MelissaStuff

Not eating out as much will automatically save your budget megabucks . . . but if you use the crock pot to cook , you’ll save even more! You won’t be paying for the oven to be on – that’s especially helpful in Texas where it’s been over 100 for more days than I can keep up with this summer. And having it ready and waiting will alleviate feeling too tired to cook and resorting to picking up fast food or ordering pizza. If you’re looking for some awesome slow cooker recipes , join me over at Crock Pot Girls on Facebook . I am excited about trying out their recipes.

I told ya’ll this morning that I would be working hard at registering items for consignment this week. Every year I earn more than a thousand dollars just by consigning the extra clothes and toys we have around our house. This year we’ll be expanding to include items that have been left over from our Clean It Out sales, as well. This is an easy thing that ANYONE can do to save/make money. Let’s use the upcoming Rhea Lana sale in SW DFW as an example. #1 - Registration is open right now. You just go to this page and fill out the form . #2 – Then collect all of the items you are ready to part with and also as many of these supplies as you have around – hangers, safety pins, white hanging sale tags. Tomorrow you can actually attend a beginner’s information class at Pirate Coffee Company tonight from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Not only will they cover all the basics during this hour, but from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. you can also purchase supplies (100 tags for $1.50 and $.20 for each hanger...

I just found an incredible resource for those of you in the DFW area – CouponShockSavings – sells copies of the newspaper inserts for $.90 each . If you’re local, she also delivers for FREE . And as the inserts get closer to having expired coupons , the prices of the inserts drop as well. Just tonight I purchased 5 copies of the SmartSource insert from 6/30 for just $.50 each! I love this because I can check to see what coupons are in the insert before deciding if buying them is wise. But for some of you it might make more sense to just get set up on an auto-pay system where the inserts are just sent to you each week. Considering that 2 papers now cost $5 – this could be quite a savings for those of you that use multiple inserts. (I recommend purchasing one per family member to maximize your savings. For us that is 5 papers!) In addition, some of you that like the “idea” of getting good deals more than you like cutting coupons , sorting, and shopping at a variety of stores...

People regularly ask me where I find all of the high value coupons that help me get such awesome deals on everything from diapers to formula to medicine. Honestly, in the moment, I seem to have a hard time remembering. I usually stutter something about newspaper inserts and online printable coupons . But one of the best place to find coupons for things like diaper rash cream, formula, children’s medicine and even diapers is your local doctor’s office. The hard part is that each doctor’s office handles coupons differently. We have used one doctor who had a select number of samples and coupons right at checkout. One of our doctors had a bin in the waiting area where all kinds of coupons were stuck and could be taken, left or traded. My favorite doctor’s office has an entire wall of bins on the opposite wall from the checkout area. In these bins there are numerous coupons , samples and advertisements. Even for a seasoned couponer like me there are more coupons than I could eve...

I know many of you have watched the TLC program on “Extreme Couponing” because you have asked me questions about whether it is real or not and if that is how I shop. The answers are “Not exactly.” and “No, I couldn’t store that much stuff and I couldn’t focus on saving money on other foods that my family needs to be eating if I was expending enough energy to get $1,000 of FREE stuff each time I go to the store.” If you are interested in more differences between real life couponing and the tv show’s depiction of extreme couponing, you should check out this article -   1. It Takes Time to Coupon It takes hours of planning to take a $2,000 bill and get it down to $100. Extreme couponing like you see on the TLC show is a part-time or even full-time job in regards to the hours put in. 2. Extreme Couponing Isn’t for Everyone The average person won’t put in all the time to be an extreme couponer. But if the show got you excited that’s great! Using coupons w...

Our crew likes to go . . . Mommy and Daddy prefer to travel alone, but as the kids get older we really do look forward to taking some fun family adventures together. But with three kids, how do you find the money to do that? Here are some of the ways we save when we travel: 1. Plan ahead. Sometimes the best deals are when the item first becomes available to the public because they are trying to make it worth their while. Then once the basic costs are covered, they raise prices to make as much money as possible. We’ve gotten rock bottom prices on cruises by literally being one of the first people to book the cruise. Later, when other family members decided to join us they paid more for the same size room on the same cruise! 2. Wait until the last minute. Ha! I know that sounds contradictory, but this is the other time that you may find outstanding deals. If you have the flexibility to wait or change plans at the last minute, you can find absolute steals on travel. Think about ...

  It’s consignment sale season again and I am thrilled. Not only do I find incredible deals for my boys, but I’m also able to clean out my closets and the toy box while making enough money to supplement our income. In Plano this weekend, there is a Divine Consign sale at the Plano Centre. This sale has 69,000 items! You are bound to find something you like and most likely get a great deal as well. I checked my sales from the opening night and I’ve already sold 10% of what I brought. Can’t wait to see what the next several days bring. The sale is open today until 5 p.m. Tomorrow, March 7th, it is open 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. and then many of the items go 50% off from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, March 8th, a good deal of what is left will go 75% off from just 8 a.m. to noon. Then the sale ends and you’ll have to wait another 6 months to shop such a large, well-organized sale. Good luck and happy shopping.

I was just thinking and discussing some of the ways that I save money . . . and thought I need to remember to share those on the blog. So first is probably nothing new to most of you – Netflix and Tivo, but it has saved us hundreds, probably thousands of dollars in the last 4 years. I originally posted some of these details last summer, but I think they’re worth repeating. If you are familiar with Netflix , you know years ago they began the concept of an online subscription where they mailed you your movie rentals. Their unlimited plan now costs $8.99. But the best part is that include unlimited streaming rentals as well. Years ago when we were first married Joey and I were Netflix subscribers – you know the program where you became a member and created a queue, then the movies were mailed to you 1 or 3 at a time and as you mailed them back, you got the next items on the list. But as life got busy we would go weeks without being able to watch the movie that was sent to us. ...

So I found out something today that I am excited about trying out. I have a ton of books and sometimes I need to weed out some in order to make them all fit on my bookshelves. I’ve tried selling them at resale shops, garage sales, and even donated them for the tax write off, but now you can sell your used books online! The best part of this is that you don’t have to pay shipping. you just log on, type in the ISBN number (the one on the barcode in the back) and they’ll tell you what they want. Then you print out a PREPAID shipping label and send them off. I’m not sure it could get any easier or better than that. They also accept textbooks so this is perfect for college students, as well. Here's how it works... just go to this link - Sell Used Books - Instant Quote, Free Shipping! 1) Enter your book's ISBN number/s 2) If they are accepting your book, you can add it to your cart. 3) Check out and print invoice. 4) Package books with invoice. 5) Print Free Postage ...

I have been talking with some of you about the ins and outs of saving money and doing the “deals.” One of the questions I get frequently is how do I keep from spending a ton of money on ink and paper to print onling coupons. Sometimes it seems like after you buy expensive ink, you may have spent all of the money you worked so hard to save. So, here are some of my tips on how to conserve your ink: #1 – Many Bricks coupons can be mailed directly to you rather than having to be printed. Click on the “Help” link in the bottom right corner. If it can be mailed, the next screen will have blanks that you can fill in with your address. Obviously this only works if you don’t need the coupon to do a deal right away. The coupons usually take a couple of weeks to get to you. #2 – Make sure you cut off the print out after the coupon is complete. Often, these coupons have full color ads after the coupon. That’s a HUGE waste of ink. On my computer I can put in a sheet that is just long eno...

I write a lot about how to save money on little kids clothing, but us big people have to wear clothes too and I don't want to spend any more money on it than I have to. I've shared some of my tips - shopping offseason, always checking the clearance rack, etc. - but one of the most critical steps in saving money on clothes shopping is choosing the right stores. One of our family's favorites is Aeropostale . I actually stumbled across this store when I was in college in Greenville, South Carolina. At that point, they didn't have them in Texas and so I would shop the clearance buys and bring home really cute stuff that people couldn't believe I had spent so little on. For example, this weekend Aeropostale is having an online sale where you take an additional 30% off all of their already clearanced clothing. (You must use the code 30AERO .) Sometimes their clearance items are as little as a $1.99 or $2.99 - and these are cute, trendy clothing items. In the store...

Once you know what you have to work with , now it's time to figure out a color scheme. I personally began by looking at various online bedding sets. I thought I might be able to get away with picking and choosing pieces - possibly even clearance pieces and then adding to them solid colored accessories that were cheaper. In the end that didn't work for me. We painted the room because after two other boys, the white walls were in desperate need of a face lift. Home Depot had a sale where they were clearancing out their Ralph Lauren paints AND you got a rebate for buying any gallon. Together my husband and I chose a medium to dark tan color that we thought would be a good base for whatever color scheme we ended up going with and would hide lots of little boy living. The gallon of Ralph Lauren paint ended up costing about $10. As I looked through bedding set after bedding set, I found myself gravitating towards bold stripes and polka dots. There were a couple of sets at Target...

So, in the introduction to this short series , I told you why I was creating a nursery, what my first nursery looked like and how important it was to me to do exactly what I wanted this time . . . but still stay economical. The first step in that process for me was starting with what I had . Having a 2 year old and a 4 year old, I had already purchased a crib, a baby armoire and a bookshelf. Even new to me these items were purchased frugally. The crib was a second hand purchase from an antique store in downtown Mckinney. Due to recalls and changes in cribs, I did have to make sure the slats were close enough together and the paint recent enough to not possibly contain lead. The crib passed both of these tests and my parents purchased it before my first son was born for about $185.  Considering the heavy duty design and the custom paint, I think that we got a GREAT deal. However, headed into this newest nursery I also knew that I could try to paint the bed - which we were decid...

So, just in case you're new or missed the allusions, I'm VERY pregnant with my third child - a boy, my third boy. It's been a difficult pregnancy for me although all signs seem to point to a very healthy, hearty baby boy. However, barring an intervention from God this will be my last pregnancy and could very well be my last infant. (I'm totally open to adopting. My husband however is ready to move out of the "little-bitties" stage and have all of our children independent and self-sufficient. Ha!!) My first two boys were only 17 months apart, so there nursery was decorated identically. In fact, we never took the crib down, just moved one child out and the new baby in. It was bright and cheery, but generally just a hodgepodge of what I could find and throw together. With this new baby I knew from the start - especially once we found out it was another boy - that I wanted to do all of those things that I had wanted to do with my other babies and never actua...