My Kindergarten son has spirit week this week and unfortunately I was very forgetful on Monday and forgot to send my son with a Mustache for Mustache day.

I made it up with Beach day on Tuesday even sending him with swimming goggles.

Wednesday was Pajama Day which was pretty easy

Then today Thursday is Dress like a Teacher or old person. I dont have a wig or cane or walker so the best I could do was dress him like a teacher. He has a female teacher and since he doesnt always understand when he is being laughed at I wasnt going to let him dress like a girl. So below is what I came up with.

What do you think. The shirt and vest are from my sister. Glasses are the 3-D glasses from the theater that the kids brought home and lenses were taken out.

Topic: Spirit Week: How did I do?

As I’m laughing I couldn’t help myself but just a moment ago actually 2 hrs ago my hubby called to say he was on his way home early but the bad news is he is stock in a ditch! It’s snowing so they let him go home early. Sometimes we forget about insurance.

Yup he was in a pickle! On October 31st we were in an accident and out of our married life that was the first time we ever had to deal with our insurance.

Our Van was totaled but thankful our insurance paid for the loan and we had left over to put towards a new to us car.

I’m thankful with little to no income coming in we had a car we own but still kept the full coverage on it because just in case we got in another accident it would be taken car of.

So back to my hubby being in a pickle! We tried to think who could we call to help us out. Friends of ours who have a vehicle that could help don’t drive well in snow and they live on hills and not to mention my sister lives the town over so no point to calling them.

Long story short we forget that we have full coverage insurance that includes road side assistance up to $75.

They get paid by the hour so we pay the cost after the first hour from our pockets. So we hope it won’t take longer than an hour to get my hubby out of the ditch and on the road again.

I’m writing this post because sometimes your insurance policy is hard to understand so I didn’t know if towing was included. I thought it should be since that would be a reason why we would want to have it!

Well it did up to $75 so I am thankful. I have to say we have never used our insurance for anything until October 31st of 2012 and now here is our second time. I’m glad we have it because we would be in a pickle!

I’m so poor I made my kids Costumes!

Yes you read that right, our family is very poor right now. There is alot going on and I will save you from the details but here is the honest truth. I do not having money to buy my kids costumes this year. Last year I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to review costumes.

This year my son’s and daughter asked to be a Super Mario Character mostly because we just finished a Super Mario Themed Birthday Party just a month ago.

My oldest was set on Being Mario. I has asked for places to find overalls. Well unfortunately I was not able to find him a pair. But with the material my sister gave me and a hat from the photo props I had I made him Toad!

I did however find my middle child a pair of overalls and a green shirt and then I used material I had to make him his hat. He became Luigi!

My daughter on the other had has been given dress up clothes so we have a fairy and while I was adding to her collection awhile ago we had gotten a Sleeping Beauty dress similar to princess peach for $4 shipped. So she went at as Princess Peach in her mind. Don’t try to tell her otherwise!

My husband payed me a compliment and said its official I am make our Comic Con costumes when we decide to go in the future.

I simply made the kids costumes because I do not have the money to buy them costumes.

I do however recommend checking out Thrift Stores the day after Halloween because you might find them at 50% off. Last year I go a brand new Incredibles costume unfortunately it is still too big for my kids.

So did you buy or make your kids costumes this year?

Are you drained from the unnecessary drama of your children arguing over who’s turn it is to sit in the front or in the middle? I made this handy Car Ride Schedule when one of my children had hurt feelings over not getting as much time in the front seat or who they got to sit next to in the back. 

It was unnecessary drama and made getting kids to school ever so challenging. I have 3 of my own and I also take another child with us to school. Of course everyone wants to sit next to their friend that is not their sibling!

I have a hard time remember who did what last so this schedule came about. We still have some drama on occasion but now all of them can see for themselves the equal amount of time each spends sitting in different seats. 

We have a rotation! 2 of the 4 can sit in the front while the other 2 are still in booster seats in the back. It took some doing but we managed to get a routine going.

So if you desire to print out your very own Car Ride Schedule you can find the FREE printable below. Keep in mind I only use this schedule for school days and not the weekend when it doesn’t seem to bother any of them who sits where. Feel free to take the idea and make it your own to fit your needs. Take into account No School days and holidays.

Hope this helps you out and eliminates the unnecessary drama and arguments between kids.

Topic: Car Ride Schedule

Don’t get stuck with every single paper your kid comes home with!!! Let me show you a way to digitally save papers your kids bring home so your tower doesn’t start to pile up.

Digital way to save your kids Projects

As the school year begins papers and projects will be flowing in steadily learn a digital way to save your kids projects.

Don’t make the mistake I did. Take control now and save yourself time and space. My boys have speech delays and as a concerned parent, I want to make sure my kids get the best services they can so I kept EVERY and YES I mean EVERY paper, project and art piece.

But after 1 school year I have a Huge Box and 3 Binders full of paper from my son. YIKES is right! Well my reasoning for keeping everything, is because I kept things when I was growing up, but also I wanted to see the progress my kids are making over the year.

Well, please don’t make this same mistake. There is a much easier way to keep those images of their work, but not in paper form.

1. Simply Scan their papers and projects each week using your printer/scanner.
2. Save as a PDF and make a folder or even a DVD+RW to place all the images on. This way you still have the memories of their work, but its not taking a lot of room up. I’m not saying throw out all their paperwork. Keep those that mean a lot to you and them, just be careful not to over indulge and keep tons!
3. Also another creative way to display their art each week is pick one item each week to display on the frig. I have 3 kids so 1 for each is enough and doesn’t clutter my frig. Display it for a week and then pick a new one for the next week.
4. You can keep these special projects in a Binder.

See my How to Organie your kids Paperwork article.

Topic: Digital Way to Save your Kids projects

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Are you in need of a Quick Shopping Trip Form to help you shop easier?

Here is a Form I created. Its pretty simple. I had to create one and I have no idea why it took me 3 yrs to finally do it.

The columns are pretty explanatory but here is a quick summary just incase you don’t understand Moms Saving Money lingo!

Product – The name of the item you will purchase

Isle # – This is the isle number that the product can be found on. I try shopping from one end of the store to the other so I put my items in order by isle.

Quantity – This is the number of that product I plan to purchase, it may change depending on availability

Reg. Price – This is the Regular Price of the item. I like to go buy the full price before sale and coupon to determine the amount I saved.

Sale Price – This is the sale price before coupon.

Coupon Amount – This is the amount of the coupon and helps if its amount of so many that way it helps me keep track of how many coupons. Most store only allow for 5 like or if the coupon says 4 like.

Final Price – This is the final price for the product after sale and coupon.

Total Amount – This is the total amount of all the products I am buying of the same kind after sale and coupon. For instance if I am buying 4 Pepperidge Farm Gold Fish for 1.25, I would but $5 in the total amount

Saved – This is the amount of Full Price minus Final Price times the amount of that product I am buying. I like to see how much I am saving. Generally I go for 50% saving or more but some products there are not coupons for so savings is less.

Rain-check – This column helps me determine when I go up and down an isle and the product is not available to ask for a rain-check. Some store like Kroger will only give rain-checks to products listed in the ad.

Get your FREE Shopping Trip Form Printable

Again this printable is my own creation and its what helped me shop the other day. You may want to create one that fits your needs better.

In my opinion these are great gifts for kids from Dollar Tree

1. Books. My kids love book and I am thankful. If you want your kids to read then five them books because they might just pick it up and like it!

2. Coloring/Activity Books/flash cards. Both my boys have very different learning delays but we love using these activity books at hope. My middle kid learned his shaped because of the activity books from Dollar Tree.

3. Puzzles. Work on those fine motor skills and give them something they can accomplish on their own or even as a family. They make great gifts.

4. Hard Plastic Animal Figurines. My kids love having any plastic animals and we can’t afford the big sets you get at Target or Wal-mart but we can afford 1 animal at a time and now their collection has gotten bigger. Also they learned what each animal noises they make and how to sound them out correctly. Its a great learning tool for our family and might just be for yours as well.

5. Dress-up Accessories. My little princess loves dress up and since she breaks things I rather giver her some cheap items then more expensive ones. Also some of the Dollar Tree items are better made then then ones you can find in the $1 section at Target. Dollar Tree also has other great dress-up accessories like Fireman and Hard Hats. They also have gloves, tutus, and fireman plastic jackets.

6. Oven Mitts and Apron. Do you have a little kitchen helper? My kids try they really try so I know a great gift would be for them to have their very own apron and oven mitt. You could even get them their very own special spatula or mixer!

7. Stuffed Animals. One year my husband and I were at Dollar Tree looking for some items to put in the kids Easter Baskets and we came across 6 different whales and sharks stuffed animals. I was hesitant because at the time our kids were very very young that I thought these were to old for them. However now they still love playing with them plus our 6 yr old now knows tons more about whales and sharks and the different kinds.

8. Ear Buds and docking station. These would be more for the older kids but Dollar Tree has a great selections on phone cases, ear buds and ipod/iphone docking stations. I just got myself an ipad back cover and its much thicker than the one I got from Wal-Mart.

9. Flash lights/tools. Older kids may be interested in build items from their own hands or evening helping our around the home like replacing blinds or tightening handles. Whatever the case maybe getting them started with their very own tools may just be the right gift for them.

10. Gardening Supplies. You’ll be amazed at the gardening items Dollar Tree has. They has seeds to gardening gloves to shovels and much more. You can even get a Watering Pot!

If you enjoyed this list you may also like Dollar Tree Stocking Stuffers ideas and Dollar Tree Deals

So its time to show you my breakdown. My overall budget is around $50 Max

Decorations

– Dora 7 piece table/ceiling decor reg. $3 got it at Dollar General for $.50

– Dora Invites reg. $1.99 paid $.35 at Dollar General

– Dora Cups 4 pks Reg. $1.49 paid $.35 each at Dollar General

– Dora plates 2 pks paid $.50 Reg. $2 at Dollar General

– Dora Wall hanging reg. $9.99 at Party City got it on clearance for $1.50

– Fiesta Ceiling Fans $1 for 20pk Tissue paper at Dollar Tree. Used Scotch tape I got for $.50 at Best Buy and fishing wire I bought over 10 yrs ago I have no idea how much I spent!

– Table Clothes purple $.25 at Dollar General reg. $1. red $1 at Dollar Tree. yellow $.25 at Dollar General on clearance reg. $1

– Napkins – 2pks of purple and pink butterflies $.25 each

– Forks – 48ct $1 from Dollar Tree

– Tub Base used for the punch – my sister paid $6 for it for my neices graduation because I forgot to bring mine but I can’t say this is part of the budget I didn’t buy it but I am borrowing it because its purple!

– Pinata – Purple tissue paper 2 sheets was from leftovers from a baby shower I did about 4 yrs ago! so $.20

– Candy for pinata – $3

– Dora Loot Bags – 2pks $.25 each at Dollar General on clearance reg. $1

– Dora Sunglasses – 1 pk $.25 reg. $1 at Dollar General

– Dora Necklaces – 2 pks – $.37 each from Dollar General reg. $1.50

– Bracelets – 2pks $.25 from Dollar General reg. $1

– Dora Activity packs – 2 pks 4 in each – $.50 each

Total – $12.02

Food

Taco Meat $1.79 lb thanks to my sister and her Food Lion rain check! 3lb $5.43

Lettuce $1

Cheese $2

Taco Shells – 2 pk. $1.40 from Kroger sale back in March

Hawaiian Punch – 2 $.80 from Dollar General with coupon and store sale with instant savings

Sprite – FREE

Apple Juice – 2 $.68 each from Kroger Closeout

Sherbert – 2 pks $4 from Walmart

Instant Rice – 1 pk $.50 from Kroger Mega Sale (for spanish rice)

Chips – 1pk $1 each from Kroger

Pace Picante Sauce – $.49 from Kroger Mega Sale

Queso Blanco – $2.25 from Dollar General

Cake Mix – 2pk $.76 each from Kroger sale and coupon – $1.52

Frosting – 2 pks $.69 each from Kroger before they stop doubling in the Mid-Atlantic area! $1.38

Frosting Flavor Packs – FREE from Duncan Hines promo coupons We have tons! Can’t wait to try them all.

Dole Pineapple – 4 cans $.25 each from Kroger Mega Sale

Grapes – $3

Kiwi – 1pkof 6 $1.19

Carrots and Celery – FREE from Kroger thanks to the coupons they sent me!

Kraft Ranch Dressing – $.50 from Dollar Tree

Total – $32.78

Gifts from us – Barbie $3 reg. $10.48 from Walmart, Mickey Dress reg. $19.99 paid $3

Total – $6

Grand Total – $50.78

So How did I do! Yes I went over but atleast it was less than a Dollar!

* I normally don’t buy the theme party items but I could not resist the Dollar General 50% off Clearance price items.

Need some coupons to help you on your next party checkout couponaudit.com. You can save money with coupon to many different stores.

About Moms Saving Money (Rebecca Autry Creations)

So with recent info about me and what I posted and getting tons of hits on this page I thought I should update. I started Moms Saving Money – momssavingmoney.com (now Rebecca Autry Creations – www.momssavingmoney.com) as a way to keep myself accountable to save money and pay off debt. I thought I could help others and I obviously have helped tons.

Last November (2015) I made a huge jump from being a Coupon site to posting my Party Decoration Ideas and Vacation Bible School Decoration Ideas, because its what I love to do and fairly great at it. I started with my blog in June of 2010 for less than $4. Today it brings in income and through out the years we have had to heavily rely on it.

If you are a company I reserve the right to NOT work for FREE and I got to were I am today by following the rules. Do not ask me to post a Do Follow link for payment, your email will go straight to file 13.

I host my own Rebecca Autry Creation Store where you can purchase handmade products or even the SVG, PDF and PNG files for items I have made.

I am all for working smarter and not harder so therefore I post only a couple of days each week. I have three children and happily married.

I profess Jesus Christ as the Son of God born of a virgin.

If you feel at any time I am not acting Christian, I’m sorry, I am a work in progress. God loves me for who I am and all my faults.

Jerry Falwell ingrained in our heads, “If it’s Christian, It ought to be better.” I sincerely try but we all fail. I have gone through tough times of my own and I have not arrived. I have and will publicly if need be to apologize for mistakes I have made.

So I hope you stop by more often and see my pretty neat creations I make with Cardboard Boxes, tape and tissue paper.