Layout:
Home > Archive: September, 2009

Archive for September, 2009

Bean's winter wardrobe-- $18!

September 25th, 2009 at 01:11 am

It's time to buy Beaner the next size up in pants and some sweaters for fall and winter. I had planned to just go to Kohl's and buy him pants, as they are on sale for 2 for $10.

But on a lark I decided to check two thrift stores first. I'm glad I did! I got him 7 pairs of pants, including 3 that are the same brand I would have bought at Kohl's, and three sweaters for $18.

Funny how we forget to check the cheap places first. I guess because it's faster and easier to make one stop at the regular store, where you know for certain they will have what you need .

Trying to save $410 by DIYing

September 20th, 2009 at 03:39 pm

We have a half bathroom off of the kitchen that hasn't been usable for two years. We had a floating floor installed in the kitchen and bathroom, and because the toilet flange was slightly below the level of the new floor, it leaked. Every time we flushed, it'd send water cascading into the laundry room below. That's why we haven't been using it.

I know. We should have fixed it. But at the time, we were pregnant or had a new baby and tackling those projects was last on the list. So, we closed the door and it's like that room has not existed.

Now that I am seriously nesting and staring down the barrel of a second baby, I am feeling immense deadline pressure to get home improvement projects done.

I called the flooring installers to get a quote for redoing the floating floor in the half bath. I was floored by what they wanted to charge me for such a small space-- $500!!! And that's with $100 off for me taking out the toilet and sink myself.

Uh, no, I'm sorry. I would have paid about half that. So, I began tackling the job myself. I spent about $95 on supplies-- new jigsaw blades,extra floor tiles, etc.

I started demo on Wednesday. I unhooked the toilet and hubby was gracious enough to move it now that I am too preggo to lift heavy objects. I also inspected all the damaged floor tiles and removed them. Also easy.

While the toilet was out, I repainted the accent wall in that bathroom, using leftover paint from the accent stripe I painted in the bedroom in February. Looks great and it cost nothing.

Last night, I used the jigsaw to cut the tile. It wasn't hard at all. All that's left to do today is click the floor tiles back in place. Supposedly, this is easy, but we'll see.

If it does work out, I saved us $410, which is enough to replace two of our kitchen doors with more energy efficient ones, but that is another story...

$24 to tiki fund

September 12th, 2009 at 12:39 am

FINALLY! Some money to the tiki fund. I made a few sales on Etsy and this is the profit. I need to start working harder to replenish the tiki fund, since I emptied it to pay off my student loan.

$782 to savings and 39 pounds of veggies

September 6th, 2009 at 06:01 pm

Just an update. We managed to put $782 into savings this week. $550 of it was planned savings-- our $250 direct deposit every payday, plus the $300 extra for what used to go to the student loan payment. The other $232 came from a check from hubby's side work. A nice bonus, considering our side work has basically dried up this year.

I'm up to 39 pounds of veggies from the garden this year. Realistically, I am not going to make it to 100 pounds this year. It just didn't work out. In part, because I was super duper pregnancy sick and tired during planting time. But what we have planted has done well.

And, a lot of it doesn't weigh much-- like hot peppers-- so we really do have an abundance of produce, even if it isn't translating into heavy numbers.