I May Never Shop Victoria Secret Again

   This post is just for the ladies. My experience is pregnancy-specific, but it can be a useful tip to any woman who likes undergarments. I have always been a Victoria Secret girl. I have the Angels Reward Platinum card. 'Nuff said. Although I use my share of coupons and "Semi-annual sale" deals, I have seen a new light.

   While my bump is ever-expanding, I need some ::cough:: larger, belly friendly waistline undies. I absolutely refuse to go the beige, granny panty route from a superstore. But I don't think dumping a lot of money in lingerie in a size I only need temporarily is a good move either. I did visit Victoria once, a few weeks ago when I first realized I was miserable in my current undies. I only bought a few pairs. When all of those made their way to the laundry, I broke down again.

   As much as I hate the store Ross - for the way it smells and the quality of people that frequent it and the massive dissaray the clothing is always in - I remembered seeing a decent size lingerie section in there and thought to check it out. At first, I didn't believe it....name brand undies like Jessica Simpson, XOXO, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger for $1-3 per pair! I spent at least 30 minutes disecting the clothing racks in this department. I was on a mission for super-stretch comfy waistbands with enough butt coverage to keep me from fidgeting with ass-creepage on my expanding rump. Success. I found 16 pairs, half sporty/comfy and half of them silky/sexy...for Ian's sake, lol.

   As a price comparison, if I had gone to Victoria Secret and taken advantage of their famous "5 for $25" deal, 15 pairs would have cost me $75. But at this new honey hole, I got 16 pairs for $46.39!! And they are name brand, attractive and comfortable.

Saving for Baby

   Of course we want our son - who has not arrived on the earth yet - to be as financially responsible as his parents. So we are starting him off right with his own little savings account. We will also start him a college fund through Florida Prepaid. He WILL go to college. And should he receive a scholarship of some sort, it's just another savings account for us that we can cash in later.

   To get him started, we took our laundry room mason jar that serves as the catch-all family piggy bank and sorted the coins. I rolled for hours while we watched a few movies from RedBox. At the end of the day, we had $65 dollars to take to the bank. Not bad for his first savings deposit! I cashed it in and will set it aside to put in an actual, tangible piggy bank for him in his room that he can add to once he's old enough to earn allowance and receive birthday money.

iPhone Hot Spot = No Home Internet

   Last year, we cancelled our home internet to save money. We just didn't use it enough (at all) since we both have internet at work, and an iPhone. Later in the year, we started a side business and found that we needed home internet for email, placing orders, receiving and printing invoices, website stuff, etc. I called the only internet provider in our area, CenturyLink. I loathe this company and their customer service is the worst in the world, 2nd only to Wal-Mart and Rooms-to-Go, so I dreaded starting service with them again. They advised me it would be a minimum $45 bill to have monthly home internet.
   **Side note: We will be moving the office from one room to another because of nursery planning, so I knew they would have to send someone out to move our wires and cables in the wall/attic. The last time this happened, they told us "they would have to charge an additional fee for labor since we have a split attic". WTF? So Ian had to crawl up there and do it himself! We would have to do this all over again if we signed up for service again. Frustrated.

   Then I thought about wireless internet and the hot spot capabilities some smart phones have. I called AT&T and asked about this process. Long story short, for $20 they added a hot spot capability to my iPhone and we can get internet using WiFi on the laptop! My new plan has 5Gs of data usage (foreign language to me) and I'm only using 1.3 of that on my iPhone itself. So there is plenty left over to use the computer at home for the few hours a week we need it to conduct business or personal matters on the Web. The savings here is $25 per month, at minimum! Bonus: With WiFi on my phone, we can use Ian's phone to Facetime our friends in other states and countries :)

Clearance Clothes

   Some would say any shopping is hindering your saving efforts. But, if you need something, saving while you shop is the best way. We are expecting our first baby this July, so we will HAVE to do some shopping to prepare. So many things we need - nursery furniture, car seat and stroller, clothes, diapers, etc. I think we will try to minimize on the contraptions that first-time-parents think they need but really don't. We'll take advice from blogs and other parents that have the scoop on what you really need and don't need for baby.

   We are having a boy. The first one in our family in 22 years so we can't really count on hand-me-downs at this point. Starting from scratch on clothes and toys will be expensive but I think we can get creative to save money. This past weekend I went to Baby Gap with my amazing friend @Kim O'Laughlin who is always raving about the sales she finds at Gap. **I am now a believer! To my delight, the clearance section of Baby Gap had some awesome finds and on top of the already clearance price, everything was another 25% off. So I got some items for as little as $2....from GAP!!

   They are famous for their zipper pajamas since parents hate fussing with buttons/snaps during middle of the night changings. I found three pairs for about $4 each, orginally $25. Most of the clearance stuff was for winter so I bought 6 month size, which is just what we'll need when "winter" rolls back around in Florida. My total bill was $62.40 for: 3 pairs of pajamas, 2 long-sleeve/pants sweater onsies, 2 Halloween outfits, a striped long-sleeve onsie, and a corduroy jacket. I went back through the items and calculated what I would have spent if I bought these items at full price. Want to take a guess before I tell you and you have a stroke? $257.10! That is two-hundred and fifty-seven dollars and ten cents folks. No joke. 

   I also did this in Toys R' Us a few weeks ago right after I found out we were having a boy. Their kids' winter clothing was on clearance and I found a 3-piece fleece set for $6. It had a moose on it. Having actually visited @Piper Machamer in Alaska, I could not leave without it :) My recommendation to any parent would be to shop clearance at the end of a season or holiday, and buy the size your child will need for the NEXT season/holiday. Huge savings here.

Close But No Cigar

   So after all our best efforts this year, we were shy of reaching our goal of saving $10K in one calendar year. I'm not disappointed though, because we saved WAY more than we would have without this effort. Our savings account is in a really healthy place. And bonus - now that we have adjusted to this low-spending life style, we can keep it up and save even more this year! 
   A small setback was launching a side business. We decided to start a crib and baby equipment rental business as a side gig. We spent about $1,000 on cribs, pack n' plays and other items, and another $1,000 or so on advertising in the month of December. We knew this little business adventure would set us back in the savings department, but we thought it would be a good time in our life to start something relatively low-risk and see if it could turn into a legit business that could be a primary income in a few years. We live smack in the middle of retirement country and those folks are always having family visitors/grandkids and it does have the potential to really take off. We will see. That being said, if we had put that $2,000 in the savings account instead, we'd be really close to our goal. So we did pretty well!
   We hope to save a few thousand more by mid-year 2013. We'll start with a good ol' fashion fiscal fast! Our pantry and freezer are completely full...to the point where things come tumbling out when you open the cabinets. One week of no spending whatsoever starts today!

Thrifty Christmas

   As I mentioned in my last post, we made a great effort to keep spending to a minimum this Christmas season. I would say it was a big success. My biggest homemade gift project was Christmas tree yard signs made out of pallet boards. Ian brought home two pallets from work (free) and tore them apart for me. I made some measurements and he cut them for me as well. **good husband**

   I made a list of friends and family I wanted to make them for and decided I would need 8 trees. So we cut the wood in pieces starting with 18" and progressing down to 4" in 2" increments. We bought a few pieces of 1x2 and cut that into 4-foot pieces to serve as the trunk of the trees. I assembled them with 1 1/4 inch screws. (Hindsight, I would have bought longer screws. These didn't hold as well as they should have.) Then, I painted the whole thing green and stenciled "Merry Christmas" on the boards in the middle and finished it with a gold star on the top 4" board. I already had the craft paint so this gift for 8 people only cost us the price of a box of screws and 1x2 wood pieces.

   I have a few friends that are many miles away. Not only would the wooden tree yard sign be impractical to ship, I also wanted to send them something that showed how much I miss them. I found these white ceramic mugs at Wal-Mart for $3 each (typically you can get them at the dollar store but they were out and I didn't have time to wait until more came in.) I bought 4 to make 2 sets. I printed out a map of Florida, my state, and one of their states, Georgia and Alaska. I cut the maps out and traced them on the mugs with black permanent marker. I also wrote the words "Far Apart, Close at Heart" on the inside and outside of the rim. So I kept the Georgia and Alaska mugs and sent the Florida mugs to each of my friends that I'm missing dearly. 

   Lastly, I am a wino. I collect wine corks as I drink and therefore have hundreds (friends do contribute). No judgement. So I do like to make things out of them. My brother was visiting from California for Christmas and he and his wife are also winos. It runs in the family I suppose. What better gift for them than many things made of wine works? None better. I found an old picture frame in the office we weren't using and would likely never hang again. That was the base for my corkboard, especially since it already had a hanger on the back. I also made a coaster set and trivet set. And tiny painted Christmas tree.

   I beleive I spent less than $10 on gifts for 11 people/households. Our inexpensive gift giving could not have gone more according to plan!

Holiday On A Budget

   Our commitment to save $10K in one calendar year is down to the wire. We have saved about $7,100 since January 1, 2012. We have only 2 months to get the remaining $2,900 into the savings account. How will we do it with the holiday season at our doorstep?

   Limiting Gift Giving - We simply cannot afford to give everyone in our family and all our friends and coworkers a $25 gift. It's not happening. Here are a few ideas: Labor of Love coupons - Complete deep cleaning for their house including dusting, windows, organization, laundry, etc. A day of serious yard work - hedges, weed pulling, tree trimming, mowing. Free babysitting. Cook dinner for a whole family. Get creative! Make your gifts - if you have a talent like jewelry making, crafts, baking, use it. Bake bread, cookies, fudge, anything edible. Pinterest and other websites have thousands of ideas for making gifts using inexpensive supplies. For years I've been making things out of wine corks as gifts. Pictured above: this pattern works great for cork boards, hot pads and coasters. I've also made wreaths, reindeer and other holiday things. For kids - I found this children gift giving rule and I think it's perfect. Kids don't need 50 gifts under the tree. It also doesn't help them appreciate what they have. Try this: 1 thing they want, 1 thing they need, 1 thing to wear, 1 thing to read.


You Do Not Want a Grocery
Bill This High!



   Hosting Dinner - For Thanksgiving or Christmas, the grocery bill can kill you. Appetizer/finger foods, turkey or ham (and some families do multiple turkeys, like us), side items, desserts, wine and other drinks. One household should not have to pay for everything! Suggest a potluck dinner to your family. The hosting house provides the main dish and each person or couple can contribute one or two items. This also helps incorporate other family traditions and cooking styles into your holiday. If you do have to foot the bill, try making your grocery list now and pick up a few items every week to spread out the spending. Look for things on sale! 

   Mailing - Christmas cards are really fun and a good way to share pictures and updates with your family. With the internet and social media, there are lots of ways to do that without mailing everyone an envelope. Consider an e-card that you can create online. Send an e-letter about your family news via email and attach a couple of photos. Snail mailing Christmas cards can cost you $25+ depending on the size of your family and friend circle. If you need to mail packages to multiple family members that live in the same city, consider bundling the gifts in one flat rate box with instructions. My mom's side of the family lives in Statesboro, Georgia in 3 seperate households. We put everything in one box with nametags on the gifts and it saves us a ton so we don't have to send 3 boxes.