Oh boy!

We're in trouble!! This $100 budget thing for ANYTHING extra this month is turning out to be MUCH harder then we thought. Looks like we are going to need to just stay home the rest of the month so that we aren't so tempted to spend!

So here is how we have spent our budget so far...

Wednesday night Courts boss invited us to the Jazz game at the last minute. Courts mom was awesome and came to watch the kids (and did all of our laundry why we were gone, I am so lucky to have a TERRIFIC mother-in-law).Royce (Courts boss) bought us dinner, he is so great to us, he is always taking us to games, out to dinner, etc...
We couldn't resist and did buy a big old ice cream cone at the game, it was YUMMY and worth every penny. We figured going to the Jazz game was our date night for the week, so $6 on ice cream wasn't so bad!

Thursday was a rough day, kids were crazy, baby didn't sleep, I thought I wasn't going to survive. Normally on a day like this Court would come home with a diet coke for me, but since we aren't drinking soda he brought home candy instead. AHHH, bad, bad, bad. I am trying to LOOSE my baby weight, but I CAN NOT RESIST candy when it is starring me down in the face! So I ate the candy (all of it) and there went $3 more of our $100 budget.

THEN last night, Friday, I worked until 5:30pm, then drove home in some crazy rush hour traffic. By the time I got home it was already 6:30pm, baby was starving, kids were starving, I was starving, and we had NO FOOD in the house. SO we ended up going out. BAD, I know, it was only day 3 of our $100 budget month! We went to a yummy Mexican restaurant, it was soooo good. We had a coupon for buy one get one free adult meal, so that helped keep our cost down. Plus now that Mac is older she doesn't love to eat off the kids menu, so her and I usually share. All together with tax and tip our meal came to $29. Too bad at all for dinner for our whole family, but still a BIG chunk of our budget.

SOOOOO out of our $100 we have spent $38, leaving us with just $62 for the REST OF THE MONTH! I still need to buy the kids valentine cards and treats for school and a little Valentine gift for each of them. LOOKS like we are going to need to be extra careful!!!

Halloween Costumes (On a budget!)

Last year around this time money was much tighter then normal for our family! When it came time for the kiddos to decide what they wanted to be for Halloween I knew I was going to need to be very creative. Between all 3 kids I think I spent less than $35.

My oldest daughter was Rapunzel. She wore a princess dress up that she already had, and then we made her princess hat/crown and the 'Rapunzel' braid together. We made the braid out of brown yarn. It was a little time consuming and took about 150 peices to get the thickness we wanted, but in the end it turned out great AND only cost a few dollars! The hat/crown is just a big birthday hat from the dollar store. I painted it pink with paint from the craft store, hot glued on some flowers, jewels, and ribbon AND VOLA a very cute costume if you ask me!!!
(we attached the braid to her real hair by putting her hair in a big messy bun and then putting the braid underneath the bun and wrapping 2 big rubber bands around it)

My younger daughter was a witch. She wore a Halloween shirt that was passed down to her from her big sis, a witch hat, black and orange tights, and a tutu. I bought her hat and tights at walmart for a few dollars each. I added a flower and a feather to the hat with hot glue to give it a little pizazz! Then I made her a tutu out of ribbon and toole, it was a no-sew tutu and maybe took me 30 minutes to make, SUPER EASY, learn how to make one here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTXo6uv9HxA

Then last but not least my little man was buzz lightyear! I found his costume on ebay for $15 used. It was an actual disney store costume, so it is great quality, looked brand new, and he still dresses up in it at least once a week!
Any guesses on what my husbands costume was??? It was silly and a little cheesy, but I sure love it that he knows how to have FuN!

Our family is getting super excited for Halloween in a few weeks! Check back to see what we are being... the whole family is dressing up :)

Money Saving Tips?

Does anyone have any great money saving tips? With all that is going on in the economy right now I know that many of us have 'money' on our minds. Court and I are trying our best to live more frugally, but even just the basics for a family of five can get pretty costly. I have always been a bargain shopper, I love to get something for a great price, but usually that means I end up buying more than I should because it was on sale. Are any of you coupon grocery shoppers? This is not something I am good at, but I am willing to try it out if someone could give me some tips:).

*MONEY SAVING TIP*
T-mobile now offers a home phone line, Court and I are going to switch our home phone to them, it has unlimited nation wide long distance, voice mail, caller id, etc... and only costs $10 per month. We are paying $30 for the exact same thing through Time Warner. I don't know if other cell phone companies are offering this too but it doesn't hurt to find out:)