WFMW 10-22-08

I have already begun the prep for holiday gift giving for my teenager daughter to give to her friends. Actually it started last year at the end of the Christmas season. When I saw cute frames, photo albums, jewelry, and the like I snatched them up and put them in my gift closet. Last year I snagged some great little mani/pedi kids from Bath and Bodyworks that will be given to some of my daughter's sweet friends. Our son's don't really give much to their friends..only their closest buds and then they want to give iTunes cards. I think it is really more of a girly thing to give gifts. My daughter gives to around 15 friends something for Christmas. So this year we have all the little items gathered for her friends who are all 14 nearly 15 years of age.

The other thing I do is when Hobby Lobby puts their Christmas wrapping/bags/tags on sale at the end of the season I am thinking about all the gifts I will be giving the next year. Last year I bought the CUTEST bags and ribbon to use for my daughter's gifts to friends. I always look for something unique and not holiday looking. Last year we used red paper and leopard print ribbon. This year we are going for the hot pink with zebra ribbon look. We also make the cards by hand that go with each gift with items I have purchased for pennies when they have been clearanced.

It does not take a lot of dough to come up with precious, thoughtful, and cute presents for teenage girls. As much as they will love what is on the inside they are also all about how it looks on the outside.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Homemade Bath Salts
Small scrapbooks and stickers
Photo albums
Photo Frames
Personalized Shadow Boxes
Candles
Miniature Bath and Bodyworks Products
Manicure/Pedicure kits
JEWELRY
Personalized Journals
Devotion Books and a Journal

These are just a few ideas. For more Works for Me Wednesday head on over to Shannon's Rocks In My Dryer.

Gotta Love Free!!!!

I am sorry I have no picture I left my camera at work. However tonight I scored on the Target deals!

After work I went to my local SuperTarget and bought three one pound bags of Green Giant baby carrots which are on sale for 1.29. I also bought four Artisan Mini French loaves which were .99 cents a loaf. I then purchased eight boxes of 16 count Lipton tea bags which were regularly priced at 1.09. I used eight 1.00 off Lipton tea Target printable coupons, three 1.00 off Target Green Giant baby carrot coupons, and four .50 cent off Target printables for the Artisan Bread. I had a 5.00 gift card I received from the Kashi cereal deal several weeks ago. Before coupons the total was around 17.00 but after coupons the final tally was 3.18! I used my gift card and had NO OUT OF POCKET! WOO HOO!!! I walked out of Target and felt like a Queen! I am telling you if you are not using coupons or checking out these sites you are missing out on saving some money big time!
Check out:
Attention Target Shoppers
Common Sense with Money
Money Saving Mom

I am taking my parents tomorrow and showing them how they can save some money too!

Five Steps to Peace in Uncertain Financial Times

You would have to be stranded on a deserted island or in a cabin with no television or radio to not have heard about the financial mess our nation is currently in. I know many are struggling but most I believe are living in fear of the unknown or what could happen. Many are just not prepared. True there are those dealing with foreclosures, layoffs, and difficult circumstances in regards to either financial decisions they made or that were made for them. In my opinion it is only going to become more of a problem if people don't take control of their own futures and live as our grandparents did many years ago. Greed has taken ahold many families lives. It comes quietly veiled in numerous vacations throughout the year, using credit to purchase everything, and not teaching their children the value of a dollar. Of course this problem is on a much larger scale but what if people would have been living within their means for quite some time I can't help but believe we would not have such a crisis on our hands.

There are five things that I think would greatly help in a financial crisis. I know because they have worked for us.

1. GET RID OF YOUR CREDIT CARDS
Nearly eight years ago when we married my husband and me decided that we would not use credit cards. The only thing we have used in that time has been cash or a debit card. It was one of the best decisions we made as a new couple. It forced us to save for things and to have an emergency fund. It has taught us and our children a valuable lesson on needs and wants. I think the number one reason many are in dire straits right now is that they rely on their credit cards heavily. CUT THEM UP! We had fears about not having a credit card at first too. My parents worry that we don't have a credit card but we can do anything with cash and a debit card. Let me tell you that when January rolls around and everyone else is getting their credit card bills we are not stressed because our Christmas has already been paid for in cash. We are getting ready to have our eighth cash only Christmas and we can't wait!

2. START AN EMERGENCY FUND
It is critical that everyone has an emergency fund. Start out with a goal in mind of putting 1000.00 in a separate fund. We are Dave Ramsey followers/fans. We saw him in person shortly after we married. I had been listening to Dave as a single parent each day as I picked my son up from middle school. I began trying to implement his plan for getting out of debt. When I married my new husband shared my passion in this area. We worked diligently to set up a fund. Sure enough the morning we were to attend Dave Ramsey a storm blew through our town and took off some shingles and blew over our fence. We had money in the bank for an emergency and what insurance did not cover we were able to handle. We had little money when we married and my husband suffered through losing a job. He never went without work. He mowed lawns of which he still has his lawn business that our boys now run. He worked two jobs and odd jobs and we socked away the money.

3. LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS
You have to live within your means. You cannot become successful if you continue on the same path of excess. This may look like different things to other people. For me it meant cooking more at home, OAMC or once a month cooking, using coupons, shopping at thrift stores, not paying full price for anything, and making sure I evaluated need versus want. There was a time when we both stopped at our local convenience store or Starbucks and got coffee every morning. No more! There was a time when I would have NEVER shopped at TJMaxx or Ross let alone a thrift store or consignment shop! Horrors!! Believe you me these are a penny pinchers best friend!

4. GET RID OF DEBT!
It took us several years but we finally paid off over 54000.00 of debt! We only owe on our home and that is very minimal. We live in a very affluent town that has more McMansions that anything else. We do not buy into the standard "Keeping Up with the Joneses". We bought a home that fit our needs with four children and it was built in 1970! Our children are not giving each and everything new thing that hits the market. If you want to know a way to get out of debt that is precise and has worked for many people look up Dave Ramsey's website The Total Money Makeover and read about his Debt Snowball. It can be done!!!

5. BE DILIGENT
Do not get discouraged! We know how it feels to be way over our heads in debt. We know what it feels like to be out of work. Be faithful to stick to your plan. Make a budget and stick to it. Being frugal is not a bad thing. Having no credit cards or car payments....is a REALLY GOOD THING! WOW! Such freedom!!! I never knew you could have no credit card or car payment. Remember we have three that are driving in our home besides us. Our nearly seventeen year old son was given an old 92 beat up Dodge pickup by his grandparents. We helped him save to repaint it bright red. My husband, father in law, and son's primed the pickup to save money. The pickup now looks amazing! It gets from point A to point B and when he needs to take more friends or his siblings we let him borrow our 2000 Toyota Corolla. We have a 2001 Toyota Sienna Van too. The boys pay their own car insurance. They earn it each summer with their lawn business. We have taught them to be diligent. As parents more is caught than taught. What are you teaching your children about debt, things, wants, etc.?

Before any of the above more than anything for us is to go to our Jehovah Jireh, our Provider, and Savior. For our family putting Christ number one and tithing to His kingdom comes first. We would not be where we are now without His guidance or wisdom. He alone is the total source of our peace.

We live in uncertain times but as for our house, we serve the One that knows our future and for that I am very grateful.

Fireproof Your Marriage

We had been anxiously awaiting the chance to see this movie. Finally last Saturday my husband and I were able to take some time to see it! It was one of the best movies I have ever seen! I cried, I laughed, I cried some more and the presentation of the Gospel on the big screen was incredible. At the end of the movie the entire theatre erupted in applause! Read this article from CNN that tells more about this incredible movie.

Kirk Cameron does a fabulous job in the movie. All the actors were great. I can't say enough about the music! Oh my goodness the music was fantastic! If you have not seen this movie...run to your local theatre and see it!!! What a joy to see the theatre FULL of families and couples as well as singles. This is a movie for everyone.

A few things I have read about the movie are 1. Kirk Cameron would not take anything for personal gain. His fee for the movie went to a terminally ill childrens camp in Georgia that he and his wife have; 2. He has also made a vow to not kiss anyone but his wife. A scene in this movie call for him to kiss the actress portraying his wife. Instead they used his OWN wife as the stand in. You can't even tell. It was awesome to think that he is protecting his own marriage by setting boundaries that most actors would think is ludicris.

We are taking our teenagers to see the movie next. We need more movies like this with a message that is positive! Go see it!!!

Here are some great resources:
Fireproof the Movie
Fireproof Your Marriage

Super Saving Saturday 10-4-08

This week has been one of the most thrilling of the entire year since I began couponing!

I have had great times in the past with CVS but grocery stores not so much. First let me preface this by saying we have terrible grocery stores in Oklahoma....no Krogers, Randalls, Thom Thumb, Albertsons, Winn Dixie, Publix, Whole Foods, Lowes, etc., etc., We have Homeland, Walmart, and Mom and Pop stores. Last Tuesday I had a slew of coupons that were expiring that night. They were for things we used and some new things that I wanted to try for the kids. After work I hurried home and got dinner for my children and then headed out to our local Wal Mart SuperCenter.

Numerous things I received for free because I had duplicate coupons for the Kraft deal that was in the August All You magazine. I purchased Koolaid, a Kraft item, and received my free Wheat Thins, Kraft Singles, Oscar Meyer hotdogs, Crystal Light, and Kraft Dressing. I also scored on several items that only cost me .50 cents after the coupon such as Rozoni pasta, hairspray, and a few things for the childrens lunches. I had everything put in groups such as the shampoo deal I worked with Pantene (free product) and the Kraft deal. There was a huge line and I was hoping that things went smoothly.

Finally the cashier said, "That will be 84.78. I calmly told her I had coupons and handed them to her. She proceeded to take off the coupons and after several minutes she said those magic words, "Wow, you saved a lot!". I only had to pay a little over 42.00 for all the items! I had 42 coupons and I figured the average price for each item in my cart would have been around one dollar.

I was trying not to pump my fist in the air and jump up and down! The long line of people behind me started asking how much I saved with those coupons. It was thrilling!

My husband and I also tried using Homeland for some deals since they double coupons. At Homeland alone our purchases were 65% off of what they normal cost would have been and I was able to get free Dawn soap and Kleenexes! We also made our CVS run the same evening. When we tallied up our receipts we have saved just this week over 150.00 for our family!

I have been talking about it so much at work that I have a couple of friends now wanting to try out using coupons. My path to simplicity and frugality began out of necessity back when I was a single mom years ago but the one thing I did not do was coupons or CVS. Oh how much easier my life would have been if only I had known or had someone to come along side of me and teach me this wonderful discipline!

For more Super Savings check out Money Saving Mom!

Great is Your Name in All the Earth

Please head over to Baby Bangs and read Amanda's profound post. I have sent it to friends and family today and felt the need to share it with my blog friends as well.
Blessings,
Vickie

WFMW 10-1-08

Kitchen Organization is crucial in helping keep the flow going in a busy household. Two of the most important items in my kitchen that I rely on may seem better suited in an office than in the kitchen.

I use a 3" binder for all my recipes that either have been printed off of the Internet or have been given to me. I use clear protective pages to keep them from getting messy or ruined. I have used this method since the early 90s. I keep only the recipes that I have used over and over again plus a few that I really want to try but have not had the chance yet. I also keep my meal planning information in this big binder as well as my Once A Month Cooking plans. It is a very valuable part of my kitchen.

My second item is one I have mentioned at least a couple of times on WFMW...my kitchen notebook! My kitchen notebook is priceless to me! I like to create meals without a recipe quite often. One of my son's would ask me if I had written down what I had done so that I could re-create the meal. One day after watching one of our favorite cooking shows we saw the chef using a small notebook to write down his meal creation as it took place. BINGO! So I began to do the same thing. I keep it in my utensil drawer with a pen. When I am mixing up a creation I pull it out and write down what I have done so that I can make it again!

Both of these items are important to my life in the kitchen! For more Works for Me Wednesday ideas go to Rocks in My Dryer.