It's the Big Weekend... Family, Friends and Fun!

Where is she anyway!?

My loyal readers might recall this weekend is the big open house reception for my 18 year old daughter who graduated high school last weekend. Today has been filled with running errands, cleaning house, cleaning windows, scrubbing floors and.... making cookies? Yes, I took a break and checked my work email only to find a request for homemade baked goods for a formal luncheon our non-profit organization is hosting on Tuesday. I thought I could do them Monday night but after agreeing to make a variety of pastries and cookies I checked my calendar and saw we have an awards banquet on Monday evening. So? Today it is!

Cooking, cleaning, baking and getting all the party supplies ready for a big bash tomorrow. That's where I'm at! I'm trying to get at least 3 or 4 articles up this weekend inbetween the celebrations. Check back regularly!

So That's Where My Daughter's Shoes Came From!

I have a chance for fashionista readers to subscribe to a clubwear YouTube page and not only get a sneak peek at shopping for club clothes and high heeled shoes and other accessories but you can actually win a $300 gift certificate just for subscribing to their page! Three hundred dollars can buy a lot of shoes... I'm just sayin'.

AMIClubwear has behind the scene shopping video's, makeup tutorials and model shoots for help in dressing for clubbing while at the same time, readers subscribing to their YouTube page have a chance to win a $300 gift certificate from AMIClubwear.

Here is a clip from the site with one of my favorite video's. It's a behind the scene shoot of three of their models shopping for 'their' dress and shoes right inside the warehouse. I loved this video because after finding out about this site a couple weeks ago my 18 year old daughter shopped online and ordered three (3!) pairs of shoes from them. She wore one pair at her high school graduation last weekend and is wearing another of them tomorrow during her graduation open house reception for friends and family.



Seeing the warehouse where my daughters shoes came from was really awesome! Click here for official contest rules if you are interested in the contest otherwise just check out their page to see awesome shoes and fun clothes.

Using Photos to Decorate a Gift Bag

Photos are never a bad idea! With teacher gifts, graduation gifts and wedding gifts abound it's time to think of creative presentation choices - and here is another that I just love both for the creativity and the frugality.

Let's start with your gift - whether it's store bought or homemade goodies. Add a (cheap) sold colored bag from the party or paper good store, which you can get for $.50 - $1.00. With just a photo copier or scanner and printer you can choose 3 to 7 photos of them, their friends, the classroom or if it's a wedding gift, the happy couple and after making copies (color or black and white) cut them out and spray the backs with adhesive spray or glue. Attach them to the bag as you wish in a pattern or hodge-podge. Add poems, one-liners, notes with good wishes for the birthday recipient, happy couple or teacher... whatever you wish!

So frugal yet fun!

Planning a Staycation

For those of us in the heartland of America the price of gas and the economy in general is making 'staycations' more popular than ever! What is a staycation? It's like a vacation but instead of 'vacating' your home state you 'stay' close to home and therefore save money while still having fun! And close to home for those in the middle America states means Branson, Missouri is right in your back yard! My knowledge of Missouri is based on a childhood vacation from years ago, as is my husbands. Trips to Silver Dollar City and mini-golf were the highlights when little else mattered.

Checking out the Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing from an adult's point of view my day looks more promising this time around with a morning of shopping, lunch at 'Trofi', the hotel restaurant, followed by sight seeing and museums, perhaps a picnic dinner by the lake and followed up by a night on the town in the theater district, within 5 miles of the hotel.

The Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel across the street has 294 rooms and condos in a beautiful 12-story glass tower. Whether you book their lowest 'advanced purchased' rate or go for a package deal such as "Ladies Night Out", the Golf Package or "Third Night On Us" you enjoy room amenities that include spacious workstations with granite counter tops and ergonomic desk chairs, 32-inch LCD flat panel televisions, a clock radio with MP3 adapter, two dual-line phones, wired and wireless high speed internet access.

Plan your staycation now! This summer will be over before you know it!

It's in the presentation...

You're a busy parent. You get your kids out the door to school, get the baby to the daycare center and rush to work. In the evenings it's reversed and then there is dinner, dishes, homework and baths and after kissing the kids goodnight you're off to do laundry, write out the grocery list, go through the mail and finally, fall into bed only to do it all again the next morning.

So imagine your surprise to hear your 7 year old announce; "Only 2 more days of school Mom!" and you look at the calendar to realize; he's right! How fast the time flies!!

For last minute Thank You gifts for the teacher don't rush out to get a coffee mug, kitchen towel or a knick-knack. I can tell you from a family of teachers as well as my best friend, their kitchen cupboards are filled with coffee mugs and that is after they've given most away to Goodwill. Instead, a gift card for a coffee shop or even home baked goods are appreciated. And really, presentation is 70% of the gift.

If you have 20 minutes and a plain colored bag with handles, grab whatever you have around - scrap paper, scrapbooking paper, wrapping paper, wall paper scraps, construction paper or even pretty napkins. Cut out simple letters spelling "THANK YOU" and attach them on the front of the bag. You can even add a simple flower shape and 2 leaves.

The end result? A cute bag that took little time but looks like a million bucks.

Exclusive Clothing From Around the Globe

When it comes to a clothing budget everyone's idea of a sale is going to be different. One of my friends will gladly pay $350 for a little sun dress if it is a designer name and is on sale, marked down from $500. To her it's a bargain. For fashionista's getting an original design or a new design from an upcoming name or finding fashion from other parts of the world that haven't made it to the USA yet is high priority and their budget is set accordingly. Still others are willing to spend a little more on a dress for a special occasion.

If any of these are you, PlanetTogs.com might be worth checking out. It's an international fashion e-boutique specializing in high-end designers from up-and-coming fashion hotspots such as Sao Paulo and Riga. Most of their designers have not been internationally discovered and it would be rare to find them in the US market.

When I clicked on the website I was instantly smitten with this black and white dresscoat. It's pattern, pleats and black lining are perfect for wearing over my black skirts to work as well as being perfect to wear with my jeans on the weekend. Single breasted with foldover patch pockets, it's made in Australia and can be found at PlanetTogs.

Personalized Cookies on a Budget

Regular readers will recall that I had a senior in high school this year and 12 years of hard work paid off with her graduation this past weekend. Her reception is next weekend however, so this week I'll be busy trying to pull together the last of the plans to hold a frugal open house style party... but no one needs to know how much I didn't spend!

I've documented many of the steps thus far in previous posts (I ordered the personalized M&M's from the link in my sidebar to the right, posted about the table top decorations from the Dollar Store and the frugal gifts we made for 30 of her friends whose parties she was visiting) but yesterday I finished yet another fun and frugal idea; personalized cookies!

Pricing pre-made cookies on the internet and at local bakeries I saw the cookies upwards of $2-$3 per cookie. Even the cheapest would run $20-30 for 12. Not in my budget! Besides, I've always been one to do everything myself... this was no different.

Looking over the edible images at my local bakeries I liked the idea but didn't like the price. For about $25 a sheet I could get 20- 2" circle images to use on cupcakes, etc. But with about 200 cookies needed that was insanity. Spending a couple hundred dollars on frosting images for cookies is no budget friendly! So I went online and after searching through numerous companies I found one that offered a very affordable sheet of 20 images, uncut for about $6 per sheet. (To have the circles cut out for you will run about $17-40 per sheet). I ordered numerous sheets with 4 different images and they arrived that week. I kept them stored in the plastic until I needed them. On Friday I cleaned a pair of scissors with anti-bacterial soap, dried them well and set to work cutting out 140 circle images.

I had yesterday 'off' of work for Memorial Day so I used the free day to whip up a batch of cookie dough (ok, 4 batches!) and cut out 2 inch circles.




Cooling cookies before adding the images.

Glazed and attaching the images while the glaze is still wet.

Cost of Dough: Minimal
Cost of images: $50
Savings: Literally hundreds of dollars



Cookie Dough and Glaze recipes available on my recipe site: www.housewifebarbie.com

Affordable and Fun (FRUGAL) Gag Gifts for the Graduating Senior

Graduation season is upon us! After living all over the country we've found that graduation receptions and celebrations vary depending on the state, region and city that you live in. In the heartland of America it seems that the thing to do is hold a large open house in your backyard or in your garage for a span of 3-4 hours and offer coffee, soda, beer (for the adults), cake, mints, nuts, bbq pork sandwiches or ham and turkey sandwiches on buns, baked beans and potato salad.

While talking with my senior daughter a few weeks ago she was trying to come up with a creative 'fun' gag gift she could make at least 30 of to give to friends as she visited open house after open house after open house. Most kids visit and don't bring anything unless they are especially good friends or close in which they might bring a card and/or a few bucks in it. But even $5 and a card adds up quickly when you have so many. As a parent even $10 and a card for 15 open houses is more than we have to budget for. Instead I chose the top 5-6 kids that we've been close to over the past 4 years we've lived here, bought the $3 card, added a check for between $15-25 each and called it good. But... what to do with the 30 open houses my daughter would be visiting!?

This is where she and I brainstormed. It had to be frugal, fun and festive looking. In the end we came up with fun packages that were done a budget but look cheerful and fun and the kids have all enjoyed them tremendously!


Shopping at Super Walmart we purchased a case of popcorn, a case of Ramen Noodles and 3 large boxes of Pop-Tarts. Mac and Cheese was on our list but at $.75 - 1.19 a box we quickly nixed that idea.


Clear plastic goody bags from the party aisle netted us 20 bags for $1.50 each. 40 bags cost us $3.

Colorful tissue paper from the dollar store was 40 sheets for $2. Ribbon that said 'congratulations' also from the dollar store; $1 per spool of 100 yards.

We crafted gift labels on the computer that had a cute little saying about how much they would 'grow to appreciate' the enclosed gift once they were a poor struggling college student. We attached them on the outside of the bag, tied it off with the ribbon and before we knew it we had 30 bags ready for gift giving!

Online Magazines - Frugal and Functional

When you go to work the sun isn't up yet. When you go to work the birds are asleep. When you go to work you expect to work at least a 12 hour shift. When you go to work you dress in scrubs. When you go to work people's lives are in your hands.

As most little girls do, I at one time said I wanted to grow up to be a nurse. This was soon followed by being a missionary and later a singer and actress but ultimately I went into office administration and that has been the path I took in life.

For those that are a nurse or studying to be one, there is an online magazine geared just to you. "Scrubs" is about lifestyle. It's inspiring, uplifting, positive, fun, warm, direct, timely yet original and speaks to all "stages of a nursing career" (such as student nurse, new nurse, seasoned/mentor).

With different sections such as mind, health, beauty, style, work, love, money and more it encompasses all area's of life and learning yet does it from a nursing point of view with hints and helps, hope and happiness. Not overly clinical, it's warm and friendly while being geared to the clinical profession.

I especially enjoyed an article about praying with a patient. Do you or don't you? And if so, how? What are the boundaries?

You can click on the link above to check it out yourself; frugal and functional. Just what I like.

More sales and codes from Alloy for junior sizes and teen clothes!

So many Memorial Day Shopping Sales... so little time!

Again, I'm letting you know about one of our families favorite online stores; Alloy. With two teenage daughters we regularly place orders with them for everything from winter coats to sweaters, swimsuits, sun dresses and shorts. The prices are low and they always have sales going on!

This just in from my email; Memorial Day sales!

Alloy tees & tanks starting at $9 each when you buy 3 or more. Available in 7 styles and 8 colors!

Take 15% off your entire order during the Alloy.com Memorial Day Sale! Use code VACAY15 at checkout. Hurry, offer ends 5.28.09!

Free Shipping on Alloy.com orders of $25 or more. Use code AKFAFF. Hurry, offer ends 6.11.09.

Affordable Gifts for Dad... No, REALLY affordable Gifts for Dad!

June is bustin' out all over!!! If you are of the older generation, a fan of show tunes or have a grandmother who sang that around the house you might now have that song playing in your head. You can thank me later... hee hee. But I'm going through my email box and finding all sorts of deals, announcements, contests and more to pass along to my readers! It's the first time in a week I've had time to update this much so fasten your seat belt and come along for the ride!

Today I'm going to remind you that June is just around the corner and with it comes... Father's Day! Shop for his gift now and you won't be scrambling to find something at the last second!
Find affordable gifts for your #1 Dad at Lakeside.com

Coffee and Contests! What a winning Combination!

This contest was sent to my personal email box and after entering to win, I decided to pass along the chance to my readers. Good Luck... but not too much since I want to win too! Ha.

Now it’s even easier to enjoy the Uncommonly Smooth™ taste of Seattle’s Best Coffee® by shopping at our newly re-launched online store with Cooking.com. You’ll find our entire lineup of coffee, including seasonal coffees like Beach House Blend®, as well as a wide selection of Seattle’s Best Coffee® merchandise, such as travel mugs, brewers and more.

To celebrate the re-launch, Seattle’s Best Coffee® and Cooking.com are holding the Cold Brewed Coffee Summer Sweepstakes. Go to Seattlesbest.com and click on “ENTER TO WIN COLD BREWED SUMMER SWEEPSTAKES” for your chance to win a Cold Brewed Coffee Prize Pack featuring two one-pound bags of Beach House Blend®, a Toddy® Cold Brew Coffee System and two sets of Bodum® iced-coffee glasses—a more than $100 value.

Cold-brewed coffee, Seattle’s Best Coffee’s preferred brewing method for making iced and blended coffee drinks in its cafes, is a process in which coarsely ground coffee is steeped in cold water overnight, producing an Uncommonly Smooth™, rich coffee that highlights the natural sweetness and flavor and reduces its acidity by approximately 50 percent. Beach House Blend® is blended and roasted especially for cold brewing and iced coffee drinks, but is also smooth and rich brewed hot.

To purchase our Uncommonly Smooth™ coffees and learn more about the Cold Brewed Coffee Summer Sweepstakes and rules for entry, go to Seattlesbest.com and click on “ENTER TO WIN COLD BREWED SUMMER SWEEPSTAKES.” Sweepstakes ends June 30, 2009. No purchase necessary to enter to win. Must be legal U.S. resident and 18 years of age or older to enter. Entrants may qualify to win more than one prize.

Tiny painted dots to change the look of a room!

This mornings article is one of those that is a spur of the moment idea. I found and saved this photo to my files a long time ago for an idea to use in my daughters bedroom.

This morning as I looked through my files I saw it and thought (again) how fun and creative it was and how cute it is, when it occurred to me that with just a little paint you can completely change the look of a room and then the 'cha ching!' moment hit; This can be done for less than $10 worth of paint, yet the look you achieve is worth 10 times that!

Budget moment!

To achieve this look I plan on doing two things. One, to look for a pre-printed template with the perfect circles in a straight line and then two, if I can't find it I'll use a circle sponge brush (which I bought in a little 6 pack of paint brushes for $2 last year at the dollar store) and using a yard stick and a light pencil line I'll draw the lines for my markers and stamp colorful circles in a row.

What makes this so affordable is that the tiny cans of paint needed for this project are so very affordable! But my long time readers know that I will raid my craft paint box first of all! Using a mixture of about 5 colors simply paint the circles and then slowly start to trail off and leave space on the edge where you want to stop the design (as seen in the photo). From a full straight line to a few blank spaces and finally to a few random dots until it fades out.

So adorable and so fun yet so simple and frugal! Another DIY with a little paint for a whole new fresh look.

A Wedding in Hawaii? It Might Be In Your Budget After All!

Yesterday I had a business meeting and lunch at our city's botanical gardens. Surrounded in a hot house filled with beautiful flowers, tree's and palms it was easy to forget I was actually 2,000 miles from the ocean, surrounded by corn fields and farmland. Of course I was instantly aware of that fact when we left the building and were immersed back into 'real life'. Is it any wonder I have the sun, sea and sand on my mind!?

A vacation at a Maui Resort , relaxing on the beach with a book, filling my days with tours of the local gardens and island hopping sounds heavenly to me.

For my readers currently planning a wedding or honeymoon this would be the premiere location for a beautiful ceremony and honeymoon. A breathtaking location and magical sunsets are just the beginning! Wedding packages make the planning easy and range from the full package with accommodations to a simple beach ceremony at a frugal price. Included in even the frugal package is your choice of an ocean front location, the minister, music, photography, a wedding album and slide show DVD, fresh flowers, wine, strawberries, the marriage license and a hotel coordinator to help you bring it all together.

Easy to read, simple to understand a great starting point for you if you are currently thinking of an Hawaiian wedding, you can click here for more information on Maui Weddings.

A Frugal Thank You for Teacher - a Tea Bag!

This morning my 'baby' just left for what will be her very last day of high school... ever. Yes, my oldest daughter is a senior and is graduating this weekend and today is the last day of school for her. My other two children still have a week but it's time to start getting the 'thank you' gifts for the teacher's ready.

What? I still do Thank You gifts for teachers even though my kids are in junior high and high school? Absolutely! And to the bus drivers and office staff too! Honestly I hated the 'end of year' gifts at the elementary age because a hyper room mother would start brainstorming grandeur idea's for gifts at the end of the year and then send out a letter or make a phone call asking for donations. Sometimes it was just $3 but other years and other classes it sometimes was up to $10 or $12. Frankly, as a full time stay-at-home-mom of three children at the time we did not have the funds. Seriously... not even $2 extra most days. We weren't on a 'frugal' budget... we didn't even have a budget!

So I was creative with my gifts and the teacher's always gave me a heart-felt and true 'thank you' at the end of the year for my Christmas and Thank You gifts for them. Back then the internet was a little smaller and one day (literally - years ago!) I came across a site that had free printable tea bags. You click on the graphic, open it in a new window in a larger, full size, print and then glue or tape the bag together and insert a little tea bag. I saved a few of these graphics to my computer and to this day I still have them. By looking at the small letters I see they came from a site called Alenka's Printables.

I'm so thankful she was gracious enough to make these... what a simple and beautiful teachers gift! A nice little card with them that say something about it being the end of the year and time to 'relax with a cup of tea' would be just perfect along with a tiny vase of fresh picked flowers.

Charter Loves Their Online Contests!

Over the past year I've teamed up with Charter Communication to bring you the lastest offerings and specials on their cable and internet packages and deals. One of the things my readers seem to love about my Charter articles is their awesome online contests. Well, Charter is doing it again! Last April they gave away HDTVs, (including a grand prize of a home theater system and one year of free Charter Digital Cable® service) and for my long time readers you'll recall last year they gave away laptops and Xbox 360 game systems and one customer drove away a 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid.

Well it's time to check out their Win 10 Grand Contest Page because as part of a campaign to reward customers in new and exciting ways, Charter Cable is giving away one $10,000 prize and four (4) 52” HDTV’s!

During the month of May, visit charter.net/10grand every week, answer questions about Charter On Demand and you could win $10,000! A 52” Sony Bravia HDTV will be given away every week for four weeks and if you answer the questions all 4 weeks you have 4 chances to win the $10,000 Grand Prize. If you really want to stay on top of things and hear about their latest and greatest news you can also subscribe to Charter’s Twitter Feed. Don't forget; Play every week May 1-31 for MORE chance to win- go to charter.net/10grand!

I've Got an Eastbay Code for All Your Summer Athletic Shoes!

Although I meant to get this announcement out on the website yesterday a little thing called "life" keeps getting in the way and I didn't find time until this morning but I've got a great sale at one of my all-time favorite shoe websites to purchase sport, athletic and running shoes for my kids. All my regular readers know it's Eastbay! I get my sons football cleats, the girls cheerleading shoes, all their track shoes and their everyday tennis shoes from Eastbay. Not only do they have a great selection, fast service and terrific prices... they take PayPal!

For about the next 11 days Eastbay will be offering 20% off orders of $89 and up. Use code LKS19589.

Coming Soon... Phatband

Charter Cable is catering to the 'younger' generation... but we get to reap the benefits too! Today's article is announcing a new "PhatBand" speed internet from Charter Communications better known to us as their new Ultra60 Mbps service but calling it the PhatBand so customers into gaming, movies and technology know that it's the fastest internet speed currently available to select customers in the St. Louis, Missouri area but expanding soon. For those of you like me, not into gaming or movies it means faster telecommuting and connections for work. Taking internet to speeds it hasn't gone yet gamers will love the elimination of lag time and webmasters will love the super fast service.

You can find out more about Phatband on the Ultra60 Information Page
and if you are waiting on pins and needles to find out all the lastest and greatest from Charter you can sign up to receive Charter’s Twitter Feed. Charter is rounding yet another corner in internet technology and promises to make DSL the new 'dial up' connection.

I ordered personalized M&M's for my daughters graduation open house and we love them!

Some of my readers may have already noticed, but I have a "personalized M&M's" link in my sidebar to the right. One of my weaknesses is personalized gifts for people and they always seem to be well received. When it came time to plan for my daughters graduation my penchant for personalization was alive and well.

Seeing ads for M&M's you can personalize with your own photos and sayings was perfect for her graduation open house reception.

I chose their new 'shimmer' colors for the platinum and white along with a regular classic red as her school colors are red and white and silver. I chose different photos and the end result is really quite cute! The price is a little steep but they always have specials - the one I used was buying 3 bags netted me 1 bag free. If you click on their add in the sidebar or the link below be sure you click on their 'promotions' page to see the latest promotions. You know me... never order or purchase anything for full price!

Whether it's your team colors for a party at your house, school colors for graduation, pastels for Mom, bright colors for a birthday or your wedding colors for a great wedding favor, Personalized MY M&M'S® are a creative snack that are sure to start conversations!

Free Shipping on Jogging Strollers!

Short and sweet... you want a jogging stroller and Baby Universe has them... with free shipping! Hurry though - it's only good through May 23rd!

Free Shipping on ALL Jogging Strollers at BabyUniverse.com. Offer good 5.10 to 5.23

It's Flip Flop Time!

Just a reminder that with the summer days and the availability of flip flops in almost any color you can have with your flip flops and do an excellent craft with your daughter and her friends!

These are my youngest daughters flip flops which we 'decorated' with.... water balloons! As frugal and fun as this is you can have flip flops in various shades of color for every outfit.

Simply purchase a bag of water balloons and pair of flip flops at your local dollar store for about $3 total ($2 for the shoes and a buck for the balloons!). Starting at the center stretch and tie a balloon onto the plastic strap. Work to the left and the right simultaneously doing a few on one side, then the other so that they look even in your tying techniques as you tend to tie loose or tight and you want to keep it mixed up. Use the colors you want in a pattern you want.

When you are done tying the balloons onto the strap you truly are done.... and ready to wear!

So easy and so frugal!!

A Cute Little Football Jersey Dress... Or Nightshirt!

Yesterday I arrived home from work to find a large box on the table. It was a delivery for my oldest daughter, who regular readers might remember is the one who bought a pair of crystal clear and silver high heels for prom this year only to have them stolen after she slipped them off to dance and left them (along with all the other girls shoes and bags) on their tables. While searching for similar shoes to replace the ones she had taken from her I showed her a website I had posted about called amiclubwear.com.

Well, yesterday the box from amiclubwear.com arrived and with it was 3 pairs of shoes she had ordered. She now has it bookmarked. LOL.

While looking over their clothing most of the dresses and tops are more revealing than she (or I) wear but we found a couple cute dresses she liked and I loved this football jersey inspired dress - although I added a little cami-top to my choice to hide the 'girls' that God blessed me with. This little football dress is only $15.99 and my daughters 3 pairs of shoes were between $9.99 and $23.99. Completely affordable on her coffee-barista wages.

You can find the football jersey dress on this summer dress link and once there you may want to check out their shoes, swimsuits, accessories and more. And because I'm all about 'budget' be sure you stop by the clearance section!

It's a Baby Universe and I've Got the Codes!

Got baby... Will Travel! It's time to plan those summer trips and as a Mom of three that had all three traveling thousands of miles by the time they were 4 weeks, I can tell you babies are portable! So plan those trips, pack those bags and have fun!

I tracked down some specials Baby Universe is running right now - which means you can get $2 off the diapers, 20% off the clothing and 25% off the suncare. Sounds like a trip to the beach is in the works!


Save $2 on all Diapers at BabyUniverse.com. Offer good 5.10 to 5.23 Save $2 on all Diapers at BabyUniverse.com. Offer good 5.10 to 5.23

20% off Select Spring Apparel at BabyUniverse.com. Offer good 5.10 to 6.6 20% off Select Spring Apparel at BabyUniverse.com. Offer good 5.10 to 6.6

25% off ALL Suncare Products at BabyUniverse.com. Offer good 5.10 to 5.23 25% off ALL Suncare Products at BabyUniverse.com. Offer good 5.10 to 5.23

Grow a Garden

And it's that time again. Time for me to pester you into planting a garden!

The thought of a garden is a lot more overwhelming than the real thing needs to be. I can guarantee that I spend very, very little actual time in mine yet the pay off is good.

When we lived in an apartment I wanted to grow a garden so badly! I finally relented and in my 'flower' boxes I planted mint and strawberries. That was my first 'testing the waters' into what would later be known as container gardening to the rest of the world. All I knew is that I wanted to plant something and watch it grow and having only a concrete patio to call 'my own' didn't afford me that opportunity.

Later, in one of our homes there wasn't a good spot to put a garden in and we knew we would be moving soon so I planted cucumbers and tomatoes in the flower boxes on our deck. It worked great! My friend who lived in a very strict housing association also grew tomatoes and cucumbers this way because gardens were not allowed in her subdivision.

If you want to take a 'baby step' this year but would like to help out your budget as well, start with simple vegetables and herbs. Don’t let the thought of a large garden overwhelm you, go as small as you like at the start and grow in size as you feel comfortable and can manage.

Try containers on the deck if you don't have a plot of land, or if you can dig into the ground where you live start with a small 4 foot by 4 foot section. Even this would be perfect for some potatoes, tomatoes and cucumbers. A sunny window is the perfect place to plant basil or other herbs.

Come on... what are you waiting for? Give it go and save some dough!

Another Installment of Saving Money at the Grocery Store: Keep Track of Things You Are Running Low On

You can always tell when I'm preparing for a fairly large grocery shopping trip in our household; I choose to do another installment of ways to save money on groceries!

When I was a full time housewife I used to go to the grocery store every two weeks; usually the Tuesday following payday. I liked to go on a Tuesday at 10:00 am because it was fairly quiet, the aisles were clear and open for the most part and it allowed me time to shop at my own pace, without a steady stream of people and carts bumping me and clogging the aisles. I was able to concentrate on my list, my coupons, my menu plans and really shop wisely and frugally. I thoroughly enjoyed grocery shopping and the creative, frugal meals I would make.

When I returned to the work force as well as being a full time Mom to three incredibly active teens and preteens as well as wife to one (that might as well be a kid), I found myself at Super Target at 8:45 pm in my high heels and work clothes, trying to finish the last of the errands I started after work.... doing grocery shopping in a haphazard way or worse yet, on Saturday or Sunday, frantically trying to dodge the carts, grab the last container of sour cream on the shelf and all the while saying "Excuse me..." "Excuse me...." "Sorry, could I just get in here a second?" while grasping the list in my fist and counting down the seconds until I could leave the confines of the store.

That only happened a few times before I stopped. Got myself back on track and refused to become a hurried and hectic shopper. No matter how busy I am and how little sleep I'm getting and how many school functions, sports schedules and work hours I'm putting in I refused to be 'that woman' at the store. I wanted to enjoy shopping... even if I was doing it on a Saturday afternoon with 100,000 people in the same small store.

So! In the interest of saving time and money here is another idea I use to keep the grocery shopping experience enjoyable as well as saving money.

Make a Shopping List: If you were in my home right now and said to me; "We need bananas." I would reply with.... "Write it on the list." If it's not on the list it's probably not going to get bought. We keep a list on the side of the refrigerator for everything we may need, want or run out of from toilet paper to kitty litter, from bananas to cumin or celery. Keeping track all the items that we need to replenish keeps me on track when I hit the stores. While I shop with my list I still browse and purchase things that I know are a really good bargin, items that are on sale that I can build a menu around and things to round out a meal I already have planned. However, having that list in front of me has saved me many times when I'm ready to check out but I look at the list one more time to see I've totally forgotten to buy mayonnaise or buns.

Stamps are up again! 44 cents - plan accordingly for the invitation mailing budget!

While I suppose they want kudo's for waiting until after all the cards have been mailed for Mother's Day, the post office has again raised the cost of a first class mailing.

First-class mail will now cost 44 cents for the first ounce. Large envelopes are up to , 88 cents while postcards chime in at 28 cents a piece. Although I don't agree with the reasoning, the Postal Service said the price increase is necessary because of rising production costs.

So there you have it. Hope your graduation and wedding invitations already went out in the mail last week!

Betty Crocker's Original Cooky Book - A Blast From the Past of My Husbands Childhood

Although my intention was to do a post on household gadgets and 'As Seen on TV' deals and organizers and storage deals at the Home Marketplace... I got side tracked.

I went to their site and of course, me being me, immediately clicked on the 'clearance' link. There, in front of me was a book that made me smile.

The Betty Crocker original Cooky Book.

This book is a very important part of my husbands childhood. He has many memories of laying on the floor with his sisters as they flipped through the pages and called 'dibs' on one cookie after another. My husbands Mom died when he was 12 and we were blessed to be able to receive this original cookbook from his Dad when he cleaned out the kitchen storage about 15 years ago. The inscription inside our copy says it was a Christmas gift to my MIL in 1964. My own children grew up looking through the photos just like their Dad and Aunts did and when I came across replica's of the book a few years ago I picked up 3 extra copies; one for each of my kids which I plan to give them as they move out and start their own families.

If you want to get your hands on this 'Cooky' book or a multitude of other household decor, TV items, storage, simple furniture but best of all (I think) is the kitchen gadgets (!) - check out this link to find them at The Home Marketplace and Save up to 80%!