Frugal Friday *Updated*

One of the most frugal things I have been doing lately is not using my air conditioner in the house. That's right, we have not once turned our air on. There have really only been one or two days that I was really tempted. Every year, we try to wait as long as possible, but we usually only make it about half way through May. This year, thanks to the weird weather we have had, I think we will make it all the way. As soon as we wake up, we open the windows and let the cooler air come in. We use a box fan in one of the windows of the main rooms to help, and every ceiling fan is on. I am excited to get my electric bill!

In the last two weeks, thanks to Kraft and Coupons, I have done some major couponing at Homeland. For those of you who don't know, Homeland doubles coupons up to $1, which means they double $1 coupons, for a total of $2 savings. They only double the first in a series, so you have to do more than one transaction to get the full benefits, which is a pain, but worth it! So, here is a picture of what I got in two transactions this week. I went back and did 2 more, but I didn't take pictures of those. *I forgot to tell you the total for all of these items! $15.00!!! Can you believe it?
Frugally, it has been a good two weeks. What are your frugal friday tips?

Not Me! Monday on Tuesday

Yes, I know its Tuesday, but I had most of this post ready and just got too stinkin busy yesterday to finish it! Here we go!

I did not let my daughter eat two kinds of ice cream, gobstoppers, and yogurt for dinner one night while we were busy cleaning up the back yard! I did not then allow a dip in the hot tub to substitute for a bath that same evening.

I have not referred to my son as my "human garbage disposal" and I definitely do not feed him the left overs from the fridge that no one else will eat!

My husband did not show me up with his homemaking skills and frugality by getting out the sewing machine I got for Christmas in 2006, and cutting and hemming his pants into work shorts for the summer. And no, I did not teach him well, his momma did!

My internet did not get shut off yesterday due to a "security breach", because we were suspected of downloading movies (Not Us!) and my husband did not call Cox and chew them out regarding the privacy issues involved and their inability to verify if we had actually downloaded a movie, and in turn did not get us a day of free service for the hassle it caused us! And I am not constantly amazed by the powers my husband possesses in such instances!

Hope you enjoyed the tell all!

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Confession Time! I have not realized that when I am super frustrated with one of my children, I stamp my foot like a two year old not getting their way. I did not laugh at my 15 mo old when he threw his first real fit this morning, throwing himself on the ground and crying, standing up and then repeating. My laughing did not make him start laughing and thus stop throwing a fit!

Our second guinea pig Bob has not turned out to be a total bully to our original guinea pig Joe and I am not super excited that he is going to a new home tonight, even though it will break my daughter's heart. I also have not been having to write "Feed Guinea Pigs" on my to do list every day to keep from forgetting to feed them. Not me!

I did not feel my head swell when I found out that 1,000 kids applied to the school KK got into and only 60 were accepted and my kid was one of them!!! And I am definitely not bragging right now!

I did not have a miniature meltdown last night because my husband was not 3 hours later than he said he would be. I was not overwhelmed with the house and kids and a social busy husband, and did not end up crying and cursing my unsuspecting hubby.

I also definitely do not realize that the left side of my blog is crowded with the column, and have not dreaded trying to fix it because it took such a long time for me to figure out how to make three columns in the first place. I think I will not just leave it for now.

Hope you have all enjoyed my confessions! Do you have any sins to confess?

Frugal Friday

Today's Frugal Friday post is regarding clothes. The Princess was accepted into a magnet elementary school that requires that the students wear uniforms, with the logo of the school embroidered on the clothing. I will admit that I was kinda excited about this, because I never had to wear uniforms and I think its super cute, as well as easy to put together outfits! However, I knew they are very expensive. Her new school had a Uniform Resale this week, selling gently used uniforms from other students/parents. My main goal at this sale was to get jumpers, because Cadence loves to wear dresses and when you add leggings, she can wear jumpers year round. I left that sale with the biggest smile on my face, I cleaned up! I had $60 to spend and was hoping to get a decent amount of items and then pick up the rest at some resale shops that might have them, and possibly only have a few items to by new and pay to get embroidered. But, I did so well, that I won't have to buy anything, except some shirts to wear under her jumpers. For $60, I got:
6 jumpers
7 polo shirts (long & short sleeve)
2 skirts
1 pair of khakis
*I did have a picture of everything, but the computer is being dumb.
And with one exception, everything I got is already embroidered! I am unbelievably excited. I save more money than I can even imagine. Hopefully most of this will last the whole Kindergarten year, and then I can sell them in the resale next year.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been cleaning stuff out of the house more often, especially clothes thanks to nicer weather. Most of my kids' clothes are in pretty good condition. I very easily could have consigned them, or sold them in the JBF sale, like I have before. However, I decided to give all of their things to friends with children who could use them. Honestly, most stuff going out of my house goes to Goodwill, or a Pregnancy Resource Center, but usually the nice items I sale in a garage sale. For some reason, I just did not feel like holding on to the stuff, and it was really weighing on my heart to give to others, instead of making money from it. So, last week I have a bunch of stuff to a friend who is pregnant with a boy (and already have another 3 sacks for her!) and have been getting stuff ready for another friend with a 3 year old daughter. And guess what? This week, I was gifted with a huge box full of clothes for Henry, and just today my neighbor (who buys only name brands!) gave me 2 trash bags full of almost brand new clothes for Cadence! I was super excited and incredibly grateful and was further reminded that what you give, you get back!

I know this post wasn't really full of tips, but I firmly believe that if you give, you will get back, so let that be my tip! And buy uniforms used!

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

MckMama is back and Stellan is doing better, so off we go with another Not Me! Monday!
I did not allow my 5 year old to stay home from school today, even though I knew she was probably faking dramatizing, simply because I had overslept and didn't really feel like rushing around like a crazy person to try and get ready and get to school by 9 am or she wouldn't be let into school for the day because of the new stupid rule at her school.

I also did not realize later that I still had to get out and go to QT to buy my three newspapers, and think, crap! While at QT, I did not feel bad about myself after seeing a girl woman my age looking very cute and sophisticated in work clothes while I was wearing jeans (with greasy stains), a t-shirt (with greasy stains), and hot pink tennis shoes with no make up, caring a dirty faced, barefoot toddler. Nope, I am more secure with my self image than that!

I do not secretly kinda enjoy the nights my husband stays at the firehouse or is out of town, because I get to put the kids to bed and not worry about anyone else, watch whatever tv I want and sleep in the middle of the bed, with Chandler (terrier) and the cat. I am a better wife than that!

I do not know that we are kinda crazy for getting a second guinea pig. Most of you know I am furry animal obsessed, but usually my husband balances me out and makes sure we keep the fur babies to a realistic minimum. I have read over and over that guinea pigs are happier in pairs so when Ben came across a free pig on craigslist, we jumped on it! The Princess promptly named him Bob, so we now have Joe & Bob. Pictures will be posted soon!

I am not in pain from wearing my retainers again. My teeth have been moving lately, so I decided to start wearing my retainers again and I am definitely not cringing with pain as we speak.

I hope you enjoyed my weekly confessions. This is my favorite post to do and I seriously encourage everyone to try it out! Visit MckMama's site to read lots more blogs who are also doing it!

Frugal Friday

I need to lose some weight and tone up, desperately. I am going to be in a wedding this summer that I would like to look good (better than I do now) and I would like to feel better. So here is my new, frugal plan for weight lose.

Pedometer: I found a pedometer I got a couple of years ago for free. I did some research online and found that "sedentary" people walk 2,000 to 3,000 steps per day. Walking 6,000 steps per day will keep you healthy and reduce your health risks and walking 8,000 to 10,000 steps per day will help you lose weight. Last night in about 4 hours, which included working in the front yard and having a race with Cadence, I walked close over 4,000 steps. Today I have been wearing it all day, and am so far at 4,000 steps. Today Ben took Cadence to and from school for me, so I definitely lost some steps right there. My goal over the next couple of days is to see how many steps I average per day so that I can increase them. I will have to add activity of some sort to get to 10,000 steps.

DVDs: I have 5 work out dvds that I have collected over the years. My goal is to do something every single day, and hopefully to work these dvds into my routine. I think for right now I am going to have to do them in the evening, because I just can't seem to get up early enough to do them. Maybe once I start doing them and realize how much better I feel, then I will be able/willing to get up earlier.

Watching what I eat: I think this will also help me alot. I am switching fruits and 100 calorie snacks for chocolate and otherwise fattening snacks. I am going to try to eat more slowly and not get "lost" in my food and not pay attention.

The only thing I will have to buy is a new sports bra. My old ones are from high school, enough said.

I am also planning on using this blog to post what I have done to motivate me. So you see, you can work out and lose weight without spending any money! Wish me luck!

Not Me! Monday

Yes, its baaaaack! I stopped the Not Me! Monday about 4 weeks ago in respect for MckMama and her baby Stellan's battle with SVT. Click her name to read more and please pray for this sweet baby, his 3 siblings (under 5) and their struggle. Here we go:

I have not taken to giving the Prince an empty bottle to use as a pacifier to go to sleep. I also have not been taking a bottle of formula with us when we go places where it would come in handy to keep him occupied (like a wedding).

I have not been told more times than I can count lately that I am "the worstest mommy" by my ever so dramatic 5 year old daughter. And she definitly did not add "on the planet" one really bad time.

I have not recently realized, nor am I admitting, how much my daughter loves tv and movies. This is her zone time and relaxes her, however she has recently been watching too much of it! So it has been a battle scaling back, which is where most of the "worstest mommy" comments come from!

I am not constantly amazed by how fast our house can go from clean to dirty. I swear it is clean when I go to bed and dirty when I wake up. How does that happen?

I have not been super jealous of my husband's new tattoo. I have definitely not been heavily hinting that it will be my turn soon. FYI: The blue fish is for Henry and the orange fish is for Cadence.



I have alot to be thankful for, so I am going to combine my Not Me! Monday post with a Grace in Small Things post.

Grace in Small Things
5/365 (still determined to do 365, even if it takes me a long time!)
1. A long talk with an old friend
2. Sunshine
3. A friend who babysat my children so I could attend a wedding shower
4. The way Henry hooks his right arm around mine when I hold him, and clings like a monkey!
5. My house, I love my house. Its not fancy, but it is ours!