Woah I need to blog more

I am really trying hard to make time for blogging. Okay so I haven't been great... almost a year but hey i've got a lot to blog about now!

So i've been thrifting thrifting thrifting. I just dont understand how people can survive without buying second hand. Here is Miss Baby in the cutest outfit ever. A total of $1.50 how can you go wrong. (Don't mind her red cheeks she's sick :(   )

Please ignore the playroom mess behind her!

I've also been upcycling some corks while i've been neglecting this blog!

 

Yes folks I love wine and yes i've drank all these bottles :)

Hubby was so sweet to cut out the D and I hot glued corks to it.

Now it lives on our  mantel.

 

The First Step is Admitting You Have a Problem...

Hi my name is Ashley and im obsessed with saving money at drugstores.

There wheww I said it. Okay now I can get on with my blog.

It took my body a full 24 hours to stop rejecting food. Once I felt 100% myself I decided to use up some of my February coupons.

I went to CVS and Walgreens today. I got all this for a whooping $12.22. Not bad since the diapers alone would have cost me $10 and the toliet bowl cleaner was originally $10.00

Huggies Diapers $5.00

Two packages of mini eggs and hershey kisses $5.00 (I can't help it im obsessed with them so when they're on sale for around $2.00 I can't resist.

Toilet Bowl Cleaner Free

Hair Dye for my mom $.99

Wipe board for the fridge .75 (75% off clearance)

As I was walking out of CVS I saw a free cart. Of course I had to go by and look. I grabbed these plastic bags thinking they were cute and i could do something with them next year for the kids at school. After I got home I saw that they all had ziploc tops. Im going to use them for my snacks in my lunches. Hey who cares if they're valentine's day they were free.

Not bad for a Tuesday shopping trip!

Sunday Savings, Snow, and Sickness

I am finally on February vacation! Vacations are the second reason I love teaching.
Miss Baby and I love to spend time together!

Even while we play peek a boo with daddy who is trying to paint the trim in the living room. (Living room redo pictures to come.)

We had our second storm of the season in NH this weekend. Miss Baby, and I bundled up and headed out to play in the snow.

I think our black lab Bailey was having more fun than she was.

She didn't really like her sled ride either.

Maybe it was because of the huge snowsuit I put her in. Anyone thinking of A Christmas Story right about now :)

We did our typical Sunday routine. We hit up CVS, Walgreens, and Shaws. We got some great savings, I just love couponing!

Now we are home and everyone is cuddled in bed. Hubby suddenly got sick as a dog this afternoon. I hope it is not the Norwalk virus! Have a wonderful week!

A Great Valentine's Day Gift and a Challenge

My mom for Valentine's Day gave me a $5.00 gift card to Rite Aid. Her and my father laughed and said I could make that $5.00 into $50.00. So I figured what the hell why not give it a try.

Miss Baby snuck into the background. Isn't her little pink wool sweater cute with that blue turtleneck. Her whole outfit cost about a $1.00. That's my thrifty girl.

The toothpaste was $3.50 but i got $3.50 in uprewards to use later

The hair mouse was 50% off so it was 3.49. I had a $3.00 coupon off so it was $.49

The lotion was $2.99 with $2.00 in uprewards to use later and I had a $1.00 coupon off.

My coupons weren't ringing in the register was having an issue. So I could have made $1.00 but the other coupon never rang through correctly.

Total: $5.98

Total Back in register rewards $5.50

So I spent $.48 cents of my gift card :)

What a lovely Thrifting Day

Miss Baby and I left Fairview Ave this morning to give hubby some time to install my new closet system for all of my thrifted clothes :) Miss Baby had gotten $2.00 from her GG (Great Gramie) for Valentine's Day and we were going to put it to good use.

I bet I could have had other finds; but thrifting with a 1 year old is pure sport not pleasure. Chasing her and breezing through clothes on the way is not the most thorough way of thrifting.

Miss Baby got:

• 8 pieces of clothing for $2.00. All from Children's Place, Osh Kosh, and Gymboree.


• 4 board books for $1.00


• 5 brand new pairs of kids socks for $1.00


• (Not Pictured)Regalo bed rails for when she's older for $5.00

I got:

• A sweater from Bass .50

Total $9.50. I would say Miss Baby put her Valentine's $2.00 to good use.

I also took over two huge buckets of clothes that Miss Baby had outgrown to the thrift store in plymouth. I came back with $86.00 in cash and $67.00 in store credit. It was nice to spend some time with my mom and make money in the process!

Getting Old...

I can tell we're getting older. Hubby and I were offered a night out tonight without miss baby, we hemmed and hawed and finally both agreed we would rather stay home with our favorite girl and have chicken pot pie and a glass of wine. Wow back in the day we would have been out whooping it up any chance we got!

This weekend my parent came up, we celebrated my dad's 100 days from his bone marrow transplant! I also got to do some couponing and thrifting!

I found some thrifty clothes for Miss Baby at a $1.00 a piece

My mom came up and gave Miss Baby this little people Ark she found at the dump after a hot soak in some water and bleach I thought this was quite a deal since they retail around $30.00

Mom also came up with some left over valentines and a learn to read kit for my kiddos at school.

I got all this ( and another bag of pb M&Ms that never made it to this picture) for $9.00. Pretty good considering the diapers alone retail for $9.00. And that is 216 wipes behind the diapers. We will have a clean baby butt for a while!

Miss Baby is keeping us on our toes, she is walking now ( more like running) and nothing is safe in our house. Peek a boo behind our bar in the basement is her new favorite game.

Saturday Sales

So Here are my two fabulous finds today at the grocery store. I have to laugh because they are both not food related.

For a whopping $1.75 this is what I got

Glade Apple and Cinnamon Candle 3.99 50% off 2.00 and then I had a .75 coupon that Shaws doubles to $1.50 candle was $.25

Cover Girl mascara $9.99 was 75% off. That brought it down to $2.49 and I had a $1.00 coupon off which brought it to 1.49.

So for less than a dunkin donuts coffee I can have a nice smelling house and beautiful eye lashes.

Miss Baby is up from her nap. (isn't her little purple track suit cute?? Second hand of course and perfect because i have to pry her away from crawling on the treadmill) We are off to get our free fribble at Friendlys.Happy Saturday!

A Nice Change

So usually in the mail we pretty much get bills. Junk mail and bills. But look what we got in the mail today....

No bills, no junk mail!

I had admired a friend's toiletries bag after going away for a night together. She explained her mom had the website and would get me the information. Low and behold in my mail ended up this beautiful bag with my name embroidered on it. What a wonderful surprise. My friend's mom is so sweet and truly delightful. She lives in Virginia and whenever she comes up she is just so sweet.

My best friend also sent me coupons. You know you have the best friend in the world when she sends you coupons.

Hardcore Thrifter...Thrifts in Below Freezing Temperatures

Today was cold... really cold. But I was having withdrawals from doggie thrift store which i hadn't been to in forever! So while Miss Baby got her beauty sleep, hubby let me sneak out. I was bundled up like an Eskimo off to thrift.



The thrift store was packed! I guess everyone else decided to brave the elements too! The thrift store was picked clean but I managed to spend a whooping $7.25.

Brand New Neutralizer Mary Janes $2.00

Hubby and I love board games to play in front of the fire in the winter.Battleship was $1.00

Picture Frame. I love that it looks like bead board im going to paint it a crisp white $2.00Red

Turtle Neck I think the brand is Dry Goods it is so soft and i love that it is stretchy $2.00

A book for Miss Baby $.25

As I was checking out I had a great conversation with the woman volunteering about how frugality is in right now. I explained to her that I was thrifting before it was cool.

I hope everyone is staying warm im sitting in front of my pellet stove with the hubby Im blogging while he watches The Patriots. I've perfected ducking from his impromptu arm flails and jumping around. Good thing Miss Baby is a heavy sleeper :)

Snow Day

There is only one phone call I like getting before 7 am and that's the snow day phone call. I've never been so happy to hear the superintendent's voice on the phone.

Miss Baby had a little touch of the flu last night and is on the mend. So we decided to relax in our jammies today and get some stuff done around the house and play.

The hubby put up the chalk board and Miss Baby loves it. We are going to frame it out soon. Today I also made another drop cloth pillow and came to this understanding...

Im alwful at sewing and it's sad that I have to use liquid stitch to get through one pillow. It looks great just dont look to close :)

Big CVS Savings whoot whoot

So I decided to get back in the swing of couponing. After seeing a fellow couponer in Walmart this morning I forgot how much I miss it. So i grabbed the paper cut my coupons and ran to CVS this afternoon. This is what I got:

4 Hershey Bars for $2.00 (I bought two for a $1.00 a piece and then had two bogo coupons)

4 Suave deoderants $2.00 ( they were on sale for $1.00 a piece and I had 2 $1.00 off two coupons)

Xmas kisses on sale $.74 for two bags (clearance for $.87 cents a piece and had a $1.00 off two coupon)

Hair Dye $1.99 (clearance for $4.99 had a $3.00 off one coupon)

Hallmark Recordable The Night Before Christmas Book $5.49. It was on clearance for $7.49 but had a 2 register reward

Grand Total: $11.84

Saved: $45.32

I saved about 80%... Oh couponing how i missed you :)

New Year Projects

Im linking up to debbie dos party!! http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/

Miss Baby, the Mr., and I had a wonderful visit with my parents today! It was so nice to see them. Of course the topic of house projects for the year came up!

So with the start of the new year of course I have some new year's house projects I would like to do.

Miss Baby for her first birthday got alot of really fun magnets. Unfortunately where the fridge is positioned she is constantly in the way while I cook dinner when she is playing with them. The Mr. is going to get a piece of metal tomorrow we are going to spray it with chalk board paint and frame it. It is going to go here:

My next small project is going to be to sew more of these pillows: I made them from drop cloths and I really like them. Durable, simple, and cute.

I caught Miss Baby in the tub last night. She was a tad surprised can you tell?

Before and After pictures to come!

My New Year's Resolution... Is to blog more!

Okay after my 4 months + hiatus i've decided im going to blog more! Miss Baby and I had a chat and we decided that we just need to be much more diligent taking pictures and blogging. We love to read all of your blogs so we need to do a better job at updating this one!

This week has been a blur.. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Miss Baby's 1st Birthday, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, and Miss Baby's first birthday party. Wheww we are exhausted but happy. This year the holidays were harder than ever. We didn't get to see Gramie and Pepe Dupuis because Miss Baby had a cold and Pepe can't be around anyone sick. Well we are on the mend and can't wait to see them soon! Here are some pictures of Miss Baby's first Christmas and birthday. (We are just not a photogenic family ... sorry)

This year has been one hell of a year but im excited to see what 2012 brings us. I know for me it will be alot of home improvement projects ;)

This is what $18.75 got me today!

Miss Baby and I are enjoying our last days of summer by thrifting them away! I have to return back to work on Tuesday :( boo. We went to two of our favorite thrift stores today and got this loot: Sorry the picture is not that great!

• 2 new magazines July/Aug 2011 .50 a piece


• A workbook for my kiddos .50


• 2 packages of pencils 1 was .25 1 was .50


• 3 bibs $1.00 a piece


• 1 fisher price toy for Miss Baby $2.00


• 3 picture frames one was $1.00 two were $.50


• 2 brand new packages of diaper genie trash bags brand new! (this was a super exciting deal for me I got them for $1.50 a piece at walmart I pay $6.00 a piece!)


• Nuby sippy cup for $.50 also an exciting deal because these retail for 5-6$$ a piece


• 3 onsies $1.00 a piece


• 2 pairs of pants for Miss Baby .25 each


• Express Pants the Editor fit 1.00


• Brand new banana republic shirt with tags still on it 2.00

What a great deal!!

I also am still doing ebay and making $$$$. I found brand new in their package magic mesh screen doors. I didn't know what they were I googled them www.buymagicmesh.com and saw that they retail for $20.00 plus 7.00 shipping. I found them on ebay selling for $34.00. So I am ebaying those babies. Hubby has stopped complaining about me bringing home things from the dump anymore... I knew it wouldn't take long :)

Digging In The Dump Store

Miss Baby had a fabulous overnight at her grammie and Pepe's house over at http://acornhollow.blogspot.com/ this weekend. So while she was off having fun I decided to shop the dump store on Sunday morning. Not much there. But here is what I did find: Of course the price was right being FREE :)

• 
  Brand New with the plastic wrap still on it Skateboarding game. Im going to donate it to our auction at school the kids will love it.




• An adorable Tails book for Miss Baby




• A coloring book with only two pages colored in.




• Christmas book




• An old trading spaces book but I love to look at the pictures for decorating ideas.

Also in this picture is my other thrifty buy from last Christmas. This tablecloth was 75% off after Christmas at TJ Maxx. I paid $2.00 for it. I don't think it looks christmassy so I use it year round. I always scour the after christmas deals sometimes you find things that are not christmassy that are great deals!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Princesses, Parties, Preused Toys, and Pressure Treated Decks.

Wow August 20th already! Wheww what a summer! Miss Baby sure was on the go a lot! We went to StoryLand for the first time! Miss Baby sure did love Cinderella!

We also went to a few birthday parties for Miss Baby's friends and did some yard saling

Here are our recent yard sale finds.

For $3.00 I couldn't pass up this stand and play toy. It comes apart so Miss Baby can play with it now.

I also bought a toy that sticks to the table for .50 shorts for myself from Nike $1.00 and a box of pencils for my kids at school $1.00
Hubby and my father also built us a brand new deck his summer!! It is beautiful I promise there will be pictures to come, it was also a thrifty build! (well as thrifty as a deck can be!) My last thrifty find was this old garden hoe. For $20.00 I thought it was cute. It dresses up my dead plants. (I'll work on gardening next summer ;) )

Im linking up to Rhoda's party at
www.southernhospitalityblog.com

A Thrifting We Will Go

So Miss Baby and I went to the doggy thrift store today and spent a whopping $1.75

.50 for a book to hopefully help me to organize

.75 for four small containers. Perfect size for Miss Baby's homemade baby food

.50 for two small baby toys

Miss Baby got to spend some time with her best friend at the park yesterday. We had a great time strolling around town in this double stroller.

We are hitting some yard sales tomorrow... we'll let you know what we find!

Wipe your baby's butt with this

$.74 for this ....I love walgreens. They were on sale for $2.49 I used .75 off 1 manufacturer coupon and 1 walgreens $1.00 off one tub and that's how i got them for .74. Im sure you're just as excited as I am :)

Dump Shopping, Baby Food Makin' Kinda Day

Hello there! I've got some great treasures to share with you from our favorite place.. THE DUMP !

Miss Baby and I were out Kalouping this morning. She drove us in her little red wagon.

Miss Baby and I took a visit to our local recycling center and found some great stuff. A ton of clothes from J Crew and H&M for our friend who is a skinny mini and some great clothes for her son from Old Navy about 12 pieces in all. Our loot included this fabulous wool jacket from JCrew. Our pile has clothing pieces ranging from skirts to dresses and tops. I also found a candle stick with a price tag of $13.95 from Pier One. A couple of magazines, and a bath toy from carters for miss baby.

The pictures were taken hastily it was lunch time for Miss Baby and when that girl wants to eat she wants to eat NOW. After Miss Baby settled down for a snooze to dream about all of our great finds, i steamed some fruits and pureed them. Baby food is way to expensive and I like to know what my kiddo is eating so that is my frugal mom attempt. Im glad the heat has broken maybe I can attempt to do one of projects on my to do list.

Busy Busy Bee

Hey there blog friends I am still alive I promise! Things have been busy here on Fairview Ave. Miss Baby and I have been spending alot of time doing this: Playing outside with Bailey, and swimming.

We also have been doing alot of home improvements lately. When my foot decided to fall through the decking hubby convinced me it was time to put new decking down. Let me tell you he got the motherload of all deals, he got all the banisters, spindles, railing pieces (composite decking) an $1100 for $68 on clearance. I think my frugalness is rubbing off on him! Here is the before.... The after is soon to come!

I did have a chance to hit up the dump today. Now im a tad bit upset. This dump picking thing is a new trend. Let me tell you i've been picking the dump for years and have never seen it this busy! Here is what I got today: No its not a webber but its in damn good condition. I had to crawl alittle into the metal pile and I may need a new tetanus shot in my hand but it was worth it. Miss Baby also got some new books at the dump store. I wiped them down with clorax wipes and they're good to go. I may keep the Easter one for her Easter basket next spring. It looks brand new!

Well I'll leave you with a picture of my thrifty fourth of July decorations. I bought them at yard sales last year. Aren't they cute??