Do you know how many kids in the world don't get new shoes for school? Or a new back pack, or pencils? What about just in your state? How about your town? What about just in your child's classroom?
Every year, thousands of kids go back to school without being able to bring the necessities with them, because not all parents can afford even a pack of pencils.
Right now, stores all over are offering great sales on items that every classroom uses, from packs of pencils for $.99 to notebooks for $.15, and glue sticks for a quarter. This year, when you are shopping for new school supplies, consider picking up a few extra items to send into the classroom.
You can also ask your school about donating old back packs- Every year, I see dozens of kids who tote their items back and forth in plastic grocery bags, while many families buy new back packs every year.
Tonight, Sarah over at Sarah's Deals tagged me in a post about back to school shopping, and helping Elmer's raise money for classroom supplies with the Bag It Forward Program! The details on the program can be found here!
Want to know what else you can do? If you are a blogger or on Facebook, you an Bag It Forward virtually! Elmer's is making a donation, but they are asking us to help.
HOW CAN YOU JOIN? It’s easy.
ELMER’S VIRTUAL BAG IT FORWARD RULES
Copy and paste these rules into your blog post or Facebook note.
Create a post giving a “virtual bag of school supplies” to other bloggers or write about your Back to School shopping trip at Walmart.
Link back to the person who gave you a bag of school supplies.
Let each person you are giving a virtual bag of school supplies know you have given them a bag.
Leave your link in the Elmer’s Virtual Bag It Forward comment section. You can also find the official rules of this virtual #bagitforward program there.
Elmer’s is donating $10 for each blog participating in the Virtual Bag It Forward Donation to Adopt-A-Classroom (up to total of $10,000 for blog posts written by August 12, 2010).
Please note that only one blog post per blog url will count towards the donation.
My vitual bag is going to J at Frugality is Free. Hopefully she will pick it up and go! If anyone else would like to start one, there's still time! Just go to Bag It Forward, copy the rules, and you're off and running!
All blogs participating need to leave a direct link to their post on the Bag it Forward website!!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Do you have an Etsy shop, or sell on Facebook?
Check out Bowtique Critique, a promotion & review page through both Facebook and here on Blogger as well! Bowtique Critique will promote your shop, or review your handmade items and promote them!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Clippie Keeper Cup
Today, I drove into Lansing so I could get a few things. Namely, I had gone through almost all of my 100 alligator clips I had picked up just last week. I have a problem- the first step is admitting it. When I think about it, though, it is pretty easy to go through them. When I make clippies, I almost always do 4 pairs that are in similar colors or styles, so they 'match', and I'm doing between 2 & 4 sets of 4 pairs each day, so... you do the math.
I wanted to buy more ribbon today. However, the ribbon was not on sale at Jo-Ann's, Hobby Lobby, or Michaels. Disappointing! I did grab a few of the $1 spools at Michaels, and found 6 or 7 spools on clearance for $.50 each at JoAnn's.
While I was at Michaels, I found little round, tall containers with lids- my first thought was a Clippie container! I picked up just 2 to start, but LOVE what I came up with.
Lately, my hair stuff has ranged towards just small clippies- fully lined alligator clips with minimal, and small decorations on them, or plain if the ribbon was already decorated. Something more for every day use than big old bows and what not.
My initial thought for the cup was that it would store a ton of clippies (and it does- I was able to store 50 individual small clippies in 1 cup, each decorated). My next thought was adding decoration to it, and making it look like a ribbon wrapped present. That, of course, led me to thinking- the ribbon can be used as storage, the same as a bow hanger!
So, that's what I did tonight. I took 2 lengths of ribbon, glued & folded the ends over to make a nice clean edge, then glued them to the cup- first along the bottom of the cup, then to the inside, so that the ribbon running up the side is not glued to the cup- clippies can be clipped onto them.
Totals for this project-
Cup- $1
Ribbon- $.25 (give or take)
Glue- Like what, $.10?
All in all, it was cheap to make. I have my first one up for sale in my Etsy shop, along with some of my clips.
I wanted to buy more ribbon today. However, the ribbon was not on sale at Jo-Ann's, Hobby Lobby, or Michaels. Disappointing! I did grab a few of the $1 spools at Michaels, and found 6 or 7 spools on clearance for $.50 each at JoAnn's.
While I was at Michaels, I found little round, tall containers with lids- my first thought was a Clippie container! I picked up just 2 to start, but LOVE what I came up with.
Lately, my hair stuff has ranged towards just small clippies- fully lined alligator clips with minimal, and small decorations on them, or plain if the ribbon was already decorated. Something more for every day use than big old bows and what not.
My initial thought for the cup was that it would store a ton of clippies (and it does- I was able to store 50 individual small clippies in 1 cup, each decorated). My next thought was adding decoration to it, and making it look like a ribbon wrapped present. That, of course, led me to thinking- the ribbon can be used as storage, the same as a bow hanger!
So, that's what I did tonight. I took 2 lengths of ribbon, glued & folded the ends over to make a nice clean edge, then glued them to the cup- first along the bottom of the cup, then to the inside, so that the ribbon running up the side is not glued to the cup- clippies can be clipped onto them.
Totals for this project-
Cup- $1
Ribbon- $.25 (give or take)
Glue- Like what, $.10?
All in all, it was cheap to make. I have my first one up for sale in my Etsy shop, along with some of my clips.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Listia, & Cameras!
Listia is a web-auction site, similar to eBay with a few notable differences.
First- there are NO FEES to post items on Listia.
Second- it isn't a cash system. You use credits- which means no profits, but, it means you can find some neat stuff for free, too.
The site starts you off with 200 points, which isn't really much in value (though, Listia the site will value 200 points at $20, the users value it at more like $1-5 in value). But, it's enough to pick up some fun things free right off the bat.
Some users charge shipping, others don't. Either way, my reason for bringing this up, is because I've been auctioning off hair clips on the site. Today, I listed 2 new ones:
I also have a third clip set up, but it's for 2 or more pairs of clippies. It's a 'tiered' auction. On Listia, you can set your own limits on the auction, and many people do 'tiered' auctions- the site limits you to a starting value of 0-100, so to get around that, many people will list an auction where the more the auction sells for, the more you get.
For instance, in MY tiered auction, you get to pick 2 pairs of clippies (4 clippies total) from a set of 18 pairs if the bidding ends at 0-149 points. From 150-299 points, you get to pick 3 pairs. From 300-449, you get to pick 4 pairs, and so on, up to 6 pairs total.
Below are the pictures of the sets I show on the auction to choose from:
I've been enjoying Listia. So far, I've only won 2 auctions, but both were worth it! The fist was a set of 3 DS styluses, which are easy to lose, and cost $8 for 3 in the store. I got them for 90 credits, and $2 shipping.
The other one I won... well, I -love- it! It's a Canon DSLR camera bag. Now, for those of you who have SLR's, you'll know that the bags made for them can cost anywhere from $50 on up, and that's for the cheap ones that don't hold much.
I won the bag for 32 credits, and paid $4.85 to have it shipped. Now, my other fantastic news? My bag arrived on Friday. And so did my SLR camera! I have a camera I'm testing out, and if I like it, I can buy it for $400. It's an Olympus E-330 with a 14-45mm lens, and a 40-150mm lens. I love it! The same camera goes for $550 on eBay with 1 lens. The second lens goes for close to $100 on eBay, so over all, I saved $250 on what I got, plus another $50 on the bag!
Here are a few photos I took with my new SLR.
First- there are NO FEES to post items on Listia.
Second- it isn't a cash system. You use credits- which means no profits, but, it means you can find some neat stuff for free, too.
The site starts you off with 200 points, which isn't really much in value (though, Listia the site will value 200 points at $20, the users value it at more like $1-5 in value). But, it's enough to pick up some fun things free right off the bat.
Some users charge shipping, others don't. Either way, my reason for bringing this up, is because I've been auctioning off hair clips on the site. Today, I listed 2 new ones:
For instance, in MY tiered auction, you get to pick 2 pairs of clippies (4 clippies total) from a set of 18 pairs if the bidding ends at 0-149 points. From 150-299 points, you get to pick 3 pairs. From 300-449, you get to pick 4 pairs, and so on, up to 6 pairs total.
Below are the pictures of the sets I show on the auction to choose from:
I've been enjoying Listia. So far, I've only won 2 auctions, but both were worth it! The fist was a set of 3 DS styluses, which are easy to lose, and cost $8 for 3 in the store. I got them for 90 credits, and $2 shipping.
The other one I won... well, I -love- it! It's a Canon DSLR camera bag. Now, for those of you who have SLR's, you'll know that the bags made for them can cost anywhere from $50 on up, and that's for the cheap ones that don't hold much.
I won the bag for 32 credits, and paid $4.85 to have it shipped. Now, my other fantastic news? My bag arrived on Friday. And so did my SLR camera! I have a camera I'm testing out, and if I like it, I can buy it for $400. It's an Olympus E-330 with a 14-45mm lens, and a 40-150mm lens. I love it! The same camera goes for $550 on eBay with 1 lens. The second lens goes for close to $100 on eBay, so over all, I saved $250 on what I got, plus another $50 on the bag!
Here are a few photos I took with my new SLR.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Hair Clips & A Giveaway
As many of you know, I'm a frugal crafter. If I can buy it on sale, discount, or with a coupon, I love it. If it's free, I love it even more. So, what better way to feed my craft bug than with a FREE giveaway on the original Frugal blogger's website- Dollar Store Crafts?
Heather (great name!) over at DSC is giving away an X-Acto Silhouette Machine! Head on over to her site to sign up to win a $300 prize pack!
Next up- more hair clips. I kind of wish my girls were young enough for these, but my almost 9 year old assures me that wearing hair clips, bows, and flowers to school is SO EMBARRASSING, MOM! -sigh- In the mean time, I continue to make them.
Why? Well, first and foremost, they're quick, easy, fun craft projects I can do in 20 minutes without having to plan out a project, and right now, my time is sparse with photo editing, photo taking, and summer. Next up, they can be toted along to photo shoots and used if the client wants to use them. Third, I have nieces who are still young enough to love them, so anything that I don't sell, I give away.
Of course, to feed the addiction of making them, I do hope to sell some along the way. Anyway, lately I've been making the little ribbon lined clippies- great for every day use, and no where near as large & extravagant looking as huge bows and flowers. They're also great for younger kids who don't have much hair.
I've been listing my clippies at $2 for a matching pair, $1.50 for individual ones, and 3 pairs for $5. Below are some of my more recent ones. They are listed for sale on my Facebook page for My Frugal Family!
Heather (great name!) over at DSC is giving away an X-Acto Silhouette Machine! Head on over to her site to sign up to win a $300 prize pack!
Next up- more hair clips. I kind of wish my girls were young enough for these, but my almost 9 year old assures me that wearing hair clips, bows, and flowers to school is SO EMBARRASSING, MOM! -sigh- In the mean time, I continue to make them.
Why? Well, first and foremost, they're quick, easy, fun craft projects I can do in 20 minutes without having to plan out a project, and right now, my time is sparse with photo editing, photo taking, and summer. Next up, they can be toted along to photo shoots and used if the client wants to use them. Third, I have nieces who are still young enough to love them, so anything that I don't sell, I give away.
Of course, to feed the addiction of making them, I do hope to sell some along the way. Anyway, lately I've been making the little ribbon lined clippies- great for every day use, and no where near as large & extravagant looking as huge bows and flowers. They're also great for younger kids who don't have much hair.
I've been listing my clippies at $2 for a matching pair, $1.50 for individual ones, and 3 pairs for $5. Below are some of my more recent ones. They are listed for sale on my Facebook page for My Frugal Family!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)