Frugal Friday with Marsha --Preparing for Vacation

Who knew that preparing for vacation was so hard? Well, it is for me. LOL
My daughter and her boyfriend are going to stay at the house to house and pet sit for us. Even though they are over here all the time, I feel the need to do a bunch of extra cleaning.
Yesterday I steam cleaned the carpets. Speaking of that, buying the steam cleaner is what I feel was a good investment. Just using it a few times more than covered what we would have paid to rent a machine. It was something we chose to buy 2 years ago with part of our income tax refund.

Today I am preparing for a yard sale tomorrow. I am going over to the little town where my middle daughter lives for their 'city wide' sales. City wide is a population of 1,100 people, but tons come in to town for the sales too. Cheap cost of just $5 donated to the 4-H to be on the map with an ad of what we have at our sale. So, minus the small amount of gas, a lot cheaper than trying to host and advertise one from home (it's just a 24 minutes drive from my driveway to theirs), plus I get the added plus of spending time with my daughter and grandchildren too.
Do wish me luck of actually selling some things though.

We will be gone next week on vacation, and I am also taking a vacation from blogging. I have a plan to do a Wordless Wednesday post with some pictures, but that's it.
And back to speaking of vacation----I have managed to earn $22 in Target gift cards that will help us take some of meal foods with us on the trip to avoid always paying to eat somewhere. Plus I also have a $5 Walmart card as well. With that we will stop and get some macaroni and potato salad from the deli. Yum!

Until then, I can't wait to see what posts you share this week to inspire and motivate us all to keep living frugally, saving money, do it ourselves etc!

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday With Marsha 6/6/14

I have spent most all of my free time this week decluttering, organizing, and pricing things and boxing them up to have a yard sale this weekend.
Now the weather is not cooperating at all. Temps are going to be perfect for a sale with highs only in the upper 70's and lower 80's, but it's supposed to be storming off and on from now until Sunday.

Boo! to the weather!
We put half of the stuff in the garage but there is just no way to fit it all in there. It's in there now, but you can't get in the garage.

I can look on the bright side, I guess, that we have another week to continue to look through things and get more things priced to put out to sell. And say some heavy prayers that it's not raining next weekend.

I'm happy to say that one thing that I got totally cleaned out and organized is one side of our storage in the hallway.
It now holds only the towels and then I have our sheet sets and all of the grandchildren's bedding in there now. That is a good feeling.
Since moving in here all of their bedding has been kept just thrown into my craft room closet. It's always such trouble to dig it out around my totes of completed crafts.

I have several areas that I now hope to get to this next week before the next possible sale.

What have you been up to this week?

An InLinkz Link-up

TGIFF--What Can You Make With a $2 Sheet

Whew! I must apologize! I've had these things made for a month and I keep letting Friday slip by me without getting a Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday post in.

I wanted to share the things that I made with a $2 Dora sheet that I bought at a yard sale. It was a nice, like new, thicker sheet and I couldn't pass up buying it! My intention was to make just Dora fabric bags with it, but then I seen child's quilt.

This quilt was the first time I've ever tried hand quilting. I hand quilted around the pictures on the fabric as well as I hand sewed the edges as well. It took quite awhile to get it done.

Here is the finished quilt, with a matching pillow:

 Here is a close-up of some of the stitch work:

I also was able to make 2 fabric bags:

All leftover material I cut into strips.  These strips will be used in a bright colored toothbrush rug.  I have the strips ready to start on the rug, just not sure when I will get to that.  There was also a pillowcase with the sheet but I'm choosing to let the granddaughters share it on their pillows.

I also want to note---the pillow insert used for the Dora pillow was given to me by a lady at church.  My mom's friend gave me the quilted backing piece used on the quilt.  I did buy pink thread to sew with for $2.07 at Wal Mart.  I already had the pink cotton thread that I stitched with.  It was in with several used rolls my daughter had given me.
In total for less than $5, I was able to make these things.  I love it!!

I also want to note that the fabric bags, as well as the quilt were sold in my etsy store about as soon as I listed them.

I am working on squares for a quilt.  I do hope to have it completed by this time next Friday to post again!

Monday September 28

Good Morning!
I used to do so well, typing into my blog daily..now it's only 2 or 3 times a week...
I've just become so busy these days!

Yesterday was a FULL day. We went to church...after church I got m Walgreens lists and coupons ready to go and then went shopping. Once home we ate some ham and beans....then we headed to my mom's for her birthday cake and ice cream. Right after that we were off to church for youth group meeting. Whew! Run, run, run, and run some more.

This morning started early running my son a few places. Right now I need to be upstairs getting Jasmine up. I really want to get going on her schoolwork for the day and get that done.

I just updated my Our Unschooling Journey 4 squidoo lens. I think I would like to continue these lenses, but we aren't really unschooling so I am thinking on a name change. It's nice for me to keep a running journal of the work that is being done.

I got in my Mail Call! Week of September 20 and my Walgreen's Shopping 9/27/09 posts on gather. I've still been putting in 3 photos a day from the Kansas State Fair. I hope to get in a photo essay today along with 3 more photos, my usual daily post for my group, and a video.

We are to have a yard sale this next Saturday. According to the forecast, as of right now they aren't calling for any rain that day but the high is 64. I will keep watching it. In the meantime I have a box of clothes yet to price...a bag of misc. to price, and 2 small boxes of books to get priced. I do hope the weather holds up and that I can make a few dollars.

I better run and get Jasmine up and her day started. Have a great Monday.
Marsha

Monday September 21

Good Morning...almost afternoon here.
I woke up this morning to a thunderstorm. Two days in a row now. And, guess who 2 nights in a row didn't roll up the windows on her car.

Yesterday was such a busy day. After church we had a luncheon, then I had to go to a church council meeting on the constitution. Almost 2 hours that meeting lasted. The constitution is an interesting piece but I was frustrated!

I came home and got my list and coupons ready and did my Walgreen's Shopping 9/20/09
It just seemed a whirlwind yesterday of running here and there.

I am in hopes of staying home today....all day! I've been piddling around getting some things done on the computer and some things done around the house, and doing schoolwork with Jasmine. Good ol Monday.

Yesterday Steve was playing with the cat and ran into a chair leg. Half of his foot is black and blue. Safe to say he broke his toe. I've been wondering how he is doing at work today unloading and loading his truck all day into stores. I am also wondering how it will be for bowling tomorrow night. I think he should go see a doctor, although they don't do much for broken toes.

I'm trying to get back to updating or building one squidoo lens each day. Today I updated Forever by Judy Blume--a Book Review.
I've applied for giant squid again...I am hopes that with the help of being accepted into the Rocketmoms training I will be accepted this time around. Will the 3rd time be a charm?

I am doing a yard sale in less than 2 weeks and don't even have one tote of things priced yet. I need to get to work on that. I will also take the crafts that I have made to try to sell. I hope it goes well as I need to make some money so I can start shopping the thrift stores for quilting supplies.

Guess I better run for this day. Here's to a great start to your week!
Marsha

Saturday June 6

Good Morning! It's yard sale day. I am so thankful to have this laptop so I can earn on here with the little bits I am earning at the sale.

Yesterday I totally forgot to write my blog until it was after supper time. It was my usual day of late with going here and going there. When I wasn't running I was still looking through all I could to get ready for the yard sale.

Nothing productive going on. I did get into reallysmart deals and get 100 of my blujay items listed to rotate while I looked through books on the bookshelf. Reallysmartdeals is geared towards what you have for sale on auctions and other such websites. If interested, it's a great exchange.





I need to go through and upodate my homeschoolbuy auctions. I even found some more books that I want to get listed too. That won't get done into next week. The bathroom is being redone here at least Monday and Tuesday and we aren't allowed to be home 9-3 each day due to them taking down lead based paint.

Guess I will move along...and try to find a way to plug in this laptop before the battery is totally gone.

Have a great Saturday!
Marsha

Thursday June 4

Good Morning!
Short and sweet as I need to run out the door soon and take baby Jacob to the pediatrician. When we took him for his 2 day newborn check at the hospital they had a little concern over the weight loss and jaundice so scheduled him in to the doctor this morning.

After that appointment I should be able to stay home the rest of the day. I sure hope so! I have 2 more shelves of books to look through and then I want to start getting toys looked through. The sale is Saturday so I'm really running out of time.

I didn't do much on the computer yesterday. I did find some internet connection as I drove my mom around but she was never in any one place long enough for me to earn more than a few cents here and there. If no connection then I entertained myself playing solitaire.

I've put my sewing machine away. Sunday at church I was telling the lady's of sewing club that I am having trouble putting my quilt squares together so they got together and set up June 16 for a sewing club. I will wait until then and get some instructions from those who know what they are doing!

I better run...don't want that baby to be late :) Have a great Thursday!
Marsha

Tuesday June 2

Good Morning! I wanted to get a post in today before another long day starts.

Yesterday was a big day! Up early to take my daughter to the hospital to have the baby. I have the following post and videos on gather so far and more to share today. 11:05 am 8 lb 12 oz New Born Jacob Alexander 6/1/09 and Newborn Jacob with Mommy.

I'm heading up now to take my bath, then I need to take my son to Wendy's to talk to his boss. After that it's back to the hospital to be with Elizabeth and Jacob. I think Chris was going back to work today. They are doing the circumcision today..probably it's already done.

I miss Jasmine terribly while she is at camp!! And, I'm sad to think she is also going next year. Yes, I need to let go and let her be a kid, make more friends and have a good time. I'm hoping Steve and I can go to the movies tonight. I have 2 free passes and I want to see the new Night at the Museum at the Smithsonian.

I better be off and running. I should be able to be home most of tomorrow and on through the rest of the week, but we have very few days left to get more things found and prices for the yard sale coming up this Saturday.

Have a good day!
Marsha

Tuesday May 19

Good Morning!
It's a good thing I got done what I did yesterday morning. No sooner than I had my lunch that guy brought me the car....which brought on being gone a lot. I took it to my son's to have him look at it again, took it to the tire guy and replaced one of the tires, and took my mom to transfer the insurance. It's a 1989 Ford Thunderbird. The body is somewhat beat up but not enough to make it look too bad. The interior is torn up on the dash. And,it still needs a lot of wiring work for the electrical stuff, but I am hoping to keep this one. He has the car again to try to fix the loose wire that is making one brake light not work all the time.

Really I have no other news today. If I get the car back I will take my mom to the dr this afternoon. Otherwise I just want to concentrate a lot today on the websites I do to earn and attempt to get as much done as I can in my gmail. I also want to get some things priced for the yard sale. I hope to get all the books on the huge bookcase looked through before the end of the week. I can't move all the books with us as there is no place to keep them.

I cashed out at gather yesterday for $25 in amazon after getting my last $50 card I cashed out for in yesterday's mail. I'm real close to buying the laptop at amazon, but I am afraid not close enough to be able to order it by the first week of June, which was my goal. I just checked and I still need to get in at least another $75 in amazon. hhmmmm

I'm off for today...have a great day!
Marsha

Saturday October 4

Well, the yard sale went...and went as usual too. Lots of work for very little money. We only sold $19 total between all of us. It was nice to get out among other people, just needed to make more than that.
I bought some school texts for .25 each that I will place on homeschoolbuy...hopefully they will sell, this kind has before.

I'm in the Spooky Celebration right now and it's sad that there is barely anyone else in there. I present my website at 3 pm central time today and again at 8 pm Wednesday evening. I hope i can get a few orders.

I'm getting ready to do my freebies post over at gather, but today I will share part 3 of my Cosmosphere photo essay. Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center--Photo Essay 3

I'm going to head out of here now. I have my party time to present, then the activity to do...get a quick bath...I have chicken in the crockpot, but not sure what else we will have with it. We have the gospel singers coming to church this evening to celebrate our 120th anniversary...so I need to see what else I can get done on the computer.
Have a great rest of the day!
Marsha

Thursday October 2

Good morning!
I reached my cashout with winster this morning for a $5 amazon. Now to see how long it takes to get to the next million to see if I want to continue with the fun of playing. I will add the amazon to what I am saving for a laptop.

I have to be to work in 30 minutes...then the usual Thursday after work...taking Heather to math tutoring and then my mom to the doctor.

I built 3 more lenses over at squidoo yesterday but haven't added them to the side bar here yet. I might get to that later today.

I got my 1st photo essay in on the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center at gather yesterday. Will get the 2nd one in today and the 3rd tomorrow.
Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center--Photo Essay 1

I will be participating in the Under the Rainbow Spooky Celebration this coming Saturday, and then on Wednesday. I will give more information on that tomorrow.
We also are still trying to get a little bit together here and there for the yard sale on Saturday. As cool as the mornings are I really don't look forward to setting up shortly after 6 am, but hopefully we can sell a few things.

Guess I better get ready for work...have a great day!
Marsha

Friday September 19

woo hoo! It's Friday!
Looks like another beautiful day here...the kinds of weather I wish we could have year round.
I got 4 parts of a video up on gather. I got a couple new items listed in my blujay store, I updated my Gifts Galore and More squidoo lens and I built a new lens on the traffic exchanges that I do.
Traffic Exchange lens on squidoo
I'm still upset that I can't figure out how to go about getting the affiliate codes put in correctly on squidoo. Hopefully someone in the forum can lead me in the direction to get those done.

I am heading off to play games at msn live and on winster before taking on the task of getting as much of my gmail done as I can. My head is spinning because as I've been told by many....not only am I trying to do too much outside of the internet I am just trying to do too many things at once on the computer.

In 2 weeks I will be having a yard sale at the Headstart building. It's usually successful because we fill the whole school yard with people selling things so we get a lot of customers. I have several boxes of items ready to be priced and want to get that done over this weekend.

Until tomorrow, have a blessed day,
Marsha