Loving Life

DIY Valentine’s Door Hanger

I can’t lie to you, Lovely Saver. I love me a good craft project. And I love to get inspiration from Pinterest, of course. But when I saw this door hanger on an HGTV Facebook video, I took a screen shot right away!

I said to myself (as I always do) “I could make that, and I could probably make it cheaper” (which I sometimes do). This time, I definitely did! I don’t know about you, but I hate those videos that have “Dollar Store” whatever craft, but then the materials they use for the project have literally never been at a “Dollar Store”. Like, where are these fancy “Dollar Stores” and how do I find them?

I knew I couldn’t replicate the video exactly, and because I wanted to make something you could ACTUALLY find items for at a “Dollar Store”, mine is slightly different than the original. I also knew I wanted to use some materials I had on hand, and some higher-end materials from Michael’s but I will also provide substitutions that you could definitely use.

First things first, this bad boy is what we are trying to make:

I told ya, it was a quick screenshot. But you get the idea.

Here is what you will need:

  • Hot Glue Gun (can also use craft glue but it’ll take a heck of a lot longer to set/dry)
  • Something to use the hot glue on, I used a paper bag to make sure my table was protected.
  • Wide Ribbon (Dollar Store $1.00)
  • Wooden Letters (I got mine from Michael’s the x’s for $2.99/each and o’s for $1.99/each but you could easily use cardboard or poster board which is $0.50 at the Dollar Store)
  • Fake Flowers (Dollar Store $1.00/bundle, I bought 4 for 4 different colors)
  • Fake Moss (I already had this on hand from our wedding, but I did look up the price and it would be around $8.99 for WAY more than you actually need. If I didn’t already have it, I might have also used dark green felt, which is $0.50 at any craft store.)
  • A vacuum. Trust me.

Altogether I spent around $15.00, but you could do it for anywhere between $6-$30 depending on how fancy you are looking to get.

First step is to make a loop with your ribbon. I did not cut the ribbon yet, I will do that at a later step when I lay everything out the way I want it.

Secure the loop with hot glue but make sure you don’t touch the area you added glue to, it’ll go right through those threads and burn you.

Then I started on my O’s. I pulled off all the flower heads and cut the extra stem part so that they would sit flat on the O’s.

Then I hot glued them one by one! Some of them I needed to hold in place for a second before moving on, but this is the best part of using hot glue, for the most part it sets quickly and you can keep going.

For the record, I do not recommend this project, or any project using hot glue, when you have two naughty cats and new puppy.

No animals were harmed in the making of this door hanger.

The X’s I was most worried about. They were definitely going to be the messiest part of this project, and I had bought the moss for our wedding but didn’t actually use it, so I wasn’t sure how well it would go. I traced the X’s out on the back of the peel and stick moss (I didn’t want to use loose moss and hot glue like the video because that sounded like WAY more of a hassle and WAY more of a mess and I don’t want Handsome Man to divorce me).

I then used regular scissors to cut them out, which worked just fine but you could use a craft knife too if you wanted. You don’t have to worry about them being too precise because the moss is meant to look a little messy anyway, it’s natural.

The peel and stick worked great, the adhesive was stronger than I would have thought and I ended up being really happy with them!

Then I laid out the ribbon, placed the X’s and O’s where I wanted them, and cut the end of the ribbon. I hot glued them into place and let them set up for a bit before hanging up the final project!

I call that a win!

It ended up so cute! And looks great with our door, which we painted a few summers ago- you can read more about that here. Valentine’s is really one of the only Holidays I don’t have decor for, so adding a new pop of festivity to the door gives the space a fresh feeling without pink and red hearts everywhere.

Don’t forget to read all about other ways you can save money while still celebrating Valentine’s Day, I have a whole list here.

As always, thank you so much for all of your support, Lovely Savers! I love sharing my tips and tricks for money and how to deal with everything in between. Please follow me on Instagram and join the Facebook Group: Sugar and Savings- Budgets and Saving Money to be a part of our community of other lovely savers. We share our thoughts, and plans with money, and we celebrate each other’s wins!

Until next time, wishing you all Sugar and Savings,

Kitchen Update on a Budget

Hello Lovely Savers!

I have been meaning to write this article for so long, but now that we are officially done with our budget friendly kitchen update, I figured it was time!

As a little back story- we bought our house two years ago and have been updating it little by little, doing the work ourselves to save money (and also because it’s fun!). The house was built in 1946 and had really not been touched since, save for the horrible beige paint job. This was particularly true in the one and only bathroom that Handsome Man COMPLETELY overhauled, and it was also true for our small kitchen.

If we’re being honest we still have much bigger plans for our kitchen, including adding a dishwasher, new appliances, and new countertops. However we are currently in the process of planning our wedding and figured those bigger projects could wait, but it would still be nice to spruce the kitchen up in the meantime. (Also, #quarantine…. so what else did we have to do?)

The very first update to the kitchen was giving our ugly laminate countertops a makeover. This took a little convincing, Handsome Man was NOT sold on the idea when I showed him the contact paper I planned to use as essentially a STICKER on the counters.

And truth be told, it didn’t turn out that great. It was WAY harder to do than the YouTube videos suggested. And though we haven’t tried to remove it, it theoretically can be, just pulling it up to readjust what I was doing was SO DIFFICULT that I am not positive it was as “removable” as advertised.

My other annoyances are that it didn’t want to stick to the underside of the lip and the seams are more visible than I had hoped. BUT for a total of $36 it really did brighten up the kitchen and in the end it is usually covered by all of our crap. I got all the marble contact paper I needed on Amazon.

Running total: $36

The Walls! As I have mentioned many other times, the older woman who lived here before us must have LOVED the color beige. To modernize our kitchen with a quick and inexpensive project, we decided to paint. With “Kitchen and Bath” paint (a little bit glossy for easy cleaning) we did the first color as a light grey that we actually have in other rooms in the house. Unfortunately, because I don’t think they mixed it right, it turned out more of a light purple that blended into the marble contact paper. It wasn’t enough of a contrast for our taste, and we gave it a few months but in the end we went back over with a darker grey that we adore.

It looks a little green in this picture, but it is a warm grey, I swear.

At $25/gallon, and our change of color, our walls ran us around $50.

Running total: $86

My FAVORITE project we did- my cabinets! Our cabinets are incredibly dated, but they are also unique and high quality! I scoured Pinterest to help me decide what I might want to do to those old cedar doors.

Eventually I settled on a two-tone look, white on top and dark grey on bottom. Another of my ideas that involved convincing Handsome Man. To compromise, I let him pick the hardware. I would have gone for matte black, but polished nickel it is.

  • Ignore the mess, still in progress!

To save time and money (I had thought) I bought Milk Paint as my research told me I would not need to sand or prime. This was a lie. Again, those cabinets had not been touched since 1946, and after the first coats of the white Milk Paint the yellow tannins of the cedar wood were showing through! It looked like we had giant water stains all over.

I spent extra money on that Milk Paint specifically to avoid extra work, but it was not as I had planned. While I am still happy with the finish of the Milk Paint, we had to buy primer and take way more time- so with the $25 of primer in addition to the 4 pints of Milk Paint at $30 each, the paint was $155 and the hardware was around $50 all together. You can probably get all of these things at your local hardware store, but the Milk Paint is only sold at certain retailers so you just want to check before making a run to the store.

Running total: $291

Handsome Man was very intent on changing out the light fixture as well, he looked EVERYWHERE before choosing the winner.

He says he thinks he got it on Wayfair but he can’t remember anymore. I had luck with other lighting fixtures we have in our home at Cost World Market online as well.

Running total: $441

The final project in this current phase of kitchen renovation was adding our kitchen hutch. To get one we really liked, one that would add storage and counter space, we did spend a little more during a sale Target was having. It’s worth mentioning that while looking we did find more cost effective ones at places like Wayfair, but we had saved so much on the project overall that we decided to splurge. We got our hutch with a stainless steel countertop and glass doors for $625.

Kitchen Update Total: $1,066

We LOVE our “new” kitchen and it feels so much more welcoming than it did before. If you are looking for a quick and budget friendly update, a new coat of paint is always a good idea- and if you are looking for more kitchen projects I hope our small ones have inspired you! Learn from my mistakes and you’ll save yourself some time with the money you are saving.

If you are looking for MORE home projects on a budget visit my post about curb appeal here!

Thank you so much for all of your support, lovely savers, I love sharing my tips and tricks for money and how to deal with everything in between. Please join the Facebook Group: Sugar and Savings- Budgets and Saving Money to be a part of our community of other lovely savers. We share our thoughts, and plans with money, and we celebrate each other’s wins! And each month I go live to answer YOUR questions about personal finance!

Until next time, wishing you all Sugar and Savings!

Holiday Gift Guides

Hello Lovely Savers!

The Holidays are approaching and if you are looking for gift ideas for someone specific or you are just looking for ideas to save money, I wanted to put all of the Sugar and Savings’ gift guides in one place.

Check out the lists below or keep reading for budget friendly presents!

Gifts for Mom
Gifts for Dad
Gifts for the College Student
Gifts for your Sweetheart

3 Budget Friendly Holiday Gifts

  1. Books. Books are a great gift for anyone, you can share one of your favorites with a loved one or write a fun note in the cover for them to keep as a treasure.
  2. Board Games. I just shared this tip over on Instagram but did you know you can buy games at thrift stores? Some board games I’ve looked at buying for Handsome Man are like $20+ and we will have just as much fun playing a used one from Goodwill for $6.
  3. Quality Time. This could be an activity you will do together, or they can do with someone else. Growing up my favorite gifts were tickets to plays with my Mom, or one year my Sister gave me a sleep over with her and it was the best day! The activity doesn’t need to be extravagant, just something you do together.

There you go Lovely Savers! I hope these gift guides can help you enjoy the Holidays and stress a little less. This is a season for joy and remember that you don’t have to go into debt to show people that you love them.

As always, thank you so much for all of your support, Lovely Savers! I love sharing my tips and tricks for money and how to deal with everything in between. Please join the Facebook Group: Sugar and Savings- Budgets and Saving Money to be a part of our community of other lovely savers. We share our thoughts, and plans with money, and we celebrate each other’s wins! And each month I go live to answer YOUR questions about personal finance!

Until next time, wishing you all Happy Holidays and Sugar and Savings,

An Income Issue

Hello Lovely Savers! Today I wanted to talk about an issue that pulls on my heartstrings… income issues.

“Taylor, why does income pull on your heartstrings?” you might be asking. Because I am a personal finance nerd, obvs. Also, because sometimes, no matter how hard you try to save and budget- the spending isn’t the problem.

I see this with clients every once in a while, they cut EVERYTHING from their budgets and they stick to those budgets like it is their purpose in life, but even with all their sacrifices they can’t get ahead. They feel stuck, and like all the sacrificing wasn’t even worth it, and they feel hopeless. I would know, I’ve been there.

And it’s at this point that I ask them to look outside of the budget, I don’t ask them to try to cut more than they already have. I ask them to look at where the money comes from. There are so many people who work at their jobs for years and they don’t even consider any other options because they are comfortable and it “pays the bills”. But what about when it isn’t paying the bills?

In one of my really old blog posts I talked about leaving the non-profit world because it couldn’t pay the bills (and several other reasons). I felt SO GUILTY leaving the job I had worked so hard to get, and I was made to feel like I was being GREEDY to ask for more hours and thus more money. I left in June that year, and when I did my taxes the following year do you know how much they had paid me in 6 months? $5,000. They wanted me to work there for $10,000 a year. And it wasn’t until that moment that I realized I was right to leave, I am worth more than $10,000 a year.

Sometimes it isn’t even the salary. Occasionally I have had a client, and when we are going over their budget I naturally ask how much they bring home each month, and they explain that it is a little lower than they’d like because they only work 30 hours a week.

“Well”, then I ask, “why do you only work 30 hours a week?”

“Because they only want me to work 30 hours a week.”

Like, I’m sorry, what? Then they can find someone else to work 30 hours per week! And I understand that some people have limitations and that inhibits them from being able to work 40 hours, I am obviously not talking about that in this scenario. If you WANT to work 40 hours per week, then find a job that will pay you to work 40 hours a week!

It’s also my experience that if a job is only willing to pay for a half-time employee or a part-time employee (less than 40 hours per week), then they are NOT giving competitive compensation. And they are probably not providing benefits either.

Even if you are an Administrative Assistant, and they pay you $18/hour which is the going rate for Administrative Assistants in your area, if you are only scheduled for 30 hours per week you are making less than $600 per week. If you worked 40 hours you’d be making a little over $700. And sure, that $100 doesn’t seem like a ton in the grand scheme of things, but if your financial goals could really use that $100, it isn’t anything to sneeze at. AND if you don’t receive benefits from work, and you have to supply them yourself, you might be out another couple hundred per month to pay for things like health insurance and dental and vision, etc.

I am not suggesting that anyone working less than 40 hours should go get a second job to compensate for the missing income, if you want to, go for it. If you find somewhere willing to hire you for 10 hours a week, they probably are not paying higher than minimum wage, and it might not be worth the stress.

What I am really suggesting is that you determine what your goals need, and if they need more income to make them a reality, don’t be afraid to ask for it or find it somewhere else.

YOU ARE NOT OWNED BY YOUR EMPLOYER. You may feel loyalty toward them, toward the job and your coworkers, but no one can hold you back from reaching YOUR goals. As disheartening as it is, if you leave, they will replace you.

So there you have it Lovely Savers. If you have worked your butt off to stick to a budget, and cut the cable and all the fun stuff, and you STILL can’t make it past Baby Step One ($1,000 Emergency Savings)- time to look outside of spending. Is there enough coming in? If not, what are you willing to do about that?

Sorry that today’s blog might be a little bit of a downer, but thank you so much for all of your support, Lovely Savers! I love sharing my tips and tricks for money and how to deal with everything in between. Please join the Facebook Group: Sugar and Savings- Budgets and Saving Money to be a part of our community of other lovely savers. We share our thoughts, and plans with money, and we celebrate each other’s wins! And each month I go live to answer YOUR questions about personal finance!

Until next time, wishing you all Sugar and Savings,

Update your Curb Appeal- On a Budget!

Three things you can do on the cheap to make your house shine!

Hello Lovely Savers! The air is starting to get a little brisk in the evenings and the leaves have an EVER SO SLIGHT tinge of orange mixed in among the green… which means fall is almost here!

If you are anything like Handsome Man and I, you are scrambling to get your outside projects done before the season is upon us. Or maybe you live in a state where Summer actually lasts as long as it’s supposed to, we are not so lucky.

Today I wanted to share a few things that we did to SUPER update the curb appeal of our house, all on tight budget restrictions.

1. The Front Door. The front door is the focal point of the home. It is literally the first thing people see and it is a blank space for creativity. Our front door was painted this burgundy red before we moved in (and not super well). 

It was fine for a while but I wanted to dress this home up. I wanted something light and welcoming and bright against the dull grey of the house. 1 gallon of porch and floor paint later, and voila!

You can see the steps I took to paint the door here.

Total Budget for Update: $100
Front Door Project: $35
Total Left: $65

2. The Windows. Now OBVIOUSLY if you are on a budget you are not about to spring for brand new windows. And luckily, with our home, we don’t need em. We LOVE our big window right in front, it lets in a ton of light into the living room and was a big selling point for us. But, if your trim is peeling or looking dingy, maybe its time for a clean up job. Our windows were in pretty good shape, but they had these (same color as the door) burgundy shutters. 

I didn’t mind the shutters, I think they frame the window nicely! However, they needed an upgrade too. We kept the same shutters and spray painted them a dark blue to contrast against the grey and teal on the door. The spray paint was really cheap, but as a disclaimer I did need more than I thought I would, and Handsome Man made some extra trips to Menards for me.

Total Budget: $65
Window Project: $25
Total Left: $40

3. The Yard. So… I’m sure I’ve complained before about our yard. We saw the house during an open house in May- Before anything in MN grows back from the winter. We BOUGHT the house in June. When EVERYTHING WAS GROWING LIKE CRAZY. See, the lovely woman who lived here before us, didn’t like to mow. So instead, she decided to just plant hastas and ferns and day lilies…. EVERYWHERE. I still can’t talk about the number of ferns we had to dig up… traumatizing. That being said, that was last year’s project, this year we just wanted to stay in control of the plants. We cut the front yard “prairie” way back and dug out a ton of the pants in front of the window. Other than a new shovel, we only spent money on some grass seed which we plan to put down this fall to over seed what is already there. With some manual labor, and DIY attitudes, we saved a ton of money and the house looks way better already. And not like it sits in the middle of a jungle. We still have a ways to go, but neighbors have already stopped by to compliment how much better it looks! I wish the pictures below actually did the transformation its due justice.

Total Budget: $40
Yard Work: $20
Total Left: $20

So whether you are a home owner, renter, getting ready to sell a home, or looking at buying a home, these are just a few ways you can spruce up the front without breaking the budget. They are also really easy projects even for brand new homeowners and DIYers. We sure aren’t done with everything we want to do to the house, but for under $100, we have done pretty good so far!

Thank you so much for all of your support, lovely savers, I love sharing my tips and tricks for money and how to deal with everything in between. Please join the Facebook Group: Sugar and Savings- Budgets and Saving Money to be a part of our community of other lovely savers. We share our thoughts, and plans with money, and we celebrate each other’s wins! And each month I go live to answer YOUR questions about personal finance!

Until next time, wishing you all Sugar and Savings,

Retail Therapy

Hello Lovely Savers,

I must make a confession… I am prone to Retail Therapy.

What’s Retail Therapy? It’s when you shop to make yourself feel better! What do you need to feel better about? I don’t know but have you seen TJMaxx? It would make anyone happy.

Retail Therapy can, and probably does, affect everyone. It can be such a problem I even included it in my book “If I’m an Adult… Where is my Money?”.

My Retail Therapy habit started when I was very young, and as much as I love her dearly I FULLY BLAME MY MOTHER. One day, when I was but a wee tot, a friend from school was going to be moving away. I distinctly remember not caring very much, because I was young and honestly did not comprehend what that fully meant, but my mother was very sure that I was sad. I sort of remember my mom picking me up from somewhere and going to run an errand somewhere, and I distinctly remember her buying me candy. She bought me candy to feel better. I didn’t even feel bad, but I didn’t care, I got candy!

Whenever I had a crush on a boy, which truthfully was often, I would be so in love I would lose my appetite. This would worry my parents very much, as they did not know my bizarre lack of hunger was due to my being heartbroken over my imagined love. They would assume I was upset and to get me to eat, they would order my favorite take out food.

When I was in college, the first love of my life broke my heart. I was devastated, and after the breakup, my mom took me to the Mall of America for THREE DAYS. Even though we didn’t buy anything (as my broken heart could not muster up any interest in anything), the act of shopping was once again being used to soothe my soul.

My poor parents were doing the best they could, I was not an easy child to understand as my mental health would not be explained for two decades and I had a LOT of feelings. They love me so much and I know they were just trying to make me happy! But even years later I would be in Target, buying trinkets in the dollar section, or using my day off to walk around TJMaxx to “relax”. And while my natural saver inclination didn’t allow me to drop buttloads of money on random crap, it is clearly not a great coping mechanism.

I am willing to bet you have seen yourself in the same or similar situations! Stopped off to peek at nail polish while at the grocery store? Added items to your Amazon cart while inebriated? Drawn to food when having a bad day? Lots of people use food or money or alcohol to adjust their “mood”. And just as we recognize that alcoholism is not a healthy addiction, neither is Retail Therapy. You might not have it so bad that you spend all the money to your name and ruin your family’s life, but it can very easily creep into your life and throw you off of your financial goals. It can trip you up and give you excuses to put off your budget and savings plans.

If you recognize this trend in your own life, seek out some new or additional self-care ideas to use when you feel down. And for the love of God, step away from Target!

If you would like some of my self-care/depression tips, you can read my blog article about that here, and if you’d like to read my book “If I’m an Adult… Where is my Money? : A quick guide to money for the aspiring adult” you can get it on Amazon on December 20th, 2018!

Thank you so much for all of your support, lovely savers, I love sharing my tips and tricks for money and how to deal with everything in between. Please feel free to join my Facebook Group: Sugar and Savings- Budgets and Saving Money to be a part of our community of other lovely savers! We share our thoughts and plans on money and we celebrate each other’s wins!

Until next time, wishing you all Sugar and Savings,

Taylor

xoxo

What’s Ahead

Hello Lovely Savers!

The blog has been a little silent over the last few months, Handsome Man and I have been working very hard at fixing up our home we bought this Summer, and we travelled to Tennessee where I attended the Business Boutique conference!

That being said, the blog has been a quiet but I have still been hard at work behind the scenes getting ready for what is coming for the rest of 2018 and the start of 2019. After the inspiring conference I know EXACTLY where I am headed and I have so many wonderful things in store for everyone.

First, I am FINALLY going to start updating you all on the house projects and how we saved money as we went. Then, I am planning to release THREE Ebooks by March. THREE. BY MARCH. The topics will include all things money, how to find your passion and career, and mental health, I am so excited to share them with you! Finally, I want you to keep your eyes and ears open for other exciting top-secret opportunities!

Also, we just adopted kittens so if you are not already following me on social media, you are missing out.

Stay tuned guys, we have a crazy ride ahead of us!

 

Wishing you all, Sugar and Savings,

Taylor

Depression and the Workplace

This week I was going to blog about going back to school and saving big on school supplies. I was. Until I got a question that seemed way more important than something you can already Google.

“How do you stay successful at work when your depression hits?”

Well first, my depression does not hit, it is with me everyday. I have good days and I have bad days, and over time I have learned coping mechanisms that work for me. I can’t rightfully suggest any of those to anyone, as they are different for everyone and depression effects everyone differently. But I can share with you my strategies for how I can keep going at work when I really only want to be at home under a blanket.

  1. Know Your Limits. Before diagnosed, I believed that I didn’t have a depression disorder because I was able to get out the door and function everyday. I figured, if I am able to do that when others are not, that’s probably not what my issue is. Believing that whatever it was, I would push myself through it and just stack on the responsibilities to distract myself, was very harmful in the end. It worked, but eventually it felt like I was half-assing everything, and I made my depression worse. Knowing your limits, knowing that you need to set aside time to decompress or whatever it is you need to do, means saying no. It means saying no and not feeling guilty about it. Not feeling guilty, is of course, easier said then done. However, setting boundaries for yourself and others is healthy, and everyone who should mean anything to you, should respect them. Christy Wright, one of my personal idols, made a list for how to say no at work and in life. You can read her great ideas here.
  2. Dry Shampoo. Some days, I have only so much energy to give. If I use it to get dressed, and out the door, and to work on time, and to deal with customers, then I have very very VERY little left for much else. Because I am aware that those other things NEED to happen, I can decide what doesn’t. For me, sometimes getting in the shower seems like the worst thing ever, other times I just sleep in too late and can’t pull myself out of bed in time to wash my hair. NOBODY TOLD ME ABOUT DRY SHAMPOO. This stuff is a literal godsend for me. If I only have 3 F’s to give, you can bet I’m spending one on my hair. Spray it in and you look just fine. Fine enough to get to work and not feel gross about yourself. (or at least a little less gross.)
  3. Avoid Overstimulation. Sometimes this is inevitable, a busy day at work is a busy day at work. But I know that if things start to get hectic, especially if I’m having a not so great day with my depression, that I will suddenly become unable to focus and my work will suffer. If you feel yourself becoming overstimulated, find something to diffuse the situation. Take a walk, put head phones in (not too often or else you might seem anti-social!), or play some relaxing music at your desk. I find that it works for me to take a break (if possible) and go sit in my car and call my mom for a bit.
  4. Have a Notebook. I have my bullet journal with me everywhere, when I feel depressed or anxious I can use it to distract myself. I can look at some exciting events coming up that I am looking forward to, I can doodle in it, I can make a million and a half lists, whatever makes me feel better at that moment. If for nothing else, you can use your notebook to write down what you’d like to scream at your bosses face! Just make sure they don’t see it šŸ˜‰
  5. Buy Clothes Easy to Slip On. My depression is worst in the morning and at night. If I don’t even want to wash my hair, you can bet I don’t want to get dressed. I have adopted a wardrobe almost entirely made up of sheath dresses and jackets. I slip the dress on, throw on the jacket, and grab my flats. It looks simple and professional and required very little of my precious energy to figure out.

As you can see from above, dealing with depression is a lot like dealing with a budget. You budget for how much energy you have, not for how much energy you expend. You set your priorities and give your energy to those first, and then take the rest to use toward lesser important things.

Take care of yourself, the best way that you can. And remember that you are always doing your best, even if your best is a little different from what your best was yesterday.

Until next time, wishing you all sugar and savings,

Taylor

Throwing a Surprise Party on a Budget!

LIFE IS A PARTY! So let’s remember to celebrate!

June has been a HUGE month for Handsome Man and I. In one week we bought a house (more to come on that!), Handsome Man turned the big Three-Oh, and I may or may not have told a billion fibs to keep his SURPRISE PARTY a surprise. And man did it work! Friends and family came from all over to celebrate his birthday with us, and even though he is a rather stoic man at times, he was incredibly moved.

But I hear you over there, “wait, didn’t she say they just bought a HOUSE?! How did she afford to feed and party with all of those people?” Well first, I had this plan in the works for months, so preparation started early, and I had some help from my fabulous hosts (my lovely parents). Together we were able to save big, and learned how we could have save even more.

  1. Venue. First, consider where this party will be. This determines a ton about the party itself; how many people are going to be invited/how many can the venue hold? Does this venue charge for food and drinks? Can you find any where that would let you host a party for free? Any friends with barns or large plots of land? We are fortunate enough that my fabulous parents were gracious enough to offer us the use of their home, yard, and pool. I think they were secretly just jazzed about having a bunch of “kids” around.
  2. Decor. Does your party have a theme? Mine did not, which was helpful, however I was able to find some gold, black, and silver balloons, plates, and such on clearance at Target. Were matching place settings an absolute must for me? Nah, but when I found them on clearance I sort of said “why not?” Which brings me to balloons.
  3. Balloons. Balloons are fun. The ones I got on clearance were the kind you blow up on your own, with the idea that everyone would throw them at Handsome Man when we walked in. It was not as grand as I planned but balloons are still fun so it was worth the headache I got from blowing them all up. I also got the helium balloons from the local party store, I wanted to hit up the dollar store for these but on the day I was running short on time. However I spent like $50 on like 6 balloons, which were super basic and I definitely could have gotten the exact same thing for $6 at the Dollar Tree. I also got Handsome Man an Air Swimmer, a big shark shaped balloon that you are SUPPOSED to be able to fly around drone-style. I say SUPPOSED to because it DIDN’T WORK and I was very sad. Handsome Man still liked his shark shaped balloon, and I was able to have it blown up for me at the same party store for like $10.
  4. Food and DRANKS. So let’s talk about feeding a ton of people. It’s spendy. Let’s talk about providing beer, liquor, and non-alcholic drinks for everyone, dang Felicia. Our solution? We were very specific with our menu. We made one main thing that we could make in bulk, pulled pork, and then provided sides like salads, chips and salsa, and fruit/veggie trays, which we could buy in bulk also. For drinks we hit up Total Wine, which is like buying booze in bulk. Their prices are much lower than buying a bunch of 6-packs from the local liquor store. We also tried to keep our selections narrowed down, I got his favorites and few I’d heard were popular as I am not a big drinker myself.
  5. Entertainment. If you are hosting a full-out rage-er, maybe you need a DJ or a whole band. We certainly did not. Yard games were the perfect, totally free, entertainment for our party. Ā The games we didn’t have, I reached out to friends and my brothers to bring.

All in all, we had the BEST TIME! How much we spent on everything certainly didn’t matter to anyone else, but it was reassuring to me to know that we had done pretty well at keeping costs low.

I hope this Summer your time is filled with good times and friendship. Ours certainly has been so far! Now we launch into our numerous home projects as new home-owners, and I can’t wait to share our journey with all of you!

Donā€™t forget to sign up to my email list to get reminders when I post new ways to save you money! Also, I am now booking clients over on my Facebook page or else you can email me hereĀ at sugarandsavings@gmail.com. Work with me personally to get yourself on a budget that WORKS!

Until next time, wishing you all sugar and savings,

Taylor

 

Father’s Day on a Budget

Hello Lovely Savers! Father’s Day is coming up this weekend, are you ready?

Personally, I feel dad’s get the short end of the stick a far as when this holiday falls. It’s early summer; families are busy with camps, sports, vacations, etc. It’s hard to just get the kids together in one room! And throw in when those kids are grown and living on their own? In our house it’s a logistical nightmare.

But that doesn’t mean there is no hope for your pops this Father’s Day! Here is my guide to spending your Father’s Day with the main man in your life, and doing so on a budget:

  1. Handmade Cards. This idea was also featured on my Mother’s Day guide which you can read here. My dad is a graphic designer, and while I do not pretend to have his artistic ability, he appreciates the effort and love that goes into a handmade card just for him. Plus it makes a great packaging for my second item on this list!
  2. Daddy-Daughter/Son Date! My dad has enough tools. And even if he didn’t I wouldn’t begin to know what kind he would want, or use, or didn’t already have, or what it does, or anything. BUT I know he likes food! One of my favorite gifts for dad, for any holiday, is a daddy-daughter date. I buy a gift card to a restaurant I know he likes, and my gift is a date just for the two of us.
  3. Hit Up the Zoo. How many times have you heard, “I don’t need gifts, I just want to spend time together”?That’s on loop during every holiday from my parents. And zoos are great. You get to walk around outside, see cute animals, and you can all meet there at a designated time (unless you are my family, then about 20 minutes AFTER designated time). AND zoos are generally free or very inexpensive. A donation for entrance is a small price to pay to enjoy a whole day of spending time together and telling each other “no that monkey looks like YOU”.
  4. Take a Picture. My mama is so cute, I’ve got a million pictures of us together. But my dad is cute too! One year, I had my brother sneak a nice picture of my dad and I together so that I could frame it and gift it to him. Dad’s are often the one behind the camera, so this Father’s Day, make sure he’s smack dab in the middle of this family pic! (Bonus pics of my adorable dad below)
  5. No Ties Please. If you can’t get out and actually spend the day with your dad, or if you aren’t feeling crafty, here are some of my gift ideas you can purchase off of Amazon*:

Grill Mats! Keep the grill cleaner while BBQing this Summer, less clean up for the grill master!

Look classy showing up with this wooden bottle caddy, complete with bottle opener! Bonus points, I got one for Handsome Man and he uses it all the time, too.

This is Bean Bag Buckets! A fun yard game you can all play together! There are tons of other yard games, perfect for family get-togethers this Summer.

All of these gifts can be done in cost effective ways, which is great for everyone and every budget. Are you a dad? What was your favorite Father’s Day gift you’ve received? Comment below!

As promised: Bonus pictures of my daddy-dearest. Isn’t he a cutie?

Donā€™t forget to sign up to my email list to get reminders when I post new ways to save you money! Also, I am now booking clients over on my Facebook page or else you can email me hereĀ at sugarandsavings@gmail.com. Work with me personally to get yourself on a budget that WORKS!

Until next time, wishing you all Sugar and Savings,

Taylor

* This post containsĀ affiliate links. This just means that I may receive a small commission (at no cost to you) if you purchase something through the links above. You will never see me post a link to a product or service that I havenā€™t used myself and love! Thank you for supporting Sugar and Savings!