December Challenge: Organizing a Kitchen Cupboard

My Kitchen cupboards are generally pretty organised, there was one however that was a complete disaster. Our problem is that we saved way too many disposable containers, they come in handy when packing snacks for our kids, but we had about 20 too many.

Here is the before:

...and the after:

Ahhhh much better!

Boxing Day....Sales?

I was so excited about boxing day today that I woke up at 4:30 am and couldn't go back to sleep. I have been planning this day for the past month and set aside a good chunk of money to get things for my family and I. The stores in the mall opened up at 8am, so I made sure to get us all there by 7:45am, Old Navy was giving away a Kodak underwater camera to the first chunk of customers and I wanted one. When we got to Old Navy at 7:45am the doors were already open and a good amount of people were already in there shopping. Turns out this was the only store in the mall that opened up at 6am, we missed the camera giveaway but we did get two free fleece blanks which came in handy when my oldest daughter and I fell asleep on the couch later in the day.

The deals in Old Navy were OK, we found even better deals online the previous day though. Many of the stores seemed to have the same sales that they did before Christmas, and for some things like Pot of Gold chocolate I could have gotten it cheaper with a coupon (now expired) two weeks or so ago. The only other store I picked up anything from was La Senza, their panties seem to only have a lifespan of one year, so I desperately needed some new ones, I don't know if I'm just being cheap, but I think the 9 for $30 I paid was a little too much for a "sale".

This boxing day was officially a let down for us, we picked up very few clothing items for the kids and only one or two things from our long list of things we needed for our home. I wonder how well other people did today with the sales and if they fared better than we did. I'm hoping that the upcoming January sidewalk sales will be better, I remember last year we really cleaned up, it was great.

How We Save and Spend

According to the banks Canada is on the cusp of going through another recession, according to the government we aren't. I have to say right now I agree with the banks, it's not hard to see that our economy could be doing much better and that good well paying jobs are hard to come by, families are struggling with low paying jobs and higher prices at the grocery store. Corporations and government are pushing us to buy to get the economy going, but our pennies here and there are nothing compared to the reckless government spending that needs to stop to really make the difference.

Oops I've gone off on a bit of a tangent, this post isn't about the government, it's about surviving and thriving during a possible recession. My husband and I use to be poor, so poor that we couldn't afford to buy cheese for the first two years of our marriage and had to be really creative when planning a date. Those were hard times, and I honestly think we suffered way more financially then we really had to, although there are more ways to save money now than ever before. I could talk all day about how to save money and live a better life, but for the sake of putting my thoughts into one entry I'll just list off a few things.

1) Use Coupons! These things are everywhere (especially for you Americans). You can find coupons in newspapers, order them online and have them mailed to your door, print them out from your computer, call up your favourite company rave about their products and see if they will send you coupons....etc. Coupons are no longer just for food and deodorant, you can get coupons for museums, attractions, oil changes and the list goes on. Using coupons was our first step in saving money, over time it really makes a difference.

2) Getting Cheap Clothing - For our children there are a few different things we do to save money on clothing. We go to thrift stores, kids swap meets which for us seems to give us more for a lot less than the thrift store, and  also garage sales for used clothing. If we need something that we weren't able to find second hand or just want to buy a few new items for the kids we go to Gymboree when they are having one of their many sales (their quality is amazing, almost guaranteeing it will be passed down from oldest to youngest), Old Navy and GAP clearance sections and every other store on boxing day. My husband and I don't go through clothes nearly as fast as two toddlers, but we have the same shopping habits when it comes to buying clothes (generally), we just do it less frequently.

3) Saving Money at the Grocery Store - Besides using coupons there are other ways to get a deal at the grocery store. Many times food that is about to expire either that day or the next has a 30-50% off sticker on it. If you have a freezer (which I highly recommend and many times can be obtained free from craigslist) you can throw so many things in it. Milk freezes well, so does cheese, butter, bread.....etc, there is no reason to pay full price for these things all the time. Ask the manager or supervisor when your grocery store does their markdowns so you can be there to catch the good stuff (assuming you're like me and don't have a paying job).

4) Vacations - I love vacations, although who doesn't?! Since we are not rolling in cash we have to be very careful with what we do on our vacations. As it stands now, if we want to go on a vacation every year it means no flying. Plane tickets, airport tax and little things like taxis and buses from spot to spot is just beyond our budget right now, so we do road trips. We save for each vacation starting a year in advance, we may not know where we will be going or for how long, but getting away from it all is incentive enough. All of our coins, well I should be saying my coins since my husband only uses his credit card go in a "vacation" jar, so does the money from bottle returns, any mail in rebates or things we sell on craigslist or at a swap meet. When our kids get a  little older I'd like to take them to Disney Land, I don't know if our financial situation will improve or God forbid get worse so I'm saving now, not in the way of money, but in airmiles. Airmiles is a great rewards program, it's free to join and lately more and more stores are apart of the airmiles program including Toys r Us and Michaels.

I have a lot more to talk about when it comes to saving money, so stay tuned :-).

Recipe: Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes

I found this recipe in an issue of  "Today's Parent", I made it for my daughter's second birthday a while back and she loved it, it was literally all over her face.

Ingredients:

Cupcakes

1/2 Cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2/3 Cup boiling water

1 1/2 Cup all purpose flour 

1 Cup white sugar

2 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 Cup vegetable oil

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 Large bag of "Rolo" chocolate or something similar

Icing

3 tbsp Butter at room temperature

1 3/4 Cup icing sugar

1/4 Unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tbsp milk

1 tbsp Vanilla

Directions:

Preheat Oven to 350 F.

In a large bowl, whisk cocoa with boiling water until no lumps remain.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour with sugar, baking powder with salt.

Whisk oil into slightly cooled cocoa mixture, then whisk in eggs and vanilla. 

Stir in flour mixture until combined. The mixture will be very thick.

Spoon batter into paper lined muffin cups. 

Bake until batter is barely set, approx 8-10 minutes.

Remove partially baked cupcakes and push pieces of  chocolate into the center. 

Bake for another 8-10 minutes, then set on cooling rack. 

For the icing beat butter in a large bowl.

Whisk icing sugar with cocoa to remove lumps. 

Beat into butter, alternating with milk. 

Beat in vanilla until icing is smooth. 

Enjoy!!

Today's Income

Today I had an etsy sale. Wahooo. It was a small sale, but a sale is a sale and I'm happy people are buying my stuff. The item(s) bought were a set of four polymer clay mushroom charms for $2.60. A thank you goes out to the buyer in Texas.

Today's Income

I've decided that anytime I make money from home I'm going to keep a record of it, no matter how small the number. Today I sold a stroller weather shield on craigslist for $10. It was actually the one thing I was expecting not to sell, but hey I'm not complaining. As a family we've decided that any craigslist sales along with bottle returns and things that my husband sells to his friends are going straight to our "summer savings account", so that we can have a little freedom when choosing our family vacation.

*To add to today's total, my husband sold $84 worth of stuff to some people he knows, one of whom owns a working farm, he has happily agreed to barter our items for his fresh produce, this will really come in handy in the summer!*

Making Money When You Don't Have a Job

So how do people make money while being a stay at home parent? I've been doing a few things, and I'm sure I could be doing more, slowly but surely it'll happen. Since October I've opened up my own etsy shop, selling kids/ kid inspired jewelry. By no means is business booming, but it gives me a great feeling that a few people are interested in things I'm making, it's also a few extra dollars that I wouldn't have had otherwise. 

This month I've been selling things on craigslist and my husband has been selling some things to a group of friends he sees once a week. Craigslist has been OK, although I will admit it can be a huge hassle with people saying they are interested in somethings and then not following through or dealing with people who are a little ummm....blank among other things. Thankfully though, my husband helps me out with craigslist selling and in less than two weeks we've made $100 selling to three different people. As for selling things to his friends, today was the first time he did it and was able to make $50. Selling things to friends might just be a one time thing, or possibly a once in a while thing, we'll see but at least I can say we made some cash and people are interested. 

I'm looking into ways to make more money, my husband works, but I don't and I miss getting a regular pay cheque. Selling things here and there has been great for this months challenge of organising, but I need something that I can count on more than craigslist and also something that makes more money than etsy, yet still allows me to be at home with our two toddlers. Suggestions are always welcome.