How I Saved BIG on my Kitchen Remodel

When we first moved into our house

our kitchen was 

yucky!

Way...way..way!! Out dated from the 70's

Avocado green stove and sink

Chipped up counter tops

Ugly cabinets

Paneling on the wall.

All together it was ugly.

And it needed to go.

But we didn't have the money for a complete overhaul.

So, here's what we did....

for under $700

#1 - I used found paint.

My mom had just moved into a new house that had a ton of cans of paint in the attic.

There happen to be two 3/4 full cans of this green color that I liked.

Free paint!

#2 - Peel and stick tile.

People walk into this kitchen and cannot believe that it's peel and stick.

It was so easy and cost $95 for the whole floor.

#3 - Cheap trim.

Instead of going for the upgraded trim, I went for the cheap stuff.

I trimmed this whole room for $25.

#4 - We painted the cabinets.

A borrowed paint sprayer and 1 gallon of semi-gloss off white paint.

$25

#5 - Cheap counter top.

At Home Depot, we just gave them the measurements and they delivered.

We saved even more by having a very handy neighbor help us install it.

$175 for counter top

$25 for a pizza dinner for the neighbors family

Kids Recycling Craft - Cereal Box Postcards

I love this craft for a couple of reasons...

1. It helps with writing skills and vocabulary
2. It shows my kids that there are other ways to comminuate with our friends and family other then text, email or phone
3. It's recycling
4. It's a fun family activitiy that doesn't last too long
5. It's cheap - we used boxes we already had

I found this great idea at Infarrantly Creative - check them out, they have a lot of great recycling crafts. 

Here's how we did it:

Start with a couple of used cereal boxes - or any kind of box

I happen to have a large paper cutter, but a sharp pair of scissors would work just fine too. You'll want to cut them into 4x6 inch pieces. 

We're ready to draw some lines!

I used a sharpie and a ruler to make the address lines and then gave them instructions to only draw on the left side. 

They loved this! Ashton wrote to his grandma and both of his aunts. 

I gave Colton some crayons and he loved it too. He wrote letters to his grandma and two of his playmates. 

This kept them occupied for about 30 minutes. For an 8 and 3 year old boy, I'd say that's doing pretty good! 

I know my grandma will love getting a letter from the boys, so hopefully it'll brighten her day!

What crafts to do with your boys that actually keep them entertained? I'd love to hear about it!

Teaching Money for Kids

My oldest son has been having a hard time in school learning what the different coins were. They learn cute songs and practice, but he still had't quite 'got it' yet. So, we grabbed some money flash cards and started practicing. The problem? He still wasn't getting it. I was about to pull my hair out, when this idea hit me....a cheat sheet.

I had to work with what I had at the moment, a cardboard box in the recycling bin - all we did was glue the coins onto the box - front and back - and then had Ashton write out what each coin was and how much it was worth.

With his money flash cards, he could compare coins and see right away how much each coin was worth. 

He went from being frustrated and about to give up - to being happy that he was getting it!

No, I don't agree with cheating. But, since I made this cheat sheet for him - it's working! 

After just a few nights of using his cheat sheet, I removed it and he's remembering all the coins!! Makes a mom proud! 

Any tips to share on helping kids learn their coins? 

Oatmeal Container Crafts

Yesterday, I'm kind of milling around - getting the kitchen cabinets reorganized and realized that we have a empty oatmeal container sitting in there. (That annoys me to no end!!) So I'm starting to throw it in the recycle bin when I start to wonder what I could do/make from it. I looked around online for awhile to try to get ideas of what to do with it and really couldn't find too much that I was really crazy about, which was strange. I did find these cool projects:

I love this idea from Curbly! I have a massive amount of ribbon that I would love to organize better.

I also like this idea from Martha Stewart - to change it into a holder or gift bag of sorts. But, I really don't have anything presents I need to give at the moment.

I also thought of using for the boys to use as a time capsule - or in place of a shoebox to store memories, they could decorate the box and put ticket stubs in it, whatever they wanted to. To use it as a Valentines Day box for school would be cool too. You could easily turn it into a robot.

Do you have any projects that you've done with old oatmeal containers? Share them in the comments!

I'll post soon what we decided to do with our old oatmeal container!

Thanks for stopping by today!