Life – Page 3

Where To Find Money

Sometimes you need to find money, just a little bit to get you through until the next payday. If you need more than that then you need to do something bigger like a yard sale which requires advance planning. Although I have heard of yard sales being pulled off in a short time and being successful. However, I’m talking about smaller amounts of money – maybe you need a can of formula or a gallon of milk and a dozen eggs and your grocery budget is spent until payday and it really isn’t an emergency. Then it’s time to look for money in other places.

First is the obvious – couch cushions, car change holders, money found in the laundry, bottom of your purse, your piggy bank.
Paypal – I normally have money there from selling items on eBay and facebook flea market sites. It does take a couple days to get to your bank account.
WalMart Savings Catcher app – of course it will only be good at WalMart, but there’s no minimum balance and they do sell everything! It only takes a few hours to transfer to a gift card.
SavingStar account balance – the minimum is only $5 and you can transfer it right to your bank account.
Ibotta account balance – there’s a $10 minimum to transfer, but you can transfer it to a gift card or paypal.
Checkout51 account balance – there’s a $20 minimum for this one (and I personally don’t have much luck with it) and I think they only mail checks.
Swagbucks account balance – With a minimum of 500 swagbucks you can cash out for a $5 gift card to a variety of places – WalMart, Target, Amazon, Visa Reward Card. This can be slow – up to 10 days to transfer!
Sell stuff on craigslist and facebook flea markets. I’ve not had luck with craigslist, but facebook flea market sites work very well for me! Search for your town or county and flea market or resale. I’ve also recently discovered destshing sites on facebook. For example, I have a lot of material that I’m never going to use, so I’ve been selling it on fabric destashing sites. If you live in a bigger city, craigslist might work as well.
Look through your desk for any uncashed/forgotten rebate checks.
Look for ECBs and use them for groceries at CVS or sometimes local stores will take them as competitor coupons (I can use mine at Publix and WinnDixie).

Where do you look for money?

Sewing A Simple Dress with Kids



*This post contains affiliate links.

My daughter loves to sew! She’s always asking to make something. Recently, she wanted a lightweight robe so she dug through my material and found some she liked. We found a pattern in my stash and I helped her make it. Now, she has it in her mind that she’s going to make dresses for three adorable little girls at church. We looked through my patterns, but they were all a little too complicated or didn’t have the right sizes. Then, I remembered the Janey Jump Around Dress from peek-a-boo pattern shop. It has all the sizes we need plus it’s an easy sew – perfect for my daughter to make three times – and best of all, it’s free! She dug through my stash of knits and found ones that coordinated.

I normally pin the pieces in a couple spots to make sure they stay put, then she finishes pinning them and cuts them out with her own scissors.

We read the directions together and then I pin the seams for her.

She did all the sewing herself.

She was very proud of herself when she finally finished! I think it took her longer than she thought.

There were three happy little girls too.

What’s your favorite easy pattern?

Gardening – Southwest Florida Style

I’m trying my garden again this year. In mid-March (while those of you in the North were still digging out of that white stuff), I cleared a space behind our shed.

Hubby built a frame for me and I filled it with garden soil and manure.

The kids and I love melons – honeydew, cantaloupes, watermelons -so we planted them all. The cantaloupes aren’t here (they can mix with honeydews and the results aren’t very tasty). Here we have honeydews, watermelons, gourds, and carrots (which aren’t doing so well).

The watermelons are taking over! I have to keep steering them towards the poor gourds.
We were so excited to find a little, bitty watermelon…

… and a little honeydew too!

I’m hoping my carrots recover. If not, I’ll replant them. I’m also hoping to get some peas and beans in along the shed wall. I’ll put something up for them to climb. I’d also love to try growing asparagus, garlic, onions, cucumbers, peppers, plus some herbs.

What about you? Do you have a garden?

Teaching Kids to do Laundry

I hear a lot of people complaining about Mount Washmore. It seems that laundry just piles up and doesn’t get done until it HAS to be done NOW. I understand that laundry isn’t fun, but it is necessary just like buying groceries and putting gas in your car. Don’t do it and you’ve got unhappy people! I’ve made laundry very simple in our house. So simple, that my six-year old can do it (and he thinks it’s great fun to pour soap and turn dials!).

The first thing I did was use a sharpie to mark the normal settings. The only thing I didn’t mark was the water level. It’s normally a super plus load, if it’s something smaller, I adjust it. I also don’t sort our clothing. I know some of you might cringe, but honestly, it works for us. We don’t have any items that require special washing (I check when I buy things – hand wash, line dry? It goes back on the rack). I do wash sheets and towels in hot water from time to time.

Load up the washer and add soap using the pre-marked laundry soap lids.

Rinsing the soap cup? Lots of fun!

This refillable laundry soap container is such a wonderful invention! I can fit up to 5 bottles of soap in it. There’s so much less chance of spillage with this! Plus the kids think it’s pretty cool.

I also marked the dryer so it’s super easy for the kids to move stuff from the washer to the dryer and start it.

What about you? Do your kids do wash? Any tips for making it easy for them?

Saving Money on Your Car

Lately my van (a 2006 grand caravan with 97000 miles) has been costing us a lot of money. Not as much as a car payment, but it seems like everything is going bad. We found a local garage that we like and trust. I’ve taken my car there and they’ve told me what’s wrong, how much it will be to fix, if it’s a must or a when I have time/money. They’ve even told me that there’s nothing wrong (when the check engine light randomly comes on) and not charged me.

Most recently, I needed new tires and choose to go to a different garage (a chain store tire shop). They had the best deal on tires and I didn’t give it a second thought. When they were almost done, one of the guys came in to the waiting room and told me there was a problem; could I come out and they’d show me. So, I followed him to the garage with my two boys in tow (they were fascinated with the van up on the lift). He showed me how the front tire wiggled even though he had just tightened it. He said I needed new outer tie rod ends. I asked if that was why my tires had worn funny. He said yes. Hmmm…OK. I had been told that it was because they had been under-inflated for some time, but I’m not a car person. He quoted me a price and said it would take about an hour – they could do it right now. I told him not today – I had the boys with me and they would NOT be happy for another hour. I was also unsure of what they were talking about and wanted to at least get a quote from my normal garage.

When I got home, I called my trusted garage and asked for a quote. She gave me a quote, but added that she would want to look at it to make sure that it really needed new outer tie rod ends. So, the other day I took it over. It took them less than five minutes to determine that I do not need new tie rod ends. What a relief! They also told me that this isn’t the first time they’ve heard that story – get new tires at the other place and be told that the tie rod ends need replacing. Makes me mad that they were willing to take advantage of me! I’m so glad I hesitated! I “saved” almost $300.

Have you ever had a garage try to sell you something you don’t need?