Uses for Christmas Tissue Paper!

Made these big tissue flowers with the kids the other day. I got tons of tissue paper at Christmas a couple years ago at 90% off if I'm remembering correctly. Anyway, I've used it in birthday gifts and now to make these huge flowers. I just love paper flowers. I think I'm going to save them and put them up for Christmas this year! :) I'm all out though, so I'll have to hit the after Christmas sales again!

Magazines for FREE!

Yesterday I went to the library looking for last months Consumer Reports. The librarian told me I could check it out. I had no idea you could checkout past issues of magazines. If you need a magazine fix and don't mind reading a month behind, you might want to check out your local library and see if they also check them out.

Target Rocks!

Hit Target yesterday for some "end-of-summer" shopping. Bought the kids swimsuits and sandles for future summers at dirt-cheap prices.

On my way in I spied flash cards for a dollar a pack. My kids are really interested in the "Space" and "Landmarks" cards ... actually, so am I! I highly recommend them.

Ikea

Last night we took the kids to Ikea for dinner. (My kids LOVE Ikea ... I know, kind of different. I think it's left over from our stint in the Northwest. I used to let them run wild at Ikea when we reached about our 90th straight day of rain! Also, they are VERY family friendly. family restrooms, etc.)

Our Ikea was having a "kids-eat-free" promotion. The whole dinner for a family of five ... plus a big piece of cake to share for dessert was a little over $11.00. If you have one close, it's a great idea if you're on a budget and don't feel like cooking one night. I noticed they have various nights where they run specials ... again, worth a check if you live close to one.

An Update on Do-It-Yourself Laundry Soap

A while ago I did a post on how to make laundry soap. We recently bought a front-loader machine. (Love the state rebates ... got $275 back in rebates and Lowes had already marked it down 10%.)

Anyway, the grated soap, Fels-Naptha, in the recipe I was using wasn't dissolving in the new washer. I switched to Ivory soap and all is well. Works fine. (The Fels-Naptha bar is 5 1/2 oz, so I eyeballed how much Ivory would equal that, about 1 1/2 bars of the size Ivory I was using.)

Sew a Makeup Brush Holder

Another plug to learn to sew a little. This is in no way a fabulously executed craft; I just wanted to show a project you can do with very little time, money and effort.

One day I realized I could get ready faster if I had all my makeup brushes in the same order I put the makeup on. As a mom, I get interrupted about 15 times while putting on my makeup and always lose track of where I am. It ends up taking far longer than it needs to.

Anyway, I grabbed a bandanna I bought at Walmart for about 90 cents and just kind of threw this together in about 5 minutes -- no right or wrong way to do it. Nothing lines up well ... a really bad example of quality sewing, but it serves my need and I didn't have to think about it much, spend much and best of all, it really helps me get ready quicker .... when I actually put makeup on!

Back to School Supplies

It's back to school time! Even if you don't have children, it's a GREAT time to buy your household office supplies.

I bought 12 rolls of scotch tape and other supplies to hopefully last until this time next year when the deals hit again. I go through a lot of tape during the holidays and I'm hoping this will last. You can also get index cards, glue, highlighter pens, etc. for next to nothing. Spiral note books are 15 cents each at most stores!

Walmart and Target usually have really great prices and surprisingly, our local grocery store also had the dirt cheap pricing.