How We Save Money for Back to School

We are all on the hunt for outfits, shoes, school supplies and everything else that comes with going back to school. I very rarely purchase new clothes throughout the year for our kids. I find that they grow out of them too fast and ruin the best and most expensive ones first. I decided years ago that I would not do that anymore.One of our local children stores does a deal every so many months when they are changing out their inventory for the next season. They do a "Stuff a Bag" sale. You can stuff as many clothes you can in a regular grocery bag and you get it for $9 bucks. Yes, $9 bucks. When this situation presented itself to me, I was intrigued by the test of how much I could fit in one of those bag. I wanted to get as many clothes as I could without going past the one bag for 9 bucks. They had the bags hanging in the clearance section for easy access. Once you find your clothes, you remove the hangers and start your packing.

I tried 2 different ways to pack my bags and went with the laid flat and folded in half option. My husband packs his work truck so he is a pro at packing, so of course I wanted to see how I measured up to my husbands expert packing skills. I was pretty impressed with my outfit jackpot. Unfortunately, there was pretty much only girl stuff, no boy clothes. Luckily, my son has a nice stockpile of clothes and only needs a few things. I will go back to the same store and grab him a few more outfits. It is all lightly used, name brand clothes for a fraction of the original cost. I will take that any day. Anyhoo, let me show you all 3 packing processes and the result of the bag. I am all about trying different ways to do the same thing to get a different result...an even better one.

So, basically you get the same amount and they each had a bit more wiggle room. If they would have just been tossed in the bag, I would have NOT gotten this many clothes. I know it is crazy I got so excited, but hey when do you get almost 2 school weeks of clothes for that price. Practically a steal.

Okay, on to school supplies. No, we do not take part in the tax free days for school supplies as we do not have very many things to buy yet. I found that Wal-mart really let me down this year. The prices sucked to say the least. I needed non-pronged folders this year for my daughter and go figure an isle FULL of pronged folders. My options ended up being designed folders for .97 or a plain ones for $1.47, so we went with the designed ones. I wanted the sturdy little plastic non-pronged folders, but no such luck. I love the .50 crayons, .25 wooden rulers(craft wise) and $1 markers.  You can get a 12 pack of glue for only $3.44 at Hobby Lobby or each 4 oz. bottle of glue for .50 each at Wal-mart. I think they totally skipped out on the deals this year for back to school. I was not happy to see that the plain and designed 1 1/2" binders are almost $4 and $5. So, no happy school supply buying here. I spent more on school supplies than clothes. 

SHOES- I would be lying if I actually said our family does not have a ton of shoes. We all have multiple pairs, but the thing is with the kids is that they are very hard on their shoes.  My husband is very hard on his shoes as well and is always in need of a new pair. We buy so many shoes we get lots of rewards from Finish Line. We take advantage of the coupons($10 off purchase etc.) they send us through the mail, my husband gives the ones we do not use to his co-workers, which helps us as well. Finish Line continues to send more coupons and probably about every other month we get a $20 off coupon. So, we are all set with shoes and ready for school. I am pretty happy with having pretty much everything taken care of for both of my littles. Anyone can be a member and your points earn you the $20 cash card. 

Only 2 more weeks until school starts in this house. I think I may experience empty nest syndrome for a while. I am sure I will find something to do with myself. More on that later. 

What deals did you snag this year?

Diy~ Magnetic Meal Planner

So easy your kids could make it or at least help out with it to get their excitement up.

I figured I am ALWAYS making schedules and jotting things down on the expo board, my purse notebook, big notebooks or typing it in my tablet or phone and for some reason I just can NEVER stick to the schedule.  Every part of me wants to be an organized person.  There is that old saying "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em".....well that is not me.  I tend to stick with I know or in this case, it really comes down to me having to adjust to how I am and make something work with my current....never being able to stick to a schedule personality.   First thing is first....before anything else everyone has to eat and cooking is something I just can't get away from so I decided to start there first. 

What you need:

A magnetic Expo board

Print outs of your meal clip art

1 sided self-laminating sheets

Magnet backs

*Once you decide what kind of images you want to go with your meal planner then print them out.

*Next, smooth them on your self-laminating sheets and cut them out

*Put the sticky part of your magnet on the back of your cut out

*Put it on your expo board and jot down the times for you meal schedule and what you are having.

If it needs to be changed then you can change it by simply rearranging your magnets OR just erasing.  I like this option because it really saves on buying paper...helping save some trees!  

The great thing about it is my 7 year old is always asking what did you put in my lunch box mom...well now she can have some extra reading and know what is in her lunch box.  She will know all she has to do is look at the board.

Sorry, it is a little messy.  I was in a hurry and jotted it down quickly.  Sometimes it comes out neat and sometimes it doesn't, but either way this is the basics of what we are doing.  

A little more about our daily routine:

My husband leaves for work around 3:30 am and gets home any where in between 4-8, so he has super long days.  At the time I made this board my daughter was still in school and I make her lunches rather than buying them or her eating at school.  Once school starts I will have 2 little ones with lunches plus my husbands.  Our schedule changes pretty often and our times are adjustable with this board, which really works for me.  

How do you organize all of your meals for the week?

Save Money the Easy Way

Not every one has that fabulous ability to put cash away or pick it up and let it accumulate.  So, if you are one of those unsavers, then this will help you out tons.  You will be able to save up for that vacation, mini trip or anything else you are wanting to save up for.

• Each week take 20 bucks and go to the bank to change it to $1 coins.
• Empty your change collector in your car about every 2 weeks.
• Empty your purse of the excess change about every 2 weeks. 
• Ask for half dollars or other odd change so you are more prone to keep it.
• Another thing you can do is have your bank transfer a said amount when you are paid into your savings account- transfer an amount that won't be missed as easy.

*You can buy rollers or you can go to your bank and they will give you rollers.  They distribute them back out to other banking customers, so it is easy for everyone.  

Coin machine charge .10 on the dollar here and I think and that is just crazy.  Old fashioned way prevails for us.  We like to keep what we save not pay out because we didn't want to count it.  My husband has been doing this for years and it allows us to have vacation funds or to save us in an emergency situation.  With actual cash, we tend to spend it because it easier to spend or swipe the card.   When you see a bunch of change you will less likely go count it out and roll it over spending cash, so it saves.  Most people are busy and do not have the time to sit, count and roll so the inconvenience helps save.  This works for us and may or not work for you, but I wish you the best of luck in your saving adventures.  

How do you save money?  Have any extra tips to share? 

*I just wanted to thank each and every one of you that read Consider Me Inspired, it really means a lot to me.  I appreciate every one of you loyal readers and bloggy friends.  I am in MS with my family for a few weeks, and I will have all posts set up in advance.  I will be checking in here and there but I will not be on the net much.  Hope you are having a wonderful Summer. 

Find Out How Your Foot Pronates

Pronation is when you turn your feet so that the soles face out, supination (or underpronation) is when you turn your feet so the soles face in.

Look at the soles of your shoes. If they are obviously more worn on the outside of the heel you're a supinator. If  they're obviously more worn on the inside of the heel, you're a pronator. If the heel is worn fairly centrally, you're neutral.

I went to a local store called Fleet Fleet for an evaluation, but I wasn't satisfied with the service.  They wanted to sell me more stuff than evaluate my stride so I could get good shoes that would reduce my shin splints and knee pain from running.  If you have a place that does do the evaluation then that is awesome, but if you do not there is a easy way to see what your style is. 

Wet the bottom of your foot by dipping it in water. Place a piece of paper or a brown paper bag on the floor in front of you.  Step forward in a normal stride, rolling your wet foot on the paper.  Follow through with your stride by stepping forward with your other foot to get a better personalized picture of your pronation.  

Examine the wet mark on the bag or paper:

Full foot indicates overpronation

Narrow arch -sometimes with a separation between your heel and the ball of your foot -- indicates supination. 

Normal pronation image will show about half of your arch

Here is mine:

I used construction paper.   As you can see my pronation style is supination (or underpronation).

Check it out...it is pretty neat.  You don't have to go anywhere to find out now. :)

Real Life Housework~ Happy To Do it....

I am doing a new chart system in the house to get better organized and to organize my family.  Searching for the perfect clip art takes FOREVER.  I am pretty much done with my kids clip art for their charts and I decided well heck, I mine as well do one for me too.  I do tend to put housework off for longer periods then I probably should.  Any way, I happened to bing/google mom doing housework, cleaning clip art etc...

Let me tell you what popped in my head while searching the images:
1. I am never happy to do housework
2. No, I will not smile while I am doing it like it is the best thing I have done all day and it is my highlight.
3. Umm...no sexy outfits and high heals while cleaning.
4. You won't see me smiling just ready to get at the cleaning. I try to get it done as quickly as possible.

Why is it that all of the pictures look like the mom just has nothing under control or is mad, emotionless or she is whatevering it?  She is So busy that she is all crazified. Making up my own words : ) Animals everywhere....looks like lazy husbands, kids always crying.  Maybe on some days...if I googled stressed out, that is what I would expect to find.

I am more like this:

By time I start there is literally crap everywhere. I am trying to clean as I go most days, but that does not always work. I have little tornadoes making the cleaning up for nothing phrase stand strong. I like to clean at night. It helps the house be nice and clean when we all wake up and I have time to do other things. I normally am in a zone when I am cleaning and it just goes by so much faster.

I am no June Cleaver, but hey maybe one day.  Well, I want to be in control still, but I want to have that magical clean house and dinner made button under control.

Well, I am off to do a 4 hour cleaning job...just kidding...maybe. :) Have a great weekend.

What kind of house cleaner are you?  

Give Yourself a Pat on the Back- Organizing

Don't you just love moments like that!  I have been on such a productive role lately.  I am actually getting things done.  I decided I was responsible for my own undoing....all of the moments of being overwhelmed with everything around me.  Seriously, I am the type of person that starts on one project and before you know it the entire house is a disaster area.  It is not that I do it intentionally, but I under estimate the actual amount of time it really takes to organize all of the stuff.  Too many things, not enough space.  This house was perfect for us when we moved here almost 5 years ago, but now we have out grown it.  When the house was built it just seems like it really wasn't meant for a "family".  It is a great size, just missing many things.  Anyhoo, I will get off of that subject because it is never ending.

Over the years I have collected many kinds of bins, containers, baskets and many other organizational tools to make everything better.  The set up is just not right and even though it is nice and neat it still just doesn't look "organized".  I am going to continue to search for a method to my madness. 

This is what I have been up to the last few days...well the days my husband was at work.  He helped out with some of the harder moving Sunday, which was much appreciated.

Since Last Week:

Bleached the counters

Cleaned the microwave

Mopped

Dusted

Cleaned the chandelier light in LR 

Organized the bookshelf in the hallway

85% complete on organizing the shelf set up in the living room{BIG project}

I pulled all of my magazines & started sticky noting the things I have held on to them for

I also starting working on a detailed time schedule draft

Got some Mommy Group stuff done
Moved around the Living room
Moved around our bedroom
Got everything that didn't need to be out put up out the way
Got little mans race car bed to Once Upon a Child for cash
Had nice planned out meals for the weekend

Got some exercise in....WIN!

OH AND THE BEST ONE.....I not only have not missed one days blog posting on my normal M-F schedule but I also managed to get one in on Saturday...which I normally don't do.  Last Saturday my own and for now on I will be doing a "Saturday Creations Spotlight" for some nice fellow blogger mingling.  I mean I have got to be doing something right if it working.

I figured out that for me it is actually hard to document the amount of time throughout my day.   Being on the SAHM schedule I have been on....well I really just have the mommy and wife to do list.  I do need to get better at spreading out my time and getting more done. Fitting everything together.  I finally think I am on to something that works for me.  

I am in my Analyze/Declutter/Organize stage.

What have I been doing:  Secluding my projects and preventing myself from moving from the given project until it is complete or at a productive pausing point.  If the given project should need to stretch to a different room...I just put it there and go back to what I was doing.  I did tend to mix rooms slightly this weekend but it's not a biggie.

What is working for me:  Instead of scheduling things a month out and the plans changing, I decided per week is working the best.  I find I have more control within a week than the month.  Plans are on a simpler and a more workable layout.

Progress not Perfection!

How is your goals for the New Year going?

Hopping On The Time Management Train

I have such an issue with my time management skills.  I picked up a few books to learn new ways to manage my time.

My first step is ANALYZE. 

Write down your top 3 procrastinating tasks.

 I procrastinate with setting workable time scheduling.  So this is a general problem that connects all my procrastinating tasks.

Here is mine:

1. Exercising

2. Going through things like paperwork and a bunch of  "little" things.

3. Deep cleaning the house.

*Analyze the time it takes for my normal tasks to be completed for a week and go up to a month.

Tri-chart set up:

{Task}{Estimated Time}{Actual Time}

*Take a look at it over a period of time look & see whether times vary dramatically or not & why.

So this is what I will be doing for the next month to see where I am at.  It is super easy to say it will take 15 minutes and the actual time is like an hour or something like that.  Setting your self up for failure.

168 hours in a week......