When I’m shopping and I find something that is a good price, but it isn’t something I was looking for (maybe it’s not my style), I will usually purchase the item if it’s an exceptional deal because I know that I can repurpose the item, or change it to fit my needs. I found these little storage bins at Dollar Tree for $1 each. Not a great price, but I needed a quick storage solution for my daughters, and $1 was the right price.

I purchased the storage bins a few years ago, and while they are not made of quality material, they have served the purpose they were made for. My daughters no longer need the bins, but I put them away for future use. I use one of the storage bins to keep our napkins that I purchase from Aldi. Turning the storage bin over allows the napkins to fit in perfectly without getting scattered all over our cabinet.

I still had three of the bins left, but was less than thrilled with the pink ribbon on the front. I cut the ribbon off, thankfully it doesn’t harm the integrity of the storage bin, and now use them in my laundry room to sort socks and underwear for our family members as I pull them out of the dryer. This makes for quick laundry sorting. Everyone can come and get their own basket when all of the laundry is folded, sorted, and hung from the dryer.

We had a total of eight (including my twins) thirteen year old girls at the birthday party yesterday for their thirteenth birthday. The party turned out fine, and the girls would have all been happy sitting on our trampoline, playing board games, or watching videos on YouTube. My husband purchased a recent movie for them to watch at the party, but all the girls ended up watching a movie we already had around the house.

We picked up a couple of pizzas, pop, a giant cookie, and some candy. Teenagers are weird and I never know what they’re going to want to do. I think their favorite thing to do was just hang out. I never planned for the party to end up being frugal, but it ended up being the least expensive birthday party we’ve ever given them.

I sent all the girls home with a gift bag of stuff I had accumulated over the last year; nail polish, nail buffers, lotion samples, lip gloss, and chapstick. They were all happy, and I had finally gotten rid of some of my nail polish.

In the past we’ve usually gone somewhere for their party; a skating rink, Chuck E. Cheese, swimming pool, but the kids seemed just as happy spending time with their friends at our house playing games and hanging out. In the end I think kids enjoy all the excitement that the party offers, and are even willing to go without all the glam and glitz that the expensive places offers, just to spend some time with their friends.

We are in the process of preparing the house for this weekends celebration of our twins thirteenth birthday. In addition to doing the usual cleaning, this also means that we get our Bissell Steam Cleaner out to bring our carpet back to life. The carpet is about eleven years old now, and having a three year old can really wreak havoc on alabaster colored carpet: definitely not my color choice when we eventually replace the carpet.

We will eventually need to replace the carpet due to wear and spots that simply can’t be removed, but having the Bissell helps me to tolerate the carpet while we save to replace it. I told my husband this evening that this is one of the best purchases we’ve made in the last year because of its effectiveness. It really does make a difference in our family’s attitude when our carpets are clean. Until we’ve saved the money to replace our carpet, and wait for our three year old to be a few years older, we’ll continue to use the Bissell to extend the life of our carpet. The Bissell was an expense for our family to purchase, but the results provided are well worth the price we paid.