5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week

1. I made a pasta salad with ingredients we already had in the pantry to a potluck we were invited to.

2. I added all my receipts to my various shopping apps to earn cash/ gift cards. 

3. Combined several errands to make the most of my time and gas this week. 

4. Sold 4 items on eBay and all the money earned will be added to the recplacemt car fund

5. We ate our leftovers and/or turned them into other meals 

Summer Is Almost Here

This is the last week of school for Kid #5.  It is also the last week of school for my kindergartener at work.  I am looking forward to summer in someways and then again not.  

When the Kindergartener at work is home it is more work for me.  He is alittle harder to keep entertained then the 3 yr old and the baby.  Not to mention there is more cause for conflict between the Kindergartener and the 3 yr old when they are home together all day too. I have started planning things we can do and projects we can work on while I am there on the days I work.

The other conflict for this summer is what do do with Kid# 5 while I have to work.  We have never had this problem before since in previous years I have had the summers off.  I can always take her to work with me any day I need to but of course she doesn't really want to do that.  She also can go to work with her Dad once in a while but not as an regular thing each week.  I don't really like the idea of her being home all day long by herself.  We will just have to play it by ear and hopefully get a rhythm going soon. 

I am looking forward to the warm weather and not having such a strict schedule due to school.  That will be nice.  I also will have 2 days a week off to spend with Kid# 5 which is nice too. 

For the first time in a long time I will also earn a pay check during the summer months.  I am really looking forward to that!! Summer always seems to be an expensive time for us.  Seems there are a lot of birthdays and activities we are invited to do that all involve spending money.

Ok well I have rambled on about summer enough now.  Hope everyone is having a good week so far :) Really trying to get in the swing of blogging more.

5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week

1. It was pretty warm here at the beginning of the week. We did not turn on our A/C like many people did. We kept the house closed up while we were gone to work and opened windows and used fans at night. 

2.  We found Kid# 5 a dress to wear for her 8th grade celebration/dance at Goodwill for $6.36. 

3. I ran the dish washer when full and instead of using the heated dry function, I opened the door and let the dishes air dry before putting them away. 

4. I am giving Kid# 3 a baby shower in a few weeks. I used some craft supplies I already had to create table center pieces for the shower. I am trying to give a shower on a small budget. I hope to post about it later on :) 

5. The family I Nanny for are planning to move and have been cleaning out their basement. Kid # 3 is also moving and is in need of a table and chairs. My job had one to get rid of. I asked about it and they gave it to me for free :) They have been so awesome to me! Plus I do love FREE! 

A Thrifty Bathroom Makeover

We have a half bath on the main level of our house that was covered in wall paper when we moved in. Here is a before picture:

In March of 2015 we bartered wall paper removal with a friend of ours who runs a painting/wallpaper removal business. My husband does her taxes for her and she does some painting etc work for us.

Here it is after wall paper removal but before paint.

Next I painted the walls and trim.  Wall paint was approximately $35 ( paint color is Spinach White by Sherwin Williams) and trim paint we already had.

After I painted my Hubby turned the built in magazine rack into the toilet paper cubby. We spent about $5 on that. You can kinda see it in the first before picture at the top.  Here is the after:

Next up we added a new light $78 at Lowes but I had a $50 gift card to use towards it.  We also added a new mirror which I bought off Overstock for $102.99 and then took apart and spray painted the frame gold using paint we already had.  I had a very hard time finding a round mirror for a reasonable price.  We also added a new facet

 light switch cover, outlet cover, door knob and door hinges all of which I bought on eBay, $80.11.  Next up I painted the vanity navy blue and added new handles and towel holder both of which I purchased at Hobby Lobby. I spent $28 on the paint for the vanity and $14.98 at Hobby Lobby.  Last thing I bought was some wall dot stickers for about $10.  I spray painted a frame I already had the same gold as the mirror frame and hung a poster in it that I already owned also. All decor I used in the bathroom I already owned. 

Here are a bunch of after pictures :)

WOW It's May Already!

Well Hello! I sure had not planned to take this long of break from this ole' blog! I can't believe it is mid May already!

I posted here about starting a part time Nanny job in November.  I am still at my job and I still love it.  I love the family I work for and the hours and perks to the job are just perfect for our family!  I really believe this is my dream job!

Kid#5 had 8 days of school left for the year and she will be going to high school.  It is hard to believe that she is old enough to be doing this!

In a few days we have officially been in our new house/town for 2 yrs.  The first year was rough and I was not loving it.  This second year has been much better.  We are slowly making the house our own and I hope to post some of the projects we have completed soon!

Let see, on the frugal, working the Dave Ramsey Babysteps front, I also posted here that we had completed Babystep 3.  We are now working on saving for a new to us car.  For a while we were going gazelle with that because we though we might be getting transferred with my husband work again. However we recently found out that is not the case so we will now be concentrating on saving for a new to us car and paying extra on our house or Babystep 6.

Our goal with Babystep 6 is to pay off our house in 8 years or less.  My husband will be able to retire at this point and we of course would like to do that with no mortgage left.  I hope to update more regularly on how this is working!

This is pretty much has been happening here in a nutshell!  I look forward to hopefully updating here more :)

5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week

1. Monday was my husband's birthday. I made his cake and frosting from scratch.

2. I ate lunch at work for free 3x this week. 

3. I hung several loads of laundry to dry this week. 

4. We followed the menu plan and ate dinner at home every night this week

5. I returned some shoes that didn't fit right and got a refund.