Lessons I Have Learned - Consignment Sales & Craigslist

We are very fortunate to have nephews who pass their things along to our son! A steady stream of adorable clothes has been coming into our home since before E arrived in March 2009. He gets so much joy out of knowing that D and/or Z wore different outfits that he has. It makes dressing him so much easier some days! I can say, "Mommy remembers when Z used to wear this! And now you get to wear it today!" or "This shirt was D's. Wanna wear this one?" Oh if it would only remain that easy! :)

From time to time we need to add some PJs or some big orange apparel to the collection of clothing. These items can be a bit pricey, especially the orange items! But Knoxville consignment sales provide the perfect opportunity to pick up awesome big orange clothing items at great prices. A couple of weeks ago, I picked up an adorable hand painted Vols t-shirt for just $2! You read that correctly...it was hand painted and I only paid $2! And just yesterday I picked up some short-sleeved shorts pjs for just $1/pair!

Consignment sales are also a wonderful place to buy toys! We have accumulated quite the collection of Little People toys and 90% of them are from consignment. E loves his Little People, and I hope he will play with them for several years. Many of the sets were picked up for under $10. We grabbed a Craftsman work bench a few weeks back for $7.50. We also picked up a jackhammer for $3 and an air compressor set with an air hammer and paint gun attachment for $7.50. The air compressor set retails for $30. For just $14, I picked up a Bumbo with a tray yesterday for a friend who is expecting her first child. That set would retail new for over $40! I could go on and on.

If you have never tried buying consignment, I highly encourage you to give it a try. With the way kids outgrow toys and clothes, consignment sales can definitely be a great opportunity to save money. You pay a fraction of the cost for a quality item that is usually in like new condition.

But there are times when you are looking for something specific. And since the larger consignment sales only come around twice a year, they may not be the best option for finding what you need. For that there is Craigslist! Although my brother-in-law once referred to Craigslist as Ebay for rednecks, I have found it to be a great source for finding things we have wanted for our son. The latest of those was a wagon. We have been shopping for wagons on and off since he was very small. We had recently become more serious about that search and were seriously considering purchasing one for him for Easter. We had talked to my parents, and they were willing to go in with us on this purchase. And E had received some birthday money as well that we were going to put towards the purchase. During my online searching, I had come across lots of wagons which fell into different categories: dream wagons that just were out of our price range, really cool wagons that were kind of expensive and maybe within our price range, and awesome wagons that we could definitely afford. One of those dream wagons was the Step 2 Choo-Choo Wagon. To buy the base of the wagon would cost over $100. And then if we had a need for more than just 2 cars, we would have had to pay an additional $40 + tax + shipping for each car. Needless to say that wasn't happening. At least not until I decided to search Craigslist to see if I could find a deal on the wagon I had settled on. When I performed the search, there is was! Not just 1 but 2 Step 2 Choo-Choo Wagon! Each had a total of 4 cars meaning that they would retail for over $200 each. The asking price was $110 each, but I noticed they had been listed for a month and the seller had noted that they didn't have storage space for them and needed to move them quickly. So I decided to offer them a little less than their asking price for 1 of the wagons and see what happened. The wagon we had decided to buy would have cost us around $100, so if we could get this one, which was bigger and nicer, for that or less, I would feel like we had really scored. It turns out that the seller was a church daycare about a mile from our house, and they were willing to accept my offer. So E and I took our truck to the church and picked it up! And it has been the source of many smiles. We look forward to taking it on the greenway to the park and packing it in the car for trips to the zoo and other places. As you can see, it has plenty of room for E to bring along some friends.

So if you have been skeptical of Craigslist, take the plunge. Get on there and look around. You never know what you might find and what you could save!

Lessons I Have Learned - Saving Money at the Grocery Store

It is so hard to believe that we just celebrated my son's second birthday. (Pictures and a post about that will be coming soon!) As the anniversary of his birth approached, it was a natural time to begin reflecting on the past two years of our lives. Along with that reflecting, I have realized that J and I have learned so much and experienced so much with E over the past 2 years. It is truly amazing! I want to share some of those lessons with you over the coming weeks. One of the most frequent questions I get when when people ask me about being a stay at home mom is how we survive on one income. So that's why I am starting this series with a post about saving money at the grocery store.

When J and I made the decision that I would quit work and stay home with our son full time, we knew that meant that some things would have to change. We knew that any sacrifices we would have to make would certainly be worth it in the end because no one could care for our child the way that I could. But we also knew that there would not be as much disposable income as we had in the past, so we had to tighten our budget. One of the first places I started to look at was the food and grocery budget. We have never been a family to eat out very often, so there wasn't much change to be made in that area. The grocery portion of that line was a completely different story, however! Early in our marriage, I would go to the store without a list or a plan and would just buy whatever looked good at the time. That is a VERY dangerous way to shop! I could easily drop $100 or more on one trip to the store...and that was for 2 people! And I would also find myself stopping back by the grocery store every few days to pick up one or two ingredients because without a plan, I would inevitably need something else for whatever dish I planned to make.

I know folks who are really in to couponing and was referred to some blogs that show you where to get the best deals based on coupons and sales ads. I spent several days looking over those sights, but I never really got the hang of the lingo. And since we don't get the newspaper, unless a coupon is online, I don't have access to it. So I decided to take another approach...

I started planning our meals for the week and shopping the weekly sales ad for my local grocery stores! I found that creating a menu around items that were on sale (particularly the meat items on sale) really saved money. And going to the grocery store with a plan - list in hand to cover all of the ingredients needed to make each dish on the menu - really cut down on impulse buying and saved even more! And it eliminated all of those time consuming trips for one or two items several times a week (which incidentally provided more opportunities for impulse buying!).

We have quite a few favorites that I try to keep in the rotation on a regular basis, but I also try to introduce new dishes for us to try from time to time. Some of these are keepers and others are a one time affair. I also like to cook a lot of casseroles and things that yield leftovers for later in the week. This also cuts down on expense. In recent weeks, I have also started cooking one or two kinds of meat at the beginning of the week, and then turning that meat into different types of dishes as the week goes on. For example, a couple of weeks ago, I made a pork roast. We ate pork roast and vegetables one night. The next night we had bbq pork sandwiches. Then we had pork burritos. That one pork roast fed our family for the entire week, but it didn't feel like we were eating the same thing every night, and we all really enjoyed it! This will work with virtually any meat.

Here is what a typical menu might look like at our house:

Monday: Chicken pockets, mac and cheese, green beans
Tuesday: Baked spaghetti
Wednesday: Chicken pockets, green beans, carrots
Thursday: Baked spaghetti
Friday: Teriyaki chicken, teriyaki rice, broccoli
Saturday: Burritos
Sunday: Stir fry and rice

There would be leftovers from the stir fry, and that would carry over into the next week. We generally have sandwiches for lunch. And sometimes we find that leftovers carry over for more meals than expected, so I don't always make everything I had planned for the week. When that happens, I just push the meals back, and that means I buy less the next week.

Chicken pockets are great because the filling can be used for several meals. In a week where I use it only twice, there will typically be some left to freeze, which is always wonderful! They are very kid-friendly. It is one of the few mean dishes my 2-year-old will eat. I will share the recipe below.

Baked spaghetti is another easy dish because you can make the sauce ahead of time and freeze it. Then all you have to do is place it in the fridge the night before you plan to use it. It will be thawed by dinner time. You simply have to boil a few noodles, mix them together, add some cheese, add more cheese on top and throw it in the oven. I love meals like that for busy weeks! Of course crock pot meals are also great for that as well, but I will have to save that for another post.

By coming up with 10-12 recipes that your family really enjoys and rotating them, working with a menu can be super easy. And you can always feel free to add in a new recipe now and again. Variety is a good thing! So if you haven't ever tried this approach, I encourage you to take it for a test drive. Try it on for a couple of weeks and see how it fits your family. I believe you will see that it not only saves you money, but it also simplifies meal prep and reduces stress because you don't have to spend half an hour figuring out what you are going to fix before you can even begin cooking dinner. Happy meal planning and bon appetite!


Chicken Pockets

4 chicken breasts

1 t. salt

1 t. pepper

1 t. sage

1 t. thyme

1 t. garlic

8 oz. cream cheese

Refrigerated crescent rolls

Prehat oven to 350*. Mix together salt, pepper, sage, thyme, and garlic. Sprinkle over chicken. Bake until no longer pink, about 30 – 40 min. Place cream cheese in mixer and soften. Shred or chop chicken and add to cream cheese until combined completely. Open crescent rolls, keeping two triangles together (each can will make 4 rectangles). Place desired amount of chicken mixture onto each rectangle , then fold the rectangles over to make a pocket. Place pockets on a baking sheet and bake at 350* for 10 –15 min. (until golden brown). Serve hot. These can also be served with chicken gravy if desired.

The recipe makes a lot of chicken mixture. It can be kept in the refrigerator for several days or frozen to be used later.

A happy holiday season!

While there is no way to include all of the events in this post, I want to share with you some of the highlights from our holiday fun from Thanksgiving through the new year. Hopefully I will be able to keep up with things better this year and be a little more consistent with my posts!

While it is usually our practice to put up the Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving, we made an exception this year because we were expecting some special guests for that weekend, and we wanted to have our decorations in place to enjoy! While this is E's second Christmas, it is the first time he has really gotten involved with putting up the tree. He LOVED this activity (as he did pretty much every holiday activity...except for visiting Santa that is...more on that later)! We started trimming the tree by placing the star on top. We read a story about how the star is what led people to where the Christ child was and talked about how every time we see the star atop our tree, it will be a reminder to us that points us to Jesus, the reason we celebrate! After the star was in place, we added the rest. Somehow we forgot to take a picture of the finished product.

 

 

With decorations in place, we were ready to celebrate Thanksgiving and visit with our friends. Our Thanksgiving celebration started out with Mommy's side of the family. While the gathering was smaller than usual, the crowd still overwhelmed E a bit. He started out sitting quietly playing with Little People. Then he chowed down on a plate full of some of his favorite foods. Once his belly was full, he was ready to mingle and entertain. Everyone enjoyed him very much.

 

 

 

 

After a delicious lunch and a quick nap, we headed to Grammy and Papa S's house for time with some of Daddy's family. Little Cousin L wasn't there because she went to Florida to see Aunt J's family, but E's big boy cousins, D & Z were. E was so excited to see them and had great fun playing with them. We enjoyed some left overs for dinner that night, then we got up the next morning and headed to Oak Ridge for E's first train ride with the whole family. When we pulled into the parking lot and he saw the train tracks, he started saying, "I ride choo choo, I ride choo choo!" This went on (literally) until the train ride began! The three boys had a wonderful time on the trip, despite of the man who found it necessary to narrate the ENTIRE trip almost. He did get off the mic for the majority of the return trip, which we really appreciated.

The boys could hardly wait to board the train.

  

He continued saying, "I ride choo choo!" until the train ride began. Cousin D posing with part of the crew.

  

Z had a great time on the train. He loved watching the world pass by from the window. He is such a cutie!

 

Aunt B and D teach E to talk with his belly button near the end of the ride. At the end of the trip, the boys were able to blow the train whistle. They loved that!

 

 

After the train ride, we said goodbye to the family and headed home to get ready for some out of town guests. One of mommy's seminary roommates and her husband and little one were coming to stay with us as they passed through town. This was the first time E met any of them, and the first time J and I got to meet Baby P. It was a great visit, although we wish it could have lasted longer!

 

Cousins Cousins...So Much Fun!

E always enjoys getting to spend time with his cousins. In October (I know...I am WAY behind here), he had opportunities to see all 3 of his cousins! This is something that doesn't happen very often. He had a great time playing with them. Here are some pics of their time together...

The first weekend of the month, we met up with cousins D and Z at the apple Festival in Erwin. They had great fun together on the bounce houses.

Then the next weekend, all 4 of the cousins were together at Grammy's. We were able to get some pics of all of them together during our visit. As Aunt B said, herding feral cats would have been easier, but here are some of the best I captured.

E's First Vacation

On September 4th, we drove to Nashville and boarded a flight to Santa Anna, California to go visit E's Aunt S. Meow and Papaw joined us on our adventure. We spent 8 days on the West Coast visiting the San Diego Safari Park, San Diego Zoo, Hollywood, and of course, the beach.

Although he hadn't seen her since Christmas, E recognized his Aunt Sarah right away because he Skypes with her regularly. He was happy to finally meet Jasmine the cat and Dodger the dog, who he also visits with regularly on Skype. They played together all week.

E absolutely LOVED the zoo and safari park. He was delighted by all of the animals, and really enjoyed up close interactions with several of them. He got to help feed a giraffe and some lorakeets. Some ducks (definitely one of his absolute favorite animals) ate out of his hand. And he got to visit with some deer and goats in the petting zoo.

On the bus tour around the zoo, Aunt S would ask him what sound each animal made when we passed by. His answer was always the same: ROAR! He enjoyed watching the animals, but he also enjoyed watching the other boys and girls who had come to see the animals, too. He was also a fan of riding on Aunt S's shoulders and taking pictures with his very own camera.

The beach was an instant hit, too! Our first beach visit took us to Huntington Beach, also known as Surf City. He loved the sand, but once we reached the shore, he headed straight for the water. The Pacific might be colder than the Atlantic and the Gulf, but that didn't slow him down at all. In fact, Daddy had to hold him back to keep him from running right out into the surf. Daddy enjoyed watching the surfers, just waiting on one to bust. Mommy enjoyed looking for sea shells in the sand with E. We would make several more visits to the beach throughout the week, one of which was E's 18 month photo shoot with Aunt S's neighbor, M.

We took over 3,000 pictures during the week, a few too many to post here for sure. Especially since Blogger is not allowing me to upload them right now. But here's a link to an album that has some of the best ones from the week!

http://photos1.walmart.com/walmart/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3274197005/a=23886628_23886628/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=walmart/

It all started at the youth silent auction at church...

That's right. Back in the spring, the youth at our church had their annual silent auction to raise funds for their summer mission trip. I had almost forgotten about the auction. Luckily, we attend The Road service at church which meets in the Fellowship Hall instead of the sanctuary. When we walked in for service, I saw all of the auction items displayed and decided to give it a quick glance to see if there was anything I was interested in. And there it was...sitting behind an empty sheet (that's right - no one was bidding on it!) was a sewing machine. I had always been intimidated by the thought of sewing. It seemed like something that would present a bit more of a challenge that I was ready for. But a few weeks earlier, I had found instructions for making my own wrap to use for wearing/carrying E. And I could make it for only $20! That's a huge savings when you consider that the cheapest ones sell for upwards of $80 and the really nice ones over $100! Thanks to E's Great-Grandmother, Mamaw as we call her, who shares his birthday, I was able to stitch a piece of fabric together to reinforce its strength and my beautiful orange wrap was born. And my curiosity for sewing was sparked. What I had always thought looked so intimidating was actually not that hard and kind of fun! I mean, how cool is it to take a plain ol' piece of fabric and transform it into something useful and beautiful!? After that day with Mamaw, I told J that I might like to have a sewing machine for Christmas. I knew it was something we would need to save for, so I didn't want to rush it...

But there she sat. No bids. I could set the price. Knowing it was a youth fundraiser, I didn't want to "steal" it, but I knew we didn't have much money to spare that month since we were saving for vacation. J and I talked it over and decided to bid $25. I know it doesn't seem like much. But it was a used machine. And getting $25 was better than getting $0, right? We left that afternoon knowing the auction had several hours to go and wondering if anyone else would take interest in this little gem. Oh how relieved I was to find out that no one else was interested in the machine. I immediately started searching for free patterns and sewing ideas online. Even though I got a great deal on the machine, I had to have some material and instructions to use it. But I knew my spending money was limited. E and I hopped in the car on Monday and headed to church to pick up my new toy. Then we went straight to Hobby Lobby to get some fabric remnants. I came home and started making bookmarks. Yes, you read that correctly. I made over a dozen bookmarks. And then I decided to experiment with some appliqués. My friend Sarai has a small business where she makes items for babies and children. Her stuff is sooo cute! One of the things that she makes is a cute onesie with a neck tie appliqué. She also makes adorable fabric embellished burp cloths as well as appliquéd bibs. My cousin D's baby shower was coming up and I needed a gift. So I went to Wal-Mart and found some cute fabric that had a butterfly paisley print. I picked up some coordinating ribbon and started experimenting. After a few hours of work, I had 2 burp cloths AND a cute bib with a "K," the first letter of her daughter's name. And I had a neck tie onesie for E. Then I decided to continue experimenting to see what other appliqués I could create. Fortunately I have two nephews and a niece which made excellent recipients for my early works.

After practicing on some gifts for them, I decided this was something I could do. And Sew You Needle Little Gift was born. My product selection is growing every week, and so far I have had 6 orders. And my "shop" has only been public for about 2 weeks! If you haven't had a chance to check it out yet, you should take a moment to visit http://sewyouneedlelittlegift.blogspot.com/. I am excited about the possibilities it holds and praying that it will take off soon. It is a great way for me to continue to stay home with our precious little boy while still making a financial contribution to the family. And it is something that I am really enjoying, which is great! I created several cute fall items this week including some football, Halloween and Thanksgiving themed appliqués. I am hoping to work on some Christmas items soon as well, so check back often to see what's new. There are even some reusable sandwich bags in the works. Who knows what I will come up with next!

Blueberry Fun

Blueberries are one of E's favorite foods. Being outside is one of E's favorite places to be. So we decided that blueberry picking would be a wonderful activity for our family! So we headed just down the road to a local farm to see what he would do.

He wasted no time tasting these beautiful blue beauties.

We picked for about half of an hour. Mommy and Daddy picked just over a pound of berries. We will never know how many E picked because all of them ended up in his belly. He definitely enjoyed this activity, even though his bucket was empty at the end of the evening!

With a full belly, we headed up to the house to pay for our produce.

He enjoyed blueberry picking so much that we decided to go picking two more times at two other blueberry patches in the area. We have brought home about 6 pounds of berries, some of which we have eaten and some that we have put in the freezer to enjoy this winter.

We will definitely be making a visit to the berry patch an annual excursion!