Thrifty Thursday: Clothes Mentor

Clothes Mentor is a national women's clothing consignment store. In addition to clothing, they have shoes, jewelry, and bags. Everything is neatly displayed and extremely organized. They only accept clothes in very good condition that are currently in style (typically purchased within 1-2 years) and prefer name brands. The selection and prices are great. Most of their items are name brands: Gap, Express, Ann Taylor, J Crew, Talbots, Banana Republic, The Limited, and many more. I visited a local store over the weekend for the first time to check it out and fell in love! I splurged and bought lots of stuff. After almost 2 hours of shopping and trying on, I walked out of the store with all name brand clothing including 4 pairs of pants, 14 tops (short & long sleeved & a few sweaters), a sweater dress, 3 necklaces, and a pair of earrings. Grand total: $209

Now that's a deal and a whole lot of fun saving hundreds of dollars!!! Click here to find a Clothes Mentor near you and then get your keys and treat yourself to a few new cute things! :) 

Thrifty Thursday - Grocery Budget

I was recently asked about my grocery budget, so I thought I would share about it for today's Thrifty Thursday post. If you would like to view my previous post about meal planning and grocery shopping, click here.  I live on a very strict grocery budget and I don't go over it! This helps me to prioritize what I buy and when and doing my best not to let food go bad before I use it. Meal planning really cuts down on my grocery expenses and also keeps me accountable for buying what is on my list. I always make a detailed list before I shop and very seldom buy things that aren't on the list. The kids know this and are over the moon when I bring home a surprise special treat! So how do I stretch my food dollar? Here are some of my strategies:

• I buy very few prepackaged food items.
• I stick to the outer perimeter of the store as much as possible. This means I am focusing on whole foods, which are healthier and more substantial. 
• I buy things in bigger packages to get a better price per unit and then divide them up into smaller serving sizes for lunches and snacks.
• I don't allow my kiddos to control what goes on the list. Although they do have some input. 
• We don't eat meat on a daily basis. 

I feel like we eat like kings and definitely splurge on many things. I always buy organic chicken and 95% lean ground beef. I buy lots of fresh produce, many times organic and homegrown. We eat fresh produce at least once a day. I buy expensive fortified cereal but only when it's on sale. Every month I buy a can of all-natural whey protein for my daily smoothies. I buy Greek yogurt. My new personal favorite that I treat myself to once or twice a month - organic, dry roasted cashews. SO delicious!! :) 

My food budget.................. $400 maximum a month. I am so excited because I came in at $390 for the month and I still have a fully stocked kitchen for another week or so. 

Thrifty Thursday: Valentine's Birthday Party

This year I decided to do something different to celebrate the kids' birthdays with my family. Three separate family parties just seemed too overwhelming this year. So I decided to shake things up and see how it went. The kids' birthdays are in August, October, and April. I chose to wait until after the holidays and do a valentines themed party. It was a blast!! The kids loved it, my family had a good time, and it gave us a special opportunity to get together after we all recovered from the holidays. We were festive and all wore red for the occasion (and so if you dripped spaghetti sauce on your shirt no one would notice :). It helped me to keep things simple and celebrate on a budget while enjoying the preparations and the party.

So let's get down to dollars and cents! There were 16 people at the party including 4 kiddos. The menu was spaghetti, meatballs, bread, salad, and cupcakes. I accepted help from guests who brought the salad, bread, and some drinks. In addition to the food that I bought, I also picked up some decorations, plates, cups, and silverware from the Dollar Store. Including the cute cupcake display below. The kids and I had fun making and decorating the cupcakes!

          

So for under $45, we had three birthday parties in one great celebration! We sang to each one of the kids separately so they could each enjoy their own birthday song. This will definitely go down in our memory books and may become a new family tradition.

                          

Thrifty Thursday: Free Activities in Buffalo

Below is the link for the Fun 4 Kids in Buffalo website. It is a great site that includes countless activities for children and families in Buffalo. There is even a separate tab just for free events. You can also sign up and receive a monthly email newsletter which includes numerous free and very low cost events. Check it out!!

http://www.fun4kidsinbuffalo.com/

Thrifty Thursday: The Library

Today's Thrifty Thursday post reveals a hidden gem that is often forgotten.................. the library. I LOVE the library! I could spend an entire day in my city's downtown library, literally because they have a cafe. :) Over the years, I have utilized the library quite a bit because there are so many resources and opportunities to be had and the best part is IT'S FREE!! That word always catches my attention. For me, the most challenging aspects of the library are deciding which materials to actually take out because I could easily come home with half the library and remembering to return the items on time. If those are my biggest struggles, I'd say I'm doing alright! My children also love the library and it is a big treat when we go. It is a big privilege when my kids can get their own library card. Ella and Mya have their own and they think it is very cool to check things out on their very own cards. Of course we have checked out books of all types. I really like getting holiday and specialty books for the kids to read around the time of a special event. They also really enjoy checking out movies, music and books on CD. Those are my favorite items. They are things that I don't buy for myself, so it is great to have free access to them. I love to read, but don't have the time to always sit down and enjoy a book. The wonderful thing about a book on CD is I can listen to it while I am doing chores or driving, both of which I spend lots of time doing. I have copied many of the CDs we have borrowed onto my itunes account and then transferred them to my ipod or burned them to CD. Almost daily my children listen to stories on my ipod while doing different activities, most of which came from the library. The library also offers many free children, adult, and family programs. The library is a wonderful place for mom to sneak off to when she has a little time to herself. You have access to lots of different media, it's free, and best of all it's quiet! It's a great winter activity and provides wonderful quality time with your family that is so educational for the kiddos!

Thrifty Thursday: Meal Planning & Shopping

Thrifty Meal Planning and Grocery Shopping

I have found that the key to sticking to my grocery budget, being able to afford lots of healthy, quality foods, and making sure I have enough food for a variety of dinner meals, I need to plan my meals in advance, make a detailed grocery list, and stick to it. I often clip coupons if they are things that I will actually buy. I leave the ones that would just add things to my list. I often use the weekly sale flyer to plan my meals. I usually shop once a week. I like to plan 2 weeks of dinners at a time. I plan them for specific days, but often switch around the days as we go. I am not a fancy eater or cook, so most of our meals are quick and easy, and as nutritious as possible. I don't plan breakfasts or lunches because those are usually the same types of things: breakfast - cereal, oatmeal, fruit; lunch - sandwiches, fruit, yogurt. I also very seldom eat out. Thankfully these methods help me to stay on a strict grocery budget, buy lots of organic and fresh produce, buy all organic chicken and the lowest fat beef, and still have some left over for a treat or two :) 

So how do I do it?

I have a pad of paper that has each day of the week written on it. I divide the pad in half and label on side "dinners" and the other side "things to do". The dinner is the meal for that day and the things to do is what I need to do that day to prepare for a day or days ahead to make my life easier. I then plan my weekly shopping list from that and don't veer from the list. Below is an example of my 2 week meal plan.

                                  Dinner                                                      To Do

Sunday                      Beef in crockpot                                        Defrost pureed squash                                 

                                  w/ egg noodles & carrots                           Defrost chicken for Tues

Monday                    Banana pancakes w/ pureed squash,          Make double batch & freeze

                                  & 2 scoops of protein powder, fruit,          Marinate chicken for tomorrow

                                  yogurt, milk

Tuesday                    Baked Chiavetta's chicken, brown             Make double chicken & freeze

                                  rice, carrots & peppers w/ ranch dip

                                  applesauce, milk 

Wednesday              Leftovers from Sunday                               Defrost chicken for Fri

Thursday                 At Nana & Papa's - cheese ravioli,

                                 meatballs, garlic bread, milk

Friday                      Lemon chicken, brown rice, veggies w/

                                 dip, corn, fruit, milk

Saturday                 Grilled cheese, veggies w/ dip, yogurt,

                                fruit & protein smoothie

Sunday                    "Buffet" - any leftover dinners plus food that     Defrost chicken breast for tomorrow

                                 we have extra of. The kids LOVE this & they

                                 pick little bits of lots of different things

Monday                   Kids w/ Dad, I eat leftover chicken

Tuesday                   Pita pizzas, veggies w/ dip                               Defrost beef for tomorrow

Wednesday              Beef tacos w/ whole wheat shells,                   Make double beef & freeze

                                  veggies, dip

Thursday                  At Nana & Papa's - cheese ravioli,

                                 meatballs, garlic bread, milk

Friday                      Turkey wraps, veggies, fruit, milk

Saturday                  Kids w/ Dad

Sunday                    Kids w/ Dad

** During the weekends that the kids are gone, I usually don't cook unless the mood really strikes me :) I eat leftovers, cereal, or get together with people to share a meal. **

                                

Thrifty Thursday

This is a great store for gently used children's clothes. They are very specific about the items they accept, so the quality of the clothing is very high. I have gotten many items with the original tags still on them. Many brand names: Gap, Polo, Old Navy, Carters, and on and on. They have everything from shoes to toys to baby furniture. You can also bring in your gently used clothes and toys and they will buy them from you. I haven't actually paid for many clothes for my children in the past 2 years because I bring in a box of old clothes and trade them for new clothes. Love it!!

Check out their website

Thrifty Thursday

All moms are always looking for a deal, especially those of us on a very limited budget! I can't remember the last time I paid full price for clothing. I have 7 great coupons for Dicks Sporting Goods that I am giving away. 3 - $10 off any purchase of $50 or more, 2 - $10 off any pair of athletic footwear of $59.99 or more, and 2 - 20% off any regular-price athletic apparel item. All you have to do is share my blog (easy link to do it on the right side of the page) and my Facebook page on your Facebook page. The first seven people to do this will get a coupon. I will mail it to you asap. Leave me a message on the Facebook page or comment on the blog to let me know you shared.