Domestic Goddess turning Frugalicous Goddess !

Wow, what would those two words together be? Um, how about DomesticFrugalicous Goddess ! haha, I'm cracking myself up here ! Okay seriously becoming a more frugal woman, frugal wife, frugal mommy is making me really thrilled and excited beyond what is legally acceptable from the frugalistic Police ! If there were such a thing. In our society today it's really super that more families are becoming involved in going "Green" , Recycling and taking steps to take care of our planet. We are living in an uncertain time due to the economic occurrences, especially if you live in California. Where we live. Of course I have heard it's tough times all around, but here where I live I'm seeing it and it's real. Our unemployment rate has now hit 29% as of last week and more and more families are adjusting to living with lower incomes, or going from two incomes to only one. As many families are facing job loss's. My post isn't necessarily about our economy per say but it does play into me personally becoming more frugal ! I am a SAHM and so we live on one income that my husband earns, and might I say he works very hard for us and our family. I appreciate it so much that I'm able to be blessed to stay at home and concentrate on raising our children, making our house and home and doing the extra special things I wouldn't be able to do if I was working a 40hr work week. We've experienced it and it was super tough on the whole family, we all voted we wanted mom home ! Imagine that , they realize the difference and appreciate it. Well not always but at one time did when we took that vote. haha. Wonderful Books that I purchased at a couple of garage sales today. I found the creative cookbook above that is chock full of many creative designs for desserts, snacks, appetizer's, and so on. Great entertaining book for ideas.My daughters and I have been thinking about making some of our own soaps. When I found this book about making homemade soaps I had to purchase it. It was .25 cents ! Couldn't beat that. Oh and so was that creative cookbook !I found this great picture holder, or plate holder. I love those, and snagged it right up.Here is another great .25 cents book purchase ! It is 600 decorating ideas ! The Picnic basket that I couldn't live without, it was $5.00 and I bargained her down to $3.00 ! It is fully lined inside , with removable linings. So I took them out and washed them right away. It is so neat.More great book purchases each for .25 cents. So I bought the neat Monday-Friday busy week night cookbook cooking. Which I haven't' got to check out yet. Then the Smore's book, all different smore's recipes ! Gotta love that !Here is something that I was super excited to find. The crystal snack plate's with the tea cups ! They are so darn cute. I bought the set for $2.00 ! great deal. Check out the original box !Then I excitedly found a leather purse for myself. It is from Style & Co. I really love it too. I bought is for .25cents ! How can you not like going to garage sales? Check out these wonderful squared stylish plates ! A set of 6 of them for $6.00 ! This was the most expensive item that I purchased today besides the wetsuits for the kids. I am in love with the plates and am running all kinds of ideas around in my mind of a Seascape dinner table with a huge clear vase centerpiece full of beach sand and shells ! (of course purchased from Micheal's craft store, not the beach).Now Check out this cake stand ! I can just imagine all the different cakes that I can bake and set upon this cake stand for display before we eat dessert ! I was thrilled about this too, because I've had my eye on one just almost similar to this one at Target. This one was from Mervyn's store.

Here at last is the Table runner that I found. I paid .25 cents for it. I also bought brand new kitchen valances for my kitchen nook and kitchen window over the sink. I paid 1.00 for all 4 of them, they are in the washing machine but I'll get pictures of them later to show. I also bought little man two outfits, one pair of old navy shorts with a t-shirt, a pair of jeans and a long sleeve tshirt for school (almost brand new) and a brand new spiderman bathing suit ! I was excited for those finds. I also purchased two new sweaters for myself that are the short sleeve with three buttons on top then open below cardigan's, one in a light green and one in classic black. The black one still had the tag on it from the store, never wore ! A brown skirt, a mauve tank top, and two other great tee shirts ! I didn't find the girls anything at all, probably because i was looking for them clothes particularly ! Anyway it was a super fantastic day of great treasure hunting ! I couldn't believe I bought all of this for under $20.00 - of course minus those wetsuits ! I consider those worth the money though and My husband totally agreed with me and was so pleased with my purchase of them ! Tomorrow I'm driving to meet my mom and we're going to shop all the thrift/second hand stores in her area. My point is with this post is that I am thoroughly excited more and more each day about becoming a frugal Mama. I am cutting coupons, cooking our meals at home, doing all of our baking of cookies, and breads. I'm going shopping at second hand/thrift shops and buying things that we want or need slightly used or best of all sometimes BRAND new !

Today I got up early and hit the Garage sales within our little area and then the next bigger town over. I probably went to 25 sales and found so many great treasures, wonderful books, some great clothes for our little man, new kitchen items, 4 great blow up twin mattress for camping (which we love), and 3 slightly used wetsuits for scuba diving/snorkeling in the ocean (which is another fantastic hobby my husband and our kids love.) We have been wanting to purchase the kids their own wetsuits but they are outrageously expensive. Today I found two full length suits and one knee length suit for $10.00 each- total of $30.00. I saved almost anywhere from $300.00 on up! We would never have been able to purchase them brand new and when I looked at "Play it again sports" (second hand sporting goods store) they were marked $75.00 each. So again expensive. I was thrilled beyond belief to purchase all 3 of them for $30.00 !!! Big deal !!!! I was so happy about this and I know my kids will be too, especially next time we head to the ocean.