Category Archives: Frugal Fun

Make Your Own Wipe Board Message Center

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Good morning friends.  Today I wanted to show you a really cute quick way to create a custom message center for your family.

Some ideas for using this project:

  • write your weekly menu down for the family to see
  • leave a note to your honey
  • leave notes to your kids
  • keep it by the phone to take messages
  • use it in your office to keep track of when bills are due
  • write an inspirational quote
  • write your Bible verse you are trying to memorize

really the ideas are endless.  Here is what we will be making

Here is a list of what you will need.  I got all of these items at my local Michaels craft store.

  1. a 12×12 scrapbook layout frame with glass (you can use any size frame you like, just cut your paper to fit)
  2. a 12×12 piece of scrapbook paper in the color choice you like (make sure the paper isn’t too dark or busy otherwise you will not be able to see your writing
  3. dry erase marker

That’s it.  Now all you do is remove the back cover of the frame, stick your paper inside, seal it up and write on the glass.  You can write and erase over and over again.

Wasn’t that simple?

I hope you enjoy and don’t forget to show me your creations.

Wright Brothers National Memorial Museum: Outer Banks, NC

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While visiting the Outer Banks we decided to head out to the Wright Brothers Museum.  We love to check out a good museum and this one did not disappoint.

 

We loved that a good portion of the museum was outdoors.  It was a windy, yucky beach day but was perfect for this day trip.

 

Here is my youngest with a plaque and the memorial far off in the background.

To me this was one of the coolest parts of the museum.  There was a large rock with this plaque on it.  This was the point where the Wright brothers made their very first attempt at flight on December 17, 1903.  They made 4 different attempts that day.  The park had a rock monument erected at each spot the brothers made it to.  It was measured out and you could walk the path and look to see how far they came with each flight.

Standing at the final rock I was overwhelmed with what it must have felt like for them.  Imagine, starting in one place and actually flying that far.  Wow, they must have been amazed….. I know I would have been.

 

Here is a picture where you can see the stone monuments marking each flight attempt.  I loved that while we were there at the point of first flight this military jet flew by.  Simply beautiful.

 

This is part of the monument you could see in the distance in my other picture.  It was a long walk and a huge hill, boy am I out of shape, but we all made it up.  It is a beautiful moment.  It had inscriptions the whole way round.

 

When you made it to the top you were not only rewarded with the monument and accomplishment but also this amazing view.  The world our Lord made is simply amazing.  Beauty is everywhere you look.

The Army Rocks!!

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Last night our community took part in an event called National Night Out.  Our local police department held the event for the community.   The fire deparment, EMS, police, Marines & Army were there just to name a few.

Here is a bit about the night… 

National Night Out (NNO) teams law enforcement agencies with citizens, community leaders, civic groups, and local businesses to promote safe, healthy neighborhoods. NNO is designed to heighten crime and drug prevention awareness; generate support for, and participation in, local anticrime programs; strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships; and send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.

I took my 12 yeard old to check things out.  I have to say that we both had a great time with the police department.  They had riot gear as well as some of the largest guns I have ever seen on display.  Of course my son loved all of that.  The police were very nice and answered all of his questions.

I do have to say that the highlight of the night however was the Army (at least in my son’s opinion).  They landed a helicopter in our Target parking lot.  The best thing was they let all of the kids get inside the helicopter and strap in.  My son wants to join the military when he is older so this was a huge thrill for him.

 

 

 

 

Frugal Fun: Take Your Own Graduation Pictures

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These pictures are actually from last year but I never posted them.  One of the things about homeschooling is you don’t have school pictures taken automatically every year like you would if they were in public school.  Overall I don’t really miss it  but I did want my boys to have graduation photos.

My youngest graduated 5th grade last year and my oldest graduated 8th grade.  I knew we had a great park to take pictures in.  All we were missing was a graduation cap and gown.  Ebay fixed that right up.  I went to Ebay and searched for graduation gown.  They come in some standard sizes so both of my kids wore the same one.  You can even pick what color you want.  I think I paid around $20.00 including shipping for this.  In my opinion that is well worth it.

No photo op is complete without a few goofy pictures.  Let your kids have fun and remember for you to have fun too.  You don’t want this to be a stressful time but rather a fun memory.

I am linking this up with Works For Me Wednesday We Are That Family

Frugal Fun: Use Both Sides

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I couldn’t help but share another frugal tip today.  :-)

Here is a frugal tip that I only recently started doing.  I run an Ebay business out of my home and I have to print alot of payments and orders.  I was just using one side of the paper and then shredding it once enough time passed that I didn’t need it anymore.

Well, all that changed a couple of months ago.  I realized that I was wasting so much paper.  Now when my orders are old enough to get rid of, instead of shredding them I just turn the paper over and use the other side.

This is working out great.  I am using half the paper now that I used to.  With paper anywhere around $25.00 – $50.00 per case, this really saves.

Do you have a frugal tip to share?

Frugal Fun: Soap For Less

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Today I am going to show you a super simple tip for saving money.

Make your own foaming hand soap.

You can buy a bottle of foaming soap for a dollar or two at the store or you can reuse one of your bottles and make your own for just pennies.

All you need is: a bottle of your favorite smelling dish soap

a foaming hand soap pump

water

That’s it.  Seriously!

There are not any precise measurements for this.  Just fill your soap dispenser approximately this full with soap.  Fill it the rest of the way with water.  Now shake it all up.

There you have it.  Yummy smelling soap that barely cost a thing.

Have Fun Wrapping Presents

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One of the things that I do not enjoy about Christmas is wrapping all of the presents.  I usually enjoy it for the first few and then it just becomes a chore to me.  I know some of you love it and cannot imagine me not liking it but that’s the truth.

My boys were helping by bringing more presents to me and putting them under the tree once they were finished being wrapped.  I decided we needed to take a fun silly break.

I grabbed the camera and a couple of bags of last years clearance bows.  We had a Christmas bow fight.  I would toss all the bows in the air on one of my children.  I can’t tell you how much we laughed while doing this.  Try it one year, your kids will love it and perhaps think you are nuts.

oldest son reacting to the bows

youngest son saying “not me” while secretly hoping he would be next

oh yes, son #2 gets it as well

Quick Cute Gift Bags

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I just wanted to make a quick post about gift bags.  Whenever you are hosting an event it is always nice to pass out a little something for your guests to take home with them.  Who doesn’t love a gift bag right?

Gift bags do not have to be something big or expensive.  Just something simple and cute to let your guest know you were thinking about them.

If you plan in advance you can make gift bags for next to nothing.  The picture below shows the gift bags that I made for my cookie exchange party.  I purchased these felt baskets from Target last year on their 75% off dollar spot clearance event.  That’s right, I paid only $.25 each for these cute baskets.  Then I just filled them with some candy and an E.L.F. lip gloss.  If you are not familiar with E.L.F. they have cosmetics that are really inexpensive.  I purchased 5 packs of colored lip gloss from Target for $5.00 per pack.  Then I just put a cute Christmas notepad from the dollar section under each gift basket.

For a couple of dollars you can make a cute gift that your guests will be sure to love.  If you plan in advance you can make these for even cheaper than I did this year.  I purchased the notepad and lip gloss for full price but Target always has fantastic deals on the 75% off dollar spot stuff.

Keep on the lookout for great deals!

Christmas Cookie Exchange

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Have you ever hosted a cookie exchange?  They are lots of fun.

I invite all of the ladies from my Sunday School class over.  We usually have about 15 women attend.  Each person brings enough cookies or holiday candies to give 3 or 4 to each person who attends.  Before everyone arrives I lay out cookie platters on the table.  That way when people start arriving they can immediately start distributing their cookies.

Here are a few pics of the table…. more directions will follow after the pictures.

I also have each person attending bring a plate of sweet or salty appetizer type foods to share.  We pass out our cookies and then fellowship over a plate of yummy items.  We usually have a topic that we will go around the room and answer which helps to get to know each other better.  When it’s time to go home each lady takes their plate home to share with their family.  I buy the 2 1/2 gallon size Ziploc bags to put the cookie plates into for travel.

This is a great activity to do with your church group, friends or just ladies in your neighborhood to get to know them better.  You can do them at Christmas time like I did or really any time of the year.  People love to eat cookies year round.  :-)

***I needed a quick centerpiece for my table so I grabbed my trusty fruit basket and threw some ornaments in it.  Cute, cheap and exactly what I needed to dress my table up***

Christmas Decorations

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I had an idea to make a really cute Christmas decoration that didn’t cost much money.  I wanted to post it for you.  I hope that it inspires some new decorations of your own.

First I started off with a huge vase I bought at Goodwill.  I paid $1.69 for this vase.  Then I purchased 4 tubes (only 3 are shown) of Christmas ball ornaments from the Target dollar section.

Next, you just open them up and pour the ornaments into the vase. 

 

Never mind the fingerprints on the vase, man I need to clean that thing up.  Here is the almost finished product.  I had to run to the store for one more tube of ornaments.

Here is the finished product.  I put it on the table in my entryway.  I added a cute garland from Target for a little extra sparkle and randomly placed a few more ornaments. 

This was a really inexpensive decoration that I think adds a nice touch.