When times are tight...Every penny counts!

courtesy of RambergMediaimages

Times are tight all around. I know we are not alone in this. Factor in one and not two incomes and things can be very tight. After our big Disney trip this past fall and general winter expenses, we realized all our bank accounts were doing was getting smaller. We had to do something and as quickly as we could. One of the first things I did was hit the internet. We also quit a lot of our spending and made a budget. Yes, until now we haven't really had a budget.

When I looked at the budget I knew we would be okay if we stopped spending much past our necessary expenses. We had wiggle room, but not much. We worked to make sure we only spent a certain amount each week. Then I realized our next problem, we weren't taking a set amount of money out on a certain day each week, we would just try to keep it low and only spend the cash as much as possible. We weren't tracking the money either. 

Then I found a site that has helped me out a bit and we are now trying these new methods. In walked (well, I clicked to her somehow) The fun, cheap or free Queen. I now love her site. She has a ton of great tips and we are working on trying out her version of the envelope system. I will let you click on her link and see for yourself the full detail of her system. As for us, I have set apart a specific amount of money we can spend each month of groceries and for fun.

I also cut our costs by couponing. Coupons can be a great thing. Now, by no means to I even want to extreme coupon. That is just too much. I get coupons that I know I will use or for things we need. If I don't need that item, I don't get the coupon. Also, if i cannot get a good price even with the coupon, I don't use it. I know people that think they have to buy the product because the coupon is going to expire soon and they have to use a coupon if they have it. That is not the case! Let it go.

courtesy of StockMonkeys.com

We also use generic items whenever possible. As a family, we do not mind generic items, and usually I see no difference in taste or quality. I am also excited to start making more and more of the things we use and eat. We have been eating out a lot less. I already used regular household items like vinegar to clean the house, so that was easy. I am also going to try making more of the smoothie drinks that Hubby likes to get from the store. And since I won and awesome dehydrator (Thank you Happily Domestic!) I am going to try my hand at making jerky and other great little snacks. If we get good at making jerky, that can even help with some Christmas presents that we tend to give out each year. 

We are going to see how we do at pinching every penny we can and paying off our debt sooner rather than later. Now, I pass the advice on to you....

How do you save money? What are your budgeting tips? Let's here it!

Until next time... Happy Penny Pinching!

New Product Testing

(Note: Please pardon the not totally awesome photography contained in this post. These were taken quickly with my cell after whipping up the sample.)
I am always thinking of new possibilities for Lynifer to make and sell and all that fun stuff. One thing that I have had on my mind a lot in the past, but then let slide, was reusable produce bags.
Reusable everything is big. For some families reusing/recycling is the name of the game. Reusable diapers, Reusable grocery bags, recycling, gardening, composting, etc. You name, they find a way to rethink, reuse, and recycle. I like to try to reuse and upcycle as much as possible. I am trying to instill that mentality in LJ and BG too.
Okay, now I guess I should get back to the point of this post.
I use cloth grocery bags as much as I can. I keep them in my car to try to remember them when I make those quick trips to the store. One thing that has grown to drive me nuts are the plastic bags for the produce. If I can do without, I do. Well, now for those times when really I need a bag for my fresh food, I can whip out a produce bag.

Now, this is my first one, and it is going to be in a bit of testing. There are many things that I make that really never end up making into the Lynifer line-up.
Now, like many of you may know by now, I like to reuse what I have around the house/sewing room already instead of getting specialty fabrics at the store all of the time. This bag is no different. The inpiration for this bag came from a great little tutorial I found through Pinterest. The blog is, Delia Creates. While I have a million and one t-shirts hanging around my sewing room, I wanted to try something that would not add that much weight to the final product. That is one thing that many people are worried about with reusable produce bags for store shopping. As you may be able to see from the picture, this is a fairly sheer material (you can still vaguely see the ruler lines through two layers of fabric). Do you know what I used?
Sheer curtains! I had a curtain laying around from when I still lived with my parents. In its previous life it helped make a separate space for me, under my loft bed. I don't have use for a curtain this size in my house (let alone just one curtain like this). That is how it came to stay in my sewing stash. I knew for some time now that it might work nicely for a produce bag, but I wasn't sure how to really do it.
The above link to the tutorial I found really helped me over that hump. How simple is it to stitch up the side and bottom of the bag and then do this to it?

After sewing the bag, I used my scissors to cut slits in it. This helps it to expand when the produce is in it. I did the same thing for the handle as well, except for the handle I took a lighter to it to seal the raw edges of the material.

Have you ever considered using a reusable produce bag at the store? If you haven't, would you once knowing it was an option and could get them at a good price?

I am not sure where this bag and design will go from here, but I wanted to share it all with you. What are you thoughts on it?

Free Songs

I don't know who else has kids that are in love with VeggieTales, but if you do, you are not alone. My son loves to watch VeggieTales and loves the songs.
Today amazon.com is having a great special for all of us with such kids. If you go to amazon's website, you can download the entire mp3 album of "The Incredible Singing Christmas Tree." They had this same deal a week or two ago and I had downloaded the album then. I was kicking myself that I didn't share it with all of you, so now I am getting a second chance.Even if your kids don't watch or listen to VeggieTales all that much, it is a great album to listen to. They always have some really silly songs, but also songs that are great lessons for the kids to hear and hopefully learn.

In case the above link does not work, you can copy and paste the following:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Incredible-Singing-Christmas-Tree/dp/B001232ODA/ref=xs_gb_bd_BsBCAshIL6Dx?pf_rd_p=441937801&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_t=701&pf_rd_i=20&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1DGKPANMPE66H27W9YTP

Until next time... Happy Veggie Singing!

Silence Explained

I know I have been quiet lately. Well, here is why.

These are pictures of all of the clothing and accessories that i have been preparing for a consignment sale that is taking place this weekend. My mom, sister and I are all putting stuff in the sale under two consignor numbers. I have been doing all of the inputting in to the computer, printing of tags, and then tagging of the items. I would say that is probably close to 200 pieces of clothing all told. I take it all to the fire house tonight to drop it off for sale. The sale then runs from Friday evening through Saturday. If you live in the area you should check out Simply Kids. It is being held at the Norco Fire Company. I am almost done with the tagging (putting the tags actually on the clothing). Of course, I left my stuff for last. :) Most of this was actually my sister's clothing. My mom and I have only a few items. The things hanging up in the pictures are mine and my mom's everything else is my sister's. :) I hope she does really well with the sale.

Mommy Monday

I always love finding cute little titles to match like the day of the week, to maybe start a little meme kind of thing. So, Mommy Mondays will be for mommy stuff. I know that really covers a lot of material, but I think that might be best, because you can almost always find something to talk about that is covered under the umbrella of being a mommy.
Today I thought I would do a little plug for a new site I found, but also just sort of write about one new love of mine, consignment. Once I was a mommy my love for saving grew even more. I had always been a fan of checking out consignment shops in my area to see what bargains I could find. We have some really great ones around here that specialize in kids stuff. But, I have also loved how groups of moms get together and have seasonal consignment sales. I think this is great because selling your items more directly can get you a lot more money than taking it to a shop and some shops can be so strict in what they take, but you know that if you showed it to a mom, she would still buy it (even though the last shop you took it to said it was not good enough). So, This brings me to the site: Consignment Mommies.
I just stumbled across a link to this site while running down my endless list of friends and fan sites on facebook. This site lets you search for consignment sales near you. You put in your area code (or whatever area code you want to search) and say how far you would go for the sale (5, 10 , 20, 50, 100 miles) and you can even tell it to search a special date if you want. Then hit search and it will find sales for you! How awesome is this?! I mean instead of having to scour the ads in the newspaper (who has time with little ones needing every waking moment) or checking for fliers at the stores, you can go to one nice site and it will do the work for you. I think one of the better features of this site is that it offers ratings and reviews of the sales. Mommies who have gone to the sales in the past can offer their honest opinions of the sale so you know. Was this sale to overpriced or not a lot of selection was offered? Was this sale the best ever? This site tells you!
I am consigning some clothing from my little LJ in this spring's Simply Kids Sale along with my mom and sister. After volunteering for a three hour shift we will be getting 70% of what our clothes sold for. How great is that? So many consignment shops in the area don't offer that kind of return. I am in love with idea, too, that if you want, you can donate items that don't sell. So, if you really don't want that clothing going back to your house after the sale, you can set it to be donated to a local charity or shelter.
I think Consigning is such a great way to get the old out, and pick up a little cash for it to buy some great new stuff. :)
Do you have stuff sitting around your house from your little ones that will never be used again in your household? Why not consign it and pick up a little cash. Who knows, all those onesies and sleepers could add up to a hefty chuck of change. :)