A Confession...And Craft Supplies

Sigh.  I have already failed.  8 days into September, and I slipped.  Sigh, again.  I'm feeling horribly guilty.  8 days of doing great!!!  You may not know this, but I ADORE to read.  I could do it day in and day out if I have the right kind of book to snuggle in with and just read.  I love getting lost in a story while drinking a chai...who am I kidding, I just love chai.  Well, since it's NSS (No Spend September), I perused the free books on Amazon for my Kindle.  I snagged up a few good ones, but I came to find out that most of the one's I downloaded were the first book in a series.  Damn you Amazon!  Well played.  They get you hooked on a book with these characters you fall in love with and you just HAVE to find out what happens next.  Well...I caved.  Folks, I spent $2.99 on the second book (there's only two in this "series").  I IMMEDIATELY felt guilty and broke the news to my husband.  He 100% knew what I was going to tell him considering I had JUST told him that morning about how it was killing me not knowing what happened with Cole and Oakley.  The man knows me...too well.  He lectured me (in his "I'm going to rub this in her face because she already feels bad and in reality, I don't really mind that she bought the book" kind of way), and I promised to do better.  Which in reality, we've done great!  Now is when I slide in all the positive things we've done the past week, to cover up my slip:

• We ate out of the pantry for the most part.  I did go to the store today to pick up some items that should get us through for the next 1.5-2 weeks with the exception of purchasing milk.  All together I spent $50.  When Friday rolls around, we will be $50 UNDER budget for groceries.  That's $50 we can throw into savings, OR we can leave it in the grocery fund to bulk it up for when we purchase 1/2 cow later or to simply stock up on meat.
• We stuck close to home all weekend.  We did attend a wedding, but I had already purchased the gift a month ago.  It was actually a homemade gift that I'll be posting about later.  We also spent time with family and did a "bring whatcha got" potluck for lunch one day.  It was mah-velous!
• I've avoided Target...until today.  I wanted to see if their school supplies was on clearance yet, some of it was but it wasn't anything I thought we could use in the future, so I passed on ALL OF IT.  Believe it.  I actually walked away with nothing.  BOOYAH!  In your face Target!!!
• Peanutty was a little peeved about NSS.  He has saved up his money for a toy he thinks he wants, but I'm sticking to my guns about NSS (ALRIGHT!  ALRIGHT!!!  I feel guilty enough about the $2.99-get off my back) and told him to hold out until October.  Some days he's on board, some days not so much.  But, I have a feeling we'll have a very happy boy at the end of the month when he has saved MUCH more than he is thinking.

 This past summer, my kids and my nephew were playing with all our craft stuff.  It was a glorious mess...but it also made me realize that what I had going on needed to be revamped.  Again.  We acquire more and more stuff, but it's the kind of "stuff" I'm ok with being overwhelmed by. 

The Mess.

The caddy that used to be organized and is now a crazy graveyard for all things crafting.  It was time to re-vamp.

I originally had the cabinet full of containers with paper, stickers, tattoos, foam paper, craft caddy, coloring pads, coloring books and notebooks...you name it, it was in this cupboard.  Here's what I came up with:

Here's the supplies I worked with.  I found the white bins at Target for $1 each.  The dollar bins are the way to go when looking for something small to organize with.  For $4, I found what I needed and they're cute.  I also already had the hanging file folders and container.  I was using the container for holding my overstock of school supplies.  I since found a different container to use that I already had.  Just recycled a few of my container supply!!!

Here's the end product.  The hanging file folder is now used for all my paper items including: construction paper, drawing paper, notebook paper, tattoo's, foam sheets, coloring pages that have been printed off the computer, scrap paper (I keep the larger pieces, seems like we need just a little bit of this and that for certain school projects), and a miscellaneous folder for all the other "special" kinds of things that don't have a category and I have no idea what to do with it.  I used the white containers for:  crayons (we had boxes that were ripped, so I opened them and put them all in one container), stamps and colored pencils, markers and painting supplies.  Sweet Pickle has gotten into painting a LOT lately, so I thought it deserved a container.  

I will confess that the crayons do slip through the holes of these containers at times but it's a small price to pay for a $1 bin.  We color and create every day.  I'm not exaggerating.  Peanutty especially loves to make his own books.  Last fall I found that the dollar bins at Target had these gems:

These are 8x8 blank page books.  There were 8 in a pack for the small price of $3.  We had been just stapling paper together and that still works great, but these really inspired that little boys mind.  He blew through an 8 pack in a matter of days and had created a pretty rad series.  He LOVES theses.  So this year I was hoping Target would put these back in the dollar bins...YAY!  THEY DID!!!  I stocked up on them (I did this in August!!!  FYI) and have even spread the word to many others about these wonderful things.  I think they're the cats meow.  And finally here's the other find I found in the dollar bins:

I love these.  Not only are they cute, but they work so well for each kid to have their own few supplies if they're going to create other than the kitchen table.  We go downstairs so I can sew or do other fun work, so we pack these full of items they'll use and take it downstairs.  They love their own little caddy's that they can personalize with their own supplies.  Super cute!!!!



I feel much better having told you all of my spending slip, and I'm trying to think of ways to save that $2.99 that I had to spend (I would have spent it on October 1st).  Any suggestions on how to make up for the $2.99?  I still feel guilty...

Next week, I'm going to start a series labeled:  The Laundry Room Makeover.  Squeek!!!  I'm so excited to show you all!!!  I hope you all have a great week...until next Tuesday...

*Side Note:  I will not be proof reading this one.  I have to get a chicken in the oven for supper.*
**Side Note:  I will also be reading on how Cole and Oakley are doing in my $2.99 spending slip up.**
***Side Note:  I am awaiting the arrival of my 2015 planner...oh yes, I WILL be making Hubs take sequenced pix of me receiving the box, squealing over the box, opening the box, and then adoring what's IN the box.  Get ready.  I'm going to show you how excited YOU could be if YOU ordered one.  Worth it (she sang)!***