Summer 2019 Bucket List FREE things to do in KC

27 FREE THINGS TO DO IN AND AROUND KANSAS CITY THIS SUMMER WITH THE KIDS, especially if you’re a SAHM {stay at home mom}

Ahhhh summer! As a mom of 4 I know it can be super difficult to plan a summer on a really tight budget. And when I say a tight budget I mean spending ZERO dollars. I know it sounds like it’s impossible but with a little bit of planning it can be done. But after reading this you won’t be asking yourself or googling “what is there to do in Kansas City with kids”.

Before school let out I was on the hunt for all kinds of amazing adventures to take our girls on during our days while my husband was at work. But not just fun, I was specifically looking for FREE things. It was actually a little more difficult than I thought. I thought I could just google FREE THINGS TO DO IN KANSAS CITY and a magical list would pop up, I’d hit print and away we’d go. Nope, it didn’t happen like that. While there are great lists out there none were exactly what I was looking for for our family. The more I dug into these lists the more I found that a lot of the things listed weren’t open during the weekdays, they weren’t actually free {free with a membership doesn’t count if you have to buy the membership}, the places were way too far for us to drive, or they weren’t in operation anymore.

So my husband and I brain stormed and thanks to google we came up with a pretty decent list of things I could take the girls to during the weekdays. I promised them 2 days of fun each week and so far it is going great! And we thought how fun would it be to just explore the historic downtown areas of some local towns?! So we put that on our list too!

GRAB YOUR FREE PRINTABLE FOR KANSAS CITY SUMMER FUN

Be sure to check out other ways to get in some family time without breaking the bank .

So, here’s our list. 27 totally FREE things to do with kids in and around Kansas City.

DEANNA ROSE FARMSTEAD

Deanna Rose Farmstead is one I hear people talking about a lot. It is FREE when you attend M-TH after 2pm. Otherwise it is $3

KALEIDOSCOPE

Is always FREE. It is a magical place that lets kids create to their heart’s content. I advise you go early in the day, the earlier the better, and just a warning it can get a little crazy with field trips. But their staff does a great job at handling it all.

CHILDREN’S PEACE PAVILION

General public tours are held on Wednesdays & Fridays 9-4. While it is technically FREE they do accept donations.

BURR OAKS NATURE CENTER

It is open T-S 8-5 and has so much to offer families. Kids and grown up of all ages are sure to enjoy this if they are a nature lover. They have numerous trails, and outdoor kid’s discovery area, indoor kid’s discovery area, bird watching, snake feedings and so much more.

THE SPLASH PAD AT BURRUS OLD MILL PARK

This splash pad is new to Blue Springs and is something our girls can’t wait to enjoy. It is totally free unless you would like to rent a shelter house.

FREE PASS AT THE KANSAS CITY ZOO

If you live in JACKSON or CLAY counties the KC zoo MAILS out FREE passes for the residents in those counties to use during certain months. During the summer months they send out a FREE pass for JULY and AUGUST. Be sure to make your trip the best it can be with my tips for a stress free trip to the zoo

KANSAS CITY STREET CAR

The Kansas City street car is a wonderful addition to KC! It’s a FREE 2 mile ride through the heart of downtown. Definitely a must do in KC!

CROWN CENTER

While we don’t visit Crown Center for it’s shopping, it does offer some great things for families to do for free. Be sure you get your FREE 3 hour parking pass by getting a merchant to validate it, no purchase necessary.

NATIVE HOOVED ANIMAL ENCLOSURE {FEEDING THE BUFFALO}

This one is tucked away so be sure you use GPS to help get you there. Also, bring fresh veggies like carrots as there isn’t a place to buy feed once you’re there.

EXPLORE DOWNTOWN INDEPENDENCE

The historic Independence Square has SO much history to explore. This is truly one of our favorite historic places. Aside from Harry S Truman’s home there are so many things to see in such a small area. AND there are lots of unique photo ops too! Take your time and really explore this area.

FEDERAL NATIONAL BANK

This museum is FREE 9:30-4 M-F. Be sure to bring your photo ID. It is located right by Crown Center so make a day of it and visit all the things that area has to offer.

KANSAS CITY FOUNTAINS

Spend the day driving around looking at all the wonderful fountains that Kansas City has to offer. With over 200 fountains this is sure to keep you busy all day. Be sure to get this Kansas City Fountain Guide to assist you on your adventure.

EXPLORE DOWNTOWN LIBERTY

Downtown Liberty is truly a beautiful place. With so much history you’re sure to learn something new.

LIBERTY JAIL

The Liberty Jail is ran by the LDS Church. I’m going to be honest I had a hard time finding info on this one but we think it will be interesting to see.

LAKESIDE NATURE CENTER

Open to the public TUES-SAT 9-4. It is one of Missouri’s largest wildlife rehabilitation facilities and provides educational and recreational opportunities that focus on the environment.

EXPLORING LEXINGTON MISSOURI

Take a day and explore this beautiful town. There is a ton of history and beautiful houses galore.

PENGUIN PARK

Penguin Park is located in Kansas City and is one unlike any others around.

LEE'S SUMMIT HISTORY MUSEUM

It is open Thursdays & Fridays from 10-2 and Saturdays 10-4 and admission is totally FREE. Learn about the early days of Lee’s Summit.

EXPLORING DOWNTOWN LEE'S SUMMIT

While you’re at the Lee’s Summit History Museum explore the rest of what downtown Lee’s Summit has to offer.

WATERFALL PARK

Waterfall Park is located in Independence right off of Bass Pro. It features a pond, playground, small rock climbing wall, picnic area, and a walking trail. This park is very shaded which makes it nice on super hot and sunny days.

LIBERTY MEMORIAL

The Liberty Memorial is a MUST to take your kiddos to. While there is a museum you can pay to see, just visiting the FREE outdoor attraction is pretty amazing.

EXPLORE DOWNTOWN KANSAS CITY

See the fun sites of big city life in downtown Kansas City. Park the car and take a walk around.

UNION STATION

Such a wonderful place to take your kids! While Science City and other attractions aren’t free walking around and seeing all the amazing beauty and it’s history is enough reason to take a trip there.

HALLMARK VISITORS CENTER

The Hallmark Visitors Center is located right next to Kaleidoscope. It is open 9:30-4 M-Sat and is completely FREE.

MARBLE MOON COMPANY

Visit the Marble Moon Company M-Sat 10-5. Catch a marble making demo on Tuesdays, Fridays & Saturdays from 10:30-3.

WATKINS MILL

Take a trip back to the 1800’s and visit Watkins Mill. While the guided tours do cost money just driving through and looking around is FREE.

LEGACY PARK

Legacy Park is located in Lee’s Summit on 692 acres. The kiddos will love their destination playground.

I hope you enjoy this list our family put together. Everything I shared here is completely FREE unless you opt for the extras, those do cost money and I’ve listed them where they are applicable. Fill up the gas tank, pack a lunch and get ready explore the Greater Kansas City area. Let me know what else we should add to our list:)!

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 ;)!

Glass etching the easy way

One of my most favorite gifts my husband and I received when we got married were a set of personalized glasses. Someone, whom I had never met because she was an old friend of my father in law’s, took the time to make such a meaningful gift for us. I thought she must have some fancy equipment to make such a fancy gift but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

A couple years we were married I got my very first Cricut. The ones that exclusively used the cartridges to cut {if they did hook up to a computer I had no idea because that was WELL before our computer owning days lol}. Those were the days…not really I’m super thankful for the ease of use the current Cricut system offers. Anyway over the years I have experimented like a mad women with all the things I can make using my wonderful cutting machine. And I was happy to learn of an amazing product I could buy that would chemically etch glass and do any design that I cut a stencil for! Heck yes!

I tried it out and I was amazed by it’s powers lol! It’s called AMOR ETCH. It’s a little pricey BUT it will last you forever. I have etched so many things since and I have to say they are one of my most favorite personalized gifts to make. A few things I’ve made with the etching cream are, wine glasses, mason jars, whisky glasses, glass picture frames, vases and I’m sure way more but I just can’t recall them all.

Be sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions and always remember this is a chemical so always put safety first.

Here’s what you’ll need

• Glass project

• amor etch

• popsicle stick

• gloves

• vinyl stencil with transfer tape

• xacto knife

• painter’s tape

Check out the Facebook live I did showing you step by step how to create your own glass etchings at home.

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Stress free backyard camping

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.

Camping is such a fun experience that every family should have at least once. Our family tries to go every year but this spring it has been a little difficult to plan a trip. With flooding, tornadoes, and the temperature not making up it’s mind if it wants to stay cold or move on to warmer weather…oh the good ole Midwest lol!

Since our girls have been asking for months to go on our camping trip we decided to bring the camping trip to us. And I have to say I can’t believe we haven’t done this sooner! The girls loved it because it was something new and we loved it because we didn’t have to pack half our house up for an over night trip. And a bonus because our toddler has been super cranky lately she spent a lot of the time watching Disney Junior, thank you home wifi {no judgements please, we all parent in different ways and if Disney Junior will keep her happy then so be it}.

We wanted to keep our camping stress free so we didn’t plan any fun games or fancy Pinterest worthy foods. We put up our massive 10 person tent {we are a big family and this tent is sized perfectly for us}, added some tiki torches, moved the fire pit, and started the fun!

I guess you could say we got a tad bit fancy. My husband grilled up something different than the typical burgers and hotdogs that we would have had if we were camping on a campground. He is the grilling king and made us all the most delicious grilled chicken sandwiches.

My tips for stress free backyard camping

• Keep it simple, don’t over plan.

• Make sure you have all the pieces to your tent before you tell the kids. The last thing you want are sad little faces looking at you when you realize you don’t have everything there to put their tent up.

• Let your kids dig and really explore the backyard. Our girls pretended they were lost in the wilderness and the tent was their new home.

• Air mattresses, they may not be a must but I completely enjoy a good nights sleep even when I’m sleeping in a tent. These are the exact ones we use and trust me, if they can withstand our rowdy chaotic bunch they must be good!

• Fresh batteries for all the things

• Bug spray

• Fire wood

• Comfy clothes you can get messy for everyone

• Let loose and have fun with your family.

And the best part…if you forget something it’s ok! Your home is just a few steps away. Our whole family, aside from our toddler, had a great time! Being a family of 6 with 3 of the 4 daughters within 4 years of one another, we tend to have bickering. I think because we were in our own element we didn’t have any of that, which also made it stress free!

I hope these tips help you to create your own stress free backyard camping with your own family.

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DIY Tassel Garland, make your own for just pennies each

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.

Raising kids is so hard sometimes. Nothing prepares you for having to console your child on days when they are feeling down about themselves. I think this is especially true for raising daughters. We have four little girls and life is a roller coaster of emotions with them some days. Recently we celebrated our third daughter’s birthday. We always celebrate before school lets out because she has a summer birthday.

We sent invites out two weeks in advance and this girl was SO excited to have all her school friends over for her unicorn themed birthday party. I’ll admit I’m a frugal person thru and thru. When I plan our girl’s parties my husband and I don’t spend an arm and a leg on the party. I try to keep it under $50 for the cake and decorations that way we still have room in our budget to gift them a decent gift that they’ve been wanting.

But this year I had to get super creative on my spending because I needed to throw her a fancy {as fancy as we get around here ;) } unicorn birthday party! It was just days before her party and she had only had one, yes ONE friend RSVP to her big day. Talk about tears falling and hearts breaking. I HAD to make up for the possibility that there be no one besides family at her party.

So I scoured all the pretty things on Pinterest and put together a few ideas of things to decorate her party with to make her feel extra special. Keeping it under $50 was a bit of a challenge but I was determined to make it work! Tassel Garland, among a few other DIY decorations, made the cut. These ended up costing than $4 to make two full strands of tassels PLUS extras to put around the unicorn centerpieces.

Thankfully two days before her party she had a couple more friends RSVP and she had a great party! They played some fun unicorn games, made tasty treats and loaded them down with EXTRA sprinkles, got to decorate their own cupcakes, and most of all the birthday girl felt so loved and special on her day!

After her party she got to hang the pretty garland in her room which made these tassel even better!

To make your own DIY tassel garland for your own special occasion…

Here’s what you’ll need

• RECTANGLE TABLE CLOTH

• SCISSORS

• ROTARY CUTTER

• LOW TEMP GLUE GUN

• SELF HEALING MAT WITH 1” SQUARES {mine measured up to 23”}

I was so surprised at how EASY these were to make! I was able to knock these out in no time. And our sweet girl LOVED them!

I’d love to hear your feedback below!

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!

FREE Printables to keep your monthly bills in order

I know I am super old school when I say that I keep a planner that I can actually hold. But you know what…I have no shame. I LOVE having a tangible planner that I can pull out of my bag and put a pen to. The truth is I tried to use those fancy techy ones and they just aren’t for me. I love to write {although my handwriting is terrible} and I love to flip through the pages and feel the impression of the ink on the paper. It's sort of humbling in its own way.

I love creating printables for my BIG Happy Planner. Before I stumbled across these wonderful life savers I used to make my own planners, but that’s a whole other blog post on its own.

Life with kids can seriously leave you wondering what day it is most of the time. I don’t have enough brain space to remember which day I paid what bill {we don’t use auto draft for our own personal reasons} so I needed a page that I could keep track of all the bills we paid that month, the amount, and the confirmation/check number. I’ve been using a bill tracker similar to one like these for years and the months I don’t write everything down on them are the months my life just feels a little chaotic.

Making them colorful is also a must. There’s nothing more depressing than jotting down all the money you’ve paid on bills for the month on a black and white piece of paper. I HAVE to give my printables to life. I made one for each season, winter, spring, summer, fall. Print the number of printable you’ll need for each season. These are made to fit the BIG HAPPY PLANNER but you can adjust these sizes when you go to print for the size that’ll fit your needs.

I do hope you enjoy these monthly bill trackers as much as I do!

Let me know what you think by commenting below.

FREE Monthly Bill Tracker

Leave your info below so I know where to send your free printables

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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Christmas wish list, 100 gift ideas to get the CRAFT obsessed kid in your life

What do you give the craft obsessed kid? We have 3 crafty girls {the fourth one isn’t too far behind though} and own a family friendly CRAFT STUDIO so we have a pretty good idea of what kids LOVE to create with. Most kids love cutting, gluing, and adding as much paint to things as they can. They are just figuring out how to use different tools and exploring different colors, textures, and possibilities.

Did you know there are ALL kinds of different everyday items you can use to create with? Take a toothbrush for instance. This is one of those things we have in our studio that makes everyone say “ummmm do you brush your teeth here?” and the answer is always “no, we use it to paint”. A fun technique my grandma taught me when I was very young, to use a toothbrush to add little specs and small splatters of paint. It is the best tool for this so we keep several toothbrushes in shop just for this. I am so proud to pass down that little technique to so many.

Our older girls and I worked on this list just for you! They really enjoyed listing off all of their favorite supplies to create with. We hope you can use this to put together a really awesome CRAFT GIFT for your crafty kiddo! Let them explore. Let them make a mess. Let them be creative.

Easy and adorable mini mum planters for less than $2, get the look with this tutorial

DIY cheap fall porch décor

I love finding new ways to decorate on the cheap! Having 4 kids…especially girls…is expensive. From clothes to medical expenses these girls can drain a wallet! So I get a little creative when it comes to buying decorations, especially if they are seasonal ones.

A few years ago I wanted to spruce up our front porch with some fall colored mums. I LOVE them, they scream FALL IS HERE! I was shopping around Walmart had the mums loaded in my basket and they come with the standard ugly stamped containers so I thought I’d pick up some inexpensive pots to put them in. Our porch decorating budget wasn’t a whole lot and I was already spending a big portion of it on the flowers. I found the pots and was floored at how expensive they were. They were twice as much as the flowers! Being raised to be super frugal by my mom and insanely CRAFTY grandma my wheels got to turning. I walked around the store looking for ideas of what I could stick these flowers in. Got to the Halloween aisle and BAM! There they were. Perfect round containers that looked like they were made to put those flowers in!!

This year I wanted to recreate those because they unfortunately didn’t last more than that season. I went to Walmart and the regular sized pumpkin buckets were no where to be found but they had mini ones which were the PERFECT size for the mini mum flowers…and a fraction of the cost! And did I mention they were MINI which automatically makes them even more adorable!

So I grabbed the mums, a mini pumpkin and a mini cauldron treat buckets and set back to our brick and mortar shop to make some cute planters!

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. This is just a way I can help add to our family finances to raise our four daughters. Please know I would never recommend a product or service I do not totally stand behind.

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Here’s what you’ll need

I picked everything up from my local Walmart.

2 mini MUM planted flowers, $.97 each {I picked mine up at our local Walmart, but they are not listed online

2 mini Halloween treat buckets $.74 each {I bought a pumpkin & cauldron}

scissors

It cost $1.71 {plus taxes} to make one flower pot. SUPER CHEAP for cute décor, and the kids will love them. I did mine by myself because my kiddos were at school, but you could totally make this a fun family thing and have everyone pot their own.

These are so super simple, literally 2 steps!

First you need to cut the top lip off of the pot the flowers are currently in. This can be hard to get the initial cut so I advise this step for adults.

Now shove those babies in the treat bucket and you’re done! If yours are going to stay outside all the time you can drill 2 holes in the bottom to let them drain but I will be bringing mine in and out of our shop and I don’t want the water to drip everywhere so I will manually drain ours.

I can’t wait for these to bloom and be even CUTER!

Check out more fall & Halloween themed posts below

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.

How to save money on cheese WITHOUT clipping coupons

Whether you have a big family or prefer to buy in bulk this is a cheesy good deal you won't want to pass up! {I know that was a terrible intro but I couldn't resist!}

I used to be one of those crazy couponing ladies...the real deal! I had the binder. I had the coupons. I had my trips planned out. I even taught people how to coupon. And I loved it! But once our online business took off I didn't have the time to do it anymore. I didn't have time to bounce from store to store, scour the sale ads for the best deals, and mindlessly clip coupons. So I had to explore other money saving options. That's when I found SAMs club!

Back in my couponing days I would stock up on shredded cheese when it was $1/8oz bag, $.12/oz. I would buy enough to last us till it was it's season to go on sale again {yes, this is a real thing but I'll save that for another post}.  Now that I'm not couponing I still try to find the best deal but not nearly as good as the deals I used to score. I am excited to say have gotten pretty darn close to that stock up cheese price at SAMs and I don't have to spend HOURS searching for the deal! Everything is bulk buy there, which is great for big families like ours. We go through cheese like a bunch of crazy cheese obsessed people! But it's just SO darn delicious!

SAMs sells a giant 5 POUND bag of colby/jack shredded cheese for about $12/bag, $.15/oz...seriously affordable! The bag doesn't come with a fancy zipper but it does have a sticky tab you can use to close it. I've found that if you have kids this doesn't work so great. Someone will move things around in the fridge, the cheese will fall over and the next thing you know you're sweeping $10 worth of cheese into the trashcan. 

Here's what I do. I buy gallon sized zipper bags from Walmart and divided the cheese into 3 different bags. We typically will go through a bag before its expiration date so I don't usually bother with freezing it. But, if your family won't go through all 5lbs of cheese in that time, pop a couple bags in the freezer and pull them out when you need them. Shredded cheese is perfectly ok to freeze. However, you don't want to freeze sliced or block cheese, it will crumble once it's thawed.

Then once you're done rebagging and storing you're done! Super easy and it's that price every single week! 

If you don't have a SAMs membership ask your family and friends if they do. I am sure you will find someone that would be willing to let you take a shopping trip with them. Then you'll see for yourself that getting one of your own is a GREAT investment for your family too.