Free Organization Tip

I drink a lot of coffee, plus 2 kids equals a lot of milk jugs at our house.  I am not sure where my husband got this idea from but I feel so proud! I went into the basement and saw on his work bench he has cut down milk jugs and uses them to hold screws, nails, bolts etc.  Then recycle the top part. I am impressed, I have to share!!!
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Explore Your Community

Yesterday it was an overcast day. My husband took a day off work for a Fam Jam day and we wanted to have an experience of some sort.  I put a post on Facebook asking what people suggest for the day. I suggest doing this as I got  lot of ideas! A friend who has a child the same age as my oldest suggested the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic.  This seemed like the perfect mix of inside and outside and it triggered a deal. 
I have blogged before about the library, and here I go again. Each branch of our library has 2 family day passes to the Fisheries Museum.  Just show your library card and they give you a pass on a blue laynard that has to be returned same day, after hours in the drop off box is fine.  After I got it I sent our friend up and she was told that there are online ones and they were signed out.  I sent another friend up this morning and they told her the same thing. If you plan to go in, ask for the hard copy that you could wear around your neck.  My buddy texted me from the parking lot and I described it and she went back in and borrowed it.  This saved our family over $30 well worth it. 
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Is It Empty???

I have a secret...I love body lotion. I have it by my bed with a pump for my feet before I go to sleep at night. I also carry small ones in my purse for my hands when they get dry in the winter. I used to throw them away when the lotion stopped coming out the pump.  Then one day I was curious how much I was throwing away.   The answer was a surprise to this cheap girl... a whole bunch.
Here is what you need to do:
1) Get 1 plastic container to store the lotion
2) Scissors
3) Popsicle stick (I'm a teacher and have crafty kids I'm sure a butter knife would also work)
4)Lotion container
I first take the pump out and shake it into the container. Then I cut it near the top as lots of lotion gathers up here. Then I scrape it with the popsicle stick.  Pretty easy!  This one large Vaseline bottle and 2 small trail size (from previous hotel stays) equaled TWO of these containers from the Dollarama.  That was a lot of waste averted.  
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Yard Sale Part Two

As I posted in my last entry I love Yard Sales. I also love second hand shops such as Frenchies and Value Village. I buy most of the items for our girls and for us at these types of places. When we are done with items I try to resell them (see previous blog entries). I first try to sell on Facebook Groups, then Kijiji, then will try to sell in my own Yard Sale and then donate the items to Value Village.
When I see items cheap at these places that I think I can resell I often purchase them.  I only take the risk if it is an item that I feel I will use, or someone I know will use if it doesn't sell, or is cheap enough that I don't mind taking the hit if I end up donating it to Value Village. 
If an item is under a certain price point I leave it on my doorstep for people to pick up and put the money in the jar. My husband works from home, and often I am in the house.  When we come home or hear a car leave, we go to the doorstep and pick up the money.
To some, this may seem like a lot of work but to me and my family it has become second nature and helps generate extra cash flow to help pay of the house faster.
Does anyone try this? comment below how you create extra cash flow, I'd love to hear from you.
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Yard Sales

The yard sale season is starting to wind down already....big sigh.
I am a yard sale junkie.  I go every Saturday and furnish and decorate our home with yard sale finds. Many times I find things that are new in the package, and will slip it aside for Christmas gifts.
There are some key tricks to the Yard Sale Day.
Have some buddies.  I go faithfully with one of my girlfriends for the past two years and we have a blast. Also I have another friend that goes with his mom and we text each other where we find sales, it helps.
Here are my yard sale day tips
1) look in the local paper and Kijiji and Facebook groups for locations
2) Drive by key intersections and look for posters (this is when a buddy helps as they peer for signs as the other drives)
3) clear your car of all stuff before you go as some days it will be full.  It is amazing what we fit in our sedans!
4) Bring coffee and treats (it can be 2 hours of being out and it is early a person gets hungry!)
5) Leave early
6) Have small change and bills (I have a separate yard sale wallet always ready to go)
7) I don't ticker with people, well almost never. I am out early and I figure that if I want it someone else will later. I also know I have yard sales to save money for certain items and assume others are too, so most of the time I pay the price.
8) if you see something hold on to it, it will not be there if you think about it
9) ALWAYS PUT A QUARTER IN THE KID'S LEMONADE STAND I love seeing the kids saving up
10) if you are really looking for something special tell your yard sale buddies, and it doesn't hurt to ask. 2 years ago I was at a yard sale and they had a tonne of toys and a few Ninja Turtle items, my daughter was a huge fan at this stage. I asked if they happened to have any more Ninja Turtle toys, she said yes some big items that I have on kijiji right now they are in the house, and I said I"ll take them, you just never know
11)be open to any finds you never know what you will find
12)wash items when you get home, Resolve, Lysol spray and Green Works Wipes are my Saturday morning best friends
13) HAVE FUN!!!!!
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