It just got a little more Christmas-ier!

Ever since Todd and I got married we never had a tree skirt for our Christmas tree. Our first year we used white snow fluff and set our ceramic village underneath but the next year we had Lauren so that can't work anymore so I think I just used a blanket, I never found a skirt I liked at the stores and they were too expensive. This year I'm on Pinterest and I found this skirt, but I didn't think I could do it since I don't own a sewing machine, sigh. Then I read the caption "no-sew, DIY tree skirt" so about four days later here is my creation and I'm in love. Happy Holidays!
p.s. please ignore the middle of our tree the lights went out and I'm not replacing them till next year...so there.

New Secret

I didn't plan on doing Black Friday this year...until our portable dvd player stopped working a few weeks ago. I was cursing my bad luck for a few days, we loved our player, nice PHILIPS Dvd 7" dual screen for both kids. The good thing was they were still under warranty so they were sent back via UPS and I was getting a Target giftcard in return. So then came the ads for Black Friday and there they were - PHILIPS Dvd 9" Dual screen for $99! My gift card was for $100, so I jumped for joy until I realized what I would have to do to get them.
For a week I've been mulling around, wondering if I would be all alone in line with a very small chance of grabbing them. Then a friend from church told me something I never heard of before...why didn't anyone ever tell me in my 26 years about 'price adjustments'?
This is how she explained it to me: Say you bought an item for $10 on a Wednesday, then that following Sunday in the ads you see the same item on sale for $6. Well if you still have the receipt and its been within 7 days of the purchase date then they will refund you the difference! So she told me, go ahead and buy the dvd players tomorrow then go back on BF and get the $80 refunded back to you.
So that's what I did, I went to Target and got my Dvd Player, used my giftcard and paid the rest and on Friday I'll get that money back, so all I paid for was tax and a new warranty. Amazing! Now I can celebrate Thanksgiving without waiting in line and getting upset when they are all out of the item. No more Black Friday for me! From now on it's Happy Refund Mary Day!

Update: I went to Target on Black Friday at 2pm and got my refund back ( I was literally shaking, ask my friend Mary who was there) I got 86 dollars back on my card and then we walked around to see what was left in the store and guess what? Two sets of those DVD players were still on the shelf...well better safe then sorry right? 

Til next year, October

Fall is my favorite time of year, all the festivities and holidays leading up to the grand finale - Christmas. This year I started shopping early, thank goodness too because shopping while stressed is the worst position to put me in and I end up spending WAY too much on gifts and they are way less thoughtful because of them being bought last minute. I've learned a new thing this year which will stay with me, timing is everything. I won't share my list, because that would defeat the purpose of giving gifts but I will say this, I've fully taken advantage of the sales plus coupons and also free giveaways to the fullest extent. Now that does NOT mean my gifts aren't thoughtful because of the amount of money I saved, I feel they are meaningful gifts where time was spent wondering if a certain person would enjoy a gift and also with the added bonus of being smart with my money. This Christmas is a very tight one, we are flying to Utah to be with my family this year and we needed to buy A.J. a front facing car seat plus a bunch of little things that add up to big numbers. I'm writing this because I wanted to express that I'm proud of myself, Christmas doesn't have to be stressful and I have been working hard to make sure it isn't.
Todd and I took more pictures of A.J. and Lauren with a professional camera and editing equipment. I'll post them next time when Todd is done editing. I'll say this much...they are just so darn cute!

Why I love coupons

Coupons are money and tonight Covergirl gave me $24 to spend on makeup, so off to Target I went. All this for $5.64, 94 cents each. Thanks CG!

Painting Pumpkins

Painting pumpkins, not carving, has been my family tradition for years. My mother has done tole painting for as long as I can remember, so she has plenty of acrylic paints on hand for us to use for any kind of design. I tried carving before and I find it a bit messy, smelly, and too much work. So I'm bringing the tradition to my family. We had a lot of fun tonight for FHE and next year AJ will be able to join in on the fun.

9 Months Old

A.J. turned 9 months old today, he can now sit up by himself, go up one step onto the landing of our stairs, use the same steps to help himself stand, stand for a considerable amount of time holding onto a table or couch. I take that back, he JUST pulled himself up to his play table, so one more milestone has been achieved at this very moment! Oh and two miniscule nubs on his bottom gums, right in the middle.

Homemade Laundry Soap

As most of you know, I use coupons for almost everything, but I realized that what is even thriftier than using coupons on sales is making your own. Two months ago at a Relief Society activity we had three presentations, one on budgeting for meals, couponing (by yours truly), and "The Power of Dawn"(dish soap). In the last presentation, the R.S. secretary got up and introduced Homemade Laundry Soap. We were all amazed, now half of the R.S. makes their own soap. I haven't yet until today because right before that presentation I stocked up on detergent using my coupons of course, so I waited and saved my bottles to store my homemade soap in. I bought all three ingredients at Walmart. Here's the recipe and some pictures.

1/3 bar Fels Naptha

1/2 cup Washing Soda (Arm & Hammer)

1/2 cup Borax Powder (20 Mule Team)

1.Grate the soap

 2.Put in sauce pan (it looks like grated cheddar cheese)

3. Add 6 cups of water then heat it up until the soap melts.

4. Add Washing Soda & Borax, stir until dissolved.

5.Remove from heat, then Pour 4 cups of hot water in the bucket/stock pot

6. Add soap mixture and stir

7. Add 1 gal + 6 cups or water (22 cups) and stir

Let soap sit 24 hours, it will get a gel-like consistency

Use 1/2 cup per load.

I'm dividing my batch and putting them in my empty laundry bottles, the cap will measure 1/2 cup automatically. This batch will yield 64 loads. All three ingredients cost me 7.75, huge savings considering one bar of Fels Naptha will yield 192 loads. This is the same laundry detergent that crazy mom who has 19 kids uses, makes sense. Anyway, I'm excited about it and thought I would share. P.S. this detergent is for any kind of washer, high efficiency or front washers as well.