Peppa Pig Party for Boys...on a Budget!

My son loves Peppa Pig, but unfortunately for those of us in the US, it can be challenging to find Peppa party supplies for girls, let alone for boys! Pinterest was scoured, my thinking cap put on, and a thorough search made for Peppa supplies around our town.  If you are like me, with a little boy who adores Peppa Pig, but limited on supplies and money, here is the post for you.

Party Supplies

If you've read my post on how to save money on birthday parties , then you'll know that one of the ways I save money, is by buying just a few things on theme, and for the rest, just buy things in the colors that go with it. This time, I decided to use yellow, blue, and red. These colors are very prevelant on Peppa, and great for a boy. None of our big stores carried Peppa party supplies, and I didn't want to buy the entire set (or pay shipping!). I found a few things at a local party store, and bought cups, plates, and a banner. I only bought cups and plates for the little ones, and bought the rest in solid colors.

Cake

I am normally a DIYer with the cake, but to say that the cake was a disaster would be an understatement. We wound up getting a plain cake with border from Albertsons, and I piped the decorations on top and added the Peppa figures. My son thought it was the most amazing cake ever, and it wound up being economical and simple. I also made some homemade cupcakes with themed colored icing.

Party Favors

I didn't get any pictures of this, but I found an 8 pack of bubbles on sale that had the colors I was going for. It only cost me $2 or $3 and then I printed out this printable I found online , cut around the pink border and glued it onto some card stock in the color scheme I was using. I wrote "thank you" on the back, punched a hole, and put it together with some curling ribbon. I had favors for just a few cents per kid!

Party Food

I only went on theme for a few things. The cake, cupcakes, and muddy puddle pudding! It made it look cute, but I didn't have to invest a lot of time or creativity.  We had the party in the afternoon, so I only did desserts. Pinterest does have some cute ideas (pigs in a blanket, anyone?) on savory food ideas.

Other

My son had a George shirt, as well as a George stuffed toy. We had some balloons, and some wooden letters that spelled TWO to complete the decorations. If you want big and extravagant, there are certainly some great ideas to achieve that. However, if you are going for cute, but on budget, I hope I have helped give you some ideas!

Saving When There is Nothing in the Budget to Save

My husband and I were newly married, living off of one income (teacher's aid and small youth pastor's salary combined to equal about $1200 a month), using one vehicle, and just trying to survive. We were both familiar with Dave Ramsey's approach to money, and although we had no debt, we also had no savings. Wanting to remedy that, we both started thinking of ways to build a savings, when we really didn't have means to do so. It was a blown tire that caused us to have to borrow money, that helped us really start putting money into savings. We wound up building a $1000 emergency savings before my husband ever moved to a more profitable job. Here is how we did it:

We Put Money in a Savings Account

'Duh!' you might say, but its funny how hard it is to put money back even when you've decided you are going to save. Be it $15 or $150, to start feels like an accomplishment in and of itself! Once you put that first amount in, determine how often you are going to add money into savings. It can be weekly or monthly, but it needs to be somewhat consistent. Build a habit while you build a savings! 

We Found Ways of Making Money on the Side

For us it was me teaching piano. I loved teaching, so turning my piano playing skills into something profitable was easy for me. I mention some ideas in my blog post 'How I Can Afford to be a Stay-at-Home Mom' that you can go check out. If you believe you have no talents, or no time for your talents, then perhaps it's time to declutter your home! Find things you don't need anymore, and turn it into profit. It might not make a whole lot, but it's money that you didn't have before that can help you build a savings. 

It's easy to want to put that side money into checking right away, or buy that pair of shoes that you've been eyeing. Remember your goals, and put the money into savings without a second thought! Ten dollars here and there does add up, and you'll feel better and more secure for having an emergency fund set aside. 

We Changed Parts of our Lifestyle 

Fewer movies, less expensive meals, thermostat set on a lower/higher temperature (according to the season), all to cut costs. When we noticed we had more money at the end of the month because of it, we put it into savings. Some things seemed easier to give up than others, but because we knew it was a short term deal to have a long(er) term savings, it felt doable. 

We Didn't Spend out of Savings Unless it was an Emergency

This is a very hard one, and sometimes there are circumstances that seem like emergencies at the time, but later you feel like you could have done without. Sudden vehicle trouble, health emergencies, etc, are why you have a savings. Don't second guess those circumstances, however, there are less important things that come up that may leave you wondering if you should dip into savings. Pray about it. See if you can move around your main budget to fit the 'emergency' (don't eat out that week, avoid the dollar bin at Target, etc.). If you feel like you need to use it, go ahead, but have a plan on how you will build your savings back to where it was before, and don't let getting money out of savings be an easy decision.

Hope this helps you build an emergency savings, and perhaps beyond! It's also nice to have put back enough to live on for a month, or so on, just in case you lose your job. However, an emergency savings is a good place to start, and will help you build habits to save for other things. What are some ways you build your savings?

Happy Saving!

How to Save Money on Birthday Parties

These days parents dish out hundreds of dollars to celebrate a birthday that their one-year-old will never remember. I get it though, it's a celebration for the parents as much as the child. With sites like Etsy, and inspiration from Pinterest, it's very easy for those cute decorations to get expensive. So how do you throw a super cute party without breaking the bank?

Pick a theme early:

I know that this is hard to do with a child any older than one, since they change their minds daily, however, if you can, pin down what you want to do so that you can start looking for cheap items to go with your theme. For Little Man, we had two or three themes we thought of, and made a final decision on dinosaurs when we saw that Target had napkins, banner, invitations, and table clothes 75% off. We got all four (and multiples of everything but the banner) for about $7! 

Don't buy everything on theme:

Once we had the napkins, table cloths, and banner on theme, we could just buy solid color plates and cups to go with the theme, without it actually having dinosaurs on it. This way I could buy large quantities for a fraction of the price it would have cost, had I bought 4 or 5 sets of 10 plates. 

Make Your Own Cake

I have a cousin who got her little girl's cake for $35. It was beautiful and professional. If you have a friend who will make a cake at cost or at a discount, then I say go for it! Even when using a box cake mix it can be difficult to assemble, and to make it look professional.  (I normally like to make things from scratch, but it was just too much on my plate to add making a cake from scratch to it). This is one of those things that although spending $10 to make a cake vs. sometimes buying it at $50-$100 is much cheaper, it can be one of those 'worth it' things for all the trouble it is to make. Thankfully, I took basic cake decorating classes as a teen, so I quite enjoy making my own.

Other Tips

Make your activity be your favor: Making sure you thank your guests for coming, has become something that can be expensive. What I decided to do for Little Man's party, was print out free coloring sheets and let the kids color and take it home. I also put dinosaur toys as cupcake toppers, and let the kids take theirs home with them. 

DIY:

Pinterest has a lot (and I mean A LOT) of diy inspiration for birthday parties. So much so, it can be a bit overwhelming at times. Since it can be so over whelming, I have one more tip:

Don't Do Everything

Breathe, it will be okay if you don't have the greatest, and most on trend birthday party. Although I did a pretty elaborate party this past year (for me at least), Little Man will have much smaller parties until his big birthdays (5, 10, 13, etc.). Even though I spent around $70 on his party, and feel great about it, it can be a lot to spend (especially if you have several kids!). Kids remember the experience and spending time with their friends more than if you had the trendiest party of the year. Do what your budget and family can do. Sometimes that means no party at all. In those cases, there are ways to make your kid's day special for free. 

How do you save money on your kid's parties?

How to save up to $230 a month!

I know I've written a couple of money posts in the past, and one here recently, but I feel compelled to write this one. It kept me awake, after my little man had already fallen back asleep, just thinking of ways to help a friend of mine out. After thinking of ways to help my friend, I thought the thought I normally think (sounds like a line out of Dr. Seuss or something) and said, 'Why don't I just make it a blog post!'

If you find yourself struggling to make ends meet at the end of the month, and never seem to be able to build very much of a savings, here are some questions you need to ask yourself:

1. Do I have Direct TV, Cable, Satellite (whatever the case may be)?

Get rid of it. Please. Call the number today and cancel, don't make a deal with them unless they're willing to give it to you for free. Get an antenna and a streaming service. Just pick one streaming service though, because you'll find yourself spending just as much for it as you were spending on Cable. I recommend Netflix, but some other options are: Amazon Prime(and you get other  perks for having an Amazon membership), and Hulu. Look at each option and figure out what is best for you and your family. If you are really trying to save money, use the antenna, look for Redbox codes, and ask for certain TV series and DVDs for Christmas. 

Bam! You've saved about $60/month! (according to Cable One's Standard package. If you substitute their package for Netflix, you save $62)

2. Do you go to the store with a meal plan?

Yes, it saves a lot of money! I personally have failed this area many times, but when I get a meal plan, I save money on things like rice, pasta, certain meats, that I don't need for certain dishes if I've planned it all out. If I'm not making Thai, or Chinese that week, I know to skip the soy sauce. Once I switched to writing out a meal plan, and estimating how much each grocery item would cost, I saved about $20/week. That's $80 a month!

3. Does your day include a lot of microwave dinners, processed snacks, and canned drinks?

These pre-packaged goodies are not only unhealthy for you, but more expensive. Yes, it's more convenient for you, but you also paying for the marketing, the processing, as well as all the extra ingredients to keep its freshness. 

Instead of canned drinks for your caffeine kick, get a coffee maker. Instead of $5 a week on cans, I pay about $5 every 3 weeks on ground coffee (I do add creamer, but this is very much a preference thing)

Not a coffee person? How about sweet tea? It's even cheaper! If you'll switch to mostly water, you will save even more (and be even healthier). 

Buy snacks that you make yourself. I buy popping corn, instead of microwave bags. It's $1.18 for the Walmart brand, and I've made popcorn for my husband and me at least 10 times, and the bag is still half full. You can also buy fruit instead of boxed crackers and chips. Yes, it's again less convenient, but if you have to work to snack on something, the urge to snack may go away. I was raised on 3 meals a day...Your kids will not starve, if you don't let them snack all day. Who knows, they may not care so much what you're cooking for dinner!

If you buy coffee instead of coke, and popcorn instead of chips, you are saving at least $10-15 a week. 

If you make your own food (you can look at Pinterest for cheap and fast meals) instead of microwave dinners and frozen pizza, you can save several dollars a week. Let's keep it low, and say you save $5 doing that. You're at $20/week, $80/month.

4. Do you think more is cheaper?

Sams/Costco is an awesome place, where they sale baked beans to feed your entire family at Thanksgiving. It's sold in large quantity, so that makes it cheaper, right? Not always. Bring your calculator, and remember to calculate price per unit (lb., oz. etc.). Most of the time it's cheaper, but not always. 

5. Do you make spur of the moment purchases?

Back away from the magazine! The products at the cashier counters are there for a reason. There have been many studies to find out what people are most likely to buy on impulse. Try to have a game plan if you are someone who gets tempted by these things (my weakness is snicker bars!). Bring a bottle water with you, and sip while you wait. Or just think of how many times you go to the store, and how much you save by not buying it each week!
Not only does this apply to small purchases, but big ones. I think asking questions like 'Is this a need or a want?' 'How will I use this?' Are there cheaper alternatives?'  This can apply to your kids as well. Your kids don't need the latest new toy or a new wardrobe every time they want one (need vs. want applied here. If they had a growth spurt and suddenly can't fit into any of their clothes, it's a different story. However, if you're short on cash, garage sales and second hand stores may have to be where they find some of their 'new' wardrobe) . If they are very keen on something, tell them they have to earn it themselves.

Spur of the moment purchases are normally only a couple of dollars savings. However, $2/week ends up being $8 a month, and about $100 a year!

So if you answered yes to all of these questions, and you follow what I've suggested, you'll average about $230/month savings! Wow! Instead of thinking of ways you can spend the money you've saved, first make sure all of your important bills are paid (and look for ways to save there! Look at your thermostat, and see if you could be saving money by making your air/heat higher/lower), and you've made it through the month. See how much money you have left. Next month, put that into savings until you have your normal month's paycheck in savings. Never let your savings (unless it's an emergency: tires blow, car breaks down, ER trip, etc.) dip below that number. Next, start saving up for something you love! Perhaps a family vacation, or a what would normally be a frivolous shopping spree!

Remember, none of these suggestions will work by itself. Get your family involved and make sure it's a lifestyle change, instead of a passing fad. Don't make your finances a secret to your husband/wife, or even your kids. If your kids know how to be good stewards of money now, they are more likely to be good stewards when they have families of their own! And as always, put God first in your finances.

What are ways that you save money each month? Are you saving for something special?