Saving money by altering my daughter's dance uniforms

When I found out that my daughter's school was going to offer free dance lessons I was so excited! The dance uniforms required are two piece black shorts and top that cost about $16 each piece if I got them through the on site vender. I did a little research and from Walmart was able to get a black leotard for $7 and black leggings for $5. I simply cut off the bottom of the leotard and then hemmed it. Next I altered the sleeves to make them the required cap sleeves instead of a little longer short sleeves. Finally, I cut off the leggings to the correct length and simply hemmed them up. I saved about $20 and it only took me about a half an hour of my time to alter them. Plus it was a fun sewing project:)

Save Money on Groceries with Deals To Meals

My sister let me know about this service. It is a website that searches the adds from several grocery stores near me and color codes the deals for me each month. The red deals are the really good deals. It saves me lots of time and I generally only spend about $150 a month for groceries for a family of three. it is free for a trial period of two weeks and then it is for only a cost of $1.25 per week and is definitely worth the price. The creator of the site also offers a meal plan and shopping list for a full week of menus based on the current red deals and a guide to food storage for your family. check it out at deals to meals.

Our New Comfy Cozy Reading Room

The Reading Room was already my favorite room in the house and it was pretty nice already, but I was excited to try out what I had learned at Enrichment Nightlast night with Angela, the creator of imginecozy. I so wish I had remembered to take "before" Pics but at least I can show off the results!

The chair with the red blanket on it was brought in from another room, the smaller white shelf was turned at an angle instead of right next to the larger shelf, and I went through the books and moved out lots of them and added some little "doo dads" as Angela would say.

The couch, piano, rug and tables and even the large picture are still in their same places (the picture needs to be rehung when hubby can help me) I added the black chest from another room, the white pillar with the plant from the corner where the shelf is now turned at an angle, and moved two red lamps off of the piano.

The red blankets were already in this room as accents but now I draped one over the back of the couch instead of just thrown on one of the arms, I put the lamps from the piano behind the couch. (I have decided to put them at a little different heights now although that isn't shown in this picture) I didn't have any tables to put them on so I just used a box and a suitcase behind the couch to set them on.

Thanks Angela! That was really fun and didn't cost anything and now it is an even comfier cozier room. And the best part was doing it together with my daughter who has now run off to do the same to her own bedroom.

Got grease stain out of my shirt!

I wish I could remember which website I found this idea on but I searched so many I can't remember now. But this is the tip that finally worked to get a butter stain out of my shirt and it was so simple and easy: Just put some shampoo and rub it into the stain before washing. It really did take it out the first time and that was after the stain being washed a couple of times using other tips trying to get it out.

Preparing for Baptism

My daughter has made her decision to be baptised into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She must wait a few more months until she turns eight. So we were talking about how excited she is and her plans for her big day. She decided to have a special jar to start saving some of her spending money to help buy a special white dress to wear. I am glad she is so excited to save her own money and that she is so happy about this important and special decision even though it is still a few months away.

Decluttering my Bookshelf

I made over $200 today by selling books over the internet. My husband and I had several textbooks and my daughter had extra picture books. I just checked on several of the most popular websites which buy used textbooks and other books and compared the offers I received. Different websites offered different prices and some accepted some of the books but not others. Most offered free shipping. The ones I used to sell my books today are:
http://powells.com/ (This one accepted lots of books, they offer paypal compensation)
http://www.booksvalue.com/
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
http://www.textbookwheel.com/ (This one accepted the most books, and paid good prices)