Frugal Dandies

wow I never really believed people when they said treasure every moment time flies. Till it hit me. My baby I loved and talked to in my belly . My baby I prayed over and  spent many sleepless night with. My baby I fought with doctors to find a remedy for her reflux. My baby I watched crawl and walk and say her first words. My baby is no longer a baby. Shes 6 years old .Where did time go? I have so many fond memories that fill my head , but still I want more. She's grown into a beautiful smart little girl. Shes reading small 3 and four letter word sentences and talking about marrying her love Jackson. She's becoming a little creative artist and using her imagination more and more. She's deeply in love with dinosaurs  and animals. She's got a super kind heart and starting to ask biblical questions. She's my Joy in the morning and my Song that puts me to sleep at night.

 This Year for her 6th Birthday she asked for an Angelina Ballerina Birthday Party. As always I strive to make the perfect party on a non existent budget lol. Lots and lots of handmade items and all the food made myself. I found tutu's online for 2.50 a piece and got  my dear mother-in-law made capes for the boys. I hired a past pulse student of mine to come as Angelina and dance and entertain the kids . Best $40 bucks I've ever spent! She was a hit . She brought an Angellina Dance Game and taught them some moves and did a special dance. She even brought pointe toe shoes for the girls to try on. I hand painted mask for all the girls and boys to wear and take home too!!




On her actual Birthday every year we spend the whole day celebrating Her and she decides what we do. In years past it's been a wild animal safari,cabbage patch land,Monkey Joes etc. This year she wanted to go see Dinosaurs so off to the Ferbank Natural History Museum we go!!! We stopped before the Ferbank and had Lunch at Ihop were she was sang to and had a Birthday Pancake!!.She loved the dinosaurs especially the teranadon!! After the Meauseum we  went to Build a Bear and let herr use a certificate she got for her birthday and let her go to target to spend her giftcard  then we came home and watched movies together for the rest of the day!

Playing Her Leappad  we got her for her Birthday ready for her big day!!

Enjoying her Birthday panCAKE!!

Exploring the Fernbank playcenter

Reagan the mean T-Rex after Daddy!!

Family Shot!!

MY Cool Kat Diva!!

Giving her Build a bear (dog she named Brown Dog) a bath!

Her Goodies she got with her giftcard!!

I'm one blessed Momma!!!!

Wow this project was so much more simple and cheaper in my head:) That being said I love the finished project and think the our Princess loves it equally so!! It all started when I was cleaning out our daughters playroom and rearanging toys .She has a whole corner devoted purely to a pretend house  (that's my mom playing house with her it was the only pic I could find of my bed in one piece ,sorry mom)
First thing first, we took it apart. I knew I wanted the chair to end at the arm rails and I had a good idea on how big I wanted the footstool to be .

Then we screwed the footboard into the front of the chair.I keep saying we, but really all the screwing and cutting was done by my amazing hubby. While we has screwing and cuttting , I decided to rip the matteress open and see what I could findlots of batting and springs. Once we got the bed together I measured from the back of the chair to the front of the chair and started snipping the springs with wire cutters( it hung over just a tinch but that will be fine )
while I waited overnight for the putty to dry My hubby tackled the ottoman we had two slates for middle support and two sides cut down from the side rails.He cut a 1x4 pine board down to the size of the front and back.We also bout a thick post for the legs and cut them so they are the same size as the chair legs.






I painted just the legs because the rest is going to be covered with material. I also cut the rest of the springs for the mattress down to fit inside the ottoman its a little smaller but we have plenty of batting left over to make it nice and puffy.

I applied to coats of rustoleum  flatback to the chair and let it dry
then she sewed it up and made it so that it had velcro closures so that I could wash it
add a couple pillows and  perfection....The heart pillow I got last year after valentines clearance :)Now for the ottoman cover, I was told it was a labor of love ( I dont sew but my dear mother in law does). Its removal so I can wash it also
Like my daughter and dog crouched in the corner :) Put it all together and you have one oober happy princess and one very relieved mommy and mimi that this project is over:)
I hope you liked my project!!!!!! I know my princess does!!!!!

Let me start of by saying I am  in no way am a pro at couponing, but I think of it like an adventure or a sport, and try to improve every time I go. I've had allot of friends ask how I get the deals I get so I thought I'd try to set down and take the time to explain.

Clothing
As for clothing there's really not allot of  money saving printable coupons etc.I'll give an example od my recent shopping trip for Reagan and explain how I did it. I went shopping in Chattanooga at Hamilton place and spent $166.49 and got  $483.14 worth of clothes. With that $166.49 I got 9 everyday outfits,2 bathing suits,6 pais of flipflops,3 Sunday dresses/1 shirt/2 skorts/ad two outfits for my neice. The trick is shop out of season as much as possible. I know you may say I'm not sure what size my child will be next winter etc. Guess if your child seems to grow allot go up a size or size and a half. My daughter doesnt seem to grow quickly so I go up a size every year but buy the same size for summer and winter. If your child can't wear everything you bought the season before sell it a a consignment sale.You get it so cheap shopping out of season you easily can resale it for the same price if not more. My rule of thumb is never spend more than 10.00 per outfit, no more than 15.00 for shoe, and no more than 10.00 on sunday clothes. I try to stay under 6.00 an outfit and most times do but  the 10.00 is my max I will spend. I always check the online the stores im going to visit for printable coupons and only look in the clearance section.


Food




Getting Coupons ready for shopping
There's no right or wrong way to organize your coupons as long as you can fid the coupon you need when you need it. Here's how  I do it. I have Two large three prong folders. The first one is full of clear protector sheets and I put the sunday coupon booklets in it( smartsource  P&G etc) I write the date of the sunday I got the coupons on the front of them and organize them by date.Placing each week in a different protector. The rule of thumb is buy 1 paper for every person in your household.I have three in mine but I usually just purchase a double paper .The Second folder is for all your printable and misc coupons. I fill that folder with clear collector card inserts.( got mine at staples) and you can organize them by categories (cleaning,drinks,etc) or by ABC whichever you  choose will be fine.The Beginning of every month the following websites loads new coupons. I suggest you check them at the beginning of the month ad print any coupons that look like anything you might use( they disapear quickly) If you print them and press the back button it should print anoter one. Mos coupon sites allow a max of two prints per computer. I print two from our computer than hook my laptop up to the printer and print two more :). Here's a few sites that you should check at the beginning of every month
Coupons.com
SmartSource
Redplum
coupon cabin
organic coupons
organic coupons 2


The following website has a database to search so before you go shopping go to this website and anything your going shopping for type the name in the database ( you search database by state) and this website will tell you if there is a coupon anywhere to match your item
coupon mom


Grocery stores rules
Publix
publix will double any coupon $.50 or under.
You can stack a publix coupon and a manufacturers coupon ( you can print publix coupons from the web or their saving booklets)
At my publix I can use a target coupon like and a manufacturers coupon because they consider them a competitor( ask the store manager of your publix who they consider competitors)
My publix even lets me stack a publix coupon a targt coupon and a manufactorers coupon
B1G1 deals  doesnt mean you have to buy two items you can bu one item and it rings up half off.
Always check there spinning racks as you go in the door if they have a coupon booklet grab atleast 2
Publix allows overage ..which means if you buy an item on sale for 1.50 and you have a manufacturers coupon for 1.00 off and a publix coupon for 1.00 of your saving 2.00 which is more than the items worth.They apply that extra  $.50 off to the total purchase making an item you dont have coupons for cheaper.( not many stores do this)

Kroger
I have to admit I don't really shop anywhere but publix but I really dont have a kroger near me
Kroger will double 3 coupons $.50 or less for every 10 you spend
Kroger tends not to take anyone elses coupons but there own
10 for 10 deals you can buy just one item and get it for a dollar

All other grocery stores you can look on the following website and she has a list of their store rules
Southern Savers

speaking of southern savers that is the website I use to prepare to go grocery shopping.This website has a link to about every store you can think of's weekly add ad matches up all the coupons to go along with the sells.The best part is its printable so your list with matching coupons is ready to go.

Here's a few other good  match up websites
Iheart publix
ihearttarget
they both post the adds extra early so you can get your coupons ready ahead of time

you may say it's going to take me forever to build up my stockpile of sunday papers. There are website that sale the sunday coupons. I suppest if your just starting by two of every weeks for the past month so if your starting today and its Feb 22 I say buy atleast back to jan 22nd and that should give you a good head start.
Heres the website where you can buy clipped coupons or whole coupon booklets
coupondede
there are others but shes the one I use .she has a 5.00 flat rate shipping for whole adds which is helpful.


The rule of thumb with grocerys is buy what you need not on sale.If its a good sale and you have coupons buy as many as possible.I have 8 bottles of dishwashing detergent I payed $.29 a piece for and  5 packets of dishwashing machine tablets I got for free setting in our hall closet. I also have free toothpaste,Excedrin,etc. You may think its obsessive but for the price an the fact you never know what tommorrow holds job wise its security .


I hope I haven't confused or overwhelmed you to much.Start small with small trips and small goals and work yourself up. Im a stay at home mom and my husbands a landscaper so with a tight budget its nice to have a closet full of clothes and fridge full of food. You can do it too!!

We'll atleast if feels that way. I canged my mind on what I wanted to do to this coffee table to many times to count.. Forthose of you..who think its perfect as is........ turn your heads cause its not staying this way