Frual Friday -- Graduation Party/Party Favors

Our oldest son just graduated from "home school" High School -- we did use a Virtual School so that he would have an "official" Diploma. It wasn't always easy but by the grace of God, he is done!!

Three of the teenagers in our church were graduating and one of the moms came to me last year (May) and asked if we wanted to combine the parties, thereby saving us all money. Great idea! Handing over $20 a month from July wasn't so bad as dishing out $200 (or more) in one shot. (I don't plan ahead that well, but I am working on it!) We rented the local 4-H Building for $35 and had an Open House.

Things turned out really well I think -- we had a TON of food -- meatballs, chicken wings, cheese balls, crackers, chips and homemade salsa, lavosh rolls, a huge vegetable tray and fruit bowls, fruit dip and cake.

Each of the teens had their "own" table and own decorated cake. We used their school colors -- Josh and another both did the same virtual school so theirs were green and gold and W.D.'s were red and black. We bought the cakes at Costco -- they have a great deal for a HUGE cake - $15.99, plus you can have a yummy filling inside

I made my own party favors -- these were paid for ourselves and not out of the party money, so I tried to figure out how I could do them a little more inexpensively.

This is what I came up --

Of course, I purchased all my candy from CVS -- which was free and then printed my own Nugget Labels after looking at the cost on Ebay, I knew I could do it myself. It took a bit to make sure they were adjusted correctly, but they came out great. If you'd like the template, I will add it at the end, and just insert the picture for your gathering, and the words. These would be great for weddings, baby showers, birthdays -- anniversary parties, You name it, it would work. If you use CVS -- getting the candy there is a bonus. You do need a color printer -- but could possibly do these in black and white. I received a lot of compliments for my idea!

(click on the image to see it larger)

For more Frugal Ideas, visit Crystal at Biblicalwomanhood!

Blogger is being ornery -- so I will add the template a little later when it cooperates!

Frugal Fridays -- Cheese Bags

Cheese Bags, you ask?

Well that is what I have aptly named them. We usually purchase our cheese in bulk (5 lb bags) except if there is a super store sale. I measure 2 cups portions in Ziploc bags and place them in baggies and keep them in the freezer.

After throwing away (and wasting) numerous bags. I am just not a bag washer! I thought this would have to change. I did buy the bags from CVS - so in reality I didn't "pay" for them (or not much!)

So, I had a brilliant thought ...

Here is a photo of my full bag of cheese ready to be put on homemade pizza!
After using, I place the empty ... unclean ...gasp! back right in the freezer where it waits until I am low on cheese and need to fill them all back up again!
Probably a little lazy way to save on bags -- but I figure as long as they are in the freezer, any minor cheese crumbs will be just fine as they are kept frozen all the time. =) And I wish my freezer had that many full bags in there right now! This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago and there are more empy cheese bags than full ones! Everyone knows to just stick them back into the fridge and not throw them away.

Visit Frugal Friday hosted by Biblical Womanhood for a bunch of ideas on saving!

Frugal Fridays / CVS Savings

If you have not visited Biblical Womanhood and their Frugal Friday links – you are definitely missing out! Lots of great ideas.

It was actually through this blog and her business which prompted me to begin using coupons again, when she shared a wealth of information about great deals at CVS, Walgreen's and Dillon's (Kroger). She has a $35 a week grocery budget which feeds her family of 4, to include diapers and paper products, health and personal hygiene items. This website has truly been a blessing to our budget!

One of my tips for today is to purchase Crystal’s e-book Secrets to Supermarket Savings. About a month ago she had a special for about five e-books (which included this one) and I have read every one. They have been a huge help to me.

My second tip is to RUN to her other website “Money Savings Moms where she shares the latest CVS deals, Walgreen's deals and Kroger savings and a host of other things.

Third is to share my CVS Savings experience--

I wasn’t exactly sure how CVS and the Extra Care Bucks worked until I read her CVS 101 post. Crystal then actually gave a Beginner Deals for CVS post that gave detailed instructions on what to buy, where to get coupons and even the order you should give the Extra Care Card and coupons to the cashier. There is a small investment before you start getting items for basically free.

For my first CVS Deal this is what I bought:
5 Ultimate Strength Mylanta – on sale for $4.50 each. I had 5 $3 off coupons, plus I had a CVS Coupon for $4 off of $20

Mylanta $22.50
Coupons -$15.00
CVS Cpn -$ 4.00
Total OOP $3.50 (OOP = out of pocket)

But I received $10 in Extra Care Bucks (ECB) back. (This was $10 in ECBs for buying $20 of certain products) (So actually I’m really ahead about $6.50 (not including tax!)

For my Second Deal (Week of Oct 7-13)

(These were the deals I took advantage of and still valid through tomorrow, if you click on the link prior Crystal shares links for the coupons and everything you need to get started!)

Palmolive Dish Detergent Buy 1 at $1.49 and get $1 in ECBs (I had a 40 cents off coupon)
Playtex tampons Buy 1 at $4.99, get $3 ECBs – (I had a $2.50 off coupon)
Colgate Total Advanced Clean 4.2 oz. or Max Fresh Burst 4 oz. (I had 2 $1 off/ 1 .75 off cpns) Buy 1 at $2.99, get $2 ECBs

My purchases:
Palmolive $1.49
Coupons -$.40
1 Playtex 4.99
Coupon -2.50
3 Colgate 8.97
Coupon -2.75
Bleach 1.50 (which I needed)

Credit $10.00 ECBs
OOP 1.81 (So I basically paid for my bleach and tax!)

ECBs Earned: $10.00 (so I am back where I started last week!!)

My daughter uses the Playtex and would need the Palmolive. Although she has a dishwasher! (wish I did!)

So for my initial investment of $3.50, I have: 3 tubes of Colgate Max Burst toothpaste 1 Box Playtex; 1 Bottle Palmolive, 5 bottles Mylanta and a bottle of Bleach. I should have bought more bottles of Palmolive but I had only the one coupon at the time, but there is a printable (which CVS accepts) and you can get 5 deals, so I may go back tomorrow and get 4 more since we have 2 computers to print from and you can print 2 coupons from each computer)

Here are a few other noteworthy posts from this past week:

BigLots 20% off coupon Entire Purchase (Expires 13 Oct)

Pinecone Research: $5 for every survey you take (I have been doing these surveys for about 2 years – they pay timely and our family has even been able to try products before market release!)

Vocalpoint (I am part of this as well and received my coupons yesterday!)

CVS Advisory panel: Earn ECBs!

Organizational methods for coupons

There are a host of other great posts and a wealth of information. If you have questions, please email me and I will try and help.

Frugal Friday - Gifts

This is my first post -- although I have been reading the tips around the blog hemisphere for a few weeks. Mine may be old news, but its something I always try to do.

Around this time of year and then in the early fall -- there are many, many items of clothing on clearance. My children are all wearing adult size clothes and sometimes its hard to find for them. But I do have little people to buy gifts for and if I plan ahead, I have gifts for later in the year when their birthdays roll around and/or Christmas.

One item of clothing I always am in need of, are long sleeved knit tops. I wear them year round and have picked up quite a few of these in the last 2 months for about $2.00 each average.

Yesterday, all the kids clothes on clearance at Kmart were an additional 50% off the lowest prices. Check your local Kmart.

I picked up quite a few things. Quite a bit of it was licensed character wear. Cute, cute stuff. A sister in our church is expecting with a due date in June. Gift is covered now. 2 birthdays -- one in May and one in July -- done. =)

So, have a gift list handy, with sizes/age and shop when things are at rock bottom prices.

Our Kmart had quite a bit of kids clothes, and they had ladies flannel pajamas for $1.00. How about that for a Christmas gift??? Now is a great time to buy gloves, scarves, boots and pajamas.

Visit Biblical Womanhood for more great tips.