Easy Homemade "Irish Cream" Body Scrub - Sweet Gift Idea!

Good Wednesday night to all! Recently, my friend Tina Fox invited me to a FREE class she was planning on attending at our local public library. The class (held last night) was on making homemade Irish Cream Body Scrub. That sounded enticing, so I hopped on over there and partook of the fun. It ended up being a simple and quick project that has so much thrifty gift-giving potential! I don't have a smart phone (I lovingly refer to it as my Dumb Phone - - hey, ignorance can be bliss!!), so Tina used hers to take this lovely picture that showcases all the necessary things to make the body scrub. The instructor at the library was very supportive of the fact that I am totally "glomming on" to her idea for my blog, too!

Here is what she did: mix together a 4 pound bag of sugar (about $2) and a 20 ounce bottle of Dawn Ultra Hand Renewal with Olay (about $3 without coupons). She used a hand mixer to make the process easier. Now, you can stop there.....OR, you can add essential oils. I added a few drops of McCormick Peppermint Oil to mine, but it smells great either way. The bag of sugar and bottle of dish soap made a huge bowl of sugar scrub, so the lady had several different containers to package it in. Tina said she had given out a similar scrub at Christmas, and had packaged it in baby food jars. For a larger gift, a salsa jar would also work. Any type of glass jar saved from a future in the trash is great! Spraypaint the lid, tie on a wooden stick for stirring, add a pretty ribbon and tag, and it is ready to give!! I kept the one I made last night for myself. It is on the kitchen sink, and I keep finding excuses to go wash my hands :)

So, to be ready by Christmas, SAVE YOUR JARS!!! ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE BABY FOOD JARS!!  Have a fun, frugal and fabulous day, from our house to yours!!!

Country Crafts for a Good Cause (cheap too, of course!)

Happy Tuesday! I haven't posted in a couple of days, as I have been busy. The youth of Bronston First Baptist Church in Bronston, KY (including my handsome son, Peyton!) who are part of Bronston Changers will be going on a mission trip to the Frankfort area in a few months. They will be performing repairs on the homes of those who are unable to do it themselves. Each of our kids has already paid $50 cash to go, and will raise the remainder of the funds needed. Therefore, everyone who lives near the area is invited to attend a Spaghetti Dinner and Silent Auction on Saturday, March 8, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. Here are some of the fruits of my efforts for the Silent Auction. I will also be making some fudge later in the week.

Assorted country primitive rough cut wooden signs. These signs are my own designs, and are made of discarded wood from one of our local pallet factories. They are more than happy to give you as much as you want for FREE!! Bottles of acrylic craft paint are cheap and last a long time. I got the twine from Mighty Dollar, the clothespins from Dollar Tree, and the other little decorations from a yard sale. I thought they turned out cute! They would be nice gifts, too. There is a store in the local mall that sells stuff very similar to this, but you can make your own for next to nothing using free wood. Start now for Christmas *wink*!

Terracotta and glass "bubble gum machines". The glass ivy bowls came from Dollar Tree, while the pots and saucers were less than a dollar at Walmart. The little round piece on the front where the gum ball would fall from on a real machine is a clothespin stand, and came several to a pack from Walmart years ago. I used a clear silicone adhesive to attach the base to the bowl. Fill with candies and enjoy!!

I am hoping to have time to make more items for the Silent Auction, but we will see!! Tomorrow night is church night, and I also have an order for a teddy bear cake for this weekend. I will be really busy this week, indeed - - - but with doing all the things I LOVE! Thank you, God for blessing me!

Have a fun, frugal and fabulous week from our house to yours!

Free Stuff from ideeli.com!!!

If you did not get in on this yesterday, please take advantage of it today, through midnight tonight, eastern time. Click HERE to take advantage of a $10 credit AND free shipping on any order from ideeli.com for NEW customers. Simply enter the code GRPN10 at checkout, and change the little number in the "discounts applied" dropdown box to "1". Since there are still items for less than $10, this means FREE merchandise shipped to your door. Check out the FREE half slip that I have coming:

It was on sale for $9.99, marked down from $17.00, and at the time of this writing, this is still available in size XL. Several friends have already taken advantage of this deal as well, so HURRY! Please note: credit or debit card info IS required, but they do not charge you. I have checked my online banking stuff a couple of times since last night, and there is nothing fishy there thus far. This is a trustworthy site, folks. One account per person - - others get cancelled. Remember: if you see nothing you personally want, order something anyway and stash it in your gift closet. After all, it's FREE!!


Have a fun, frugal and fabulous day, from our house to yours!

Saturday Mail Call

It's time for...

Saturday Mail Call!

Well, folks, it was a beautiful day and I took advantage of it. My poor clothesline had been feeling a little lonely for several months so I put it to work on this sunny February day. Why, yes...I do live in a subdivision! I am sure my neighbors don't mind! Seriously, though, I know the neighbors behind us don't mind. They have one too. I hope you all have enjoyed the day as well as I did! You know, it looks like my dear mailman has me well-stocked this week as far as reading material goes. As a matter of fact, that is ALL he brought me this week. Oh well, that's okay. It still softened the blow of the other things that came this week - - electric bill, insurance, mortgage, cable/tv/internet.....and on and on. The magazines that did come were really good ones:

The Red Bulletin ($12.00 per year on amazon.com)
Martha Stewart Weddings ($16.00 per issue on amazon.com)
Forbes ($29.95 per year on amazon.com)
Outdoor Life ($9.97 per year on amazon.com)
Martha Stewart Living ($28.00 per year on amazon.com)

If I had paid for these subscriptions, the grand total per year would have been $95.92!! Remember that newsstand prices are typically higher as well for single issues, so looking at it that way presents even MORE savings (if you can save on something that was free, haha). If you would like a subscription to The Red Bulletin for "exciting stories from the world of action, sports, music and culture", go HERE and complete a simple form. To get Martha Stewart Weddings OR Forbes, go HERE and complete the form provided by Rewards Gold. Please note that there are other titles available there as well. Neither Martha Stewart Living nor Outdoor Life are currently available for free. However, Outdoor Life was obtained from Value Mags. Several other nice titles are available from them, so visit their site!

Here's a hint: even if NONE of the magazine titles appeal to you, why not send someone else a subscription as a gift. Just fill in their name and address instead of yours as I have done for several of my family members. Magazine subscriptions are nice gifts. As Eddie once said, "Clark, that's the gift that keeps on giving the whole year!" But, I personally believe a magazine subscription would be a better gift than a membership to the Jelly of the Month Club. How about you?

Have a fun, frugal and fabulous weekend from our house to yours!

Walmart Super Shoe Deals (or, steals!)

Hello everybody and Happy Friday to all! I am a tightwad. Most people know this. I hate spending money on myself because I always feel like whatever I already have is good enough. I am certainly not without food clothing or shelter, ya know. So, for me to purchase SIX pair of shoes AT ONE TIME for myself is UNHEARD of. It is seriously like a sasquatch sighting, to be certain.

As I type this, my Walmart in Somerset, KY has their winter apparel and shoes on clearance. If the item is marked $7 or below, the cashier will ring them up for $2.00. If the item is marked $3 or below, it is only $1.00. I was able to get all six pair for $9.00 plus tax! Check it out:

L to R and going clockwise:

Tan faux suede "ugg" style boots. Regular price = $16.87 marked to $5. FINAL PRICE = $1.00

Cognac high heeled dress boots. Regular price = $25.87 marked to $7. FINAL PRICE = $2.00

Black biker boots with plaid lining. Regular price = $28.87 marked to $7. FINAL PRICE = $2.00

Black and purple with bow "ugg" style boots. Regular price torn off, marked to $3. FINAL PRICE = $1.00

Tan/gold faux suede moccasins. Regular price = $12.97 marked to $7. FINAL PRICE = $2.00

Pink faux fur slippers. Regular price = $4.97. FINAL PRICE = $1.00

Even if I don't count the value of the black and purple boot since I don't know the original cost, the total for the rest of the shoes is still $89.55!! So, I am willing to say that I got over a hundred dollars worth of shoes for $9.54 (tax included). I am one happy girl considering it is still February and I can wear all these NOW!!!

Call your Walmart ahead of time to find out if they are having a similar sale. I definitely need to now check out the clothes! If you find out that the same deals are going on, RUN to Walmart before it is all gone. And, remember - - - it is NOT too early to shop for Christmas presents, so ask your family and friends for their sizes before you go. I would personally love getting one of these pairs of boots under the tree. 

Have a fun, frugal and fabulous weekend, from our house to yours!

Fun and Thrifty Weekend Shopping

Well, today was a great day at church! Not only were Prentice, Peyton and I able to take a friend with us again today, but it was also Baptist Men's Day. The men of the church had some special music, and Prentice plus two others shared testimonies. Praise God! We have had a good weekend overall, and a fun, frugal one as well :) We have had Valentine's chocolates, cake, and plenty of food all weekend long here at home. We also went out to the mall and did a little shopping as a family. We found some great sales at Factory Connection, rue21 and Bath & Body Works. We all three ended up with cool stuff at Factory Connection, who has a great clearance sale right now! Plus, a LOT of their clearance is ALSO Buy 2, Get 1 FREE. There are some nice pieces starting at about $3, so you could get three pieces for $6 with the B2G1 sale combined with clearance.

The best deals we got were at Bath & Body Works and at rue21. For Bath and Body Works, there was a Facebook deal available on the 14th to get a full size bottle of Mad About You Diamond Shimmer Mist body spray with ANY purchase. Since all three of us here in our household have a Facebook account, I was able to print three coupons. What did we purchase to get the great full size body sprays? Three 50 cent hand sanitizer holders. The clerk even helped us find the products and was very friendly! At Rue 21, I spotted a rack at the entrance to the store that said "$1.00". I went in to browse the rack, and came out with two black/gray knit infinity scarves that were originally priced at $14.99 each for a buck each!!! All these things will make great additions to my gift closet. Behold:

AND, check out the receipts. I had three B&BW receipts, but I threw the other two away. I spent a TOTAL of $1.59 in Bath and Body Works to get (3) full size bottles of Mad About You Diamond Shimmer Mist, priced at $16.00 each and (3) Tie Dyed PocketBac holders at 50 cents. Like I said about rue21, I was able to score two Carbon black/gray knit infinity scarves that were originally priced at $14.99 each for only a dollar each! 

TOTAL VALUE of Bath & Body Works merchandise (before 6% sales tax) = $49.50. Our price (before 6% sales tax) = $1.50

TOTAL VALUE of rue21 merchandise (before 6% sales tax) = $29.98. Our price (before 6% sales tax) = $2.00 

Bath & Body Works tends to have some type of freebie or special about once a month. I suggest you Like and Follow THIS Facebook page to keep up with the deals. It is the Bath and Body Works Fans Society page, and will help you to stay in the know concerning coupons and deals. I know I keep promising a post on setting up a gift closet, but I must confess: my gift closet (actually my the whole guest bedroom that houses the gift closet) is out of order right now. It looks like it has been burglarized or vandalized or just plain messy-ized, and has been that way since I "shopped" it for Christmas (I know it's February now, LOL - - I have the door closed to that room). But, it served me well. I had enough stuff in there that we had festively wrapped boxes of presents and gift baskets galore for every member of the family and more! Go! Take an extra $5 or $10 with you and get a few things for birthdays or Christmas for this year! It is never too early to save some cash now and a lot of sanity later.

Have a fun, frugal and fabulous week, from our house to yours!