

Fall Decorating

More Fall Decorating

Fall Tablescape

Pumpkins and Halloween Cookies

Easy As Pie Pumpkin Muffins

Trick or Treat Buckets

-Sarai

Home Office: Budget Breakdown

If you read this post, you know that the budget for our office project wasn't all that hefty. After all, we weren't planning to do any major renovations, but needed to take it from college days catch all room to classy home office. I had planned to spend around $100, but I'm here to tell you that we came in FOURTEEN DOLLARS UNDER BUDGET! And just in case you're not all that awesome at math, that means it only cost $86 to take it from this...

to this...

One of my favorite shows on HGTV is "Design Remix". It's an older show and only the reruns are airing now, but I still love it. The concept is that they can redo any room for $50 and some paint. They "shop" in the clients home and use as much of their own stuff as they can to complete the space. I definitely used that concept in our office. As a matter of fact, there are very few brand new things in here now. Several things got face lifts and lots of things were brought in from other rooms of the house. I'll be posting about some of those projects and things soon.

So, here's the breakdown of how we spent the moo-lah along with some pictures of 2 of my favorite projects...

I got the shutters from the Habitat for Humanity Home Store. They were UGLY brown, but I had a vision :) They weren't marked with a price, so I asked a worker there what they would cost. He tilted his head to the side and said "How about $2?" I said "SOLD!"...and then I got home and could have kicked myself for not getting the other 12 ugly brown shutters.

The curtain rod came from Wal-Mart for a big $8. I used a black flat sheet ($3), again from Wal-Mart, to make the panel for the curtain. I topped it off with a $3 spool of ribbon for my new favorite window in the whole house :)

I just LOVE this little lamp! I found the base at a local boutique for $3 and the shade at Roses for $3. The boring white shade needed a little "umph" so after trying a few different ideas, I resorted to tying some knots out of ribbon I already had on hand and immediately loved it!

I spent about $18 on other decorative things (trash can, frames for the wall, file holders, etc).

I thought the paint was going to crush our budget. The old walls were a dark blue and I was afraid that between primer and multiple coats of paint, we'd be in trouble. Well, I was able to find primer a bucket of primer on clearance which was a huge help! Between the primer, paint, spray paint and a few brushes and supplies that we didn't already have on hand, I only spent about $46!!

That brings the grand total for $86. That's a price I can live with :)

Details on all the little details coming soon! See you then!

-Sarai

Money Saving Madness

Welcome, friends, from Kelly's Korner!

Being a stay-at-home-wife, I feel that it's part of my job to save our family money. We have been abundantly blessed, but by no means feel like we're rolling in the dough! The primary task I use for saving us money is Couponing. This term means different things to different people. For me, it simply means using coupons (of many varieties) combined with sales prices to achieve the cheapest possible cost for a given item. I had used coupons since we got married and, sure, I saved some money here and there. It wasn't until I started Couponing in the fall of 2008 that I really began to see a difference in how much money we were spending and saving on groceries and common household items.

I know that this concept isn't for everyone. So rather than try to pressure you into believing that Couponing is the only way, I'll simply tell you what I do and what works for me.

A common misconception about using coupons is that it takes too much time. Recently, I figured out that the total time I spend each week on clipping and sorting coupons/meal planning is around 60-75 minutes. The bulk of that time is spent clipping and sorting, but is usually accomplished while watching tv. I'm able to catch up on a favorite show and mark a big task off my weekly to-do list.

Last year alone, we saved nearly $2,000 on groceries and household items. Yes, nearly TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS!! If I consider that total with the amount of time I spend each week on this task, I'm "earning" about $35 an hour for my time. As a stay at home wife, I believe this is the least I can do to contribute to our monthly budget!

Here's my step-by-step plan.

First, I collect my coupons. My coupons come from the Sunday paper, friends and family and online sources such as coupons.com. I also subscribe to several bargain blogs where I find shopping lists for the stores I shop in, extra coupons and even online deals (you can find these blogs on the right side of the page under "links").

After that, I cut my coupons. I ONLY CUT COUPONS FOR THINGS I KNOW WE WILL BUY. I found that cutting out every single coupon takes a lot of extra time. Throwing away a big stack of unused coupons at the end of the month is very frustrating. As I cut the coupons, I separate them into "Food" and "Non-Food" stacks.

Next, comes the sorting. I have found that an initial sort like this saves TONS of time when I am looking for a certain coupon. I have 2 coupon folders...one for food items and another for non-food items. Each folder has several files. In each tab, there are envelopes to break down the sorting even more. For example, (below) the laundry tab contains envelopes for detergent, stain treater and fabric softener. This method allows me to search through a few coupons for detergent rather than rifle through a whole stack of coupons that may or may not be for detergent. My tabs and envelopes are based on things that we use and buy. Yours may or may not look like this.

I have a basket that looks like the one below to house all my couponing supplies. In the basket, I keep scissors, a Sharpie, a note pad, both coupon files, sales flyers to take note of and coupons that need to be cut/sorted/filed.

Now, it's time to make my shopping lists. I have a Grocery List template on my computer that I print once a week. This allows me to make my shopping list based on certain departments and aisles in the store. Under each department/aisle, I also have a column for coupons. This allows me to make note of the coupon(s) I have for the item listed. Then, when I'm shopping I know exactly how much my coupon is for and can compare costs without having to dig through my coupon folder for every single item.

The note pad I keep in my Coupon basket allows me to make smaller lists for other stores (like Target, Wal-Mart or CVS).

Once I've created a menu for the week (using as many food items as I can from the pantry, fridge and freezer), I peruse the sales flyers. I look for items that are on sale and that I know I have coupons for. I circle all the things I might be interested in buying with my Sharpie. Then, I match up coupons with sales items to see if the final price of that item is reasonable (once you've done this for a while, you'll start to see patterns in prices and know when something is really on sale). I add those items to my list and I'm off to the store!

Here are some things to remember when adapting a Couponing method:

*Get over brand preferences.
The key is to buy what you can get at a super cheap price, rather than to buy items that you might normally buy. I'm not gonna lie, I love Angel Soft toilet paper. But, if I can get a pack of Cottonnelle for 5o cents, you better believe I'm gonna go for it! I've found that, the majority of the time, I end up liking a new brand better than my old stand by brands.

*Buy items based on price, not necessity.
Obviously, things come up and last minute trips to the store are a must. The object, though, is to plan ahead as much as you can to save the most money possible. I've begun planning a week and a half in advance, and that seems to work pretty well.

*Save your coupons & watch for sales.
These two kinda go hand in hand. Some sites suggest that you do a month's worth of research on your most purchased products to figure out the lowest sale price for those items, and then only purchasing them at that lowest sale price. While that totally works, I've adapted my own little system. Instead of doing all the research, I simply wait for the sales ads, check out the items that are on sale and match them up with my coupons. The majority of the time, the items that are in the sales ads are near their lowest price.

*Stock up.
If an item is on sale and you have 4 coupons, use them and stock up!! It's better to keep 3 extra bags of frozen vegetables on hand and get them for 50 cents a piece than it is to only buy 1 bag at 50 cents and then have to pay full price for the other 3 bags later. This goes for items that you might not have coupons for, too, like meat. If a meat item is on sale, we buy enough to make 4 or 5 dishes.

I know all this looks intimidating. I can tell you that it WILL take some time to adapt to your liking, but by taking it a step at a time, it's a lot easier than you might initially think. Just remember that your pantry/fridge/freezer WILL be stocked and you WILL save money!

If you have questions about the process I use or would like for me to e-mail you with the Grocery List template I use, contact us at threesimplegirls@gmail.com .

Happy Saving!

-Sarai

Chalk it up

One my favorite places to find treasures is my local Dollar Tree store. I am sure you can testify to being able to find all kinds of things to transform into cute accessories for your home or to give as gifts. I often find lots of things there that I can use in my classroom for learning, storage or decoration. Most days, I don't really have a clear vision of what I am looking for...but on a recent trip I knew exactly what I needed.

These trays were exactly what I needed to complete a simple, yet fun project to add a little fun to my kitchen and other areas of my house. One thing I love to keep on hand at my house is chalkboard paint. So with these trays and a little spray paint, the creating began!

To begin with, I taped off the edges of the trays using a little painters tape. This was a little tricky as the trays do not have the straightest edges. This caused a little paint to end up in places I might not have wanted it. One suggestion I have here is that you might want to get the chalkboard paint in the bucket, instead of the spray kind. This might fix the problem right up! If you know where to find that by the way, please leave a comment, I am having a really hard time finding it!

After painting, you must let your paint dry for at least 24 hours in order for it to really work like a chalkboard. This might be a difficult step for you, or well me, because I was so anxious to give it a try and see if it really worked. But trust this simple girl on this one, you really have to let it dry! Once the trays have dried, find your old school chalk and print a special message to be displayed.

Chalk it up to another simple project for all you simple girls!

Enjoy...

Brooke

Simple, Cheap, Healthy

We can all relate, can't we?

Those nights of the week when you know you're going to be scarfing something, anything, down before you have to be out the door. Those nights you know you should make dinner, but you just aren't feeling like a big production. Those nights when another drive through sounds just about right.

I hear you.

Enter pretty simple, cheap, and healthy go to meals! All of these standbys are easily accessible mostly by box or bag. They are especially easy if you do things like cook the meat or chop the veggies earlier in the day or week. They also serve at least a family of four (or split the final product into one-serving containers and feed the number you need throughout the week!)

Each of the meals cost only a couple of bucks per serving. When you take into account the sales/manager specials, coupons used or that could have been used, my love affair with Trader Joes, and garden produce... totals may change slightly. I also approximated how much it would cost for the small bits of some staples I used like soy sauce or spices. The "Optional Add Ins" are not included in the final totals. And I apologize ahead of time if any of my math is off. Just saying. :)

Blue Corn Hardshell Tacos

1 box Garden of Eatin Blue Corn Taco Kit- $3.50 (will have enough shells leftover to do more than one meal)
1 lb. package organic ground beef- $2.50 (manager's special; substitute regular ground beef)
1/2 head Trader Joe's organic romaine lettuce- approximately $.50
1 Trader Joe's organic onion, finely chopped- approximately $.30
Sour cream to taste- approximately $.30
1/2 bag of Kraft 2% shredded cheddar cheese- $.45 (had coupon; substitute cheapest cheese)
1/2 jar of Trader Joe's Corn Chile Salsa- approximately $1.10 (could leave out since the kit comes with sauce)
1 tomato- FREE from garden (substitute store/Farmer's Market bought tomato)
Optional Add Ins: black beans, pinto beans, cilantro, avocado, corn, guacamole

Grand Total: $8.65
Price per Serving: $2.17

Over medium high heat cook the ground beef until brown on all sides. Once brown, add the taco seasoning from the kit (One of the FEW MSG-free versions!) and a couple tablespoons water. Fill taco shells with meat and all of the veggies finely chopped. Top with sour cream and shredded cheese.

Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry

Stir fry beef- $3.58 (could substitute chicken, cut into strips)
1 bag frozen stir fry veggies- $2.25
1 box couscous- $1.99 (on sale, but generally not much more than that- could substitute brown/white rice or lomein noodles)
2/3 cup soy sauce- approximately $.30
1 tbsp. ground ginger- approximately $.20
Extras: Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
Optional Add Ins: Any other fresh veggies you prefer, like peppers or snap peas

Grand Total: $8.32
Price Per Serving: $2.08

Drizzle a few drops of EVOO into a large saucepan or wok. Add your meat, 1/3 of the soy sauce, and 1/2 tbsp. of ginger. When the meat is brown, add the frozen veggies and remaining soy sauce and ginger. While this cooks, follow the easy directions on the couscous box. Put a scoop or two of couscous on each plate and top with the stir fry.

Fresh Mozzarella and Basil Pizza

Trader Joe's whole wheat refrigerated pizza dough- $1.19 (substitute other refrigerated pizza dough)
Trader Joe's organic marinara sauce- approximately $.55 (substitute other jarred spaghetti/marinara/pizza sauce; one jar this size lasts for three or four pies)
Fresh mozzarella- $2.25 (on sale, but Aldi almost always has this for about that price)
Basil- FREE from garden (substitute store/Farmer's Market bought basil)
Optional Add Ins: Fresh tomatoes and any other veggies or meats

Grand Total: $3.99
Price Per Serving: $1.00

Bake the dough according to the package instructions. Top with sauce and toppings and continue baking until cheese is bubbly. (The Trader Joe's crust only has to be baked once with toppings and sauce included).

To wrap this up, you know I couldn't forget dessert! A new fast, favorite is this:

Grand Total: $2.o0 for one (had a coupon, but I've seen them range in price from $2.55-$3.00)... that's like pennies per person!

Just follow the directions on those there packages!

Bon Appetit'!
Katrina

Wannabe

I'll admit it.

I am a seamstress wannabe.

I live vicariously through Sarai, and very soon I'm sure, through Brooke (Who Sarai is teaching to sew since they live much closer. Not that I'm the teeniest bit jealous or anything!) :)

Since I will have to wait for either a move back to North Carolina or for some other fairy-sewing-godmother to show up, I have learned to make do.

With an iron, that is. Please don't laugh.

I started with some t-shirts, a little denim bag, and iron-on transfers. Target and the Hobby Lobby hooked me up, but your local equivalents will probably do just fine.
I got home while still doing the happy dance because of the yellow and red stickers. Cuffed tees in matching sizes for my girls... $2.50 a piece and iron-on ribbons@ $.71 each! I paid full price for the bag and baby iron-ons... $1.99 and $.99 respectively. But, hey, they are for a gift after all.
If you're thinking this is a good idea, next you want to wash all your items. Play around with the, dare I say, "patterns" or "monograms" you want to create while you wait.

After the clothes are dry, heat up your iron on the cotton setting. Place all your transfers where you want them to be, cover with a white cloth, and carefully iron into place from both sides of the fabric. In case you forget, these wannabe enablers come with their own instructions too. Taking a picture and ironing... not so much, sorry.

Now, for the sake of showing you I meant what I said about being full of do overs and big fat flops, that denim bag was a bit of a pill. Either that or those babies had a fear of lifelong committment to blue jean material. I kid you not:
Smudgy, ghostly looking infants... not exactly what I was going for.

So, I did what any self respecting thrifty girl does. I covered up the mistake with the only thing I had left-- scraps! It will be even cuter later when I use my actual needle and thread to put on a few big buttons. That small bit of sewing, I think, I can handle. I also had to reinforce the ribbon with fabric glue because the durability seemed a little iffy.
The t-shirts, on the other hand, made me smile straight away.

Especially after one pair made their debut when we, as you can see, drug our kids to the county fair. And some lady stopped to give us such a sweet, genuine compliment.
My husband all proudly said, "Thanks! My wife just made those shirts." Should we have disclosed the transfer truth??!!

Hmm... anyway, in the end, we have four matching tees and a mini diaper bag for a four year old friend's birthday. About fifteen bucks total for jobs well... well, ironed.

How are you making do around your place?

'Fess up, friends! :)
Katrina