Frugal Friday

Taking Our Own Pictures

Since we have had a baby, and I have become a stay at home Mommy, we have had to find creative ways to save money. About a year ago, I saved my money and invested in a good digital camera, lens, and flash because photography has become a hobby of mine. My husband also recieved a version of photoshop for his birthday. When it came time to have our daughter's 6 week pictures taken, I decided to make my own "studio" in our living room and take them myself. I wouldn't be out any money if they didn't turn out good. I ended up being very pleased with the results and we ordered all the pictures we needed for us and our family for $27.oo!! I also spent $4.00 on black fabric for the back ground. I was very proud of my pictures, and incredibly proud of the price! Here are a few of the ones I took!

I am already searching photographer's blogs and wbsites for more picture ideas for her 3 month shots! Don't be afraid to try this yourself. There are lots of ideas out there and great technology to make your pictures look professional and save you money!

Check out Biblical Womanhood here for more frugal ideas.

Frugal Friday

Since I quit my job to stay at home with my baby girl, I am really trying to focus on ways to be frugal. One thing I am trying to work on is a way to bring in a little money for our family. When I can find some extra time, I am working on a way to bring in some extra money and declutter our house at the same time. I'm not sure I have the time to organize a garage sale, so I am working on listing some of our items to sell on Craig's list and Local Sales Network. This way I can make a little money on the things that we no longer use and are cluttering up our basement! Hopefully, I can post my progress as I take on this project!

Check out Biblical Womanhood for more frugal ideas!

Frugal Friday - Using What I Already Have

Since most of my posts are centered around the baby, I thought I would continue the theme. We've been working on the nursery and are almost finished with it. I have been wanting a white shelf to go on the wall for pictures and cute knick knacks, but did not want to spend a lot of money on it. One day I was walked down to our basement and noticed the beautiful shelf that my husband built for me while we were dating sitting there collecting dust. It hit me that I could sand this and paint it white (it is stained right now) and have the perfect shelf for our little girl built by her Daddy! How great is that, and it will only cost me some time and a small can of white paint!! That is my "frugal revelation" for the week! Check out Biblical Womanhood for more frugal ideas!

Frugal Friday

I wrote last week about trying out several ideas to save money to be able to not work full time after we have our first child in December. One of the things I have been really focusing on this week is food. One way I am using to save on food is to be organized. I have come across a website called organized home. One of the things this website focuses on is having a household notebook to keep your home organized. I have been working on my notebook this week and have been making some progress. The first section I worked on was the meals and menu section. I have already planned my menu for next week and am working on my menu for the month of August so that I can plan ahead with food in the freezer and using coupons. There are lots of free printable forms on this website to help you start your own notebook and have an organized home. Check them out here.

For more frugal ideas, head over to Biblical Womanhood!

Frugal Friday

In one of my recent menu plan posts, I mentioned that I am expecting my first child. The pregnancy is going well except for occasional sickness and aches and pains, so I have been very blessed! The thing I have recently started being concerned about, is what to do after the baby arrives. Should I stay home, work part time, or continue working my full time job and pay for daycare? My dream is to stay home, but the reality is that we may need a little more income to be able to eat and make the mortgage payment! I'm not opposed to working, I just want to do what is best for our family. I've been brainstorming some ideas on ways to cut back so that I could at least go part time (considering daycare would take half of my full time paycheck) and work somewhere with an onsite daycare. So, here are some of my frugal ideas:

• Run the dryer less (I'm going to look into buying a collapsable drying rack or some type of clothsline that isn't permanent)


• Be diligent about planning menus (We have been eating out more since I have a harder time cooking when I'm nauseous, but if I would plan and have easy meals on hand, I could do a better job of eating at home)


• Clip coupons (I started this, but it is almost a second job to search the sale papers and coupons to come up with good deals. I am going to try to dedicate more time to doing this to save us money on groceries)


• Utilize CVS (I started this as well, but lost interest when I was really sick)


• Stockpile (I am making a list of what I use regularly (laundry detergent, dishwashing liquid, etc.) and am going to try to have a 6 month supply on hand when the baby arrives. I'm hoping this will help cut down on some grocery spending at the beginning, and give me time to find good deals on the brands I use)

Any other frugal ideas would be greatly appreciated! I'm hoping to start using these ideas next week to try and get in the habit before December!! Head over to Biblical Womanhood for more Frugal Friday ideas!

Frugal Friday

I thought I would share something my husband and I did to live frugally for two years. We had only been married for a year, and were really wanting to buy a house. We looked around at some houses and found one we loved, but when we got the good faith estimate, we were surprised at what the payments would be. Even though we could have afforded them, it would have made things tight. We looked at the difference it would make to put 10% down on the house. We liked what we saw, so we started figuring out a way to save that money. We had an opportunity to move into an apartment complex and be the managers. In return, we would get to live there for free (including cable and water). It really was a difficult two years, but we were able to save 10% for our house and have a little extra left over. It was a creative way for us to live "frugally" and save for our house. We were incredible busy because we had to clean the apartments, repaint them, and do any maintenance on them. We were also in charge of collecting the rent and depositing it and showing empty apartments to rent them. In then end, we were able to buy a house just like the one we had first looked at!! God is good and does provide!! Head over to biblical womanhood to check out some more frugal ideas!