Catching up- Last weeks spending&saving

I have been such an awful blogger these past few days.
The truth is simple, I have been exhausted. Between work, and packing, and Austons brother being in town, and Auston's car breaking down.
Really, I'm still feeling less than enthusiastic, but I figured I'd get on here and show you how well my No-Spending went last week.
I am proud to say that I did even better than I had expected. I was aiming for 4 no-spend days and I wound up with 5! I can't remember the last time that happened.
I also added $220 towards my move in March!
I was stoked by how much I was able to put away this weekend.

On the downside...
Last night, on our way to family dinner we noticed Loveyys car was acting up, it wasn't shifting right. So we turned around. Today they took it up to AutoZone, and they told us it had to do with the internal censors.
NOW, all this car talk is greek to me, but it is going to cost around $200 to fix it. OhMyLord. Thankfully, Auston's mom said she would get it fixed for us. I don't know what I would do if we had to pay for that too. I might just break down and cry from all this stress and lack of sleep tonight.
That sound nice.


So here it is, last weeks spending:

BANK FEE
2012-01-10	Cashier's Check Fee	$2.00
TOTAL FOR BANK FEE		$2.00
CAR SAVINGS
2012-01-12	Car Savings	$5.00
TOTAL FOR CAR SAVINGS		$5.00
EATING OUT
2012-01-10	Steak N Shake	$15.28
TOTAL FOR EATING OUT		$15.28
FIXED BILL
2012-01-10	Car insurance renewal	$110.00
2012-01-10	Partial Rent Payment	$300.00
2012-01-12	Electric Bill	$70.00
TOTAL FOR FIXED BILL		$480.00
GROCERIES
2012-01-12	Small Grocery Trip	$8.77
TOTAL FOR GROCERIES		$8.77
TOTAL		$511.05

I hate bank fees! I was charged because my cashiers check was under $500.00 - crap on them! I haev never paid anything at my bank before, because all of my checks are ususally much higher than $500, this was an unpleasant suprise to say the least.

Eating out - I know I wasn't supposed to. Honestly though, I'm not upset. I still managed to put away a good chunk of money and Loveyy and I really had a nice time.

Fixed bills hit me hard this week, but they have to be paid. On the bright side, I have no more bills for the rest of the month! : )

I already explained my grocery trip here. It was just a couple of odds and ends, at a really great price!

All in all, I am really proud of our spending this week.

Also, I am trying to put together a craft swap. I think it would be so much fun!
Go here for details
As of now no one has responded. : [

______________________

And now I shall leave you with this -

 Ellie loves the box!
Annie- Not so much. : )

Paying it Forward - Craft Edition.

I saw something similar to this Idea on Facebook, and I thought it would be perfect for my bloggy community.

On facebook the status said the first five people to comment on the status would get a homeade gift by the end of 2012. Sounds simple enough, you would in theory have almost a whole year to put something together.

So here is how I'm doing it:

I propose we do a swap, that way everyone can participate, and it won't just be me (attempting) to make something awesome for everyone.

• Everyone who follows my blog, and then comments below that they are interested in participating will get two people who they are to craft something special for in 2012. Feel free to sneak around their blogs a bit to find more about them and things they may like.
• The deadline for entering will be January 31. I will be mailing you the person you are gifting for by the end of the 1st week in February.
• Gifts are to be shipped sometime during 2012, hopefully we dont wait ALL THE WAY till December, but hey, if you must you must. Crafting takes time.

I know that not everyone lives in the USA, like I do, and I understand that not everyone wants to pay to ship overseas so Either below, or in a private e-mail, let me know where you are from and where you are willing to ship too.

Once you have decided to join, email me at Ar.Antonis@yahoo.com with your mailing address. (only the person who is crafting for you will know this.)

Feel free to share this on your page, just link back to me, so we can have as much paritcipation as possible.

The more The Merrier :]

Christmas Treat Containers.

Aren't these Amazing!?
I am so proud of myself. Now obviously, the rudolf one is not finished, unfourtunately I forgot to grab the pipecleaners at the store, I am going to use those for the antlers. None the less I decided to post them. I spent forever looking up ideas on crafty ways to create christmas treat containers, and FINALLY found this idea here. I used some of her ideas, but most of it was my own. I used fabric instead of paper, and Auston came up with the idea of making a snowman also. ( I am so proud of my crafty man!)

For the snow man I used white felt, 6 black buttons, orange contruction paper, and black construction paper. I used my handy dandy needle and thread to sew the eyes and mouth on. Then I cut out the hat and nose and glued them on with superfast dry glue. I then glued the whole thing to the top of a round tuppaware container.

The raindeer was used with a red pom-pom, 2 white buttons, and 2 small black buttons.
Once again I used my handy dandy needle and thread to sew two white buttons where the eyes are, and to sew the nose on. I then glued the black buttons on top of the white ones. For the antlers (That aren't shown yet!) I am going to use brown pipecleaners. I will attatch them to the brownfelt and probably stick them off the edge of the tuppaware container. -again, I just glued the finished project to the lid.

Santa Clause was different. For him I used Red felt, cotton balls,2 white buttons, and 2 black buttons. I cut the felt in the shape of a triangle, Then I pulled out my handy dandy needle and thread and sewed a cotton ball to the end. I glued the hat to the lid of my tuppaware container. After that I glued two white buttons as eyes, and two black buttons on top of that. Last but not least, I took 3 cotton balls, and spread them out wide, glueing them directly onto the lid.


You cant see it here, but I also lined the inside of the containers with white tissue paper. You could use red or green also, I just feel it makes them a bit more festive.


There you have it 3 very cute, easy to make, budget friendly ways to decorate your Christmas treat containers!


Santa is my favorite! But Auston likes frosty.


Feel free to share this idea, please just link it back to me : )


What kind of crafty things have you made this holiday season?