Totally Tag Saling

Tag saling is what Yankees call garage saling. Every Monday Rhonda over at Southern Hospitality hosts a "what did you find" post where people share the bargains they find while tag saling. I always love to see what treasures people snatch up so here's mine.

I love movies! I got 23 and they were 1.00 each, at lots of different places of course.

I also always have my eye out for CD's. It costs 1.04 to download one song on ITunes and if I can get a whole CD for 1.00 I feel good.

I got a Playstation game for 1.00 but I will resale it to Gamestop and probably make 5.00.

I snagged this for a future gift. It's sidewalk paint. So cute and 50 cents.

These are for my future baking projects. The stars will be for brownie pops-it was 10 cents. Lots of cool metal cookie cutters-10 cents a piece and the popcorn holder which Lon loves will be for popcorn and to hold those really cool popcorn cupcakes shown in the book Hello Cupcake.

A large cupcake stand, never opened for 5.00.

I also bought these old set of trees for my Dept. 56 original snow village. I usually buy the more modern looking pieces but have my Nana's original set (which is why I collect them) so this will go perfect with it. It's from the 70's and is original and perfect and was 3.00.



I got this Round Top Christmas sign for 2.00!!!

Finally a stampin up Halloween stamp set. If you know me you know how I feel about Halloween! It had never been used and was 3.00!

Don't you just love tag saling?

I'm a Collector

Lon laughs and me and says I'm a collector. He says I'm a collector of things-lots of things. I am also a sucker for a good deal. I have a deep love for a bargain and love garage saling. I've been reading lots of blogs about all the wonderful things people find at thrift stores. For years I have shopped thrift stores for children's books for my Kindergarten classroom (he says I collect those too). So I thought I'd go this week and see what I could find. And here is my catch. Yes I collect Longaberger baskets(they cost how much he said?)but the deal is I can only buy something if it can be used. So see below...this is what I found and it was.....50cents!!!! I looked online and they're selling for $175.00. I can't wait to go garage saling tomorrow!!! If I find something great I'll post it!

Storing a Stockpile

Once you really start to coupon and get mega good deals on items where do you store all of that stuff. I had a really hard time with this even though we have a rather large pantry. Within two weeks the pantry was so full I couldn't find anything. I went online to see how other couponers store their stockpiles but found out there was very limited knowledge and even more limited pictures. So I wanted to show you how I store my stockpile. First it's important that you buy things that you know your family will eat and use. I keep one of each item in my regular pantry and then when we run out I go "shopping" in my stockpile. Most of the things I buy are non- perishable so I decided to set up shop in the garage. See below:

Make sure items are stored off of the ground. I got this black shelf at a garage sale for 1.00!

As you use and item move your other items forward just like at a store. That way you rotate your inventory.

I store all of my cleaning products the same way.

We were saving so much money we decided to buy a stand up freezer. I love the freezer and now we can actually see inside our fridge. We opted for the stand up freezer because let's face it-I'm short and I wanted to be able to see things. Not to mention I have this fear that when we have children they'll open it and fall in. So the stand up freezer it was!

I hope this helps. I know when I first started couponing I would have loved to see inside people's pantries. Coming soon...how I store all my health and beauty products.

For the Love of Etsy

I'm one of those hopeless people who rush off to craft shows every time, everywhere they pop up. Many of those cute boutiques in town have closed due to the economy and I have been lost for cute little tidbits. That was until I found Etsy.com! Etsy allows crafters to sell their one of a kind, homemade items online. I have found so many great things there from coupon holders, baby shower gifts, and flamingo everything. I got this onesie about a week ago and had to have it. Now God willing in the next year we may have someone to put in it.

Going Coupon Crazy

Over the past month we've really been trying to pinch every penny out of our budget in order to get ready for living on one paycheck. We decided to start the new no working budget back in Feb. so we could completely be ready for the last paycheck in August and see if we could really do it. One place we never seemed to be saving any money was on groceries. Grocery prices seem to be on the rise and on top of that we'd go do the weekly trip and then I'd end up making several more trips for odds and ends during the week. I know you all go through this. So I had dvred the Dr. Phil show and fell in love with Ashley from frugal coupon living.com.

Frugal coupon living.com is a website that takes the weekly deals at a given store, matches them up with online coupons and weekly coupon inserts from your newspaper and tells you basically how to shop. Ashley also has helpful advice on how to save, freebies, etc. I studied, I clipped, I organized and now see what happened?

Every Sunday I hit CVS and Walgreens for their deals.


Here's my Walgreens deal! Total cost before savings/coupons: $17.31
I paid-$1.78
plus I got a $2.00 Register Reward to spend next time on anything.



Cvs-Total cost before savings/coupons:$20.47
I paid-$7.26
plus I got $4.00 in Extra Care Bucks to spend next time on anything
If you want to learn how let me know! You would not believe the kind of deals there are out there. We were spending roughly $100.00 on groceries and health and beauty products a week. I have managed to cut that down between $20.00 and $50.00 a week!!! Disney World here we come!

The Making of the Suburban Legend-Cake Balls

So...I decided my first baking would consist of the most perfect thing in the world-cupcakes, for my friend Kimmie's birthday and while I was at it I would attempt the mysterious cake ball. Now mind you no one in my circle of friend including myself have had cake balls so I was a little frightened. Also I am on a diet, and I mean diet-I do not stray so this would test my strength. First I made the cupcakes:

Then I tried my hand at cake balls-I decided to try chocolate cake mix with chocolate icing and a chocolate coating. How do you make cake balls you ask?

First mix the cake batter and bake:

Let the baked cake cool for about 20 minutes and then scoop out-just like that! No worries, you want the cake to crumble!

Crumble the cake with a fork.

Once completely crumbled add an entire jar of your desired frosting. You can get a great deal on frosting with your coupons.

Mix the icing in until it looks like this.

Use a cookie scooper to scoop out small or large balls onto a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. I knew that pampered chef cookie scoop would come in handy.

Roll the balls to form a more desired circle, cover with foil and put in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Remove from the freezer, heat baking chocolate (as much as you think you'll need-I needed the whole package), mix, drop the cake in the chocolate and drip with chocolate, don't roll! If you roll you won't get the smooth finish you'll desire.

Choose sprinkles!

Add sprinkles! The chocolate hardens quickly so have the sprinkles ready and add as you remove the cake from the dipping chocolate.

Finish by eating at the bowling alley while breaking 100. Happy Birthday Kim!

The Birthday Girl

Lon loved them-my dear husband.

Guarding the cake balls-Melanie, Kimmie, and I!

And so it begins...

Well I officially quit my job of teaching Kindergarten last Friday and now I'm a suburban stay at home wife. I have spent the entirety of my adult life pursuing my career, teaching, training, and working on my Master's (still doing that one). It is now time to slow down and focus on domestic things. I never thought I'd say that. I will learn to make dinners, clean the house, save money, and be crafty. Hopefully and God willing in the next year my husband and I will happily start a family and I will become Miss Susie Homemaker-I will not be wearing heels and cooking.