I'm a Thrifty Gal . . .

I am a thrifty gal.

And, it's a good thing that I am. As a stay at home mom, whose husband is a teacher, I have to make paychecks stretch quite often.

Very, very often.

I have actually become quite good at stretching my family's dollar. I buy foods in bulk and then come home and separate them for future use. I clip coupons, and I watch for sales. My husband jokes about the mess that I make of the Sunday morning paper as I cut it up and then align the coupons with the week's sales circulars. But, he doesn't joke when he sees what my thrifty work provides.

Case in point . . .

This week, I scanned the sales flyers, and then I perused my coupons. It was a golden week. My coupons lined up with the sales at the CVS drugstore. So, I purchased:

2 Suave Shampoos

2 Suave kids shampoos

2 Suave bodywashes

2 Head and Shoulders Shampoos

1 deodorant

1 Gillette Pro Fusion razor with cartridges

1 box Multigrain Cheerios

1 box Chocolate Cheerios

1 box Kellogg's brown sugar poptarts

1 box Kellogg's smores poptarts

1 pair of kid's school scissors

1 10 pack of ball point pens

2 cans of Folger's coffee

That is 18 items. (28 if you count the pens individually, but really, why would you?) If I had used the suggested values for each of the above items, I would have spent approximately $53.95.

Yikes!

My cost . . . $21.12 for all of the above.

SCORE!

Now, do I really need 6 different shampoos in the near future? Not likely. Do I really need 2 cans of coffee tomorrow morning? No. (But there are days when it feels like a yes.) The point is, if I can catch them on sale now, and stock up, then in the long run it saves me some serious cash.

Cash that I can use to support my shoe habit.

After all, a girl has to have her priorities.

Out of the Closet

When I opened my hall closet on Wednesday morning, I literally took my life in my hands. The board games that were stacked precariously on top of each other finally gave way as the door opened, and they quickly slid off of one another, nearly decapitating me in the process. Clearly it was time to clean out the closet.

(Like how I picked up on that so quickly?)

Anyway, after much grunting and groaning and back and forth trips carrying coats, shoes, game, game pieces and the like, my closet looked like this. . .

And my living room floor looked like this. . .

Not pretty, my friends. Not pretty at all.

Obviously, I had to do something. I couldn't just reload all of my crap back into that ugly closet now, could I? So, I did the only thing I could. I gloved up and scrubbed that closet. I bleached and Chloroxed and magic erased until I was feeling quite happy from the fumes, and guess what?

My closet still looked like this . . .

Still. Not. Pretty.

Being the resourceful gal that I am, I scratched my head, thought a moment, and then came up with a plan. First, I ripped out that old carpet. The floors were in great shape underneath. Then, I found some leftover paint from other projects through the years. The colors weren't what I was envisioning, so I just mixed them together and Voila! A pretty color for free! ( And, you know how I love free! I love free more than bacon, and that is saying something. Seriously.) After some cutting in and painting, my closet looked like this . . .

It's a lovely shade of blue (although it is hard to tell from this picture). Much better! But, not quite there yet. Remember, I still had to figure out a place for all of this.

I remembered that Target (or Tar-jay Boutique in my vernacular) had organizers on sale this week, and I decided to invest in one to help with the closet clutter. While at Target, I bought an eight cubicle organizer, 4 blue bins, one polka dot bin (Ummm, yeah. I couldn't resist. Those dots just spoke to me. Soooo fun!), and two see through bins. My total was around, gulp, $77.00, but I think the result was worth it.

My closet is sooooo pretty! I think that I wouldn't even mind a mommy time out there, you know?

What do you think?

Potty - The Before and . . .After!

 I have been talking and talking about all this renovation that I have been doing, but I haven't let you in on it.  (Just call me a tease!) Anyway,  I am sure that you are quite sick of it.

I am. 

The kitchen is coming along, slowly, s o  s l o w l y, but I am trying to focus my energies on the facts that . . . 1.  We are doing this ourselves.  2.  We are paying cash for the remodel as we go.  (Just say no to debt!) and 3.  Because we are taking our time, we are doing things correctly.   All of these add days and days to our timeline, but it is slowly coming together.  

So, the kitchen remodel is adding to my insanity.  That is a given.  But lest you think that the kitchen is my only crazy project, I will let you in on a little secret.  I usually have several home improvement projects going at one time.  The more projects at one time, the merrier I say!  (I know.  I know.  I am nuts.  3 kids.  The dead of winter.  Hubby coaching basketball AND  remodeling?  Geez!  It even sounds crazy to me.)

My latest project was my first floor half bath.  It is off the kitchen, and when we bought the house, it was painted a shade of hospital-like green.  

Lovely, yes?

Ummmmmm.  No.

Not lovely!  Hideous old linoleum.  Potty chair (Did I mention I am also potty training?  Ellerie!  Not me.)  Pukey walls.

Just not pretty.

Not pretty, my friends.

One day while reading out in bloggy world, I read a post about using black in small spaces, like perhaps a kitchen, on The Inspired Room.  Immediately, I thought about my green bathroom.  So, one day while hubby was at work, I started painting.  Black.  I loved it, but it was even a bit too much for me.  I convinced hubs to install some beadboard and some leftover flooring and  . . .

Voila!

Pretty bathroom!

Now, it still needs a pretty towel and a few finishing touches, but it is loads better!  It was cheap too.  The floor was leftover from a project last year.  I already had the black and the white paint, so that was free.  I did buy 2 new knobs at 2.50 each and the rug that I got on sale at Kohl's on the clearance rack.  I think it may have been $15.  The material for the top of the window was leftover from my dining room window treatments.  The bead board was $20 at the Home Depot.  So, my total was around $40 bucks.  Not bad for a new bathroom!

Whenever I see it during the day, it makes me smile.  And, that my friends, is totally worth $40!

I am linking this post to Kimba's DIY day and to the Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After Party.  Hop on over to check out some really cool projects that can make your life a bit crazier too!

I'm So Vain

It is hard to be vain and poor.  The two do not go well together.

Case in point,  I needed a haircut.  My  hairdresser is fabulous and I love her dearly, but, her prices have steadily increased over the years.  I truly believe she is worth every penny, but, we are also counting every penny these days.  So, I decided to stretch my dollar a bit by going to a Great Clips for my much needed do.  I figured that if I could go to a chain hair salon every other hair cut, than I wouldn't feel so guilty each time that I went to my regular hairdresser for some pampering.

My heart was in the right place.  My wallet was in the right place.  My vanity, however, is now in the wrong place.  It is currently in the toilet.

I have been scalped.

And realize, this comes from a short-hair loving, loves to feel the wind on the back of my neck kind of  girl.  Normally, my do is a bit short and choppy.  When I spend the time to style it, it resembles a fresh from bed, messy and tousled look.  Perfect for when I actually just jump out of bed and go without doing my hair! 

In essence, perfect for my busy mommy lifestyle.

But now, now my hair is as short as Halle Berry's hair when she had her super short cut.  And, the problems with that cut on my head are obvious.  A) I am not Halle Berry, and therefore, can not pull off  her hair and B)  I resemble a shaved schnauzer.  The combination is not pretty.  Not pretty, my friends.

And, if I did not believe my own vanity-loving eyes, there were always the words of my brutally 

honest daughter to set me straight.

When Ab hopped in the car after school, her eyes instantly widened while the words flew from her mouth without censor.  "Maaa-ommmmm!" she said, dragging out my name for emphasis.  "What did you do to your hair?  It is sooooo ugly!"

Thanks Ab.

That's just what your bruised-vanity, scalped mother needed to hear.

Happy Fall

It's fall!

I love everything about fall.   The colorful crunchy leaves, the crisp evenings that require an extra blanket on my bed, and of course, all the yummy soups and stews that comfort me on a cool day make fall a particularly lovely time of the year.  If I could just adjust to getting up and moving in the dark, all would be well in my world.  Well, not all.  (Ellerie is still potty training.)  But, a lot would be well.

Alas, I digress.

So, in order to spruce up my front entry, I devised a pumpkin house number.  Now, I can not take all of the credit for this.  I spied one of these adorable pumpkin house numbers on another friend's porch, and then I brazenly copied it, and added my own twist.  (Please forgive the picture quality.  I used my cell.)

This was seriously simple, and cheap.  Two fabulous qualities for an Annie craft.   I used three styrofoam  pumpkins that I got on after Halloween clearance last year.  I painted my house numbers on the front and then used a wooden dowel (is that the right word??) to put them one on top of another. ( Currently, they are listing a little to the right, so today I may tweak the dowel rod a bit to make it a bit more stable. ) The flowers are from stems that I purchased at the Dollar Store.  I took the blooms and leaves apart, rearranged them  and then stuck them into some floral foam. Finally, I placed them all into the ceramic witch's feet and pumpkin that I bought at Target for 90% off last year.  The result?

Darling.

And festive.

I love, love, love it.

What do you think?

****Hop on over to DIY Day at ASPTL to see more DIY projects.

Parlez-vous francais?

When we moved into this OLD house and my daughter said that she wanted a "French" bedroom, I seriously was at a loss for what to do. Her room at the time was a teal green hue everywhere. Molding, baseboards, doors and walls were all bluey green. Not hideous, mind you. Just not my Abbie girl, and definitely not french.

So, I pondered the room and the situation for a bit, and finally I was struck with inspiration. I was out shopping for the girls when I spotted a darling lavender swing top with navy blue grosgrain ribbon detailing. The Gymboree tag said that the top was part of their Paris line, and voila! I had it. I knew what to do!

That weekend, with swing top in tow, I headed to my local Home Depot. I used their color matching system to create a dreamy lavender paint for Abbie's walls. Step one was done. Then I ordered their decorator white paint ( yes, that is the official name of the white) for the trim and moldings.

That weekend I spent painting, painting and more painting. My hair looked gray from the specks of lavender and white that the roller deflected there. Then I hit my first dilemma.

The former wallpaper boarder was applied incorrectly and would not come off. Try as I might, I couldn't strip that paper ( and I have stripped loads and loads of paper). I was frustrated that my vision was not going to be, until . . . I figured out a creative solution. I just painted that border with the decorator white paint. Instantly, the border looked like it was part of the room's molding. It looked great, but I knew it was lacking . . . something.

Later, I discovered just what it needed. I found navy blue grosgrain ribbon, just like the inspiration shirt. I took the ribbon and hot glued it between the border and the wall. It was perfect!

Then, I knew that the beautiful doors that were so shiny and so white were unlikely to stay that shiny and white with my three kiddies running through the house. I decided that if I couldn't beat them (and have shiny white doors), then I could join them and let them get those doors good and dirty. So, one afternoon I painted the interior squares of molding on the doors with chalkboard paint. Instant character and instant fun! Abbie and the other kiddies love them!

For the windows, I found some navy blue and white toile fabric at the local fabric store for 50% off. Score! I hemmed them on the sewing machine (to this day, I can only sew straight lines)and then, I gathered them up with more ribbon. I used the existing window hardware and sheers leftover from my old house to create the whole window look.

Darling!

Finally, what french room would actually be a french room without the Eiffel Tower and some french phrases? I used three leftover white shelves of varying sizes from my old house to create the tower base and then I used oops paint to freehand the tower. The french phrases we checked online ( I wanted to be sure that I was putting up G rated phrases.) and then I freehanded those too. I could have used vinyl stick phrases, but frankly, I was too cheap.

The furniture and bedding was already white so there was no expense there. I did buy some navy pillowcases from ikea for a boost of color. The total cost of the room for paint, ribbon, fabric, and pillowcases was approximately 75.00. Not bad for a whole new room!

The result?

A darling girl's room that is not too juvenile, but not too grown up either.

Just perfect I think. I just love, love, love it!

What about you?

*****This post is a part of DIY Thursday at ASPTL and also the Shabby Chic Cottage's Transformation Thursday.

On My Pantry Shelf . . .

I have discovered that being a mom to three little ones, a wife to a teacher and a coach, and a tutor and trainer myself leaves very little room in my brain for anything else. There are days when I feel like my brain is running through congealed oatmeal. Not efficient to say the least! I lose my keys daily, I forget to turn off the coffee pot, and just Monday I left my keys in the car with the radio turned on and consequently drained my battery dry. Yep, that's me! That's my existence. I am happy, tired, and usually forgetful.

Blame it on my 8 years of sleep deprivation.

Anyway, in my quest to keep (and remember) all of my ideas for this OLD house, I started an idea file. Any time I saw anything that I love, love, loved and wanted to use to decorate or remodel my house, I would promptly rip out the picture from the magazine or catalog, and put it in my red idea folder. Amazingly, this has worked!

Recently, I found this bulletin board gem in a Grandin Road catalog page in my idea file. I had completely forgotten about it until that moment, but when I saw it, I knew that I would try it for my newly built walk-in pantry. (More pics of that to come soon!)

Cute right? A bulletin board with a damask print design. Unique. Useful. But still . . . stylish! Perfect!

That is . . . perfect . . . until I saw the price tag.

Hold on. Get ready for it.

$139.00.

No. I am not joking.

I was completed floored that Grandin Road wanted to charge $139.00 for what amounted to some paint and your garden variety bulletin board. So, I decided to try my DIY skills to replicate a similar Annie-fied version.

First, I found a bulletin board at a garage sale. Price? $1.00.

Then, I found a unique design that I wanted for the cork part of the board. I went with a Fleur

de Lis shape from Hobby Lobby that I got on sale for $4.00.

I traced the shape on the board. And, then I painted it with some leftover paint from my dining room shelf project.

And, voila!

A $5.00 version of the Grandin Road bulletin board to rest atop my new pantry shelves. I am tickled! I think that I will let hubby know that I just saved him $134.00. (Did I mention that I am gifted in creative financial rationalization?)

What do you think? I am love, love, loving it!

****This post is part of Kimba's DIY Thursday. Hop on over and check it out.