Summer Frugality Failure and Success

I had great dreams for my vegetable garden this summer. I dug up a hug piece of the backyard, David cut wood to make raised bed type area (we didn't actually fill it all the way to the top with dirt though) bought rabbit fencing to keep Lilly out, bought more seeds than I should have and two soaker hoses.

I tried to start seeds on the front porch in egg cartons but only about half of the plants came up and then I procrastinated transplanting them to the garden so they all eventually died. Then Lilly jumped over the garden fence and chewed up my soaker hose, so for a while I had to hand water. What this translates to is that for a while I didn't water enough. Then slowly but surely the southern heat and my lack of commitment to watering killed plants one by one. Then, squash bugs ate my pumpkin which was happily thriving until then.

The corn seemed to be doing well, but we ate it one night and it was AWFUL! I didn't know corn could taste so bad! Also only about half the kernels on each cob were developed, probably because we planted too far apart and they weren't able to properly fertilize. By this point I had pretty much given up, although there were still two tomato plants left. We were out of town for a week and when I got back I decided to throw in the towel! Maybe next summer I'll stick to container gardening. 

As for my frugal success, we have been keeping our air conditioning at 82 degrees while we are at home and 85 while away. We cheated a bit this month because we were out of town for several days but our bill was only $119, the lowest by $40 we've had all summer and $60 less than last month. Being slightly sweaty finally paid off! 

Good Reads for August

I can proudly say I got through my two books before the end of the month! I loved The Baby Whisperer, it has been one of the most helpful books on infants and sleep I have read so far. It was funny and easy to read and had very helpful charts on troubleshooting a crying baby, nursing issues and sleep problems. I checked it out from the library but it was such a great book I want to buy a copy to have for reference when baby girl comes.

It is similar to Baby Wise in that it promotes a routine of Eat, Awake, Sleep but adds in Yourself forming the acronym EASY. The EASY routine is less clock oriented than Baby Wise and teaches you to learn your child's needs and use the clock as a guide instead of the rule. Similar to Baby Wise, it also suggests putting your infant to bed awake instead of asleep.

It laid out the different types of baby personalities and how to do the EASY routine with each type of infant as well as help pages directed at your baby's personality. Several of the other books just left me confused but The Baby Whisperer laid out the principles in a clear and concise manner, I just can't say enough good things about this book!


August Reads 
How the Irish Saved Civilization
The Baby Whisperer 

How I earned $400 in 5 1/2 hours

Or my long air travel adventure to Texas.

David and I woke up at 4 am on Thursday morning to drive me to the airport and arrive by 5 for a 6:20 flight. I missed a flight after getting a flat tire when David and I were dating so I'm always careful now to allow myself to be at the airport a full hour and a half before take off now. When I arrived at the gate I found out the longer airstrip was closed and planes were having to reduce their passenger load in order to make weight and take off on the shorter runway.

The gate agent was desperately asking for volunteers to take a flight out of Atlanta and received a  $400 travel voucher. It tempted me at first, but I was tired and six months pregnant and at first decided not to volunteer. After everyone had boarded the plane, the plane was grossly overweight for the short runway even though there were only 33 passengers aboard a 50 seat plane. They called again for volunteers and this time I caved. A $400 travel voucher would get me another trip to Texas and I know David and I will be making a trip out here with baby next spring and we are NOT driving 1200 miles with a baby!

Nine people had to get off the airplane to make weight but finally enough volunteered and the plane was able to take off half full! The airline hired two cabs to shuttle us all to Atlanta and off I went to catch at direct flight from Atlanta to Austin at 2:30. I was originally supposed to arrive in Austin at 10 am but finally got into Austin at 3:30 central time. It made for a long day but I was so excited to receive the travel voucher it made it all worth it. 

Nursery Furniture

I have several pieces of furniture that I have gotten for free or very cheaply that I am repurposing and painting for out little girl's nursery. I acquired an old TV cabinet at a garage sale that I am converting into an armoire. It doesn't have any drawers, just shelves, so I am going to buy some baskets to hold the clothes and add a bar for hanging clothes at the top. I bought this cute little shelf at a consignment sale back in March and painted it white. Please excuse the cell phone pictures, I was too lazy to pull out my digital SLR today. 

My dad built this dollhouse for me and I am going to use it as a bookcase until she is old enough for dolls. The old blue trim is going to be painted green to match the bedding. 

Lastly, I bought this night stand at Salvation Army for $18. It has a laminate top that we have sanded primed over. I was a bit worried the primer wouldn't stick but David sanded the laminate down well enough for the primer to adhere. It's going to be all white when we are finished. All the pieces except the armoire have been primed and are ready for white paint! Can't wait to finish her room.  

 

Maternity Clothes

I am so grateful to my sister in law who has given me two boxes of maternity clothes from her own pregnancies. Even still, maternity clothes get boring very quickly and I was elated to receive a package from my Aunt last week with a cute top and pair of shorts. They shorts were a bit on the small side so I made a trip to Kohl's to exchange them.

We had received a $50 Kohl's giftcard several months ago for signing up for a free trial of something which I don't remember that we immediately canceled. I had been saving the giftcard for maternity clothes or some other shopping later down the road. Maternity clothes are way overpriced in my opinion and I am so grateful to have been given so many clothes. I returned the too small shorts and decided to buy a skirt instead. With the money from my return and the giftcard I got a skirt, and two dresses plus the top my Aunt had mailed me. Then, on Saturday I found a nice Target maternity dress at a garage sale for only $3. I spent $7 out of pocket at Kohl's coming to a grand total of $10 for four new pieces plus the one my Aunt bought me. So happy to have more clothes that fit my ever growing belly!

Wonderful couponing trip

So sad, I started this post on Sunday and I'm just now getting around to finishing it.
I haven't gone hard core couponing in quite a while. It tends to stress me out a bit and so I haven't hit up CVS for a good deal since last month. Here's what I got on Sunday at three different stores.

CVS-
Transaction #1

• Renu contact solution $7.89
• -$2 coupon. = $6.44 after tax. Got $6 back

Transaction #2

• 3 cans shaving cream 2.19 each + 8 pack disposable razors $14.79
• - 6.25 manufacture coupons  - $0.50 ECB - $6.00 ECB from Renu = 10.07 after tax got $10 back

CVS total

• Spent $16.91, Value $29.43, + $10 ECB

Next a made a mad dash to Toys R Us. Southern Savers had just listed a great deal on diapers and I knew they would be gone by day's end. I lucked out and got 66 count Babies R Us diapers for just $5 a pack. I'm using cloth for our baby girl, but I was told the Best Bottom cloth diapers I registered for are a bit large on a newborn so I wanted to stock up on newborn and size one diapers. Plus diapers on sale make a great baby shower gift so I bought two pack of size two as well.

Toys R Us total

• 4 packages of Babies R Us diapers, normally $12 on sale for $5 each (7 cents a diaper)
• 2 packages of Huggies Natural diaper $5 each minus $4.50 in coupons + $5 gift card for buying two packs of Huggies. After the gift card (which I have to use later) the diapers were only a quarter a package! 
• Used a $10 gift card I already had which brought my total to 18.30, Value $72 + $5 gift card

Lastly I stopped at Walgreens to get wipes.
Huggies wipes on sale for $2.49x2 - $3.50 in coupons = $1.48 plus tax

Total spent $37.21, total value $108 and I got $15 in gift cards and extra bucks.

I did it!

It took an untold number of hours, ripped out seams and tears but I finally finished the crib dust ruffle last night. It's by no means perfect or professional but I think it will look nice in our little girl's room. Her crib is not set up set so I can't put the bedskirt on just yet but here's what it looks like draped across the table. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the fabric is mini stripe not a solid green. 

I had enough energy and motivation to get started on the valance yesterday as well. I was a little nervous about cutting out the pattern without any guidance but after reading it several times through I went ahead and cut it out. The valance turned out to be much easier than the dust ruffle and it only took me a few hours to make it. I have a curtain rod that's too large for the nursery window but I put the curtain on it anyways, just to get an idea of what the finished product looks like. I'm going to buy some cheap sage colored shears to layer underneath the valance. I couldn't be more thrilled with myself, it's the first time I've sew something using a pattern without any help!