My great deals @ scrapbook expo!

Me and my mom always go to a scrapbook expo at least once a year but I went to 2 this year! The first one we went to this year was in Orange county , ca which to be honest sucked. You could barely move through the crowd plus no good deals . I only bought one of those bucket "lazy susan" type things to hold supplies. This time I went to the expo in Ontario, ca and boy I found great deals. I got all of the above for about $35. I don't know if either I lucked out, it's the economy or this place is just better. Either way I am happy.

No money? Hints and tips to save!

These days it seems like you really have to be cash conscious and I have been noticing alot of restuarants we go to have way less people. The mall not so much difference as before but anyways I thought of some ways to cut corners. Some of these ideas may seem easy and things you already know but still interesting to know.

1. You don't necessarily need a land line if you have cell phones. Even we live in an apt and don't have a landline. Saves about $40 a month.
2. You don't really need netflix. Go to the library to rent movies, or even buy them. At big lots and ross you can get really great movies for less that $4! For example at Ross I bought "last holiday " with Queen Latifah for $4 and the Movie "Scanners" (old scary movie, but awesome ) for $3@!
3. Don't go to the movies. This one is hard because I love the movies but be honest. If you and your hubby go with two kids it will probably cost around $50 or more. Save the money for that BUY the movie when it comes out and you save $35 plus you now own the movie.
4. Ps if you do like Amc Theaters you can get them for free with entering codes in the coke rewards program
5. If you need buy christmas gifts look now. I found some cute Dora snow princess dolls originally $15 now for $8. That's not a clearance, just a sale but by the time xmas shopping is in full swing alot of the items are gone or that item doesn't go on sale anymore. This happened to me last year. I wanted to give my nephews tech dechs(small skateboard toys) NO one at all had them. No one. Ebay was selling them for double the price. Right after xmas though the section was STOCKED! Go figure
6.Make gifts. If you are creative, make cards, a scrapbook page, a gift basket with some candy and a cheap dvd from big lots., candles, frames. All this stuff you can buy at Michaels for super cheap!
7.Eat everything in your pantry or mostly everything before buying new stuff. YOu can come up with incredible tasty things with a few items. YOu don't even need meat. Just make some pasta. With ingredients, you don't need the exact item. If something calls for milk use (gulp) water or juice or if you need an egg for coating some chicken use salad dressing.
8. With some basics you also satisfy your sweet tooth. Sugar, eggs, flour, coca, butter. cookies, cake, bread, bread pudding, endless ideas.
9. Save gas, if you need reseach you can find practically anything on the net. How to make a candle, take pants in, cook fried oreos. Anything!
10. Glade candles work just as great as Yankee and ALOT LESS. I always bought yankee and sometimes I still will , but if you want or need a cheap candle glade has alot of scent. I never bought cheaper candles because they don't smell. But trust me, these do!
11. Save all your change and put in a counting jar. At the end of each month we end up with around $50 bucks!
12. try not to buy online, it is soooooooooo easy. Trust me I know!lol, with a click of one button you bought it. NO time to think , to late.
13. Seriously stay out of Target, Walmart, etc. It is so easy to drop a few bills in there without realizing. Stay away!
14. Subscribe to a newspaper- They have so much coupons. H0nestly I don't use that many for products in stores, but they usually have restaurants I use or chuck e cheese or Michaels!
15. Before you buy things online if you do , please research the price. Lots of times a listing on feebay will actually be more than amazon.
16. Also, some people will hate me for saying this but at the end of auctions on feebay it will say " must buy insurance" blah blah "im not responsible once it leaves my hands" that's not true. They are responsible, if you don't get you get your $ back(if you use paypal or credit card)
17. Back to # 16 PLEASE USE PAYPAL OR CREDIT CARD (you get no protection if you use money order of check)
18. Learn to say NO . YOu do not have to go everywhere your friends go. Things are expensive. Before you know it you just spend 40 on dinner when you weren't planning to. It is not the end of the world if you don't go.
19. Don't feel bad shopping in places that seem cheap to other people. I go to the dollar tree or 99 cent store all the time. You can find some great deals. Big lots, has cheap dvds, furnishings, trendy scrapbook albums for super cheap, and lots more. 99 cent store has food. I know some of you might think eww but seriously I have checked expiration dates(all good) and bought fruit and it is good. 5 plums for a $1, 3 big nectarines for a $1 . They were just as tasty , didn't rot ( I ate them within 5 days) and nothing bad happened to me!
20. Don't go to big box markets. Go to little ones, independently owned or something. I completly stopped going to mine and seriously am spending around 50% less.
21. Need fun things to do on the weekend?Go to a park, lots of them have free entertainment on weekends, go feed some ducks, check out some free or cheap museums. What about arboretums, hiking trails, missions, historic homes, the biggest city near you would have tons of things if you just look. Once again the internet will help!
22. When you go to a restaurant share or share a drink at least.
23. YOu don't need the alcohol
24. Go to thriftstores. You can find such good things there most of the time. I find very new books, almost brand new appliances, etc.
25. Also go check out a libraries used book section. I have also found brand new books there for extremely cheap.
26. Sorry Barnes and Noble, DO NOT BUY BOOKS BRAND NEW. A price of a new book is insane. $14 for something you will most likly read one time
27. Skip the gym membership. Talk walks. Why need a treadmill for what you can do outside?No excuses, my neighbor's not safe? Go to a mall, walk with a friend, find a popular trail. there is plenty of oppurtunites. Use household items for toning. Cans, toys etc.
28. Don't throw out junk mail right away. I always find good coupons in there!
29. Girls, we don't need to go get our nails done. Buy some polish and a file and top coat and they will look just as pretty.

Some things I won't tell you to do to save money


1. Cancel internet subscription. I don't know how I would live without. Of course I lived without it for years before it came out but still
2. Cancel cable. I had it, then cancelled it and now have it again. I was soooooo bored without it. And I hate those stupid" get off your butt and make the call" commercials!
3. Eat out at least once in a while. YOu need the atmosphere. That's usually why we eat out (not fast food, but actual restaurants)
4. Buy yourself at least one cheap thing every once in a while. What's the point of making a living if you can't "live"
5.Haircuts. This is tricky. I used to get my haircut at a cheapo place all the time, then I tried this place that cost about $40. WOW, it really does make a difference. I know it can be expensive and you certainly don't need it but ......For men, that's a different story. I cut my hubby's hair. You don't need a special skill for this. Just clippers and a somewhat steady hand.

That's all I have for now. My hand is a little throbbing now so I hope I had some useful tricks for you all! Sorry , I couldn't figure out to space the list. It wouldn't save it that way.

Our day at the pumpkin patch!

So I am always complaining that we have no fall here is Southern California. I am detirmined to find a city close by that at least looks like fall but have yet to find it. I was presently surprised to find an awesome pumpkin patch just right down the street from me though. Even though it still doesn't look like fall here I took in the great scenery of this place and maybe now I won't complain as much. We even got to ride in a hayride which was so cool I have never done that before!

Cheap,easy and different ways to decorate for halloween!

Have you ever wondered how to decorate for Halloween or any other occasion on a budget? I have and since Halloween is right around the corner I figured I'd share some tips on how to do that!

1. Scary Halloween man-Gather some old clothes such as a pair of pants, a shirt and some boots work good. Some rags and some sort of stick Oh and a mask. Stuff the pants fist with the rags (stuff it good , who likes a skinny ghost? Then put a good sized stick in the middle of the stuff pants. A broom stick works good for this! Put the shirt on over the stick and pants, stuff the shirt. Now if the stick is long enough you can put a mask on it or if it's short you can have the headless halloween man(or woman)I did this the last several years but duh , never took a pic of it.

2.Instead of carving pumpkins paint them! If you are a scrapbooker I am sure you have paints in your aresenol. You can do simple stripes, polka dots, white pumpkins are cool , some simple halloween characters like bats over a moon or something. It doesn't have to be complicated.

3.Creepy Crawly Spiders! If you have kids craft items in your house you might have everything to make these already. You need styrofoam balls,blank paint, glue, those chenille pipe cleaners and googly eyes. First paint the foam ball black. Let dry and then stick the pipe cleaners in there and bend, cut , shape to make the legs. Add googly eyes and your done. Easy!

4. Bloody hands-Need a cool banner or wall hanging? This one you just need red paint, you and a long piece of paper. Preferably the kind you can cut yourself at an art or paper store.
This is so easy and cool. Just get your hands all gooped up with paint(the more the better)
and pretend your in kindergarten again by handprinting that baby. The more paint you use it will drip down giving that bloody drippy hand look going on.

Other ideas, I haven't tried yet

Make a banner with your scrapbook supplies, use old white rags to make spiderwebs or ghouls.
Cut a big piece of cardboard into a tombstone, paint black, put different size boxes together , paint blank to make a haunted house.

Hope you got some good ideas, I am off to make some of these bad boys later!

Spider! Attack!

EWWWWW Spider!

I can't belive I found this spider in my bathroom! Yuck. Well actually hubby was giving my son a bath and the spider was in there with him! I don't mind spiders that much but this one was so big and gross. I ran to get my camera of course before my hubby flused him down the toilet.

Ok , though other than that I went to my mom's and she gave me some old pictures from WWII that my grampa served in. He's still alive by the way but my mom has all the pics. I thought they were very cool.

Back from street fair!

It wasn't how it used to be. There used to be massive crowds of people and tons of vendors. Maybe because it's not 100 degrees here anymore! It's acutually chilly at night a bit now. I have a couple of pics from last night.Oh, okay I can't figure out how to add more than one pic that looks good to my post but I'll work on that.

Here are a couple of cards I made for my etsy shop.

Finally Friday

Today is my first post! But other than that tonight is my favorite day of the week. Me , dh and ds are going to a street fair. I love those things with their crafts , kettle corn and farmer's market. Then we are going home and watching KILLER CLOWNS. Sounds fun to me =)