DIY paint stick wall hanging, with FREE printable

MAKE RUSTIC INTERCHANGEABLE WALL ART USING PAINT STIR STICKS AND A PRINTER AT HOME

Paint sticks don’t sound like the kind of thing you would purposely hang on your wall as part of your décor. Well think again! They are actually PERFECT to use to make interchangeable hanging frames. AND they are SO cheap to make which makes this crafty DIY even better! With a little bit of paint, magnetic tape,printable and some twine you can transform your own stir sticks into a farmhouse style picture frame.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

BONUS grab my FREE printable to use for your own wall hanging. I love being a girl mom x4 but it for sure has it’s moments of hard conversations. One of those hard convos I had recently is the sole purpose to creating this printed wall hanging. I had plans to make these stir stick decorations but I wasn’t really planning to hang this exact piece. I was going to do something a little patriotic to tie in with this repurposed drawer into an American flag instead I chose to showcase a saying that would sink in a little deeper for my girls. When they read it I hope it sets in even deeper that they are perfect just the way they are.

If you like easy to make signs check out this super simple free standing wood sign. All you need is a printer and some mod podge and of course a piece of wood ;).

Here’s how you can make your own affordable rustic wall hanging

Here’s what you’ll need

• 4 paint stir sticks

• paint or stain I used gray paint

• paint brush

• magnetic tape

• twine

• scissors

• printable

Helpful tools

• home printer

• Ryobi miter saw

ONE- The first thing I did was cut the ends off of all of my paint sticks. You can keep these on if you want but I like the look of them cut off better. I used my miter saw to do this.

TWO- I painted the blank side of my paint sticks gray. I really wanted to stain them in gray but honestly I didn’t want the mess so instead I painted a thin layer then took a paper towel and wiped it off. This gives a faux stained look.

THREE- I attached a strip of magnetic tape to the insides, the side I didn’t paint, of each paint stick. To save on tape I cut a strip in half length wise for one top and one bottom stick. I’d never used this stuff before this project and so far I’m impressed with how well it works.

FOUR- I printed off my printable from my home computer and trimmed about 1/4” off of each long edge with my paper trimmer (if you don’t have one you NEED to get one lol they are so inexpensive and save so much time and stress from not having straight cut lines when you need them). Then I sandwiched the printable between the paint sticks at the top and bottom.

FIVE- To keep this stir stick wall art interchangeable I loosely tied my twine hanger to the ends of the top sides. This way if I want to change it out or if somehow a spaghetti noodle gets flung on to it, which can totally happen with four kids let’s be real, I can easily slip off the twine remove the old print add a new one and slip the twine loop back on. Super simple and easy!@

Like with all of my crafty tutorials if you have any questions please feel free to ask away:)!

Happy Crafting!

How to make beeswax wraps, reusable cotton saran wrap

Make your own reusable cotton food wraps

I gotta say I am impressed with these simple yet useful beeswax reusable cotton wraps. If you’ve never heard of these before you’re not alone, my husband had no idea what they were and I’m pretty sure he thought I was crazy when I told him what I wanted to make. You use these cloth wraps in your kitchen to replace saran wrap…genius I know! I had never used beeswax or pine resin before this DIY, I actually had no idea pine resin was a thing to buy until recently. But after seeing how easy this project was I am eager to try others that use these ingredients.

I read several different articles telling how to make them. They all basically used the same three ingredients: BEESWAX, PINE RESIN, JOJOBA OIL. Some however didn’t use the pine resin, or any resin at all, and what I read, and now agree with since I have made them myself, is that you won’t get that sticky saran wrap feel unless you use the pine resin. Technically you can just use beeswax but I wouldn’t recommend it.

If you enjoy this money saving tip be sure to check out these reusable oil bottles for the kitchen.

DIY EASY BEESWAX & RESIN SARAN WRAP

Here’s what you'll need

• beeswax pellets

• pine resin

• jojoba oil

• 100% cotton fabric

• pinking shears

• chip brush

• sauce pan

• wide mouth half pint mason jar

• measuring spoons

• measuring cup

• aluminum foil

• cookie sheet

• cooling rack

• flexible squeegee

• preheated oven at 215 degrees

This is the recipe I used

• 1/2 c BEESWAX PELLETS

• 2 t PINE RESIN

• 1/2 t JOJOBA OIL

The first couple of wraps I made I only used 1 teaspoon of the pine resin and I did not like the way those wraps turned out. So I doubled the resin for the next batch and they turned out SO much better!

1.MELT THE INGREDIENTS

Preheat your oven to 215 degrees. Then mix 1/2 cup of beeswax pellets, 2 teaspoons of pine resin, and 1/2 teaspoon of jojoba oil. The BEST way to do this is to melt it all in a double boiler. I used an old sauce pan and a short mason jar for this. I put a small amount of water in the sauce pan because I didn’t want the jar to float and I knew since I was making a small batch it wouldn’t take much to heat of the jar to melt the beeswax. I used a thin chip brush to do all of the stirring.

2. CUT YOUR FABRIC

while my ingredients were melting I cut my fabric into pieces I thought would be good sizes for what I wanted to use them for. I cut a few small ones that would fit around the top of a jar. Several medium sized ones that would be good to wrap around food. And a couple of large ones that would fit around my larger sized mixing bowls. I used my grandma’s old pair of pinking shears on the edges of the fabric so that the edges wouldn’t fray once I start using the food wraps. Also, you want to be sure you are using 100% cotton.

3. BRUSH ON & BAKE

Line your cookie sheet with foil, shiny side down. Place a piece of your fabric on the cookie sheet. Use the chip brush to brush on the melted mixture. Then pop it in the oven for 5 minutes or so. Do not skip placing it in the over. If you just brush the wax mixture on your food wraps they will be stiff, the mixture won’t be on the fabric evenly and it will result in them not working quite right. Placing them in the oven allows the wax to melt completely into the fabric and giving you a nice even coat over the entire piece of fabric.

4. REMOVE EXCESS WAX

Remove your cookie sheet from the oven. Use a squeegee, here's the kind I used, and squeegee the excess beeswax mixture off of the fabric. I didn’t do this for the first couple of wraps I made and I didn’t like how they turned out, for two reasons - there wasn’t enough resin AND they were WAY TOO stiff and waxy. None of the tutorials I read said to do this step though. So maybe they know something I don’t. But I do know when I went to use the first two to try them out before I made more they were kind of blah and I wasn’t impressed at all with them. After I squeegeed the excess off it made all the difference in the world! I didn’t let the excess go to waste either. I scooped it up and placed it back into the mason jar so it could melt back down.

5. REMOVE & LET DRY

Immediately take them off of the baking sheet and place them somewhere to dry. I lined a cookie drying rack with a piece of foil and then placed the finished wax wraps on there to dry. It didn’t take very long at all for them to completely dry on the drying rack.

6. USE

Once your food wraps are dry you can start using them immediately. I was so surprised at how well these turned out! I’m even thinking about making some to give as gifts to family and friends.

Like with all of my DIY posts if you have any questions please feel free to ask. If you make these at home I’d love to hear how yours turn out!

Happy crafting!

Decorating your porch for FALL on a BUDGET

I’ve never been one to spend a lot of money on decorations. And this year is even more a reason to keep the fall decorations budget to a minimum. My husband and I are on track to be totally debt free by the end of 2019! This is something we’ve been working on for awhile {with a few setbacks though} and we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! So this year for the fall decorating budget we put aside $20…yes TWENTY dollars to create a beautiful fall scenery on our uncovered front porch.

And truthfully I wasn’t worried at all because I knew I could make that happen! A few things I knew I wanted were fresh mums and pumpkins. A bale of straw and some dried corn stalks would have been icing on the cake but sadly there was no room to splurge for these…maybe next year.

How to decorate your uncovered front porch on a BUDGET for fall

If you’re like me and don’t have a lot of money {or maybe nothing at all} to put toward your fall porch decorations here are some tips to help you to create a beautiful porch on a budget.

FIRST use what you have. This is a rule I use for decorating year round. If you incorporate things you already have you are literally spending nothing.

SECOND this one is a favorite of mine…if you have relatives that are tossing things out ask if you can have them. My father in law had this AMAZING pile of, well junk, on his property and every time we would go over there I would search through his junk pile lol! He gave me full permission to take whatever my little heart wanted and boy did I always find good stuff to take home. My husband didn’t always agree ha! A couple things I picked from his pile that I used in my fall porch décor

• the rusty old chair

• old broken window

Both of these things I keep on the porch year round and thank goodness I rescued them because they are absolutely perfect!

THIRD check your Facebook swap n shop pages/groups. People love getting rid of things, even for free. This is so my personality type too! When I’m tired of looking at the clutter I go in full on purge mode lol! Just this last weekend the overwhelm from daughter # 4’s bedroom was really getting to me. So, naturally like a lot of moms do, I took in the roll of trash bags and just started tossing anything and everything that I hadn’t seen her play with since the start of summer. It’s a little embarrassing but I filled 7 kitchen sized trash bags full of gently used toys and some clothes that he had outgrown.

FOURTH shop around for the best prices. Even though supporting small business is always on my mind because I own a small business, I do shop at Walmart. And I don’t feel guilty about it. One day when we are rich we will be able to shop small all day everyday but for now, while raising four daughters, I have to pick and choose when we can afford to support small business.

FIFTH make your own décor. If you’re crafty jump on some DIY PINTEREST boards to get some ideas of what to make. I suggest skimming your crafty stash to see what you have too. The OG barn wood looking sign is one I made, DIY PALLET SIGN for our front porch for fall. It’s actually a school spirit sign. We live in a pretty small town and school spirit is alive and well here. Since our school colors are orange and black I try to incorporate school spirit into our décor. It makes it a little more fun for our girls too because we are visually saying ‘go school’ and I know that’s encouraging for them. Just be sure whatever pieces you put out there that they are protected from the elements if needed. To make this sign I just used leftover pieces from other projects, check out these SCRAP WOOD PUMPKINS

Now that you have some tips on how to make the most of your budget here’s how I spent my $20 for my DIY fall porch decorating

• $3.98 large pumpkin at Walmart

• $2.98 bag of mini gourds

• $4.84 mum x2

• 3.96 orange spray paint, I only used 1/3 of it

Technically I went over the $20 by .60 BUT I do have 2/3 of a can of spray paint left over for another project, so in my mind I only spent 1/3 of the price for this project lol!!

I really wanted fresh mums but I couldn’t afford the GORGEOUS ones from the local farms. Just one mum would have taken up my entire budget. I opted for the cheapest large mums I could find at Walmart but they had UGLY bases. The green/brown color that just screams cheap flowers. I loved the more decorative bases but those too were not in the budget. Instead I grabbed a can of spray paint, and not the $1 can because I knew the coverage on that would be awful, and sprayed the bases orange in matte finish. This was the PERFECT solution!

See my video below on how to easily spray paint your ugly fall flower bases.

I’d love to hear how you are planning to decorate your front porch for fall. Leave a comment below ;)!

Dollar Tree pumpkins, how to give them a RUSTIC makeover

Frugal fall decorating, how to give a Dollar Tree pumpkin a rustic makeover

We’ve all seen them the bright orange pumpkins on the shelves at the Dollar Tree. You think to yourself ‘I could paint that up and make it look soooo much better’. Then fall comes and the darn ugly pumpkin is still sitting there untouched by your creativity. Yep…that’s me. I am totally that kind of Dollar Tree shopper and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

After having several of these little pumpkins sit on my craft room shelf for almost a year I decided what better time to give them a makeover than now?! Fall is almost here and I have been working like a busy crafty bee trying to gear up for this season. Check out my latest DIY, 2x4 candy corn they turned out SO stinking cute! AND you don’t want to miss this frugal find, Walmart clearance shoes, that I gave a total makeover to for my 3 year old to wear this fall. She absolutely LOVES them!

How to turn your DOLLAR TREE pumpkins into rustic perfectly distressed pumpkins

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

I had everything I needed on hand, including the pumpkins, but here’s what I used to turn my pumpkin from bright orange into rustic farmhouse.

• Dollar Tree ugly pumpkin

• white spray paint

• skewer

• gold chalk paint

• lagoon chalk paint

• antiquing wax

• chip brush

• paint brush

• paint tray

First you want to paint your pumpkin white. I used what I found in our garage but you can use any kind of white FLAT spray paint. Stick the skewer in the bottom of the pumpkin so you can hold the pumpkin and spray all around it. Let it dry before you put it down. I used a blow dryer to speed up this process.

Next you want to paint your pumpkin with your gold chalk paint. I broke 3 small pieces off of the skewer and stuck them in the bottom of the pumpkin so that it would stand up and not touch the table while I was painting it. Let that dry completely before moving on to the next step.

Once your gold chalk paint is dry you want to very lightly dip the tip of your brush into your teal/blue colored paint. I used a color called lagoon and on it’s own is VERY bright but when used as an accent color it is absolutely gorgeous! You don’t want to completely cover the gold paint but lightly brush over it leaving light streaks of the lagoon colored paint. This will dry pretty quick.

Next you are going to repeat the previous step but instead you are going to use antiquing wax and your chip brush. I added a little more wax than I did the lagoon colored paint to give it a more rustic look. TIP: trim your chip brush down to about an 1” and it will work MUCH better.

Once you’re satisfied with your coverage you are all done! I’m not totally loving the stem on this on so I might replace it with a stick from the yard but for now it will tie in perfectly with my fall décor! I paired it next to the glittery gold 2x4 pumpkins I made a while back.

If you loved this tutorial you will love even more of my DIY fall craft tutorials

Check out the full video tutorial below

Top 15 craft supplies you should be buying from the Dollar Tree

The DOLLAR TREE!! I love this place and I actually buy lots of supplies here, especially ones for the kiddos to use. But don’t be fooled by that $1 price tag, not all supplies are a smart buy there.

Here are my top craft supplies that I personally most of the time buy from the Dollar Tree.

CRAFT ROCKS Usually they have a wide variety of rocks. You can find them in the ribbon section. I made some adorable UNICORN PARTY CENTERPIECES using these inside the buckets.

FAUX FLOWERS They alternate these out with the seasons and every year they get prettier! Our girls especially love the ones that have butterflies in them. Check out this DIY LIGHT UP FAIRY JAR and we used flowers picked up from the Dollar Tree on the outside. Super cute!

TISSUE PAPER You can use this for SOOOOOO many different crafts. This is what we use on the outside of those fairy jars.

WOOD SHAPE CUT OUTS this is a must buy here. I have yet to find any place that compares in price to the amount you get per package. Granted, these are thin but for kids crafts these are perfect. These little guys will keep our girls busy for a long time without the ouch effect on the wallet. They can add these to all kinds of arts and crafts projects.

GLUE Our house goes through a ton of glue. We let our girls experiment and explore their creative side often and they use SO much glue during their process lol!

MUFFIN TINS ok, I know this isn't a typical craft supply but read this post on the craft hack you need for your kids and you’ll understand.

SEASONAL BLANKS Every season the Dollar Tree comes out with super trendy, and actually cute, craft blanks. These are inexpensive and you don’t have to pay for shipping. Woohoo!

POM POMS they are all the rage right now and our girls go through them like crazy. Their colors are limited but they are super cheap.

SEASHELLS you can find these right next to the rocks and ribbon. You’ll be surprised what you can use these for. And you don’t feel the pain when your kiddo paints it up unlike the ones from your last beach vacation.

CONDIMENT BOTTLES I use these to hold my acrylic paint. They are half the price of buying them from Walmart and I’m sure WAY cheaper than buying them online. They have held up pretty well too. We originally bought these when we had our brick and mortar craft store, just to see if I’d even like using them for paint, and other than the caps being picked off by little hands they are in perfect working order.

WIRE WREATH FORM I have yet to find these cheaper any where else. These little guys can be used to make all kinds of different wreaths. Here is a 4th of July rag tie wreath I made using one of these wire forms.

WASHI TAPE the Dollar Tree has all kinds of different prints of washi tape. Our girls love love love to use this to decorate different things. One of their favorite things to use this for is decorating the front covers of notebooks.

STICKERS if you have a toddler who is sticker obsessed the Dollar Tree is the only place to buy these lol. And a side note if your kiddo gets these stuck to your floor a steam mop takes them up effortlessly {just a tip from one mom to another ;)!}

CRAFT STICK aka popsicle sticks. They have a fun colorful assortment too! You can use these for anything from applying AMOUR ETCH to etch glass to letting your kids just go crazy and make whatever their little hearts desire out of them. We always keep these guys on hand.

POSTER BOARD There are so many different uses for this outside of the school project. You can even use this to make a DIY light box for taking pictures in your own crafty business.

Now get to your nearest Dollar Tree and explore all it has to offer. Remember to go beyond the craft aisles as there are so many different things you can use that aren’t considered “craft supplies”.

Let me know below what your favorite Dollar Tree crafty supplies are ;)!

How to lose the anxiety when it comes to talking to your spouse about money

I didn’t grow up poor, I grew up in a family that made poor financial decisions.

I grew up with a very anxiety ridden relationship with money. I watched month after month, year after year, of my parents constantly fighting about it. I honestly didn’t know that it was possible for a married couple to have a money talk without someone calling names, bringing up something totally unrelated to the conversation at hand, and the other one storming off fuming and screaming as they walked away. I thought this was normal and how all married couples “talked” about money.

I thought it was so normal that I never wanted to have money talks with my own husband. I wanted so badly to avoid a possible argument because I never wanted my own marriage to be like my parent’s. It sounds crazy, I know, but it’s a very real thing. Financial anxiety. There are women like me all over the world who struggle with financial anxiety. They are so overwhelmed with the thought of a possible argument that they never bring up the finances. Money is kind of a taboo topic in society anyway throw in your own emotional baggage you have with it and it’s something you really don’t want to talk about so you avoid it.

How did I finally get over this anxiety? I came across a book called The Total Money Makeover, by Dave Ramsey. It was just what I personally needed. If you are sensitive and don’t appreciate a blunt forward approach then this book might not be for your but it was just what I needed, and what millions of others needed too.

Reading this book I realized I don’t have to live in the shadow of my childhood feelings about money. I don’t have to carry that fear I had for so many years. I can let it all go. I can move forward and talk openly about finances with my husband without the worry that we might have an argument. I realized how my parents handled and dealt with their finances wasn’t normal. Yelling and name calling isn’t a normal way for adults to behave and deal with their problems.

The Total Money Makeover isn’t all about your feelings, or how to deal with anxiety at all. But by putting Dave’s teachings into play every single month I was able to slowly peel away the anxiety. I slowly got comfortable with each talk we had. You don’t have to live in fear of money conversations. My husband and I are proof that you can break the cycle of your upbringing.

Here are some tips to help if you’re feeling like money anxiety is preventing you from talking openly about finances with your spouse

• Breathe. This will help clear your head and calm your nerves. I do this all the time. I still struggle with social anxiety and sometimes it feels like my heart is going to beat right out of my chest. Sitting quietly and just breathing helps so much to calm myself down.

• My husband and I rarely have an argument but not talking about things just to avoid an uncomfortable conversation about money can be just as worse as having an argument. Get uncomfortable and have the conversation. The more you do this the more comfortable the conversations will get.

• Get organized with your bills. When I don’t write them down every single month I notice my anxiety starts to spark again. Keeping my brain on track and everything written down keeps me from worry. I use a simple monthly bill tracker that fits right in my planner that I love, you can get it FREE here.

• Have a drink first. I don’t care how this sounds I enjoy having a glass of wine. It helps calm my nerves and helps me to relax. If a glass of wine does the same for you, cheers!

• Talk about the details when the kids aren’t in the room. While I think it’s important for parents to teach their children about money and the proper way to use it, having your kids in the room while your trying to talk money one on one with your husband is just going to make that anxiety and tension go up. You aren’t totally focused on the conversation while sweet little Susie is spilling her drink on the floor and little Johnny is saying “mom, mom, mom” over and over again. I’ve been there and it skyrockets my stress levels. I prefer to talk about our finances while our kiddos are in bed, watching a movie, or playing in the backyard.

• Lastly, take small steps to the money talks. Jumping full force will just set you up for failure. You need time to break down the anxiety barriers. Giving your mind room to process and day by day get over why you have your money anxiety. It’s not a race, it’s your life.

Grocery budgeting to feed your big family, how to master this so your fridge is never empty

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

It’s a no brainer that the more kids you have the more you’re going to have to spend at the grocery store. But that doesn’t mean you can only afford rice and beans. You just have to get a little creative with your shopping list and meals.

We have a relatively larger sized family, there are 6 of us. Granted our girls are young, elementary aged and younger so they don’t eat like teenage boys, but don’t underestimate these girls. They can put back some food. Especially our toddler. I honestly don’t know where she puts all that food.

As our family has grown over the years we’ve learned to get a little creative with our meals to really stretch the groceries every week. Some weeks are harder than others, especially in the winter months when everyone is working on packing on that thick winter coat and it seems like everyone is constantly hungry. But that’s a whole other post all together.

How do I feed our family of 6 for $400 a month? I don’t use coupons and I certainly don’t hop from store to store to chase down what’s on sale that week. BUDGETING and meal planning. I’ll admit before my creative business took off I absolutely was one of those coupon queens. I was really good at it, even teaching others how to do the same. But those days are long past me while I’m working on building my own crafty empire for our girls to carry on if they wish.

So back to business, if you’re disciplined you too can feed your family every month without going over budget.

Almost every single meal our family eats we get it from home. We don’t eat fast food a whole lot, we don’t dine at fancy restaurants {that’s not really our thing anyway}, and our girls don’t eat school lunches. We can pack a lunch for less than $1/day per person.

Our family spends $400 a month on groceries but it’s not the same amount every single week. Some weeks we might spend $140 while others we might only spend $50. Things like meat and cheese we buy in bulk so we don’t run out of those more expensive items as quickly.

Here are the same tips and strategies I use every month when I grocery shop.

• The first thing I do each week is meal plan. You can create your own or use the same meal planner I use, it’s totally FREE. The way I plan my meals is I ask each family member something they would like to have for dinner. Most of the time it gets added to the menu but occasionally mom and dad X a suggested meal if it’s way out of budget, like steak, or if it’s something most everyone else is tired of having.

• Buy selectively in bulk. We have a membership to our local SAMs Club but we are very selective about what we do and do not buy from there. Things we buy are some meats, lunch meat, sliced and shredded cheese and that’s pretty much it for food. Everything else is a little more expensive to buy at the bulk store.

• Find a great discount store to shop at. The one we shop at weekly is Aldi. It has come a LONG way since the days when I was a kid. Most of them in our area have been given a big makeover so they are set up like a regular grocery store vs the old style layout they used to have.

• Use cash when you go to the store. We are fans of the Dave Ramsey method of using cash and it truly works. We personally do not have any credit cards but even using a debit card we ALWAYS spend more than budgeted, so use cash and you will be forced to only spend what you have in your wallet.

• Buy ingredients that you can use for more than one meal. Things like rice and potatoes can be used for lots and lots of different meals and they cost next to nothing. You can make anything from taco rice to rice pudding with a $2 bag of white rice. And with potatoes you can use them in several different dishes, shepherds pie, perogies, garlic potato wedges…mmmmmm!!! Just get creative with it.

• Pack lunches. This is HUGE! Eating out adds up very quickly. That $5-$10 at lunch every single day can add up to $25-$50 a work week for just one person.

• Try making your sweet treats. Most of the time buying them premade costs way more than if you made them yourself. Take muffins for example. Our family loves them so I will make several batches of different kinds at a time and it costs approx. $3 for several dozen muffins. If I were to buy 1 dozen muffins even at the discount store we shop at, their cost would be $4. CRAZY! Granted it’s more work but saving at least $8 to make them myself and they are probably one of the easiest baking things to make, sign me up! The same goes for brownies, cakes, cookies, and granola bars. These are all things you can make at home and costs significantly less to make vs to buy.

• One thing that we bought a long time ago that truly helps us stay on budget is using a Food Saver . We use this every single month. From left over foods that would have gone had in the fridge to freezing the meats in bulk. This is an investment worth your hard earned money.

• Last but not least buy in season. Produce prices change from season to season so those foods are typically next to nothing during the summer months. That’s when our family eats an abundance of the fresh stuff. Not that we don’t eat any in winter, but our dollar doesn’t go as far in the winter so we are extra selective about the produce we buy during the cold season.

I hope these tips help when you’re grocery shopping for your large family. I know without these tips our family would be WAY over budget every single month.

5 super frugal ways to save money on beauty when you're broke

What do you do when you’re broke but you still need to get your hair done so you don’t look like you’re broke? You get resourceful and creative!

I have always been super frugal. Growing up in a house with 4 kids that were 5 years apart, and on one income, the budget was often tight. I was trained from a young age that if you want something bad enough that you can’t afford you make do with what you have and you put your brain to work.

Thankfully now we live in a time where the world is at our fingertips. How amazing is that?! If we ever want to know the answer to something all we have to do is literally pull a phone out and type. Pure bliss! We are in a time where it is easier than ever before to learn how to do something…if we want to do it bad enough that is.

Raising four little girls is expensive, like seriously expensive! From heath care to every day expenses, there’s not much room in our budget for unnecessary purchases. So we have to be selective on where our hard-earned money goes. Let me tell ya, it doesn’t go to my beauty fund lol! I know moms everywhere feel the same way.

Here are my 5 best frugal tips to saving money on all that beauty stuff…if you’re willing to do a little work.

-Don’t buy in to every single beauty trend that comes out.. This will save you SO much money if you don’t jump on board. Remember that what’s hot now won’t be in a few years.

- YOUTUBE is your BFF! Use your fancy phone to youtube how to do your own hair. I know this may seem extreme BUT if you don’t have anything too complex going on with your locks you can do it yourself. Before I had kiddos I was a licensed cosmetologist, but I watched my grandma work in the salon for YEARS growing up and I was doing my own hair long before I became licensed myself. If you go slow and don’t do anything too extreme you can get the job done. This works for anything you want to know how to do. You will have a little bit of an expense at first to buy the tools you’ll need but they will like cost WAY less than getting the actual service done.

-I know pedicures are God’s gift to your feet but they are often an unnecessary expense. You can spend $5 at your local Dollar Tree or Walmart and get everything you need to do your own at home. I promise it absolutely won’t feel as wonderful but you’ll also be saving $$.

-Try bartering if you have a specific beauty need that you just can’t spare. If there is something you are really good at that your hair dresser needs from you, swap. I would just be very careful to not let this ruin any kind of relationship that you have with one another. Trading dollar value for dollar value is a great way to do this type of exchange. If she charges $35 for a haircut and you charge $25 for {insert the awesome thing you have to barter with} you would pay the remaining $10 in cash plus the thing you are bartering with.

-Don’t pass up clearance makeup. I know you’re probably thinking ‘what the heck is wrong with this lady’ but remember…you’re broke lol! You don’t have $57 to spend on a tube of mascara. Honestly, I have spent that much on mascara before and it did just as good as the $4 Walmart special I have now.

There’s my most frugal tips I use to save money on beauty. It will take a little getting used to, especially if you’re brave enough to do you’re own hair, but you will be amazed at how much money you will save.

If you liked these money saving tips check out some more of my frugal tips

• FREE printables to keep your monthly bills in order

• How to plan the PERFECT no stress art party for your crafty kiddo for less than $40

• How to save money on cheese WITHOUT clipping coupons

• How to start your stockpile and the top 3 reasons you NEED one if you have kids

Have your own tips? I’d love to hear them, be sure to share them below!

50 activities to do as a family that won't break the bank when you're on a budget

50 Budget friendly activities to do as a family, affordable family fun

Having a big family is expensive. From the cost of living to healthcare, it’s definitely not cheap. But having fun as a family doesn’t have to break the bank. There are so many free and inexpensive activities you can do and honestly some are way more fun than blowing a whole paycheck at the theme park.

Here’s my list of 50 fun things to do with your family if you’re on a budget.

1. Park

2. Library

3. Walks around the neighborhood

4. Free days at the zoo

5. Local state conservation park

6. Explore a small historic town nearby

7. take a tour of the local fire or police station

8. Bonfire

9. Bike ride

10. Visit a local farm

11. Botanical garden

12. Small local museum

13. YMCA {this does require a membership but it’s super affordable and you’ll definitely get your monies worth}

14. Skating rink

15. Local pool

16. Picnic

17. Make a meal from scratch

18. Do a family craft

19. Play a game of cards

20. Family yoga in the backyard

21. Bird watching

22. Go on a hike

23. Clean up a local park or school yard

24. Make a fort in the living room

25. Camp in the backyard

26. Stargaze

27. Feed the ducks

28. Play charades

29. Play a game of kickball

30. Roast marshmallows

31. Jump in the leaves

32. Find a local creek and look for arrowheads

33. Make cards and deliver them to the local nursing home

34. Find a dollar movie at the theatre

35. Go to a local high school play

36. Plan and make dinner all together

37. Paint rocks and hide them around your town

38. Visit a local flea market

39. Make a family dream board

40. Wash the family car together

41. Have water balloon fight

42. Go fishing

43. Research your town’s history and then go out and see the sites

44. Bird watching

45. Visit a local spray park

46. Make a bird feeder using recycled materials from home.

47. Take goofing family pics at the park using your phone and a tripod

48. Volunteer at the local pet shelter

49. Find a local festival with free activities

50. Have a karaoke night

I hope you get some fun ideas from this list and even add more of your own.

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How to plan the PERFECT no stress art party for your crafty kiddo for less than $40

Has your kiddo been dreaming of that PERFECT art birthday party? Maybe they are like my older girls and have all of their out of budget party dreams pinned to Pinterest {yes, they really do this!}. After having 4 girls and LOTS of birthday parties I’ve learned a thing or two on how to pull off that perfect art party on a budget!

Disclosure: some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Here’s the a little truth, kids just want to let loose and be kids. They don’t care about fancy decorations, perfectly spaced plates and napkins, banners hung at just the right height. Let’s be honest, that’s for the adults. The kids are there to hang with their friends, eat cake, and have loads of fun, but that’s a whole different blog post.

So how to you plan a kids painting birthday party under $40? Yes, you read that right…. just $40!

First you need to decided how many kids will be coming to your party. Usually I will have a few extra supplies in case a kiddo RSVP’s at the last minute or if one shows up and doesn’t RSVP at all. A typical party we host at our craft studio has about 6-8 kids. Our kids, they usually have about 20…gulp! I know that seems a little ridiculous but they have lots of cousins and I always invite the party goers siblings to stay because I’m a sucker for feelings and don’t want any kids to feel left out. Honestly this is easier for the parents that want to stay for the party anyway.

Snag your FREE checklist below

If you don’t have anything at home here’s everything you will need

Most of these supplies are disposable to make this EXTRA easy and stress free for you!

-8”x10” canvas these come in a pk of 12

- acrylic paint set of 12 2oz paints
- paint brushes these you can toss when the kiddos are done

-paper cups used for holding water to rinse paint brushes

-paper plates used to hold the paint, one for each kiddo

-plastic table covering this you can toss when you’re done

All of these items can be shipped right to your door with amazon prime*, I told you this would be stress free. No going to 5 different stores to track down all the supplies you need only to get home and realize you totally forgot something {I do this all the time!}. Then the day of the party you kick yourself because I never made it back to the store to get that forgotten item. All of this will cost you less than $40, not including taxes or any applicable shipping*

*based off of when this post was published

So how do you host an art party? First, I always tell the parents to put their kiddos in clothes they can get messy. There’s nothing scarier than a pissed off momma because her child got their new clothes ruined by non washable paint. So try to avoid that at all costs. Next, you want to have everything set up before the kids get there. This is so much easier than trying to pass out all the materials with 10 little helpers gathered around. That means, plastic table cloth down, water cups filled half way, canvases, paper plates, and a couple of brushes at each table setting. Let’s talk about paint…paint goes a LONG way, you’d be surprised at how much paint gets wasted at parties like these. Before the party I always squeeze a small amount of each color of paint that’s available onto each child’s paint plate. Trust me, you’ll thank me for this stress saving tip!

I try not to let the kids sit at the table where they will be painting until we are ready to paint. Unless you have some kiddos that are great at following directions I would have the kids avoid the paint table till you’re absolutely ready.

Now for the fun! Once all the party guests are ready let em loose on their canvases. In my experience kids have WAY more fun when they can paint their own thing using the colors they pick out. Usually that’s what we do. You can see the joy it brings them and their creativity coming to life the second that paint brush hits their canvas. And they all make something totally different and it makes my heart so happy! That individuality is so beautiful!

I promise your kiddo will be so happy creating beside all their friends they won’t even notice the fancy decorations aren’t there.

How to start your stockpile and the top 3 reasons you NEED one if you have kids

What is a STOCKPILE and why do you need one if you have kids?

According to google, a stockpile is defined as "a large accumulated stock of goods or materials, especially one held in reserve for use at a time of shortage or other emergency." And they summed it up pretty good! I’m sure you’ve seen those shows of people hoarding YEARS worth of goods but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about stockpiling a small amount of goods so you are prepared when life happens. In our home we have one shelving unit and that’s it.

Ok, so how do you build a stockpile? The most popular way to build your stockpile quick and cheap is to coupon. But, if you're like me, you don't have time for that {couponing is GREAT but it's also super time consuming}. Before I was a mompreneur I was on of those  crazy couponers! I had a binder that was so organized I even amazed myself with my organization skills. I would spends hours each week sorting, clipping, searching the sale ads, and planning out my trips.  If I had the time I'd still be a couponing crazy but I don't, so instead I shop the sales and take advantage of our SAMs Club membership.

Building your stockpile without coupons can be done. It will take longer, but you can still build a great stockpile for your family. I highly recommend getting a membership to Sams Club. We have had ours for several years now. At first, I didn't think we would use it very often but we actually use it every single month. It's worth the small membership fee! They also let you share a membership with someone you know making it even cheaper for you! Sams is GREAT when it comes to running sales and their additional savings. This is when I stock up. Here's an example...we buy our dishwashing tabs from SAMs. They are usually around $10. A couple times throughout the year they will go on sale for $2-$3 off the regular price. When that happens I'll buy 2 or 3 instead of 1. Now we are set for dishwashing tabs for the next 6 months. I follow this same principle at the other stores I shop at. When I find something my family uses I will buy multiples at that low price.

If you keep that up, buying multiples of things when they are at a really low price, you will slowly build your stockpile up. Be sure to only buy things you will actually use. If your family doesn’t eat peanut butter but you find it on sale for .50 a jar you don’t need to buy it unless you plan on donating it. Also, if something will expire before you use it, it’s probably not a good idea to stockpile it.

So, now you know how to stockpile but why do you need to stockpile? My answer…because it's smart! Life is so unpredictable, chaotic, and full of surprises that you don't want to find yourself totally out of shampoo in the middle of your morning shower because your 7 year old used the last of it to give her baby dolls a bath the night before. Yes, that's a true story! This kind of stuff happens ALL THE TIME in our house and thank goodness we stockpile to make these wonderful little surprises no big deal. Here are my biggest reasons why WE stockpile in our home.

TOP 3 REASONS WHY TO STOCKPILE

1. My biggest reason is the reason why we started stockpiling...so you don't run out of something when you can't afford to replace it. Let's face it, having kids isn't always sunshine and rainbows. Unexpected things happen and you never know when you’re going to have a financial strain. This was a very real thing for us several years ago when my husband’s construction job had a bit of a slow month. We aren’t ones to borrow money when things get tough so we made it work with what we had. That’s when I started couponing and vowed we would keep a stockpile from that day forward. And we have we just go about stocking it a little different now that I’m not couponing anymore.

2. My second reason you should stockpile if you have kids is so you don’t have to make those unplanned trips to the store. Dragging our four girls through Walmart isn’t really my most favorite thing to do. Especially if it’s for one thing that we NEED like toilet paper or diapers. Usually when that happens everyone is grouchy, tired, and just done for the day. So it makes for a very unhappy trip for all.

3. Last but certainly not least, so you can help others in need. Countless times our stockpile has helped others when they’ve been without. We’ve been able to give to family, donate to a local crisis closet, and we even donated over $300 worth of items when a tornado hit our small town. All because we had a stockpile we could give back to so many. This is a great way to teach your children to share and give.

I hope this inspires you to build your own small stockpile for your family.

60 Minute SIMPLE Dinner Recipe

Regardless if you're a working mom or a SAHM, we can all agree being a mom keeps you insanely BUSY! We are always looking for new ways to save time and energy so we can focus that precious time on things that really matter in life, our memories with our family.

I'm sure this is called lots of other things but in our house we call it Mexican Bake! It's super easy to make, and if your kiddos love "Mexican" food they will LOVE this! We like to make ours with fresh onions, peppers, and tomatoes {although we didn't have a fresh tomato when I took the pics for this post, but usually we do}. You can make this in less than an hour and if your kiddos are school aged they can even help like our girls love to do. For the most part this is a one pan dish from start to finish.

Ingredients

• 1 lb of ground beef

• 1/2 chopped small onion

• 1 chopped small bell pepper

• 1 chopped small tomato

• 3 cups shredded cheese {you can make this less cheesy if you'd like} it doesn't have to be an exact measurement, you can add as much or as little as you'd like

• taco seasoning packet

• 1 packet of Knorr Taco Rice

• 2 tbs butter {optional}

Cooking

• skillet {we recommend cast iron}

• sauce pan {we recommend stainless steel}

• cutting board

• knife

• wooden spoon

• small mixing bowl

PREHEAT your oven to 450.

This recipe is SUPER quick and easy. You'll want to start by chopping the veggies, then set aside. Melt butter in the iron skillet. Once melted add the veggies and let them simmer. To speed this step up I will cook them on a slightly higher temp and add a little water so they don't burn, then  put a lid on it and cook till they are tender. 

Once that's done cooking remove from your skillet and set aside in a small mixing bowl.

To save time get the rice started while the veggies are cooking. Be sure to follow instructions on the back of the packet. 

Add the hamburger to the skillet {do not wash in between, it isn't necessary}. Strain off any unwanted greese/fat {I strain ours into a discarded coffee container}. Once browned, leave the ground beef in the cast iron skillet, add in veggies and stir together. 

Mix in taco seasoning packet, follow instructions on the back of the packet.

Add in 2 cups of cheese and the rice. Don't over stir, just enough to blend them all together. Then sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.

Place iron skillet in preheated oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Take out and let sit for 10 minutes or till desired cooling, ENJOY! {if you are NOT using a CAST IRON SKILLET DO NOT PLACE YOUR SKILLET IN THE OVEN. PLEASE PLACE IN A OVEN SAFE DISH, THEN PLACE IN OVEN}

We usually top ours with sour cream and salsa and serve with tortilla chips.

Super easy and inexpensive dinner to serve your family on those crazy busy nights.