Weekly update, Week 6

Another week has come and gone.  Man it seems time is going by fast!  I didn't spend too much money at the store this last week.  I am stocked up on a lot of stuff, so we are living off our stockpile, which is great because we are buying less and spending less.

For this week I only spent $3.44 ($3.62 after taxes), I saved $34.76, a savings of 90.99%, or 91%!!

As you can see from the picture, it was just a stock up purchase.

Weekly update, Week 5

Not only is the month of January done, but we are done with another week too!  So let's get to it!


I spent $51.65 ($52.93 after tax) and I saved $96.45, a savings of 65.12%

This week is my lowest savings based on % so far this year, but it is also a perfect example that some weeks are better then other's and you won't always have over the top savings.  Like I have said in the past tho, ANY savings is good savings.  I bought stuff that we needed, and I saved almost $100 while doing so, that is $100 I can spend on something else, so I am happy!

*edit* I forgot pictures!  I know it's not much, but I have 1 to add LOL

January Spending/Savings

Wow, January has already come and gone.  Kinda crazy!  It seems this year has started off at a pretty fast pace, just like last year did.  I want to note that last year I tracked ALL my savings, every single time I used a coupon anywhere for anything.  This year, I am just tracking my grocery and drug store spending...basically just the items you would buy with your grocery or personal hygiene budget.  I want to give you a better idea of what I am saving (and spending) on every day items that you and I are both buying to support our families.

Well, here we go...In the month of January I spent a total of $236.05 ($263.70 after tax) and I saved $843.34, a savings of 78.13%!  That's right folks, I spent only $236 for a family of 6.

I will admit, there are a handful of bread and milk runs not included in this total,  but even those wouldn't add too much to my total.  This does however include a shopping trip specifically to buy items for the super bowl party that I went to.

On a side note, this morning my 13 year old son walked up to me before he left for school and told me he needed more deodorant.  I just went out to my garage, grabbed one from the shelf and gave it to him.  No adding it to my shopping list, no having to run out to get it for him today.  The best part?  It was a deodorant I had gotten for free!

Craft Time

Over the last few weeks I've done a couple of crafts with the kids that I found on Pinterest (seriously, if you are not on this site, you are missing out!)  Both these activities have been pinned onto my 'Pinned it, Tried it' board (if you're not following me yet, just click the link on the top right of my blog to follow me on Pinterest!)

The first thing I did was make heart shaped crayons with Jaidan.  This was a trial run, to see how well it worked and how they turned out.  We'll be doing some more for Jaidan to use as Valentine's this year at school.

We had a zip lock baggy with old broken crayons in it that we used (I gave Riley and Aislinn each an old wipes container and put brand new crayons in each container for them, this way they each had their own crayon's and there was no more fighting over crayons!).  First we had to cut up all the old crayons, this was very time consuming...I also should have probably used my wooden or plastic cutting board, not my porous poly cutting boards (lesson learned!)

Once we had enough cut up, we had to fill the trays.  I bought some silicone heart shaped trays at Target in their dollar bins for $3.

Then, we popped them in the oven.  The pin said 230* for 15 mins, but I had to leave them in for 30 mins.

I did stir them with a toothpick at the 15 min mark.  I stirred them again with the toothpick when I took them out.  I put them on a rack to cool (I used my slow cooker's rack).

Normally, I link back to the blog post I followed with my pin.  But in this instance I also used google and read I think 2 different blog posts, their comments, and a forum's post with comments.  So, I kind of read what a bunch other people did and what did or didn't work for them and came up with my own method.  You can find the original pin I used tho on my pinterest board.

Next up, I decided to try the soap cloud with Riley!  Jaidan came in and watched while it was in the microwave.  I had never done this before and was able to get a 3 pack of Ivory soap for $.25, so I decided to do this....Ok, I bought the soap with the intent to do this project LOL.

It's very important that you use Ivory soap, I can't tell you why, but that is what the blog said (supposedly you get a burned mess with other brands)

This is so easy to do.  You just put the soap on some wax, or parchment paper (NOT foil, seriously folks, we don't want any fires!), turn on the microwave and watch it grow!  I set my timer for 4 mins, but we took it out at 2 mins.  It had really slowed down with the growing (couldn't even tell if it was moving anymore), so we did a big huge count down together for the last 10 seconds and took it out at the 2 min mark.

Riley thought it was super cool.....until it came out of the microwave, then he didn't want to hold it LOL.

If you want to see the original blog post you can do so here.  We still have our 'cloud' so I am thinking about letting the kids make colored soaps like she did in her blog post.

Have you done any Crafty fun things lately?