Money Saving Tip 2

With four growing kids ages 11, 9, 4, and 2, we go through clothes, shoes, toys, etc, like mad.   A couple of years ago, my sister introduced me to a local consignment sale.  I went, not knowing that I would be hooked.  Not only was it a great way to get great deals, it was also a way to clear out things we no longer needed while making money as well.  We clean out closets every February and August and participate in the Weecycle It children's consignment sale.

 I didn't have time to get even half of my items together this time because of ongoing sports with the oldest two kids, but the pictures below will give you an idea of what I usually take.  I usually have lots of baby toys, shoes, books, movies, bedding, tons of clothing, games, etc., etc.  I have even taken big items like an air hockey table, foosball table, and loft bed before.

It  does take some time to input the items in the computer, prepare the items and put the tags on them. 

 Different consignment sales take different percentages of your asking price so you need to adjust your price accordingly.  The consignment sale that I use takes 30 percent of your asking price so I just consider that when pricing.

 Another benefit of consigning is that you get to shop early at the sale before the general public. 

 I usually make a list of the items that we need and what I am looking for in advance.  When shopping for four, I am usually one of the last customers to leave.

Even after shopping, I usually make more money than I end up spending.  At the fall and winter sale, I think I spent around $200-$300 and I made between $500 and $600. 

 I consider myself a very picky mom, but the benefits of using consigment sales with 4 growing children is well worth it if you ask me.  Check back next week to see what I score at the spring and summer sale.

Linking to:

http://youaretalkingtoomuch.blogspot.com/
http://www.sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com/ 

Birthday for a Princess

So, with 3 girls, this made my second "Princess" party in the last 5 years.  It was kinda hard to come up with new things the second time around so I decided to go with a color scheme to go with each princess, yellow for "Belle," blue for "Cinderella," and pink for "Sleeping Beauty."

I baked chocolate and white cupcakes and colored the icing. I sprinkled them with the pearl perils.  (Every princess needs pearls, right?)  I made the cupcake toppers with a pattern I got online for Easter.  I can't remember where I got it.  I then cut the "4's" and "C's " out for the birthday girl's name and age.

We had color scheme Kool-Aid and drinks for the kids also.

I made the water labels from the same Easter printables.

We had a pink (Sleeping Beauty) table, a blue (Cinderella) table and a yellow (Belle) table.

Pink marshmallows on a stick dipped in chocolate and white chocolate with sprinkles

I would show the cake, but it didn't turn out very good, looked liked the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

"C" sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles

Dad and big brother with their P.P.A. (Princess Protetion Agency) shirts trying to look tough

Big sis doing nails and make-up at the dress up station

Little Tikes princess castle

Treat bags, anyone?

And... the beautiful birthday princess herself

Money Saving Tip

Hey everyone!  It is time for Dollar General and Family Dollar's $5.00 off a $25.00 purchase this weekend.  Dollar General's coupon is only good for Saturday, February 25.  Family Dollar's coupon is good Friday-Sunday 2/24/12-2/26-12.  If you go to http://www.dollargeneral.com/  and/or http://www.familydollar.com/  you can print the coupons off from their coupon page. Ohter coupons are also available to print off. I always try to take advantage of this savings opportunity even if I don't need anything special at the time.  I will stock up on things that I know I will use in the future such as diapers, wipes, toilet paper, tissues, paper plates, dish detergent, canned goods, laundry detergent, cleaning supplies, etc. etc.  After all, both stores have decent prices anyway and when you take an additional $5.00 off of things that you know you will use anyway, it helps!  Happy Shopping!

Boys Birthday Bash

My sister and I live 4 hours apart and have sons who are 9 years and 1 day apart.  So when we found the opportunity to have their birthdays together, we had to decide on a theme that would work for both of them.  We went with a red, white and blue theme that would work for both of them,  Thomas, for the 2 year old and school colors for the sports fanatic 11 year old. 

I put red and white pennants on toothpicks for some of the cupcakes and tiger paws (school sports team)  on others.

We made sugar cookies and cut them out in "C"s and "L"s for the birthday boys and put red, white and blue sprinkles on them.

We had red, mystery flavor white, and blue kool-aid.

For the cakes, we made each special boy thier own cake, one chocolate, one white with special homemade icing (I will share this recipe later.)  For the top, we used Fruit Roll-Ups  to cut out the letters of their names and a train and tiger paw cut out.

 We couldn't leave out the strawberry cake, so we made strawberry cake balls and sprinkled on the red, white and blue sprinkles.  We also dipped strawberries in white chocolate and blue sprinkles.  For the water bottles, we made labels with tiger paws and "11"s

Marshmellows on a stick, dipped in chocolate and sprinkles

Treat bags from brown paper lunch bags with all red, white, and blue party favors.  I turned the top down and used a hole punch to punch holes at the top and attached thank you and tied it with jute string.

To add to the goodies, we also had Ritz crackers filled with peanut butter and dipped in white chocolate.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!