Halloween Decorating Tricks For Less

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Halloween is right around the corner, and it’s time to decorate!

Without ado, here are my top four Halloween decorating tips.

1. Color

The orange and black of the season makes me so happy; ya’ll know I bleed orange, right?  Go Pokes!

Halloween can be so black and white, but I love the pops of purple and orange, especially orange, to take things to another level. 

Get your adorable glittery pumpkin here!

2. Consistency

Bats, vampires, ghosts, witches, crows, skeletons, skulls, spiders, jack-lanterns, oh my!  I tend to stick with a limited number of themes around my house.  Personally, I’m not a vampire or ghost fan, but pumpkins are definitely my jam. 

I suggest that you stick with a theme or style around your home for Halloween decorating!

More glittery pumpkins!

3. Not too spooky

Many people love the guts and gore of Halloween, but please leave it at the store for decorating your home.  Halloween décor can classy and fun without grossing everyone out or scaring the children.  I love the cutesy décor that store like Hobby Lobby and Dollar Tree stock in droves. 

Stay classy with your Halloween decorating.  No need for blood and guts, friends.

This guy is the closest I've ever come to guts and gore, and honestly, I'm still on the fence about how much I like it.  

4. Height

And finally, my favorite and most importantly, height.  Huh, height?  The biggest challenge I’ve found is that all of my Halloween decorations are fairly close to the same height.  Honestly, it just makes any display look dull and boring. 

Check it out.

And here’s the final dining room display for Halloween!  You can see that varying the height of the pieces makes a huge difference in how attractive the display is.

And a bonus! 

Halloween decorating can get expensive quick (almost as fast as Christmas decorating), but…just say no!  I made this entire display for under $20. 

How?

I started with my own Halloween décor.  The lone witch’s shoe.  Add a trip to Dollar Tree and Goodwill, and we’re done. 

3 wall hangings @ $1/each from Dollar Tree (get your artsy skeleton here)

3 glittery LED-lit pumpkins @ $1/each from Dollar Tree (found here)

2 small lanterns @ $1/each from Dollar Tree 

2 pillar candles @ $1/each from Dollar Tree (found here)

1 witch’s hat @ $1/each from Dollar Tree

1 skull @ $1/each from Dollar Tree (found here)

1 BEWARE yard sign @ $1/each from Dollar Tree (found here)

1 shiney pumpkin @ $1/each from Dollar Tree (found here)

1 creepy cloth @ $1/each from Dollar Tree (found here)

1 candle holder @ $.50/each from Goodwill

3 orange ornaments that look suspiciiouly like pumpkins @ free from my Christmas décor

1 large black lantern @ free from my donate pile

= $15.50! 

My frugal soul loves to see that total!

And my time in Nebraska taught me that I should always have a decoration on my front door, so here we go!  I think these from Dollar Tree are super cute!  

    

I’d love to hear about your decorating tips and “tricks” for Halloween!  Comment below.

April Showers Bring May Flowers {Five on Friday}

  

It's time again for Five on Friday.  Thanks to the ladies at The Good Life Blog, Hello! Happiness, Carolina Charm, and A. Liz Adventures for hosting this link party!

1. Easter Recap

Baby President's first Easter was officially a success.  He somehow intuitively understood that he was supposed to gather up the eggs we had "hidden" for him, and he loved the Cheerios and grapes that were inside the eggs.  "Finding" the eggs was even more fun than looking at his Easter basket, but now that we are home, his new Care Bear that plays music has become his second favorite nighttime/nap stuffed animal, right after Teddy.

2. Birthday Weekend

My birthday is on Sunday!  Usually, I really look forward to my birthday, but this year, I haven't really thought about it at all.  Hmmm.  

Last year at this time, I was super preggo and my family was in town to celebrate and my amazing hubby surprised us with mani/pedis for my mom, my sister, and me!  

3. Big Love

Have you heard of the HBO series, Big Love?  It revolves around the life of Bill Henderson's family, and what makes his family unique is that he has three wives.  That's some good not-so-old fashioned drama!  

When I first heard about the TV series, Big Love, I was intrigued, but I didn't subscribe to HBO so I was out of luck.  But recently, I discovered the show again.  And I love the show!  I'm almost finished with Season 1, and I can't wait to find out what happens!

4. My Library Expansion

Usually, I would rather have physical books.  But not when it comes to reference books, then I like to have them on my computer to refer back to anytime.  That's just one reason why I'm excited about the Ultimate Homemaking Bundle.  Less than $30 for $800 worth of books, printables, and bonuses!  That really sings to my frugal side.  Yesterday, I reviewed one of the books in the bundle, The Homemaker's Guide to Creating the Perfect Schedule, and I will be review a few of the other books from the bundle in the next couple of days.  You should check it out!

The bundle includes 87 eBooks on Homemaking, Motherhood, Marriage, Food (recipes!), Self-Care, Faith (for you and for your kids), Work-from-home and Blogging, Pregnancy and babies, Health and Wellness, Homeschooling, Holidays, and Financial Stewardship.  Here are a few of the "shelves" you can fill in your e-library.

5.  Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover

I'm excited and a little terrified to report that the hubs and I are going to start the Dave Ramsey plan to get ready for getting new jobs and moving (and hopefully buying a house) in then next couple of years.  

Have any of you tried it?  Good experiences?  Bad experiences?  Please comment and tell me!

Photo Sources 1, 2
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21 Days to a Simple Christmas: Day 3

Today is Day 3 of Money Saving Mom's 21 Days to a Simple Christmas Challenge.  On Day 1, I created a mission statement for the season.  (Mission statements remind me of college projects, not Christmas!)  You can read about it here.  On Day 2, I worked on a budget for Christmas gifts this year.  It's going to be a huge challenge to stick to a budget.  I may end up just budgeting per person; we'll see.  You can read about it here.

For Day 3, I created a list of gifts to give this year.  Nearly all are for family, and for the rest, I'm excited about making some homemade goodies!  I'm so tempted to spoil my little Baby President, but I have to keep reminding myself that he won't remember this Christmas and that he doesn't need anything.  I have a little more than half of my shopping left to do, and I will admit that I'm having trouble this year deciding what to give a few people.  And I'm not sure when I'll be able to get my shopping done.  There may be a lot of boxes arriving on my front porch in the next few weeks, I suppose.

How is your Christmas shopping going?  Just 20 days left to finish!

21 Days to a Simple Christmas: Day 2

Today is Day 2 of Money Saving Mom's Simple Christmas Challenge.  As I mentioned in Day 1, I'm seeking balance between simplicity and making the holidays extra special for Baby President's 1st Christmas.

The task for today is to create a budget for Christmas gifts.  I've been working on a feasible budget for my family in the last few months, but budgeting for Christmas is a whole different animal.  Money Saving Mom's suggestion is to start allocating gift money from the budget about 6 months before Christmas.  Too late for that, now!  But, instead of allocating funds from the budget ahead of time, I often purchase Christmas gifts throughout the year when I find fabulous deals.  Another suggestion from the e-book, Celebrating and Savoring a Simple Christmas is to use gift cards earned from places like Swagbucks.  I joined Swagbucks a few months ago and have earned enough for a single $5 giftcard from Amazon.  Not much, but everything adds up, right?  In addition, sometimes I take surveys through I-Say, and I'm planning to redeem some points from there for gift cards to add to the Christmas budget.

So, my Christmas budget is in the works, but I already have several gifts taken care of for this year!  And I'm on my way to a fantastic, yet simple Christmas.

Baby Prez: 26 Weeks {1st Thanksgiving}

Dear Baby Prez,

All bundled up & ready to travel!

Weight:    According to a different bathroom scale this week, you still seem to be about 18 pounds.  

Health:   You are a healthy boy.  Now it is Mommy's turn to get a cold, but hopefully you won't catch it! 

As of Sunday, you are officially teething.  Drool is your middle name, and you chew on anything and everything you can get your hands on.  Unfortunately, you have started getting fussy.  You haven't been fussy very much til now, so I guess Mommy and Daddy just had it coming.

Sleep:  The story here is still the same.  You wake up about once a night if you don't have a dream feed.  Your schedule was all mixed up this week because we were traveling for Thanksgiving, but now that we are back home, we are trying to get to back into your routine.  

Social:  You were pretty much the star of the show at both of our Thanksgiving celebrations . . . as usual.  More on that later.

Diet:  This week, you tried mashed potatoes for the first time since it is such a quintessential Thanksgiving food.  It is pretty much the only food that you didn't like very much.  You didn't hate it, but you certainly did not love it much.  Otherwise, you are eating three meals a day, plus breastmilk bottles in between meals.  

Likes:   Toes, people, your walker, jumping, walks around the neighborhood

Mommy's cousin, Jacey, brought a Johnny Jumper to Grandma's house for you.  We set you up in the kitchen doorway, and you jumped and jumped and jumped.  You probably spent a whole hour jumping!

This week you learned . . .

To help Mommy put your clothes on.  You will push your arms and legs through their respective holes; Mommy just makes sure that you are all lined up.  

Milestones:  

First Thanksgiving

This week we traveled far and wide to see family for Thanksgiving.  First, we headed over the river and through the prairie to Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Tom's house.  We let you sleep until the last minute, and at about 6am, we transferred a sleeping Baby President to the car, and we left for Oklahoma - Mommy, Daddy, Baby President, and all three puppies (in Mommy's Honda Civic.  Yes, we looked like a clown car.) You visited Eskimo Joe's for the first time when we arrived and Daddy tried their famous cheese fries that have been endorsed by both President Bush #1 and President Bush #2.  Then, Grandma got to show you off to her office friends!  You smiled at everyone and told some very interesting stories!  The rest of the day we hung out with Aunt Kiley, Grandpa, and Grandma (once she got home from work).  They all love you so much and miss you so much!  Aunt Kiley especially enjoyed cuddling with you while you slept.  And Grandpa Tom and you took some naps together in the recliner...classic sleep photo.  (Doesn't everyone have these?)  I'm pretty sure we have this exact same photo with me and my sister when we were babies.  Unfortunately, Mommy can't find the picture she took of this.  But, it happened.  Twice.

On Thursday, Grandma's house was full of family for Thanksgiving.  You got to see everyone!  Your little cousins were enamored by you.  They wanted to see you and play with you and bring you toys.  It was just adorable.  Next year, there definitely be chaos when you are walking and can play with them more.  We will have three little boys under the age of 5 running around!  You enjoyed the day and were happy to hang out with everyone!  Later Mommy and Daddy ventured out to do some Black "Friday" shopping (even though it wasn't Friday yet) with Grandma and Aunt Kiley.  

The "young adult" table: Jagger, Jacey, Josh, Elise, Kiley, Alex, Jared, & Jay

Birthday Celebration for Jay & Jagger

Jay & Jagger loved you!

"Secrets"

 After breakfast at IHOP, it was on the road again back to Nebraska to have Thanksgiving with Mimi, Grandad, and Chanel.  We also took you on a walk to the park, and you got to play on the swings for the first time.  You thought it was so much fun...until you didn't.  You got to sit up at the table like a big boy and you liked being a part of everything, but you weren't a fan of the potatoes we made you.  You got to hang out with Chanel and Mimi while Mommy and Daddy went to a birthday party for one of Daddy's high school friends.  Mimi reported that you were a very good boy while we were gone.

Current Nicknames: Lincoln Log, Linky Blinky, Monster Man
Love,

Mommy

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Missed a week?  Watch my Little Prez grow!

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7 

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13
Week 14
Week 15
Week 16
Week 17
Week 18
Week 19
Week 20
Week 21
Week 22
Week 23
Week 24
Week 25

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