My job for today is to make (start working on) some curtains like these for the little guys room. Although they are a little feminine, I need to find a creative way to make them more masculine. Because Averys room is also doubling as our guest room I have really tried to not make it very "baby." Instead of the white ruffle I purchased red fabric for this part to tie in the rest of his bedding and decor. The best part about this whole deal is these panels are from Pottery Barn Teen and they run about $69/panel. I went to Joanns and bought 6 1/2 yards of muslin for $1.99/yard with a 40% coupon. Plus one yard of the red fabric at $1.99/yard. Let me do the math for you! $14.93-$5.97 (40%)=$8.95..whoop whoop! And no, the muslin fabric is probably not nearly as nice as the pottery barn sheer fabric but as long as you don't rub your face all over the curtains we should be in good shape. Also, sometimes I risk my stress level when I work on these projects but as long as they turn out good, I am ok with it all!
I use to be a huge fan of Jon & Kate plus 8, and I will admit, when they announced their divorce I cried. But one thing she said on her show really hit home for me.. She said that Jon goes out and works and she is blessed to stay home with her kids, so her job is to make his paycheck stretch as far as possible. This has really been helpful for me when I have the shopping urge. I have really been trying to get creative with our finances lately and seeing how many things I can make as opposed to buy. One huge thing that we are doing now is eating out WAY less. We never ate out a ton anyways but realized we could still safe money. Even if that means on the nights I don't feel like cooking, we make something easy such as quesadillas or sandwiches.
Also because we are trying to furnish a house that is more than double the size of our last, I have really been hitting up the yard sales (yard sale season, whoohoo!). For instance, I scored a fairly brand new wood double bed last weekend from an estate sale for $25.00. It wasn't exactly what I wanted but once I got it in the room and have been surfing the internet for bedding ideas, it's going to be great! And last but not least, you can't beat craigslist!
Do you have any money saving tips you would like to share?
