It's Moving Day!

Yep, that's right it's moving day! I have moved to:
Ramblings of a Suburban Mom, which you can find here. Hopefully you will follow me to the other side (Wordpress - which is very fancy. And confusing.) and update your Readers!
It's more than fair to say that the blog is still a work in process, but it's a start!

Freebie Fridays!

I thought I'd start doing a weekly post about the freebies I have scored during the week and the prizes I have received. I can't recall receiving any wins in the mail, but I did get some good freebies.

I finally went and picked up my free monthly gift from Bath & Body Works with my BBW LUV card. This month it was three free travel sized products of any scent you wanted. I was super excited and can't wait to see what next month is! Luckily I do not have long to wait!

I also received my Weeble for "liking" the Playskool facebook page and filing out a form. And a coupon for free Coffee-Mate cream from their Free Flavor Friday promotion.

Of course, all of these freebies are expired now, BUT there are always freebies out there to be had! What did you get in your mailbox this week???

Sad it's Over!

I am sad to report that 90% off Valentine's Day items at Target is over. Anything left lingering around at the store now is ringing up the dreaded INF (i.e. prices are no longer in the system) and its YMMV on whether or not they will sell it to you. On Tuesday, I made sure to check out some of the stores in my area I hadn't been to in a few days or looked thru good enough. I knew it would be the last day for 90% off and didn't want to miss out.

My grand total for all items pictured below was $16.93. Had I purchased everything at regular prices, it would have been $181.93 (it's more than 90% off because I was charged $1 for something instead of $1.99). Amazing savings isn't it? While it is true that I am not 100% sure what I am going to do with all this stuff, I know I will find a use for everything. I am planning on using the Crayola items and stickers for birthday party / Valentine's Day / Christmas gifts for my sons friends. And I can never pass up a book at 90% off. It's too good of a deal to let go and shelters, schools, etc. always need books! And I am thinking that the candles in the bottom picture would make perfect teachers gifts or hostess gifts. And I suppose the cake pans mean I need to make a cool cake. Maybe a rainbow cake like this???

I'm already looking forward to Target's 90% off Easter clearance and putting together my plan. Can't wait to see what I can find and I hope everyone shares their finds too!!

Target 90% off Valentine's Day Goodies!!

Not even a snowstorm could keep me away from Target and their 90% off Valentine's Day clearance today! I went to three stores in total and am guessing I didn't spend more than $25! How often can you fill a cart at Target for $25?? I think the general rule is that you have to spend $100 during every visit?

I had heard about some Barbie stuff was that 90% off, so I checked out the "regular" toy aisles and sure enough, I found gift bags, a coffee mug, a travel mug and some cards in a cute tin. Of course, none of it was marked 90% off, but that just makes the hunt more fun! I was also very pleased to find the jar candles! It wasn't until I was at the second store that I remembered that Target even had candles for Valentine's Day. I checked out the candle aisle, and sure enough, there they were. Regular price was $6.99, which made them $0.69! Can't beat that.

I thought the Matchbox cars would be long gone, but I was lucky enough to find some hanging with the regular Matchbox sets. The set of five cars was $0.59! I believe the most expensive item was the Elmo recordable book, which cost $1.99 ($19.99 regular price). The Crayola Color Explosion sets were $0.39, the Sponge Bob stickers were $0.29, the baskets were $0.99, the loaf pans were $0.99, the Doodle Pro was $0.59. I couldn't have had any better luck! I have been blessed to live in an area with loads of Targets, so I am going to hit a few more tomorrow and see what I can find. I'll be back to share my finds!

Target 75% off Valentine's Day Finds!

I don't think I have shared any of my Target deals here yet, but I am pretty much obsessed with Target's after holiday clearance sales. I before / on the holiday, I believe they mark down to 30%, then it's generally 50% for the 3 days after the holiday, then 75% for 3 more days and finally 90% the next two days. Sometimes this varies, but Target holiday markdowns generally follow the 3-3-2 schedule.

My secret is to go check out what is in the holiday aisles in advance. That way I know what I am looking for after the holidays are over. Things get moved all over the place in the store and you can generally find lots of holiday things in the regular aisles. Lots of the items that are "holiday" have nothing to do with Valentine's Day at all, which makes them great additions to kids party gift bags, etc.

My favorite finds are holiday books. You cannot beat discounted books! I like to give them as gifts or save them for the following year.

Some Targets went 90% off yesterday, however, none in my area (Metro Detroit) did. I cannot wait to check in the morning for more hidden deals!!!

St. Patrick's Day Apothecary Jars

These are my St. Patrick's Day apothecary jars from last ear, but I wanted to share early in case anyone was looking for ideas. I want to do something different this year, but I feel like my options are fairly limited. There are not too many great St. Patrick's Day decorations out there! If anyone has any ideas or favorite places to get St. Patty's stuff, I would love to hear them!

Valentine's Day Apothecary Jars

NOTE: WE'VE MOVED! Visit: Ramblings of a Suburban Mom for lots of apothecary jar ideas! Just in case you haven't done your Valentine's Day apothecary jars yet, here is what I put in mine! I thought about doing all pink ones, but could only think of things for two of the three jars. I came up with heart marshmallows (sprayed with something so they wouldn't stick) and pink rose petals. But the third one has me stumped. I could do pink M&M's, but I just did M&M's and am still trying to eat all those (actually I separated them into red for Valentine's Day and green for St. Patrick's Day). Any ideas on pink jars???

Valentine's Day Mantle

I have to admit, I am not the best about keeping my mantle decorated. Christmas time is easy to keep it looking good, but for other seasons, I am often at a loss! I toyed around with a few ideas for Valentine's Day and ended up with this. The flowers and candle holders are from Pier 1. The banner is from Etsy.

I thought the flowers in the vases were SO cute, however, I am not sure they were worth the $20 price tag (yes, each one was $20). However, that didn't stop me from buying six of them. I don't even want to do the math. The pillars were $22/each, so I thought that was more than reasonable. And the banner, which is even more beautiful in person, was $21 from this store on Etsy. I had the pillar candles already, so I saved money there.

I also toyed with the idea of using tall clear glass vases on either end and filling them with stemmed red roses, however, I couldn't find any silk ones I liked. Where can I fund something like this?

Did anyone else do a Valentine's mantle?? I would love to see!

Christmas Apothecary Jars

NOTE: WE'VE MOVED! Visit: Ramblings of a Suburban Mom for lots of apothecary jar ideas! The past few years I have been going with a red and white theme for my Christmas apothecary jars. But this year I wanted to do something different, so I went with a red and green theme. I had some trouble coming up with three different ideas (I like them all to be totally different with different shapes, etc.), but I finally settled on red & green bows, red & green ornaments and red & green M&M's. It took about 13 bags of M&M's to get the jar filled, but I am pleased with the results. What do you think? Any other ideas for red and green fillers?

Organizing the Basement

Here in Midwest, basements are common. I know in many parts of the country, they are not typical. But we are lucky enough to have them here. However, basements seem to be a catch all for junk and clutter. Although we moved just over a year ago, we are part of the junk of the basement crowd. Rather than throwing it away, we just moved it along with us. We have collected lots of seasonal decor over the last year (I blame Target and their 75% off sales), and I realized as I was putting it all away that it would never fit.

So I decided that I would make it one of my 2010 goals to get the basement in shape. With the help of clear plastic bins from Target and a few trash bags, the project was a breeze. I used the motto "When it doubt, throw it out". I actually donated things to out local Goodwill, but you get the idea. It was just time for things to go. I'd say 90% of the items in the basement are holiday related. The other 10% are old pictures, cards, my husband's military things, etc. I am super pleased with how this turned out and I tried to group my Christmas decorations by bin as I was putting things away this year (i.e. tissue paper, bows, ribbons in one, boxed ornaments in one, etc.) so that it will be easier to find things next year. I also put all of my apothecary jar fillers in one bin and just generally tried to make life easier when I need to find something. When I get a minute (or an hour), I plan to get my label maker out so I can make things even easier on myself.

This entire project cost about $30 (or 5 bins at $6 each). I already had a ton of bins and just had to purchase a few more in the same size. I always buy the 70 qt. clear plastic bins. Always. I think they are the perfect size and I love that I can see what is in each one without opening them. Also, I feel like the bigger containers can get SO heavy. If you can't lift them, they aren't going to work. I really wanted to get wreath holders for the wreaths I made here and here, but Target was all out at their after after Christmas sale. Hopefully I can get some next year.

Do you have a messy basement? Or a super organized one? Let's see pictures!

Before


After

Winter Apothecary Jar Ideas

NOTE: WE'VE MOVED! Visit: Ramblings of a Suburban Mom for lots of apothecary jar ideas! After taking down all my Christmas decorations, things were looking very plain around here. I didn't want to leave my apothecary jars empty until Valentine's Day, so I decided to do a winter display. I used fake snow (from Target), a candle decorated with ribbon (I used a hot glue gun to attach the ribbon) and tissue paper pom-poms (a Martha Stewart craft project). As usual, things did not go exactly as planned (working with tissue paper is so hard), but I am pleased with the results. It is not so easy to find all white fillers. I wanted white glittery snow flake ornaments, but could not find any that were the size I wanted. I am going to keep my eyes open so I can be ready for next year. "Snow" covered pinecones might be a thought for next year too.

The Reveal of the Refinishing Project.

As promised, here is the final reveal of the bed refinished project! You can check out the before here. I dug around the basement quickly and threw on the first queen sized duvet / sheet set I could find. Since then, I have found a few different duvet sets down there, so I am still deciding on what I want to do. I do not want to buy anything new right now, since I have no real "theme" planned for the room. If I find something I love, it will be easy to plan use that as a base to build the room around!

I am super pleased with the way it turned out and can't wait to tackle something else. I have a few cheap IKEA side tables in the basement I would like to do something with. I am not sure that they are real wood, but I don't think it will be a problem. I am not even sure that these nightstands were real wood come to think of it? I bought them super cheap from Target probably 12 years ago and I am amazed they have survived thru all these moves. It's shocking how long some things last.