Back-to-School Sales = A FULLY stocked Office!

Wowza!  This has been a crazy-busy summer.  We haven’t been home much.  It’s hard to believe my kids will be back to school in 2 weeks’ time!  It feels like the summer just began!

NOW is the time to stock up your “office supplies” for the year--while there are all these fabulous back-to-school sales!  

Each office supply store has several *new* loss leader sales every week!  Stock up on all those pencils, pens, paper, folders, erasers, crayons, composition notebooks, markers, rulers, and scissors while they are pennies on the dollar!

This doesn’t have to be hard.  I have a friend who waits for the ads from the stores or she won’t go…which means she only gets one or two of these deals.  I find it easier to stop by when I’m already driving in the area.  (I seem to be in the area at least once a week.)   I run in quickly, pick up an ad and grab only the items on a fabulous sale.  That’s it-- NO extra items.   Since the ads change each week—it’s amazing how many items these sales add up to be by the end of the back-to-school frenzy—without too much extra work from me and very little expense!  If I didn’t get everything I needed by the end of the frenzy, I finish picking up the last odds & ends the week school starts (because that really the back-to-school finale!)
Happy Pinching Pennies…

PS  If you are one of those people who needs to see the ads…your local Office Depot and Staples ads can be found online!

Splurging the frugal way...

Everyone has their “favorite stores”…the places they go regularly (or wish they could go to regularly) to shop or eat.   It’s smart to look for coupons for these places.   My “preferred stores” are: Office Depot, Charley’s, Kiddie Kandids, Dairy Queen, JoAnn’s, Pier 1, Michael’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, Papa Murphy’s, El Pollo Loco, Mom’s & Pop’s, etc . 

I do NOT go to these places all the time.  I am NOT a shopper by nature, nor do I go out to eat often…  BUT when I do, I like to have a coupon on hand for my favorite places so that I don’t have to spend as much.  It makes me feel just a little better about my splurge.

Each person’s “system” for keeping track of these “preferred place” coupons may be different, but mine is coupon board- (NOT used for coupons for the grocery store…JUST my “preferred stores”).   It is a frame with the matte and glass removed.  My husband cut some sheet metal down to the right size and I inserted it inside and it has been the perfect attractive way to store them!  Just a few strong magnets from JoAnn’s (at 40% off), with a few embellishments from some pictures, glue and clear glass stones and it is great attractive way to display pictures of my family while storing coupons for future FUN things. 

(Ok. Some of the magnets have picture embellishments. Some are just magnets that I haven’t gotten around to making yet.)

Just remember that

just because you have the coupon

does NOT mean you have to use it…

that would defeat your FRUGAL lifestyle!

Happy Stretching Pennies…

Pillow protectors from trash bags...

As we head into cold & flu season, I start preparing the “fort”…so when it happens to us, we are prepared.  I make sure I have the medicines and cleaner in the event my children, or us (the parents) surprise us with an illness and we “hibernate” at home in recovery-- barricading ourselves from everyone so we won’t share the germs.  (I HATE errands with a sick child, or while feeling miserable myself.)

It seems my children always surprise me in the middle of the night.  (It rarely dawns on them in the middle of the day that they are “sick”.)  Most of the time, I wake to “Mooooom…..I puked.”  I only find out later WHERE.  I have advised my children that the BEST place to vomit is in the toilet.  BUT the 2^nd best place to puke is ON their BED.  Yes.  You heard that right.  I bought plastic mattress covers at Wal-Mart many years ago, and it has saved my mattresses countless number of times.   (In fact, NO puke has ever touched their mattresses….or pee when they were potty training, for that matter!)   There are 2 different kinds.  I prefer the ALL-encompassing zipper kind.  This makes for easy cleaning and sanitizing with 409 and putting fresh sheets on in the middle of the night and then put the sick child back into bed within 5 minutes of their vomiting.  I prewash the sheets, throw them into the washing machine and head back to bed myself, all in less than 20 minutes.  (Plus, when the mattress covers rip...and box tape won't "repair" them anymore,...you can flip them over and enjoy months MORE of the plastic covering  before having to buy a new one!)

When we 1^st learned this trick—it was great UNLESS the puke hit the pillow—then we had to throw it away.  After throwing away  3 pillows, we invested in covering them in plastic too.  They sell these at Wal-Mart—but we have devised a homemade way to do the same thing that is much cheaper and more durable as it doesn’t “pop” because there is the ability to contract and expand.

The Homemade Pillow Protector Recipe:

1.       Insert your standard size pillow into 1 plastic kitchen garbage bag.

2.       Fold down the top.
3.       Use Box Tape to tape the top edge of the garbage bag down over the pillow. 

Tip: Using 3 strips instead of one long piece of box tape allows for air to enter and escape the encasing.  (Do not cover the entire edge...you want to allow air to go in and out! If you do cover the entire opening, you'll be creating a "balloon" type situation.  When your child puts their head down, your "protection" might POP!)

Here's the FINAL look...
I love knowing that IF they get sick, my child can still go back to bed with a nice CLEAN pillow with a brand new pillow case in under 5 minutes!

Happy Stretching Pennies…

PS  Remember this plastic covering idea can help you in making potty training during the night more bearable….and cheaper.