Where did all this stuff come from anyway???

I took my girls shopping last night for the things that needed replaced in their wardrobes. We all got new socks...amazing how fast thoes wear out...and underwear....and even a few tee shirts and things for bitty. roo and i didnt need as much...so we just got for bitty.

thats fine, but i notice we have alot of extra clothes the girls dont fit in anymore. so they took some out of their closet and got rid of them. thats a plus. at least in terms of organizational aspect for us. we live in a smaller place than before and space is a premium here. i used to have a big kitchen and now its alot smaller. that part i hate about where we live now..besides being in town...its smaller. and i thought the old place was small.

one of the ways we save on space in the bedrooms is with drawers under the bed. My girls have bunk beds in thier room...but underneate we put drawers to cover the floor and store other clothes in. this helps because even tho they have a small closet..and a med size dresser..there is always more storeage space needed.

another way we make use of wasted space is with milk crate storage where the door opens. at the end of the girls bed, is the door of their room, but theres a small amount of clearance, enough for 2 sets of stacked milk crates 2 high on the foot of the girls bed..and 2 more on the wall behind their door. I got the milk crates from walmart when they were on sale for $2 each, and they do add lots of storage when you turn them on thier sides to give the shelf effect. this is a nice and effective way to have storage in the girls room, infact we have 4 sets of these double stacked crates in diffrent places to make the most of the room we have.

i also bought an over the door shoe rack to hold small things in the girls room too...besides the shoes they have, it can also hold makeup, jewllery, hair bands and bows, brushes, and all kinds of little things the girls will scatter if not corralled.

at walmart i found removeable write on wipe off stickers that were suposed to be able to be peeled off walls without damage...unfortunatly...i found thats not the case. they stick very well to the wall, and are very useful...i have one in each bedroom that says weekly..notes...and to do. this way i can leave notes to the girls on mine so they can see at a glance what store im working at...and i can keep notes to myself on mine. they have a set for thier room too...when we move out...ill have to repaint the closets..but thats not a huge deal since i kept a paint can of the paint we used in the bedrooms and the doors wont be so damaged they cant be repainted in one step.

im always on the lookout for things that make my house more organized or easier to live in..maybe ill come up with more ideas soon. but this is all i can think of for the girls room right now.

Why I am so called frugal....

I am almost 40 years old.

That was hard to say...lol. And I am wanting to change some of my ways. My number one thing I want to change is I waste too much money. I dont have a really great paying job, altho I have a great job that I love. And like everyone else, I have bills and things I want to save for. I have bills I have to pay. and I am always just a little bit lost just like everyone else.

A little bit about me...I am technically a single mother...I personally gave birth to 3 kids, bubba is 20 (he doesnt live with us), roo is 15 and bitty is my baby at 13. I am thisclosetobeingmarried to dh (which means we dont live in the same house...lol) and he has a son thats 14. We maintain 2 seprate households with each adult spending time at the other house part of the time. We live less than 15 mins apart, so thats not too hard to come by.

Anywaaaayyyyy.....

I rent a place in a little town in corner of no where...I live in the land of no double coupons...not great stores...and high price cable and internet providers. Ahhh the joys of life in a small town. I love my little town..lived here my whole life....but sometimes...the non saving ways drives me nuts.

I actully live on alot less than $20,000 a year. I do this because I dont have car payments..both my cars a paid for...I dont have a house payment..i rent..and I dont have any outstanding loans except for 1 credit card i use for work and my student loans..wich are out of this world..but more on them later. lol.

Today Ive spent my day off (this is my weekend time) doing laundry..watching tv..and thinking about things to write about.

For today, I decided Id figure out a way to save a little bit more a month..and after looking things over....im thinking I can cut back on my magazine consumption. Ok..i admit it..i love reading...and the best thing about being in town now is i get a free library card...lol. i can stop buying some of my magazines, because I can read them from the library. I also can get a few movies...lots of books on tape ( i just got done with harry potter series) and lots of other great things. the library for me is a great deal..even when i lived out of town and had to pay the $40 a year for the card. this is a great thing, and i totally think if you have access to a library you should get a card. from my library i can also get books for my kindle reader app free and use their interent if i want to...if i should have to get rid of my home internet service, i can always use the one there free. and for someone like me..thats a huge plus.

My journey to being more frugal....with a few bumps in the road...

I'm not new to being frugal...really I'm not. I just don't always travel the straight and narrow path to it. So I wanted to write a blog about how I'm finding my way on that journey. Along the way I'll share my tips, tricks, and ideas that I find. I'll share recipes, camping and frugal travel ideas, life reflections...and other ideas for making life a little easier and better along the way.