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Showing posts with label budget friendly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label budget friendly. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

A confession...

I have a confession...I have a new obsession to tell you about...I've had this new obsession for a few weeks now.

Are you ready for it...

I've become a couponer... A real live couponer.  Not a hoarder but a Ihavetwinsandhavetofeedafamily couponer.

I'll admit I've been watching Extreme Couponing on TLC, and I am hooked, now I'm not going to be buying 100 bags of cat treats even if I don't have a cat but I fully intend on stockpiling items that my family uses often.  Such examples pasta,sauce,juice, anything that can be put into my pantry along with all personal hygiene items (body wash,deoderant,shampoo & conditioner).  I took a class a month or so ago from Queen Bee Coupons.  She is amazing, she quit her job to be a stay at home mom and had to cut their budget by 60%, so for every 1.00 that she was going to spend, she needed to cut .60 cents off of that.  She is also so friendly and humble, she doesn't clear the shelves at the grocery store and she is realistic, her motto is "Think meals, not deals" which is perfect.

Anyways wanna see my free crap!!

Sorry for the crappy quality, they are off my phone.

Picture 1: I purchased 30 bottles of laundry detergent at .99 a bottle, they were on sale for 1.99 and I had a 1.00 off coupon =.99 (STOCKUP)

Picture 2: All my hubby's hygiene items, all with coupons (some Buy 1 get One free, some 1.00 off some 2.00 off) paired with sales at Target made all of this about 10ish dollars.

Picture 3: My favorite, all of this was free after manufacture's coupons and doubler coupons!! Actually the pasta was on sale 10/10 dollars so after my 1.00 off coupon it was totally free.

This is now like a game to me.  I walk in, I get what I'm looking for only, no more wandering around target (as sad as that is) I go up to the register, get rang up, hand coupons over and boom save $$$!!

My fun trip was Target when my total was $43.61 before coupons and I paid on $15.46!!

Anyways, I am sure I will be doing more posts on coupons once I really get this stuff down!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

The Decorations (1st Birthday part 1)

Cupcake Towers

Lets start with the Cupcake towers, I looked all over for what I had in mind for the twins birthday.  I knew I wanted two, I wanted something I could use over and over again, and something that had a large enough top layer to fit the bear cakes that my dad was going to be making.  I came across All Custom Gifts on Etsy.  I messaged them to see if they could do a custom order for me.  They were so great to work with it was so easy and in no time, they were on my front doorstep! The best thing about these is that the 1/4 inch grossgrain ribbon that you can find for 1.00 at Jo Anne's can be wrapped around them to add whatever color you would like to the stand, I also used these for a recent bridal shower I hosted.  I love them!


Cupcake topper, banners, and water bottle labels o my...

When it came to all of these I needed something that worked for a boy and a girl, I searched and searched and searched,  I am not someone who likes characters especially since my children aren't old enough to choose what they would want for their birthday so I was determined to find a good color combination. Of course I wound up on Etsy again.  I came across Inkberry Cards Cards.  She was awesome, I emailed her and said I wanted a colors that would work for a boy and girl.  She seriously must have read my mind because with that she sent me my beautiful PDF file full of cupcake toppers, waterbottle labels and their birthday banner! It was perfect! I loved it, she used their initials which I ended up using throughout the party as you will see.



Tissue Pom Poms...They have many many uses you know!

I found a great tutorial here.  These were so easy and so CHEAP.  These in my opinion is thee most budget friendly decoration out there.  You can purchase tissue paper for a couple of dollars and whip up a few of these and you will get compliments, I promise!! I was surprised at the amount of people that asked me where did I buy them, when I told them that I made them they were so surprised! They can be used anywhere, I made full ones and hung them from the ceiling and used them in the centerpieces and I used half ones to add pizazz to the banner and my front door as well as decorate the highchairs!


Centerpieces

I set up two large tables for guests to sit at.  Once I got my party package from Inkberry Cards I knew I was just going to run with the initial idea! So I headed to the nearest craft store and wandered until I found what I was looking for.  I purchased two of the large size cardboard 3D letters an A and a L, and some spray paint.  I decided we would showcase the twins pictures from their photoshoots from newborn to 10 months and I knew I had several matching frames but didn't want to drop a ton of cash on a whole bunch of frames when I came across tiny little art easels...50% off (yes please) perfect.  I just had my pictures developed all 5 x7's and "framed them with some cardstock paper to help them stand correctly.  I used two pom poms in pink and blue and I think that they turned out super cute! I was a tad impressed with myself {pat self on back}

You can find more information about the photographer here

Well I think that does it for the decorations, it took a lot of time but I decided I would work on one project a night and by the time the party was here I had everything put together and just had to set it all up.  I have to give some serious photo credit to my friend Jill  who came to the twins party and helped me by taking some AWESOME pics of all the decor/food/guests so that I could enjoy my babies birthday!! You can check out her photography website here, look closely at the teeny tiny twins on her babies page...yeah those are mine!! I will be back tomorrow to tell you all about the mouthwatering food we had!!

**I was not compensated in any way for the reviews given to any products/services I have posted on here, all opinions are my own and I would work with any product mentioned on here again.**