Cheap ol' tricks to keep the house clean!

Like many people about a year and a half ago my old washer and dryer went out so the hubby and I decided to purchase a new HE set. Well after about 6 mos I noticed a funky smell! Come to find out you have to wash your washer! I tried the tide product a few times it worked but sure enough 2 mos later there it was again. I kept at it for about a year then finally trying to reduce costs I switched from liquid to the powder Tide, and I also bought a box of the Arm & Hammer detergent it's been about 6 months and wow! My washer smells fresh at all times! I only use the Arm & Hammer detergent for my linens since it is not for HE and Tide for all of my laundry. In all this time I barely used about 50% of the tide and just bought a new box of the Arm & Hammer. I want to blame the baking soda in the detergent for making this happen. 

Good style comes in all prices

Ok so like many women out there I am a sucker for shoes, and purses, and clothes, and jewelry, and anything pretty and sparkly and CHEAP! Recently I made a quick trip to my local DD's Discounts here in Victorville and I honestly do not understand why people hate discount stores I scored on some cute shoes for only $16.99! I found those same shoes on Amazon for $49.99! Did I do good or what!

Always check your local discount stores for that dress, those shoes or that purse you want before you make that expensive purchase. Your husband(or boyfriend) and your bank account will appreciate it!

      With summer season around the corner (at least here in sunny California) I am on it when it comes to finding a nice bathing suit. Well last week while "browsing" at my local Ross I came across a great find! For only $24 dollars I found a very nice red one piece Jantzen bathing suit (which full retail is over $50) for this upcoming summer.  What I love about retro inspired suits is the fact that they are made to flatter ones figure. Love the tummy control and of course the halter!

Pinterest projects

I came across this way of organizing through Pinterest and after seeing this gorgeous chest at Burlington I knew it would be perfect for my office not only does it look nice but it also hides all the pens, markers and pencils! The chest only cost me $9.99 I already had all the rolls from Christmas so there you go!

Home Decor Cheap Deals

I was constantly searching for a nice clock for my home but because I do own a house with an open concept I don't have many walls! To my luck while visiting my local Hobby Lobby I came across this double sided clock at 50% off only paying 15 dollars plus tax!!! So far everyone who has seen it absolutely love it! I am so happy with this find.

I absolutely LOVEEE! Candelabras and I was often searching for a nice one to place in this half wall I have dividing my two living rooms.  Well there is a discount store which I absolutely love called Fallas Paredes. Sure enough one day while browsing the store I found this gorgeous one below for only $5.99! This was such a bargain that I ended purchasing two different designs.

This one▲

&

This one▼

Why pay so much when you can do it for cheap

I was dying to get a really nice blingedout case for my RAZR M it turns out that most fancy cases are only for the IPhone boooooo. So I decided I would make my own. At first I looked at many craft stores not really finding anything I truly liked so I resorted to eBay! I found a diy kit for $6.99 that I truly loved and ordered it. It took about 2 weeks to get here from Hong Kong but it certainly was worth the wait! I already had the e-6000 glue on hand and about 2 hrs of free time.  I hope you like the end result. 

Quinceañera diy to save money

OK so my little sister was turning 15! Of course we had to have a Quince for her since it is a beautiful tradition in the Mexican culture.  Unfortunately money wasn't or isn't flowing like it used to :( Well thankfully my mom and I were able to come up with great alternatives to save money and still end up with a beautiful party!  First it was the theme, she loves skittles so we went with a candy/rainbow/colorful theme using 7 bright colors to make it stand out.

First it was send the SAVE THE DATE!  I looked and looked for good deals not finding anything under 100 for about 100 of these(keep in mind we had to send some in Spanish too) Thankfully Michael's Arts and Crafts carries their own blank magnets with 30 on each package for about $9.99 if you're clever enough purchase them with their coupon of 40% off.  Well I had 90 of these for less than $30.00 plus the cost of ink.  The beautiful pictures were taken by yours truly. We went to a little lake nearby used my friends Jessica beautiful custom tutu made specifically for the occasion and my husband's cool beach cruiser we also bought some balloons at the Dollar Tree and ta da!

After the save the dates came the centerpiece inspiration since we were doing this ourselves as well to save money.  Everyone is crazy about bling and chandeliers and candles but we went with this cool Dum Dum Pops idea I had seen on Pinterest.  

     This Was The Inspiration & This Was The Finished Product

Living in Southern California we have the advantage of being able to go to to the Los Angeles Districts which have everything at really good prices. It took one trip there to purchase everything for the centerpieces, cake cutting set, and my sisters quinceañera dress. We went to this place called California Silk, Inc. We bought the bases and the polyurethane foam balls and most of the ribbon as well plus the cake cutter kit. The rest I ended up purchasing at Hobby Lobby and Dum Dum Pops I bought at Smart and Final. We ended with 24 centerpieces for less than 300 dollars and the ribbon and tulle we were able to use for other things as well.

This is the hall all decorated  with the centerpieces for the party. Don't you just love the beautiful Chandeliers! This is The Green Tree Inn a local hotel in Victorville, CA The place was just recently remodeled and it is simply stunning! All their staff is just simply amazing and the food was soooo good! We went with a package for 150 people. 

For her dress she wanted to keep it classy and traditional, she choose a beautiful white gown which we purchased also in LA at Trendy Too we walked a few miles saw many dresses but nobody had anything white mostly in colors and some of the dresses were truly outrageous! My little sister is a simple kind of girl who wanted a pretty white dress and this store had it for only 250! That is certainly a bargain! A word of advise though do get to LA early! Also take some cash with you since you will probably want to stop at every single store and buy things non related to your even a good example is shoes! There are shoe stores everywhere!

                                                                            

                                      

I did her hair and make up myself we did a few trials and the day of the party it all came out flawlessly! I found a really cute hair style on Pinterest and we kept her make up to a minimal Her crown I purchased at the Icing store for 14.99

  

For her bouquet she actually was able to use the same one I had used 10 years ago! I added some color accents some pretty stones and some cute acrylic flowers that I found at hobby lobby.

        Since it was a cold night!

we decided that for a modern edgy look 

she could wear this little black jacket.

I think it definitely worked and added some style. 

I was lucky to have  found the guest book at 

Hobby Lobby at the same time they had their 

50% off sale on all their wedding items.

I scored on all the little extras I needed for the

centerpieces as well as her bouquet. 

Saved me many trips and money!

To give it a custom look I added this ribbon I had purchased at The Dollar Tree which I also used on her invitations.

You gotta love the dollar store!

Her invitations I thankfully did not have to worry about.

 My good friend actually gifted her those!

 I know she also purchased them at Michael's 

my sisters picked them out. 

She made about 100 of them 

some in Spanish some in English

once again saving money by doing them herself.   

I just added the colorful bow for a pop of color.

I also found this so cute and as a nice clever way to keep those who were far away and could not make it to the party to keep up with us through INSTAGRAM! I didn't make a page to follow but did make a hashtag for the party.  It puts a whole new twist to the party. You get to see pictures that guest posted throughout the party, the photographer can't be everywhere at once! 

What I did was I found a cute Instagram logo and using the paint program in my computer I added the black with the colors for the party and did the hashtag in white to make it pop. I then printed about 100 of these I believe I did 20 per sheet of paper and I placed this all around the hall even posted it on Instagram and Facebook for our family and friends.

           

One of my hobbies
is to bake beautiful cakes.So it was a no brainer that I would be
doing my sisters cake .
I'd like to think I did a pretty good job.
It certainly saved us so much money.
I did a three tiered cake.
Mixed flavors and as a topper
I used a barbie cake which
I decorated to look like my sister.
I also added 7 mini cakes to match
all the colors we used.

All together I spent only about 100 dollars for this cake.

                   My sister loves Spider-Man

              So I hid this little figurine behind                        her cake as a surprise!

What girl doesn't love a hero 

in tights  

Another thing I saved money on was also using the same doll I used at my quinceañera I gave her a new dress and added a gorgeous tiara.

                                        

I also surprised my sister a Spider Man Piñata did I mention she loves Spider Man? Well she won't let us break the thing.