Summer Bucket List ~ 25 Days of Frugal Summer Fun

It’s the first day in our 25 Days of Frugal Summer Fun series, and I’m so excited to share one of my favorite ways to start out the summer! While there are all kind of ideas that our family loves to do in the summertime, tonight’s idea is a great way to begin the summer with a plan of attack. My kids have so many ideas swirling about in their heads with summer break just three weeks away {yikes!}, so it’s time to get started planning!

 

I thought I’d start by sharing how we created a summer bucket list last summer, which is still sitting on our front porch just waiting to be re-used this summer. Here’s how we started last year . . .

 

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Reposted from May 2o12 

Last night, after my girls were in bed, I asked my son what he would like put in our family’s “bucket list” for the summer. I gave him a few ideas as a starting point, and let him go wild coming up with ideas for fun summer treats to add to the list.

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My (little?) boy is twelve this summer, and as he rattled off things to do, I had to inwardly grin. Do you know what that big ole’ boy wants to do this summer? (Please don’t laugh. . . although I did just a bit!) He wants to play cowboys and indians and go on an “adventure”; to create an art project and play capture the flag; to make a cake all by himself,  catch a few fireflies, and, of course, build a fort outside to hide out in.

Do you know what snuck up on me as we made our list together? That boy of mine is growing up (I just hate this growing up business some days!) I doubt I’ll have many more summers when playing cowboys and indians, drawing a sidewalk chalk city, or making freshly squeezed homemade lemonade will be on his to-do list for the summer.

 

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So our bucket list is going to stay real close at hand this summer, and we’ll be working to to clip every one off the list. And do you know what else? I’m not going to be sad about things changing one tiny bit. (Do you hear that?) Because while I know in my heart that these cowboy days are very closely nearing an end, that boy is pretty fun to hang out with as he’s growing up.  Instead of being sad as about this growing up stuff (really!), I’m just going to enjoy every single moment we’re in right now, and look right on forward to getting to know the person that he’s becoming.

(Thank goodness though that I have two little girls coming up behind him though . . . I think we may still have a few more years of princesses left!)

 

By the way, our all-time favorite book to read for boys has been The Brave Cowboyby Joan Walsh Anglund. I think this one’s a must-have-book for every little boy (toddler-kindergarten aged), and even now we still pull it out every once in awhile just to look through the sweet pictures and spend a little time imagining just like that cowboy did. :)

Thanks for the clever bucket list idea, Delia Creates. . . I loved it! See more great Summer Bucket List ideas HERE, HERE & HERE. I’d love for you to join me over on Pinterest to see more crafty ideas, and please leave a comment with any other summer craft ideas you have! 

What ideas will be on you summer bucket list year? I’d love to hear them! Don’t forget you can also enter to win a $10 Amazon gift card when you share a comment on this post before 10 PM tonight. Good luck!

Teenage Birthday Party Ideas

 

 

My son turned 13 a few weeks ago {gasp!} which means I’m officially old enough to be the mom of a teenager.

 

Ugh.

 

However, he’s still not all that old to me (sorry kiddo), so we had to throw him a party. I searched “teenager birthday party ideas” on Pinterest and Google, and literally came up with nothing, so here’s what we decided to do.

 

  • Ate pizza (easy)
  • Ordered a cookie cake (he was so excited . . . that was our splurge this year!)
  • Played football (my husband told them they could play tackle football. I had to go inside because I was slightly nauseated while watching them just waiting for an injury. Football is not for this timid momma!)
  • Made cute gift bags.
That’s it. 

 

so unexciting.

 

But, since this is the TWENTY-NINTH birthday I’ve put on for these kids of mine, he seemed just fine with it. ;)

 

 

 

We did make some really fun “treat bags” . . . even though I’m not sure it’s still cool to send goody bags home with your kids? Here’s what we included:
  • Coca Cola Bottles (we looked everywhere for those things, but finally found them at Kroger thanks to help from a few PPP’ers on Facebook!  Our first goal was to find RC Colas, but I finally gave up on those. .  .)
  • Moon Pies (Cracker Barrel sells them)
  • Big League Chew and Sunflower Seeds (from The Dollar Tree)
  • Buffalo Bills Beef Jerky (it comes in cans and apparently kids loved it ~ you can also find it at local gas stations but the Amazon price was cheaper)
  • blue rope to tie the bags from the Dollar Tree (I asked my son if he’d let me Cricut some cute name tags, but he said that would clearly make me a dork)

 

Do you still host birthday parties for your older children?  I’m thinking my kids will want them until they get married, and for right now I’m okay with it. I would love to know what other suggestions you have for “gift bags” and at what age you think they’re just too old for  them! (And I know they’re not necessary, I think I just have way too much fun putting them together . . .)

 

If you’re looking for girls birthday party ideas, you see what we did for my girls’ birthdays this year HERE and HERE.

 

I’d love for you to join me over on Pinterest (I love that place!) See previous Friday Fluff Up projects and ideas . . . and Happy Fluffing!

 

 

30 Day Cleaning Challenge: The Appliance Cupboard

 

As many of you all know, today was “Take Your Child To Work Day”, and since my husband was working from home today my son got a taste of both of our jobs. Since he really thinks I just hang out on the computer all day for fun, I let him “do” my jobs for an hour . . . meaning he got to do both my blogging job and my mommying job!

 

He took pictures of our appliance cupboard above, cleaned it out, and then re-shot the pictures all by himself.  Once he was done, he edited them to make the (fantastic?) graphic above using Picmonkey. (I’m telling you what, if you ever have to edit pictures, Picmonkey is the place to be!) So I’m super thankful to him for all of his help, and my awkward appliance corner cupboard (which clearly needed some help), got a quick cleaning out too. ;)

 

Are you working on any Spring Cleaning this month in your home? I’d love to hear if you have any cleaning tips, and you can see more about Money Saving Mom’s 30-Day House Cleaning Challenge over HERE.

Use Tension Rods To Organize Drawers

Organizing with tension rods


I’m joining Money Saving Mom’s 30-Day House Cleaning Challenge, and have done just a rotten job of keeping up this month! 
I can give you a list of excuses a mile long, but as y’all know, life just happens so I’ll try to keep up these last few days as best I can. ;)

 

Today’s challenge was to clean the linen closet, but since ours is in decent shape I decided to tackle (again!) our tupperware drawer. We’ve trained our kids to unload the dishwasher, however training them to properly put things in their place (especially in this drawer . . .) clearly isn’t working. ;)

 

As I’ve shared before, I added simple tension rods to our tupperware drawer several months ago to keep the lids standing on end and try to help rangle up our water bottles, but everything had just gotten thrown into the mess. So, I took about ten minutes this morning to do a quick tidying, and will be giving my kiddos a lecture on how to put away the dishes. (They can do this, right?)

 

 

Are you working on any Spring Cleaning this month in your home? I’d love to hear if you have any cleaning tips, and you can see more about the 30-Day House Cleaning Challenge over HERE.

Planting A Raised Bed Garden

 

Last weekend we finally had time to plant our Raised Bed Vegetable Garden, and can’t wait to see our veggies start growing! We’re trying out the square foot gardening method (which we’ve never used before), and I’m shocked at how many vegetables it looks like we’ll be able to grow in such a small space. Here’s what we planted:

  • Green Peppers
  • Red Peppers
  • Tomatoes
  • Red Onions
  • Sweet Onions
  • Red Potatoes
  • White Potatoes
  • Sugar Snap Peas
We still have four more squares to plant, but are trying to figure our what we’ll use eat that doesn’t take up much space. My kids are begging for cantaloupe and watermelon, but I’m pretty sure they won’t fit! We just split the space into 1 foot squares, and then planted certain veggies in each quadrant. . .
I was so excited because the peppers looked so good . . . after paying full price for peppers last year and can’t wait to have them fresh from the garden to freeze again this year!
Here are the boys planting . . .
And Jackson helping Reagan learn to plant . . .

 

While I’m so excited about our garden, my favorite part of the weekend was getting our ferns on the front porch . . . I love “Hanging of the Ferns” Day around here! Until moving to Alabama I really didn’t love ferns, but something about living in the South and seeing a slew of ferns on the front porch just makes me happy these days. And I’m telling you what, the ferns at our local nursery were just incredible this year.

 

(I’d love to somehow keep ferns through the winter and not have to re-purchase them this year, but we don’t have anywhere to keep them in the winter. If you’ve ever tried keeping ferns indoors over the winter months I’d love to hear your suggestions.)

We also bought several plants to start working on our planters, but haven’t quite gotten them planted  yet . . .

 raised garden bed starter kit

If you’re considering starting a raised bed garden at home, you may want to check out this Greenland Gardener 6-Inch Raised Bed Garden Kits for just $29.98, shipped.

 

 

 

You can also get the All New Square Foot Gardening Book for just $11.98 (regularly $19.98), and if you’re here in the South and love flower gardens, our favorite gardening book is Harvey Cotton’s Easy Gardens for the South. He’s a local author and the book is incredible . . . not all that  penny pinched but a must have for serious Southern gardeners!

 

 

Have you started Spring planting at your house? I’d love to know what vegetables or flowers you’re trying out this year, and if you have any tips for us as we go I’d welcome those too! Take a minute to leave a comment to share.

 

I’d love for you to join me over on Pinterest (I love that place!)  If you have a blog and have done a little fluffing in your home, I’d love to see it, so leave your link in the comments section. Also, if there’s a craft you’ve seen on a website that you’re hoping to make, feel free to share that link as well (I’m always looking for new ideas!)

 

See previous Friday Fluff Up projects and ideas . . . and Happy Fluffing!

 

Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas

 

As the end of the schools year approaches, you might find these Teacher Appreciation Gifts Ideas from TipJunkie.com very useful!  National Teacher Appreciation Week is May 6-10 this year.

 

Thanks & photo credit, TipJunkie!

30 Day Cleaning Challenge: More Closets


I’m joining Money Saving Mom’s 30-Day House Cleaning Challenge, and since the closets in our home are what’s really in most dire need (way worse than our bathrooms believe it or not!), I’m working on those throughout this week.
 Yesterday I tackled my older daughter’s closet, and today I worked on her little sisters room (tomorrow I’ll show pictures of how I’m storing it all.)

 

While I have bins in Reagan’s closet with all of her older sister’s hand-me-downs, she has a (bad!) habit of climbing in to see what treasures she can find. (The girl has a serious addiction to “no-sleeve” shirts . . . even in the middle of winter and will dig through anything to find them.) After this ridiculous cleanout I finally wised up, and am hauling the buckets of clothes that she doesn’t fit into up to the attic . . . hopefully I can get some control from here on out.  My favorite thing about getting they’re clothes organized (despite the disaster . . . ) is that I finally figure out what each of my kids really needs, and (obviously!) this girl lacks for nothing. So, having a clean closet will help me pinch those pennies this summer and not purchase another stitch of clothes!

 

Do you have any suggestions on how to handle hand-me-downs from others as well as between your own children? There are four years between my two girls, so managing what to save and what to keep is (obviously!) stressful at our house. If you have a great way to keep clothes in order I’d sure love to hear it!

 

Are you working on any Spring Cleaning this month in your home? I’d love to hear if you have any cleaning tips, and you can see more about the 30-Day House Cleaning Challenge over HERE.

30 Day Challenge: The Closets

 

 


I’m joining Money Saving Mom’s 30-Day House Cleaning Challenge, and spent a few hours this weekend and today working on both of my daughter’s closets.
 While I’m pretty good about keeping up with the everyday cleaning in our home, handling things like the closets and their clothes is something I’m completely overwhelmed by. (Don’t believe me? This is not the first time I’ve worked on this project . . . ) 

 

So, my goal this week is to tackle all of the closets in our home and really get some control.  As you can tell from the pictures above they’re still far from perfect (yikes!) But, so far I’m up to four huge bags heading to our church’s thrift store, and it already feels so much more manageable. We’re incredibly fortunate and get a slew of great hand-me-downs, I’ve just got to figure out how to keep up with what comes in and “edit” items a little more often so that these disasters don’t keep popping up.

 

Do you have any suggestions on how to handle hand-me-downs from others as well as between your own children? There are four years between my two girls, so managing what to save and what to keep is (obviously!) stressful at our house. If you have a great way to keep clothes in order I’d sure love to hear it!

 

Are you working on any Spring Cleaning this month in your home? I’d love to hear if you have any cleaning tips, and you can see more about the 30-Day House Cleaning Challenge over HERE.

Girls Tea Party On A Budget

(The little girl with Reagan in the picture is my friend Shannon’s (who helps so much with PPP) daughter Faith . . . we figure they’ll both be in therapy for years one day together thanks to their penny-pinchin’ mommas, but they’re awfully cute now!) ;)

 

 

 

Last weekend, my sweet Reagan turned six (yikes!) and we had the most fun getting ready for her party. I counted it up, and as of tomorrow when I throw my oldest’s 13th birthday party, I’ll have hosted a whopping 29 birthday parties for these crazy kiddos.  But I’m thinking this tea party was my favorite!

 

I would love to tell you that I was completely organized and had planned things for months, but I literally sent invitations out via evite on Tuesday and hosted her party on Saturday. (I know, I know . . . I should have had my act together sooner!) I made a good list two days before the party after checking out several fun ideas on Pinterest, and set to work. Here’s what we did to get ready . . .

 

 

First these are the things I purchased:

  • 5 glass canisters for goodie bag gifts ~ $5 at the Dollar Tree
  • 1 bag pink “grass” ~ $1 at the Dollar Tree
  • 2 dozen Gigi’s Mini Cupcakes ~ Free thanks to Groupon (they were $14.99 but I had some free credit that I used)
  • 2 rolls wide ribbon ~ $4 on 50% off sale at Hobby Lobby
  • 4 sheets scrapbook paper ~ $1 50% off sale at Hobby Lobby
  • napkins and table cloth ~ $2 at the Dollar Tree
  • 10 yards pink tulle to dress up chairs ~ $7.62, $1.27 per yard at Hobby Lobby, used 40% off coupon (2 yards per chair)
  • 5 cellophane bags ~ $2.50 (I was at our local cake store and think I could have found them cheaper, but wanted to grab them when I found them so I didn’t have to hunt them down!)
  • styrofoam door hangers and stickers to decorate and keep the girls busy for a few minutes ~ $3
  • 1 princess crown cookie cutter to make cheese sandwiches ~ $1.99 at the cake store
  • 1 bag Hershey Kisses for gift bags ~ $1.99 (clearanced Easter candy at Publix)
  • 1 loaf bread for cheese sandwiches ~ $1.20 (BOGO Nature’s Valley at Publix)
  • 2 lb. grapes ~ $3.39 (on sale $1.69 at Publix)
  • 1 bag goldfish ~ $1.29 (BOGO at Publix)
  • 1 box Rice Krispies Treats ~ $1.54 (BOGO at Publix)
  • 1 jar apple juice for “tea” $1.49 (BOGO at Publix)
  • 2 rose bouquets (on sale $3.49 at Publix ~ I also added a few daisies that I had leftover from Easter brunch that survived the week)
  • three plates ~ $20 (the “tiered” cake stand was actually three plates that were on clearance at Hobby Lobby from Easter sale – these were a splurge but I fell in love with them and will use them for Easter and other birthday parties!)
  • Martha Stewart Crafts Pom Poms, Pink, 2 Sizes (these were so cute, but I undoubtedly could have made them for less than $1. . . I’ll do a tutorial on how to make them in another Friday Fluff Up project ~ all you need is tissue and some florist wire!)
  • Total Spent: $79.99 ~ which includes the plates that I’ll re-use (I wish I hadn’t spent the $14 on those Pom Poms but they were really cute, and now I know how to make them!)

 

Here’s what we already had at home:

  • silver teapot
  • picture frames with Reagan in them to “fluff” up the buffet
  • my Cricut cutter to make name tags and “Tea Time” sign ~ I’ll also use the sign in her scrapbook
  • our regular everyday dishes and silverware (saved me from buying plastic and paper plates) 
  • ribbon from our Easter decorations to hang the Tea Time sign with

 

(These were $1 canisters at the Dollar Tree filled with clearanced Hershey Kisses from Easter and then I used my Cricut with vellum that I already had to “monogram” them. So simple!)

 

And very quickly, here are a few tips on how to frugally plan a party:

 

1.  Use what you have on hand. When I was at the Dollar Tree looking at cups and plates to use for the party, I really wasn’t all that excited about anything they had. I knew though that purchasing super cute plates at Hobby Lobby would quickly add up though, but it finally dawned on me that these girls were big enough to use our every day dishes, and the table looked so much prettier than it would have with paper products!

 

2.  Make a very detailed list of what you need before shopping. Every time I walk into a store I’m tempted to buy something “extra”. So on Thursday, I looked over the Publix ad to see what items I could use for the party that were on sale, and made an exact list of what I would need, eliminating multiple trips to the store.

 

3.  Purchase Holiday candy when its on clearance if you know you have a party coming up. I was able to stock up on everything for the girls “goodie” bags for next to nothing because Easter had just passed, and those pastel colored kisses were perfect!

 

4.  Remember that presentation goes a long way. I spent under $2 on the girl’s party gifts, but by cutely wrapping them they looked way more expensive and fun than they really were! Also, remember that it’s not your job to give a huge gift to each child who attends your child’s party, so just something special to remember the occasion is perfect. (I know some people don’t do goodie bags at all, but my kids do always love getting something tiny at a party, and I love making them!)

 

Here’s what that princess really looks like most of the time. Can you tell she was a wee bit tired of me taking pictures? ;)

5.  Shop the Dollar Tree and Target’s Dollar Bins (I think Michael’s has some great Dollar Bins too.) I cannot begin to tell you how many great items I’ve purchased at the Dollar Tree for my kids parties, including paper products, game ideas, and goodie bag ideas, so definitely check them out with an open mind about what you can use!

 

6.  Plan simple fun.  The girls colored pictures when they all got here and made styrofoam door hangers that I’d picked up at the Dollar Tree ~ they easily spent thirty minutes working on that. Then they had “tea”, played dress up, and danced to music (watching five little girls dance was a hoot!)  Before their parents got here, we played the beach ball game that I’d made for my older daughter’s party and they had so much fun . . . keep it simple and don’t feel like every minute has to be a huge event.

 

7.  A party at home is really okay. I think we’ve only had one birthday party for all of my children that wasn’t at home, and while it’s usually easier to have it hosted somewhere else, you can save a bundle by having parties at home. They do take a bit more time to plan (and especially if you work, your time has value too!), however if you need to stick to a budget, don’t feel like you have to take your child and all their friends somewhere to have a party. (It’s sometimes hard to be the one who has all the parties at home, but usually my kids are pretty happy with them and the kids always seem to have fun!)

 

 What other suggestions do you have for hosting birthday parties in your home? I’d love to hear them . . . leave a comment and let me know what you think!

 

I’d love for you to join me over on Pinterest (I love that place!)  If you have a blog and have done a little fluffing in your home, I’d love to see it, so leave your link in the comments section. Also, if there’s a craft you’ve seen on a website that you’re hoping to make, feel free to share that link as well (I’m always looking for new ideas!)

 

 

 

See previous Friday Fluff Up projects and ideas . . . and Happy Fluffing!

 

30 Day Cleaning Challenge Day 8: Vacuum {Cleaner}

 

 


I’m joining Money Saving Mom’s 30-Day House Cleaning Challenge, and today spent a few minutes cleaning out my (gross!) vacuum.
Today’s challenge was to vacuum all the rooms in your home, however since we’ve been doing entirely too much partying around here, :) I really just needed to clean out my poor vacuum.

 

 

 

I used a seam ripper to get all the Easter grass/hair/fuzz/gunk out of the bottom of the vacuum, and cleared out all the filters. (They were bad.) I really don’t know what on earth made me wait so long, but surely getting all that cleared out will help my vacuum function a bit better the next time I use it!

 

Are you working on any Spring Cleaning this month in your home? I’d love to hear if you have any cleaning tips, and you can see more about the 30-Day House Cleaning Challenge overHERE.