Spring is right around the corner, and that means that the spring consignment sales will be here in no time. If you plan on participating in a consignment sale, now is the time to start planning and preparing your items. This will be my second consignment sale, and now that I know exactly what to expect, it doesn’t seem near as intimidating to me. Check in your local paper or do a search on the internet for a consignment sale near you.

Once again, I will be participating in a local consignment sale held by Pass It On here in Edmond, Oklahoma. The sale takes place March 5th and 6th and will give me the opportunity again to make some extra money, save myself some time by not having a garage sale, and allow me to pick up some items that my kids may need.

Just Between Friends is also another organization that holds annual fall and spring consignment sales. The fall sale offers consignment events in twenty two states.

If you are planning to participate in any of the fall consignment sales I recommend collecting your items now, preparing them for the sale, and getting your tags ready. It does take a little time and effort on your part to get ready for the sale, but it should be worth it in the end. Just remember when preparing your items that they don’t have to be perfect, but ask yourself if you would purchase the item at the price your asking.

So your clipping your coupons, watching the sales, and  saving money on your grocery budget. Now What? This was the question I had to answer when I originally started noticing a difference in our grocery budget. We budget a certain amount of money for groceries every paycheck and relied on those groceries to last until the next paycheck. Before I started couponing, and watching sales there was rarely ever any money left over. Not only that, but I did not have a stocked pantry, and my refrigerator and freezer were always dangerously on the low side of things as far as groceries were concerned.

The first thing I did with the tiny bit of extra money I saved from couponing and watching sales was to start my stockpile. It was an extremely slow start. I have learned to be patient since we are a want it now society, so I resisted the urge to increase my stockpile with overpriced items that weren’t on sale. I vowed to be patient and wait for the sale to happen. As with any grocery sale cycle, you have to be patient, and you have to learn when an item has hit its rock bottom price as far as sales are concerned. I did begin to notice that my extra money was really coming in handy to purchase the items we would need at these rock bottom prices. My stockpile slowly began to grow.

Now I have a stockpile. What’s next? I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with my extra money after my stockpile began to grow. Mainly the extra money was just a waste, buying frivolous items at the grocery store that we rarely purchased, and that definitely weren’t on sale. After a few months of mindless spending with my extra money that I wouldn’t have had if I hadn’t started couponing, I started a new trend at our house. We purchased compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL’s) for the light fixtures in our house that would warrant having that type of bulb. At the time, I didn’t have a clear understanding about CFL’s and didn’t know that CFL’s don’t offer a lot of savings in fixtures that are turned off and on frequently. I know now more about light bulbs than I ever wanted to know. Oh the joys of saving money!

I have a stockpile, and I’m saving money on my electric bill by purchasing CFL’s. Now what? Here’s where things probably change for a lot of people. Everyone’s financial situation is different, and every family has different needs. This is where you will need to evaluate your spending and see where you need to make changes to see a difference. All of the changes I made were small and insignificant in the short run. It was hard to see the savings I would have in the long run by making those small changes. After all this time, nearly four years now, I really can see a difference in our quality of life. Make the little changes first, to see the big changes in the end. Like Dave Ramsey says, baby steps.

I would like to say that our life is more exciting than it is, but it’s just not most of the time. We’ve simplified what we do so much that it seems quite routine now to have a slow and uneventful day. I am not complaining about our simplicity, and I know that it does make life very boring for our teenagers, but I enjoy the simplicity, with as few bumps in the road as possible. Saturday we had already planned on attending the Lowe’s Kids Workshop to make the tic-tac-toe board. We spent a little time in the store making the project, and then browsed through the seeds that were available in the garden section to start thinking about what we would plant in our garden. Target was right across the road and we had convinced our daughters to make the trip to Lowe’s on the pretense that we would also make a stop at Target so that they could spend some of their Christmas money there.

It was nearing lunch time, and we were finished shopping at Target, so we drove back across the road to Chick-Fil-A. We had already planned on lunch at Chick-Fil-A since we had a couple of coupons to use, and made our purchase in two transactions so that we would be able to use both coupons. My husband and I shared a drink to continue keeping costs down as well. In addition to having my favorite fast food, our now four year old could take advantage of the playground so we stayed awhile so that he could play. I had two bags of items that needed to be donated so we drove those to our local thrift store as well. I searched through the thrift store to see if there was anything that I could absolutely not live without. I didn’t find a single thing, but I was fine leaving empty handed with my two bags dropped off.

We returned home and prepared lunch for Sunday. A simple lunch, beans. We cooked these on the stove top for most of the day so that they would be ready when returned home from church. I then spent some time on my health and beauty stockpile getting rid of some items that I had an excess of and knew that I would not use. I was able to find a grocery bag full of items that I knew my family wouldn’t use, but my extended family would probably be able to use. It really made me look back on my purchases for the previous year, and some from the year before that and see the things that I purchased for free or next to nothing, but I simply was not using. At Christmas I had even made baskets to give away to some of my family and still had an excess of items. More than anything this year, I am trying to simplify my purchases and only buy things that I know my family needs.

General Mills has announced a commitment to further reduce sugar in cereals advertised to kids under 12 to single digit grams of sugar per serving. The company has already been reducing sugar in cereals while increasing key nutrients, such as calcium and vitamin D, and providing whole grain.

Did you know that ready-to-eat cereal eaters consume less fat, less cholesterol and more fiber than non-cereal eaters? Cereals also deliver important vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients, making cereal a top source of key nutrients in children´s diets.

Other cereal benefits:

• Ready-to-eat cereals, including presweetened cereals, account for only 5% of sugar in children´s diets.
• Ready-to-eat cereal is the No. 1 source of whole grains in a child´s diet today.
• More frequent cereal eaters tend to have healthier body weights and lower Body Mass Index measures.

Studies also demonstrate the benefits of eating breakfast. A 1998 study showed that children who eat breakfast tend to perform better at school. Compared to children who skip breakfast, children who eat breakfast score higher on tests, are less likely to miss class or be tardy, have fewer reported discipline problems, and make fewer trips to the office.

For more information about kids and cereals, please visit Cereal Health and Wellness.

General Mills cereal are already a staple at our house. I can never go wrong with Cheerios, but I was pleasantly surprised when General Mills made the announcement for plans on reducing the sugar in cereals that are targeted towards children. I was thrilled when MyBlogSpark gave me the opportunity to share a coupon for a free box of cereal for four lucky readers of The Crafty Dollar.

To enter, leave a comment. Please be certain that your email address is either in your blogger profile or provided in your comment to win one of the four coupons. The giveaway will end January 28th 2010 at 11:59 PM CST and will be announced January 29th 2010. The winner will have 48 hours to respond via email.

All information and free cereal coupons were provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark. The views expressed are my own. I have received no compensation from General Mills or MyBlogSpark.

My son is four years old now and we’re having his birthday party today. I am getting pretty good at planning parties now. I keep a list of things I will need for a typical party, and then I add to the list any additional items that might be needed. We’re having brisket sandwiches from a local barbecue place, and I am making homemade potato salad and baked beans to go along with it.

The great thing about the potato salad and baked beans is that the ingredients are relatively inexpensive, but will feed a lot of people. I didn’t think about this fact until I was preparing the potato salad and thinking about the price of the ingredients. I used potatoes, eggs, mayonnaise, sour cream, butter, mustard, relish, salt, and pepper. The price for about ten cups of potato salad cost me well under $5.00 to make and would have cost considerably more if I had purchased this pre-made at the store or from the barbecue place. It was really easy to make, and can be made the day before which was a plus for me since I’ll be doing other things before the party.

The rest of the party is simple, cake and ice cream. I made the cake the day before so that it would be ready and my daughters decorated it for me. They were able to free hand decorate with colored sugar, which we colored with food dye. I have gift bags for all the kids and filled it with things that I’ve purchased either free or next to nothing throughout the year.

I attended the The Home Depot Do It Herself workshop for bathroom updates on Thursday night and was surprised at the turnout for the presentation. There were about twenty people there, including some husbands who tagged along with their wives to view the seminar. The presentation was given in three portions to cover faucet installation, tile installation, and repairing a toilet. As always, the presentations were presented well, and provided detailed information about the repairs, what tools would be required, and how to do it.

I’m not sure that all of the workshops are conducted in the same manner, but the workshop I attended also had snacks, drinks, and door prizes. Every person that attended received a door prize, including the husbands. I was a little shocked when the last two door prizes they gave out were a vanity a a new toilet. I walked away with a new caulk gun, tile spacers, and a sponge for grout and tile clean-up.

Not only does The Home Depot offer women’s workshops several times throughout the year, but they also offer other do-it-yourself classes on Saturday’s and Sunday’s. Check your local Home Depot for classes that will be offered near you. Stay tuned for more workshops being offered at The Home Depot and when warmer weather arrives they also offer workshops for gardening and lawn care.

I remember when I was attending college that it seemed like some of the textbooks required for my course were just as expensive as the course itself. I found it frustrating that it seemed like the majority of textbooks were always new, with very few used copies to choose from. My mom recently began attending college to become a Registered Nurse (RN), and was taken aback by the prices for college textbooks. We were able to find some of her textbooks online at Amazon for between twenty and fifty percent less than what she would have paid at the bookstore.

Some tips on purchasing online:

• Check the bookstore early to find out what books you need
• Buy the books early once you determine what book you need. Books are usually shipped parcel post, the cheapest form of shipping, which is also the slowest shipping method.
• Verify that you are purchasing the correct edition
• Check for any additional manuals or supporting software that are required for the course which may not be available to purchase online, and only available in the bookstore. Check with your bookstore about purchasing these additional items separately since some bookstores require that they purchased as a package.
• Always save receipts in case you need to make a return.

One of the rewards of living frugally, and I’ve spoken about it before, is that when you really need a good evening you’ve got some money sitting around to do it. While making homemade lentil soup, watching a Redbox movie, and just enjoying each others’ company may not sound like the most exciting evening usually, this type of living produces “margin” in your life. When I use the word margin, I mean breathing room. It’s no fun living life when you are extended to the margins and there is no room left to have any fun. Living life frugally gives you some extra space. When your budget is not overextended and you aren’t living in distressed conditions, you have some wiggle room. My husband and I decided we would leave our teenage twin girls at home so they could watch a movie and we would go out shopping with our three year old son. We spent a little while shopping in Target and then relaxed for a while in Starbucks. Starbucks is generally a frivolous and unnecessary purchase in our world, but the way we live makes it possible even with only one income. Our son ate an entire donut and some chocolate milk and then helped us take some Starbucks coffee grounds for our compost pile. While in Target, I found some great deals on Kashi Cinnamon Harvest cereal (on sale for $2.75 per box and then combined with a $3 off two coupon!) and Cascadian Farms Organic Chocolate Chip granola bars (on sale for $2.50), and at CVS got some Nature Made vitamins (on sale and combined with a great $7 off Nature Made reward coupon). This is what an enjoyable evening is like in my world.

Well, it is a new year, and I while I usually make myself a list of things that I want to accomplish throughout the year, they never seem to make it past January. It’s really never to late to make a decision to make positive changes in your life, whatever those changes might be, and no matter what time of year it is. I am really good at making the lists, but this year I plan to follow through on them. I’ve failed in the past because I’ve simply stated what I wanted to do, and not how I was going to accomplish my goals. I plan to start by setting reasonable goals. If it’s unrealistic, I don’t leave myself any room for failure, or for starting over fresh and trying again.

What are my goals? Well, they’re your typical goals. I checked to see what made the top ten list for the 2010 New Years Resolutions to see how it compared to what my goals are:

• Stop Smoking
• Get Fit
• Lose Weight
• Enjoy Life More
• Quit Drinking
• Get Organized
• Learn Something New
• Get Out of Debt
• Spend More Time with the Family
• Help Others

My list is actually much smaller than this. I am keeping it simple, setting reasonable goals for myself, and allowing myself to not be a perfectionist. If I don’t perfect something over the course of the year I won’t consider it a failure if I am at least able to begin my resolution and make some progress, however small that progress might be. My goals aren’t listed in order of importance, they are just things that I want to do.

Get Fit and Lose Weight. This is actually on my list every year because it’s a necessity for my health. I had to make a lifestyle change to accomplish this goal by eating fewer calories and working out. I don’t so much care for the working out part, but I know it’s a definite requirement for my health.

Learn to sew. I have always wanted to do this. I am not unrealistic though. I don’t expect myself to be an excellent seamstress by the end of the year. I just want to be able to sew craft projects for things in my house. Simple things that don’t require major sewing skills. I do however want to continue to expand on my sewing skills after I acquire the basics though.

Organize and declutter my house. This one seems silly to me, but I like to list it anyway. Organizing and decluttering is a constant necessity at my house to keep things organized and decluttered. It has to be done on an almost daily basis because of the volume of things that come in my house throughout the year. I accomplish this by keeping a bag ready to fill with items that we no longer need or want to take for donations. I also keep my children’s items organized for the two consignment sales that I participate in each year in the spring and fall.

Just keep it simple, don’t stress yourself out, and set small goals.

One of my son’s favorite places to go is our library. It has a kids section with puzzles, computers, big bean bags, little couches, and small sized tables and chairs. It’s appealing to him because it was designed for kids his age. I like it because it not only has an area designed specifically for kids his age, but that it is someplace that we can go when the weather does not permit him to spend time outside. The other thing that I like about the library is that my entire family enjoys spending time there. It’s something that we can do as a family together and there is something for everyone.

I frequently borrow DVD’s from the children’s section of the library for my son. Borrowing allows me to have a good variety of things for him to watch without purchasing them at full price, although I can’t resist when I find a good video at the thrift store that I know he’ll watch. We can also pick up a few books that will keep his interest for a few days. The best part about the library though is that it allows my son to get out and stretch his legs from being cooped up in the house.

My husband went with us as well. He enjoys the music collection that is available at the library, and found a 6 CD set of Miles Davis which should keep him entertained for days. I always find myself gravitating to the organizing books. I am now more organized than ever, but I like to look at the pictures and wonder how a normal family actually lives an organized life with everything in its place. Such order. Immediately upon leaving the library I enter the due dates for my books in my phone as an appointment with a reminder so that I don’t miss the due date and have to pay late fees.