Produce Score!

My favorite time of day to grocery shop for markdowns is around 3:00, right after school lets out.  The reasoning is this:  at my local Bi-lo store, the morning shift leaves around 3:00.  Just before leaving, they mark down any items that need to sell right away.  This is the BEST time to find cheap meats and produce.  As long as you use / freeze them right away, they are still perfectly good items. 

Today, I was on the hunt for produce and Bi-lo did not dissapoint!  Today's haul:

Bagged Salad Mix - $0.99  (reg price $3.29)
2 Mushrooms - $0.99 each (reg price $2.99)
9 Blackberries - $0.50 each   (holy cow!!!  reg price $3.49, on sale for $2.50, had $2 mark down stickers)

I was planning on buying a salad mix and mushrooms anyways, so finding them on markdown was awesome.  I have wild blackberries growing my backyard that we pick, but they won't be ready for several weeks, so these will hold me over until then. 

Total Spent - $7.47
Regular Price - $40.68

Savings of $33.21

Thrifting Finds!

My mom was in town for Halloween weekend. In addition to the scarf making, cheesecake eating and trick-or-treating, we went THRIFTING! One of my favorite things to do! It was a Christmas themed day, for some reason. 

Here's what I got for $5:

Wooden Basket - I will use this as the packaging for some kitchen towels and pot holders I made for one of the kids' grandmothers.

Ceramic Jar with handle - This is going to get some handmade soap packaged in it for one of the other grandmothers.

2 Wooden Gingerbread People - These were handmade by someone else. I'm going to give them a little facelift with some paint and put eye hooks on them for the kids' small Christmas tree.  They are soooo not something I would normally even take a second look at.  I don't what possessed me to buy them. 

AND MY FAVORITE!!! 2 Wooden Candlesticks - these have got the most hideous faux something paint job. I felt the need to rescue these from a life of horrible paint and sitting on a dusty thrift store shelf.

Can I just say.... spray paint is a girl's best friend! I mean, you can transform ANYTHING with some spray paint. I am especially partial to the high gloss black spray paint that you can get from Home Depot for only a dollar a can. It's on the bottom shelf. LOVE IT!

Christmas Fun for the Moms!

I'm sure most moms know the not-so-fun and rarely spoken aloud part of Christmas morning: you know everything that is under the tree and rarely are there any suprises. Now, I realize just how blessed I am to have healthy children, be able to pay the bills, etc. But sometimes, you just want to feel like a kid on Christmas morning!

Well, this year I will! Becky and I decided this year to do a Stocking Exchange. I am super excited about this! Being that we are what I like to refer to as "frugalistas" (aka. Cheap), we have set some pretty ridiculous rules.

1. The stocking must be homemade and from items already in our sewing/crafting stashes.
2. No more than $5 can be spent
3. At least one item must be purchased from Goodwill (a frugalista favorite)
4. Must include at least 1 candy/food item (because we love to eat!)

Some people might look at that $5 limit and say, "forget it, it's not going to work". But if you know either Becky or I, you know that we will most likely both have trouble fitting all of our loot into the stocking! I'm envisioning us exchanging these monstrous sized stockings filled with all kinds of crazy goodness that only we would love.

Since Becky reads this blog (and I think she might be the only one who does!), I obviously can't post my plans on here until after Christmas. But in case anyone is wondering what we could possibly come up with on such fierce restrictions, be sure to check back after Christmas!

I'm off to START Halloween costumes for the kids. Since we need them for tomorrow night, I should probably at least start them tonight! That's me in true procrastination form.