Ruffles and Stuff

I've recently stumbled onto this blog, Ruffles and Stuff. Can we say new obsession?

I am a self proclaimed girly girl! And as we girly girls know, the style comes and goes, sometimes things are lacy and frilly and sometimes things are straight and plain. I am so glad that recently the trends seem to be lacy and frilly and vintage inspired. But since I am not a working girl (outside of a few hours teaching dance each week) I don't have the budget to buy every amazing thing that I see. But I was blessed with an amazing talented mother who taught me by example the motto of "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" and so my new adventure in life if going to be turning boring things that I wouldn't wear (like a hideous vinyl cosmetic case) into an adorable headband like this one.

Good part is that I already have an amazing photographer husband who can document it all for me!

The one thing this may require me to do that I haven't done before is go to a thrift shop. I am also a self-proclaimed germaphobe and wearing other peoples clothes is one of those areas I haven't been able to face as an adult. But I'm sure if I go in armed with some good hand sanitizer and some good detergent back home I'm going to be able to do it! First project? Lengthen my cute denim skirt that it about 4" too short and make it wearable again!

First Preplanned Shopping Trip

So Today I went to Walgreens (I've never shopped there before) and Safeway to pick up a few things on my list. I had coupons for everything (in some cases two since you can use a store coupon and a manufacturer's coupon on one item at most places) and went in for just the things I had on my list. Some of my better buys were 6 nestle crunch bars for $1.56 and 2 boxes of cereal for $2.00 each. Everything I bought was on my list and were things that I needed.

My totals:

Total before coupons $61.52

Total after coupons $34.13

I even got a rain check on the boxes of mac and cheese that were on sale but out of stock.

Coupons

So I've seen that show Extreme Couponing a few times, I think those people are crazy, but I do want to learn how to save money on our monthly food bill. I found this website and it was really helpful to watch some of her videos to learn some of the tricks of using coupons. I've been getting the newspaper the last few months on Sundays to clip the coupons, the record for the amount I've saved was $40 on a $150 grocery trip. With a little more planning I want to up that amount each week until I can say that we're almost saving 50% of what we're spending right now...that's the goal and I know it will take time to learn the ins and outs, but if some crazy lady can buy 100 boxes of pasta for $.37 I can save a few hundred dollars a month by planning ahead and looking for the best deal.

Splash Park

 On Tuesday Jeffrey and I went to a splash park with my friend and her kids. In true Jeffrey fashion it took him a while to warm up to the idea of running through the water.

 Once he started he didn't want to stop! He had so much fun!

Jeffrey is a HUGE Phineas and Ferb fan! In one episode one of the characters Buford wears a paper bag on his head during a jump in the mud stunt and Jeffrey (owing to his incredible ability to remember small details) wanted one of his own. Here's the one Cory made him...

Here's a reference so you get the idea.