Tuesday Tip

We eat alot of black olives in our house.  I have found that Aldi has the cheapest price for a can of black olives in my area.  The only problem is they come canned whole and not sliced.  Here is my solution to slicing a can.  Use your egg slicer

Take several olives and put in the egg slicer and push down

You then get sliced black olives

It takes no time at all to slice the can

I am sure I probably read this tip somewhere on the Internet.  I have been slicing my black olives this way for awhile now and it works great!

I am linking up to

at

Learning The Frugal Life

Whats For Dinner This Week 11/28 -12/4

Monday - Turkey & Gravy, Stuffing, leftover from Thanksgiving

Tuesday - Fajitas

Wednesday- Pepperoni Roll

Thursday - Italian Rice Skillet

Friday - Leftovers

Saturday - ????

Sunday - Eggs and Bacon for Sunday Family Brunch

5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week

1. Had several stay at home days

2. Did not go Black Friday Shopping

3. Made another Christmas present using items I already had!

4.  Menu planned and shopped with a list!

5. Ate our leftovers

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are having a nice quiet Thanksgiving this year.  Which is just the way I like it :)  We had our big family Thanksgiving a few weeks ago, so there will only be 3 of us today.  We are having our turkey dinner later this evening.  We are also thinking we may take Kid # 5 to see the new Muppet movie.  We will see........

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  Hope you all have a nice stress free day!

5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week

1. Got a hair cut from my BFF's daughter who just graduated beauty school.

2.  Colored my hair myself :)

3. Bought another Christmas gift with my Swagbucks!

4. Made a Christmas gift using supplies I already had.

5. Kept the heat off for a few days that we had some warm weather this week.

Few Things I Have Made Recently

Some friends of our got married a few months ago and had their reception on 11/11/11.  My husband DJ'd their party which was mainly our gift to them but I still wanted to make them something. 

I saw this and this on Pinterest. I love Pinterest and have to admit I am addicted to that site lol!

Here is my version of the two ornaments

I had everything I needed to make it except the monogram "B".  I bought it at Hobby Lobby and used a 40% off coupon.  Total cost for the gift was less then a dollar!

Next I saw this sign on Pinterest.  I loved it!  Here is my version

I already had the frame and then I just typed it up in Microsoft Word, printed and framed it.  It sits on my desk and makes me smile every time I read it :)

Whats for Dinner this week 10/14 - 10/20

Hmmm good question........One which I finally got figured out this morning!

Monday - we ate leftovers from our "Family Thanksgiving"

Tuesday - Pepper Steak and Rice

Wednesday - Taco Ring

Thursday- Chicken Noodle Soup using the broth I made from the whole chicken we had last week

Friday - Leftovers

Saturday- Hawaiian Sammie's

Sunday - Eggs and Toast

Today.......

We are having our Family Thanksgiving.  This is a new tradition we have decided to start.  Two of our kids are about to be grown.  Kid # 1 will be getting married next year and Kid # 2 will be graduating high school and starting college.  We are also a blended family with many other parents and family for the kids to be pulled to go to for holidays.  My parents were divorced when I was growing up and I remember even after I became an adult I was always torn about who to spend holidays with.  I don't ever want my kids to feel that pressure or guilt.   So this year we decided to start a new tradition for Thanksgiving and we will start celebrating our Family Thanksgiving on the 2nd Saturday in November every year from now forward.  All of the kids thought this was a great idea!  We will also be inviting friends and family when they want to come.  My parents have already said they would definitely like to start attending next year.  We plan to do something similar for Christmas starting maybe next year, we just haven't figured out what exactly yet. 

Hope you all are having a great Saturday!  I need to get back to cooking :)

Update on Christmas Plan # 2

Here is where I stand as far as completing my Christmas shopping.  I am hoping to have all but maybe a few stocking stuffers done by the end of November.  I think I am doing pretty well!  Oh and I have manage to pay only cash for all items or use Swag Bucks and points from Mypoints!  Go me! :)



Photo for Christmas Cards

Christmas Cards ordered

Stamps for Christmas Cards

Christmas Tree

Kid # 5 picture with Santa

Husband - I don't really do a set number of gifts for my husband but we do have a set amount we get to spend on each other :)

1 gift  - $30
2 gift - $ 58.32
3 gift - $7.49


Kid # 1                                                                   

gift # 1 -$15.64
gift # 2 - $25.00
gift # 3
gift # 4

Kid # 1 Stockings Items

1-something I bought a long time ago

Kid # 2                                                                    

gift # 1 - $3
gift # 2 - $5+$3.49 + $19.99 = $28.48
gift # 3 - $ 13.17
gift # 4

Kid # 2 Stockings Items

Kid # 3                                                                                       

gift # 1 - $5
gift # 2 - FREE with Swagbucks
gift # 3 - FREE with Swagbucks
gift # 4

Kid # 3 Stocking Items

1- FREE with Swagbucks
2- FREE with Swagbucks

Kid # 4

gift # 1 - $ 28.94
gift # 2 - $ 3.00 + $19.99 =$22.99
gift # 3 - $ 14.00
gift # 4

Kid # 4 Stocking Items

1-$0.50 at a yard sale
2-$2.99 Hobby Lobby find

Kid # 5

gift # 1- $60
gift # 2 - $ 14.91
gift # 3 - $30.86
gift # 4

Kid # 5 Stocking Items

1-$2.99 -Hobby Lobby find
2-$9.99


Future Daughter In law

gift # 1 - Free
gift # 2 -$3
gift # 3
gift # 4

Mom - $12.98 +1.19 +1.99+0.52 =$16.68
Step dad - Free using my points from Mypoints
Family gift for nieces and nephew - Free
Sister
bro in law
Grandma - $12.98 +1.99+1.99+0.52=$17.48
Mother in law - $12.98 +1.99+1.99+0.52=$17.48
Father in law - Free using my points from Mypoints

Postage to mail Parent in laws gift

Roger

Jenna - $4

Game Gift  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Teacher gift for Kid # 5 -$2

5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week

1. Sold some of Kid # 5 out grown clothes for extra money

2.  Went on a very frugal lunch date with my hubby to the all you can eat drink, soup and salad for $5 place :)

3.  Bought Kid # 1 a Christmas present using my 30% off coupon from Kohl's

4. Planned, made a list and got the shopping all done for our menu for the next two weeks.  So far we are under budget!

5.  I made a Christmas ornament as a wedding present for a reception we attended of some friends. Post to follow about said present!  It was totally frugal though!

5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week

1. Found Kid # 1 a shirt at Goodwill for $3.49 to wear for his engagement pictures.

2. Finally got my peg board put up in the office/craft room and purchased the peg board hooks etc on sale at Harbor Freight for $5.99. 

3. Went to lunch with a friend that has all you can eat salad and soup for $5.  Not only was it a frugal lunch but also a great visit with a good friend!

4.  Had my BFF take Kid # 1 and FDIL's engagement pictures and she was nice enough to do it for FREE!!!

5.  Bought some clearanced candy to use for stockings at Christmas

What A Busy Week........

Ewe I am so glad it is Thursday!  This is the first day I have had to just stay home and not have much to do!  I have planned Stuffed Green Pepper soup for dinner tonight which will be perfect since it is cold and rainy here today.  I have a few loads of laundry I should get done but if I don't get to them it won't be a huge deal either.

We had a nice Halloween.  We did not have nearly as many trick or treaters as we have had in past years.  Kid # 1 and Future Daughter in law came over and hung out with me while Kid # 3 and her boyfriend took Kid # 5 trick or treating.  We also had Future Daughter in laws Sister's family over too.  So our Halloween candy did not go to waste even though we did not have many trick or treaters.

Tuesday, I took Kid # 1 and Future Daughter in law shopping around at all the local Goodwill's looking for some shirts for each of them to have their engagement pictures done in.  We found Kid # 1 a nice brown dress shirt right away.  Did not have any luck with FDIL's.  She ended up getting one at Gordman's.

Wednesday, I went with them to have their engagement pictures done.  One of my very best friends was nice enough to take their pictures for them and edit them all for FREE.  The pictures turned out wonderful and I am hoping that I get some for Christmas from the kids :)   Here is one of the shots taken and I love it!

My husband finally got his new shed put up and we have slowly been cleaning up and preparing the yard for winter.  Yes, I realize it is now the first week of November but we have had nice and fairly warm weather for this time of year here.  I am hoping we will have it done by the end of this weekend.  We actually made it to November 1st without turning on the heat!  I am so glad we made the investment to purchase new windows last yr!

I have to sit down and do my banking tonight.  I believe we will be able to completely pay off the credit card after I look over everything.  This is gonna stretch us alittle but I am willing to do that in order for it to be gone!  Then we will concentrate on finishing up our Christmas shopping.  Once that is completed we will put all our extra funds towards the car payment!

Hope you all are having a nice week!

Whats for dinner.........10/31 - 11/6

Little late with this post but oh well..........

Monday- Quesadilla w/ left over Spicy Chicken meat

Tuesday- Pizza Pasta Bake, Green Beans and Salad

Wednesday - Ribs, Baked Potato and Salad

Thursday- Stuffed Green Pepper Soup and Rolls

Friday - Leftovers

Saturday - Hawain Roll Sammies

Sunday - ???? undecided


Snackes - Halloween Candy :), Brownies, Popcorn, Cheese and Crackers