Its the Most Wonderful Time of The Year!!!!

Well, not that Christmas insanity is behind us and the stores are not so insane! yay! Also the inserts are FINALLY gonna be in the papers this Sunday! (1/1/12 - TWO smartsource {eeeeee!} one redplum aaaaaaand the p&g! whoo-hoo!) I dont know about yall but I have been JONESIN over my coupons! TWO WEEKS with no inserts. I am going through withdrawls!!!! I realize that I misspelled the link in my last post so im gonna do it again; www.sundaycouponpreview.com and remember that is this is accurate for the AJC and not the Macon Telegraph! this thing is a life saver! depending on the coupons, I might get more papers if the coupons are really great, or just one or two if they arent! also if there isnt anything in there that you will use, then you can skip that week! it is totally awesome!


Now for me to explain why this is "the most wonderful time of the year"!!! This is when I do ALOT of my shopping for Christmas!!! (as in next Christmas) I get everything at this time and on the cheap!!!! Wrapping paper, bows, ribbon, garland, lights, ornaments, gifts, candy, pajamas, you name it! Some stores have already hit 75% off (Wal-Mart in Griffin did yesterday) but the best is when it hits 90%! Some "holiday collection" air fresheners will even be clearanced out and you can use a coupon on top of that!!! I will usually choose a scent you can use year-round like vanilla, sugar cookie, apple cinnamon, ect. Also holiday themed candy will be clearanced and some of the coupons that were in the inserts in the start on the season dont expire until 12/31 (today) so you still have some time!!!!


Also you know those fun little gift sets (like the bath sets, or the colonge sets, or little novelty items? well if you pick up ones that arent speciffically holiday themed, you can throw it into a "gift bucket". This is a bucket you have small gifts to bring for say a unexpected birthday, or something falls when you are in-between paychecks, you have a stockpile of perfect gifts! I have also see suggestions if you use coupons for travel sized toiletries (to get them free) you can use those and make up fun gift baskets! Also the make up kits? if you have a friend/family member tat is reaching the pre-teen age or has a daughter reaching that age? get a fun make-up pallet to give for their birthday! they wont know you paid $.50 for it at right after christmas time!


Also another great thing to stock up on is christmas lights! EXPECALLY if you know someone with a wedding coming up in the next two years! This is what my husband and I did. Any other time of the year, you can buy a box of 25 ct white wire white lights for (NO JOKE) $6-$10!!!! WHAT?!? ARE YOU %$^#&@(*&$^%*# KIDDING ME?!?!?!?! right now you can get a box of 100 ct white wire white lights for $1.25-$3. that is literally a savings of almost $30 per 100 ct lights!!! Also depending on the theme of the wedding, (birds, certain colors, ect.) you can find ornaments (a lady bought two dove ornaments one year and told me they were going to be the cake topper. she also bought snowflake ornaments, plates, and table toppers because it was going to be in December the following year and her theme was "winter wonderland"), garland, napkins (non-printed, solid color. I was able to get mine at Easter since the colors were cream and lavender), streamers, candles, candies, or ribbon on clearance!!! And all of it was pennies on the dollar!


And for the crafty readers, Christmas themed crafts and fabric clearance! WHOO-HOO! :D Use the fabric to make Christmas themed throw pillows, stockings, quilts, table runners and even tablecloths! and who doesnt love Christmas Pajammies?! Also some themed fleece will be marked down so that can be made into scarves, hats, pullovers, mittens, blankets, tree skirts, and even (for the expert sewers) stuffed animals! and those fun foam crafts? Oh yes. Save them for next year with your kids, classroom, or sunday school! Get creative!! the possibilies are endless!!!


So Happy New Year all! What are your Resolutions? Mine is to increase my average savings to 70-80%, keep up with my coupon clipping, and keep up with my blog better!!! :D


Awesome Coupon Tip Of The Post: When you get alot of food stuff for free or cheap and its more than you will normally use before it expires, donate the rest to a food bank or shelter. Also Women's shelters are constantly in need of toileties and femmine items. I really promote paying the awesomeness forward!

Make Your Own Christmas Decorations!!!

You can save OODLES of money by making your own christmas decorations!! so so so fun! some will be kid friendly and simple and some will be more advanced!


Homemade Air Dry Dough:
Here is a quick and cheap recipe and you can make it in such a variety of colors! perfect for making something simple like ornaments or even something like a nativity for your kids room! great if you have kids as an awesome family/babysitting/daycare/classroom activity!

• 1/2 cup salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup water
• any food dye (they have such a wide variety inluding neon colors!)
• bowl for mixing
• newspaper to cover surface
• clear acrylic spray
• cheap latex gloves (if desired to keep from getting food dye on your hands as you mix in the color)

Cover your work surface with newspaper. then into the mixing bowl add your salt, flour, then water into the bowl. Mix or knead until a soft dough forms. then add your color, just a few drops for a light color or more if you want a richer color. Viola! Sculpt your desired idea (if an ornament make sure you have a hole near the top for a string or hook to go through so you can hang it :) and let it dry! once its dry, spray the clear acrilic over the object! YAY!

For a longer lasting clay, I would advice a bake-in-the-oven clay (availible at all craft stores and some walmarts). you can buy it in a variety of colors and it lasts a very long time. :)

Make Your Wreaths!

Yes you heard me right! My mom always trimmed off the bottom branches of our tree and made the wreath out of that. I like the artifical wreaths a little bit better because im able to use them yar after year. the one that hangs under my front porch light I made for like $6 and its on par with some of those $25 wreaths i hve seen for sale! I got everything I needed at dollar tree, but it was the best place for me to get it all for the best price. this is what I got:

• Two of the 12" plain wreaths (they are kinda thin looking but trust me)
• one thingy (lack of better wording) of the 15' pine garland that is plain.
• one spool of a pretty wire edged ribbon
• one or two of the little artifical flowers (I got one of the baby poinsettas and one with little holly berry and pinecones, but get whatever suits your fancy!)

Take your two wreaths and take the little branches and have them all sticking straight up. Then stack them to where one is inside the other and as close as you can get them. take your pine garland and wind it around the two wreaths, joining them together and filling in the gaps. (do it very tightly and close kinda like how you would wrap lights on a pillar or pole.) once you have used up all the garland, take the little braches and flatten them some and fan them out to make it look natural. Take your flower bunch and fan out the stems to where the heads are facing all kinds of different directions. Then take the leaves on the stem and push them to where they meet the head. (everything on each stem should all be at the tip) Three inches down from the head, take the stem and bend it back and forth several times quickly. this will cause the stem to break off. Take the stem and bend halfway between the end and head to create a hook. take the hooked end and push it into the desired spot of your wreath. once its pushed in, take one of the little branches and kinda wrap it around the stem right under the head to give it some extra support. (you can also hot glue it into the branches) repeat until wreath is well decorated! End with trying a pretty bow onto it with your ribbon and hang!

Quick and Easy Ornaments!

You can use a variety of things as ornaments! like using artificial flowers (break away the stems and have the leaves at the head like described above for the wreath, but instead of making the end a hook just stick it straight inot the tree), pinecones from your yard (brush a bit of paint onto the ends for a splash on color), or even oragami! use construction paper to cut out shapes or make paper chains! get creative! also make your own bows for your tree! the possibilites are endless!


Make Your Own Stockings!

This is more of a later this month type project or can be done now. get some fun Christmas print fabric, or any fabric of your choosing for that matter! (1 yard will easily make at least 3 average sized stockings) trace out a stocking shape (fabric folded and wrong side out). then sew the two sides together (wrong side out) and hem the top. add a loop of ribbon/fabric on the top back edge (on the top of the back seam) then turn it right side out! a pretty custom made stocking! for even more fun add glitter, fabric paint, sequins, embroidery, or whatever tickles your fancy! do a plain white one and have your kids draw on it with colored sharpies. have fun with it!

Happy Savings!

Awesom coupon tip of the post: weekends that have a bank holiday usually wont have coupons in the sunday paper (memorial day, labor day, ect.) If you are unsure if your paper will have coupons that weekend, check out www.sundaycouponpeview.com it will gave you what inserts are coming up and what coupons are gonna be in them (there are going to be some toy coupons in there this week)