Kate's Project Corner

Bisquick: FIRED

2010-09-02T22:51:00.000-07:00

Bisquick, you may be heart healthy and come with Box Tops for Education, but you're easily replaceable when it comes to pancakes and waffles in the morning, so you're FIRED!!!

My friend Annie gave me this great pancake mix recipe:

4 cups flour

3 Tbsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp, 2 tsp sugar

So, I mixed it all up using 2 cups white flour and 2 cups whole wheat flour and put it one of my Tupperware storage containers. In fact, I threw all the ingredients in the container, put the lid on it and shook it to mix them up. Super easy and a quick and easy swap for Bisquick.

I put some packaging tape on the side and listed the ingredients that need to be added when I'm ready to make waffles.

Just add 1 egg, 1 cup milk and 1 tbsp of melted butter to 1 cup of the dry mix. And, the waffles we made were delicious!!!

Current Project: cooking from scratch

2010-09-02T22:37:00.000-07:00

There's a million reason to do it (environment & health being the primary two), but I'm making an effort to reduce the amount of processed foods our family eats. I'm a mom who cooks most of our meals, but there are so many handy shortcuts that I'm going to strive to avoid. I make no promises of a processed-free future, but I strive to make improvements.

Another failed Science project

2010-03-11T14:21:00.000-08:00

I was really looking forward to rock candy, but after about a week, I deemed this another failed science experiment.....such a bummer. I cooked the sugar water to the temperature it said to in the book, but I think it may have been too long. I'm willing to try again, but first I'll do some online searching and compare instructions first.

I'm still saving!

2010-03-11T14:15:00.000-08:00

I've been so busy with YumaMom that I haven't been posting much over here. But have no fear, I'm still saving!!

Commissary on 2/26/10 = $22.10
Commissary on 3/5/10 = $6.34 (smaller shopping trip)
Walmart on 3/11/10 = $12 (got many things for free!!!)
I also saved money at Albertsons (about $4.00) when we bought Odwalla drinks, but I can't find the receipt.

Previous total was $157.62 + $44.44 (todays post total) = $202.06

Making Crystal Rock Candy

2010-03-02T16:26:00.000-08:00

Today's Science project: making Rock Candy.

We borrowed the book, "Solids, Liquids and Gases" by Melvin Berger from the Station Library last weekend that contained instructions for making Rock Candy.

For Trent's reading today (he reads 20 minutes a day), he read all about how to make rock candy - almost the entire page you see here.

We took 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water and boiled until 242 degrees. A watched pot never boils.

We tried the non-thermometer way of testing to see if our sugar was hot enough by putting a small amount into a bowl of cold water and it should have formed a ball......uh, ours didn't do that (?). Then we set up our cups with strings and safety pins like the book said. Although I read about using a stick/skewer instead and think I would have preferred that method. The book said our string needed to hang down to the bottom, but not touch the bottom.

Then we poured our sugar water into the glasses.

And because we like to spice things up, we added a little color.

And here are our finished projects. I'm not sure whey they're so cloudy. We must have messed this up somehow. Watching something grow in a class that reminds me too much of the avocado seed that never flourished - we tried twice! How are we supposed to watch the crystals form? I'm confused. Did I screw up another attempt at doing a science project with my kids. We'll just have to wait and see.

Selling on Etsy - listing an item

2010-03-02T13:01:00.000-08:00

First, I logged onto Etsy using my user name and password. Then I clicked "Sell" in the top menu bar. Next, I clicked on "List your Items" in the main body of the web page.

Step 1: Item description and list material used to make item.
Step 2: Categorize and Tag your item - I chose 13!!! These tags are what is used to pull your item in buyer searches. If I search for "red infinity scarf" my scarf should show up because those 3 words were also 3 of my tags.
Step 3: Choose the price you want to sell your item for, & create a shipping profile (listing the cost for shipping and what countries you want to ship to)
Step 4: Upload the pictures you want to use
Step 5: Review and FINISH!!

Now I just wait for someone to come along and buy it, right? Click here to see my scarf on Etsy!

Selling on Etsy - creating a seller account

2010-03-02T12:59:00.000-08:00

Etsy is a well-known site for buying/selling handmade items. It's a bit like Ebay in the sense that different people can list their items on it, but it's done with set prices (no bidding) and all items are hand crafted. I've browsed the site a few times, mostly looking for craft ideas, and until now, that's been the extent of my relationship on Etsy. My neighbor keeps telling me I should sell my infinity scarves on Etsy. So.....here I go. I'm going to share my experience with you. Follow me!

Creating an Etsy Seller Account: The process of registering a seller account is pretty user-friendly. Before you start, you'll need a user name, an email address (only one Etsy account per email address) and your credit card to verify your identity.

1) go to Etsy.com
2) click on "Register" in the top right corner
3) when creating your account, you'll need to choose a user name. If you become a seller, this will also be your shop's web address. I chose katesprojects, so my seller web address should be http://katesprojects.etsy.com. You'll also provide a password and your email address and click "Submit"
4) confirm your account by logging into your email account and opening up the new email from Etsy. The email should contain a link, clicking on the line will complete your registration and open a new window.
5) To sell something, click on "SELL" in the top tool bar.
6) Click on "Get Started"
7) Enter your personal info (name and address), click "NEXT"
8) Enter credit card information for verification purposes. You will be charged $1.01 to verify. Paypal can still be used to pay seller fees.

Selling on Etsy: Listing at item costs 20 cents and Etsy charges 3.5% of the sale price. All listings get up to five photos for free and the listings stay up for 4 months.

Shop Set-Up: Found as a link on the left hand side.

For simple steps on listing your item, click here.

Refinishing a chair

2010-02-21T19:29:00.000-08:00

The perfectionist in me still isn't thrilled with how this turned out, but it was fun little project with decent end results.

Let me start off with a little background info. Before moving to this current house (Yuma base housing), we had our nice wooden computer desk in our spare room. This house came with a built-in computer desk that is in the landing at the top of the stairs and with a smaller spare room, we decided to put our computer there and store the desk for now. While it's not a bad little computer nook, the location is awful and I can't think of another way to use that built-in desk and not have it look out of place. It's the first thing you seen when you walk up the stairs. Until now, I've had a blue fabric-upholstered office chair at the desk - while comfortable and functional, it's not exactly what I want to look at the back of every time I go up the stairs. For a while, I've been thinking of how nice it would be to get a nicer chair to put at the computer desk.

While at Goodwill on Friday, I found this cute chair that looked like it had a lot of potential. I redid the upholstery on my dining room chairs and I've stained furniture before, so it seemed like an easy enough fix. I paid less than $5 for it!!

After I've taken the seat off...

So, I got out my mouse sander and went to town. It was hard to get the stain off and I finally decided I'd done enough. I was hoping that when I re-stained it, it would all blend in....

Here's the chair after I stained it. See how well it blended?...okay, so it didn't blend - guess it has that rustic, weathered look? I already had stain from a bench I did a year and a half ago, so I just used it. It's a bit of a cherry color.

When I took the upholstery off, I discovered that the old padding was pretty sad, so I bought new padding from JoAnn Fabric that was less than $4 after my 40% off coupon.

And this is me going to town with the staple gun. I have my knees on the wooden bottom of the seat and am stapling the fabric. Maybe I didn't do the padding quite right or the fabric wasn't thick enough, put it puckers a bit from the staples.....again, the perfectionist in me is a little disappointed. I bought 3/4 of a yard of fabric from Wal-mart for $1.50.

And lastly, we have the finished product!

If I had to do this again, I think I would have just painted the chair (not stained it). It would have looked really cute painted white and distressed with a light blue upholstered seat, but that wouldn't fit into my decor. Am I in love? No. Am I thrilled down to my toes about how it turned out? No. Did I learn a few things from this? Yes. The total cost for this chair was about $10, so I can't complain too much. And, it satisfied the green in me - it's recycled.

Finally, a new purse

2010-02-12T20:23:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure anyone knows how to obsess like I do :D.

After spending way too much time searching for the "perfect" purse, I finally put myself out of my misery today. I've shopped online and been to anywhere in Yuma that has purses. Marshalls seemed to have the best selection and I often found purses there that were much closer to something I wanted than anywhere else I had looked. I think I went there twice a week for the past few weeks hoping that one of their purses would be the "perfect" purse.

Initially, I wanted a nice brown leather or suede purse and I wanted it to have more pockets inside, like a zippered pocked that divides the purse in half. This one is Marigold. It's a bit colorful for me, but hey, I'll be hip now, right? I like the double pockets on the sides, perfect for keys in the zipper and phone in the open pocket towards me when wearing it and I can put my camera in the zippered pocket on the other side and my sunglasses in the open pocket. I really like the magnetic closure for the main body - it's one of those magnets that is under the leather (really neat!). And it's real leather. While it wasn't super cheap, it didn't break the bank either. I saw a few purse possibilities that were about $25, but really, how long will a purse that price last? This purse, which retailed for much more, was on clearance at Marshalls for about $50. I tried it out at the commissary today and while it is deeper than my old purse and easier to loose things down there, it seems to do it's job. And obviously, it will take a little time to adjust to, too. So, it's over.....I can move on. And I have room inside to carry my coupons and money organizer and that was my main objective. WOOT! WOOT!

Slippers that fit!

2010-02-12T19:50:00.000-08:00

In case you don't remember my first attempt at slippers, but while they looked cute, they were much too big. So, I made another attempt and while I'm so pleased that 1) they fit, 2) they're the same size!!!, and 3)they keep my feet warm, they're not all that trendy - lol! I opted to skip the mary-jane strap for more coverage....I like my feet warm. I'm proud of my elf slippers non the less.

I just did continues rounds of double crochets. (I chained 3 at the start of each new row)
Row 1: 6 dc in a loop
Row 2: 2 dc in each dc
Row 3: 2dc in next dc, dc in next dc (repeat around)
Row 4: 2 dc in next dc, dc in next 2 dc (repeat around)
Row 5: 2 dc in next dc, dc in next 3 dc (repeat around)
Row 6: dc in each dc around
Rows 7-11: repeat row 6
Row 12: dc in next 19 dc
Row 13: turn, dc in next 19 dc
Rows 14-18: repeat row 13
To finish: I threaded the yarn down to the center and then folded the heal part in half and then single crocheted the 2 edges together. Then I single crocheted around the edge, doing 3 single chains together at the two corners and finishing off once I made it back around to the heel.

Sweet Rewards!!

2010-02-12T18:07:00.000-08:00

Had a good today full of lots of coupon savings!!! This is a picture of me and my son having drink treats - and we used coupons for both!!! I love teaching my family about smart shopping. After our busy Target shopping where we saved $2.05 (we only bought gum, shampoo and soap for the kids, and a travel size Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo that was free with the coupon) we needed to treat ourselves to a little drink. I had a coupon for $1 off a frappachino and one for $0.55 off an Odwalla drink that I used at the Starbucks inside Target and only spent $1.55 for both drinks!

$0.05 of our Target savings was for using our own bags. Check out my son's blog about being green!

Savings update:
$18.35 at Commissary on 02/05/2010 (late about posting this)
$2.05 at Target today
$1.55 at Starbucks today
$18.48 at the Commissary today

Today's savings of $22.08 + last week's commissary savings of $18.35 + $117.19 saved already this year = 157.62 saved for 2010 so far!!

Where have I been?

2010-02-12T17:45:00.000-08:00

My new website, YumaMom, has been my current obsession. So far, I'm still really enjoying it, but it takes a lot of time to keep it current. And I have learned SOOOO much about the world wide web, from RSS feeds to HTML code and that has taken up a lot of time too. It's not just about posting things on the blog, but also about making it a usable product.

I've added a calendar to the site that links back to YumaMom posts with more information. I also created a Fan Page on Facebook for YumaMom (called YumaMom.com) and with that, found a way for my blog posts to directly feed to the Facebook Fan Page - all very exciting!! Look how many fans I have!!

YumaMom.com

I have advertisements through Google AdSense on the main site: www.yumamom.com and when someone clicks on one of the ads, I get paid. While it's usually about $0.20 a click and there are several days that no one clicks at all, I've made about $80 in the 4 weeks the site has been up and running. And I'm getting such positive responses from other moms, it's so encouraging. While $80 a month does little to compensate me for the endless hours I put into this, I can only hope that the revenues will increase as the site's popularity increases.

Yesterday's savings = $22.49

2010-01-31T13:50:00.000-08:00

Another great commissary trip for me this week! I saved $21.49 w/ coupons. And I loved my cashier, too! I had a $2.00 of Nabisco crackers coupon, but bought Nabisco cookies instead. She checked to see if the coupon would work, which it didn't (bummer), but I had a coupon for $0.55 off Nabisco crackers or cookies and used that one instead. And as she went to ring up my Q-tips, she spotted a $0.40 peely coupon and asked it I wanted to use it! And I had been thinking when I bought the Q-tips, "gee, I wish I had a coupon for these."

And then, my husband picked us up a family move, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, from the RedBox and was able to use a coupon code for a free movie rental - another $1 saved!

That brings my 2010 coupons savings total to $117.19!! I'm now putting my coupons savings aside as I save for a new macbook. Wish me luck!

Using the resources around us

2010-01-25T16:16:00.000-08:00

Our family had an action packed weekend and we were able to do it while spending very little money thanks to all the great activities that were happening in Yuma. Saturday started with the free kids Build and Grow Clinic at Lowes where the kids built tic-tac-toe games. Before leaving Lowes, we bought a new tomato plant, cilantro, and mint for our garden. I found a Lowes card in a drawer last week and checked the balance online and discovered we had $17 on the card! I have no idea where that card came from, but it meant no money out of pocket for the plants. With the completion of their project at Lowes, the boys received a coupon for a free burger and fries from Burger King so we ran through the drive through and picked up free lunch. After lunch, the boys rode their bikes around the track behind our house while I ran/walked and then we played at the park by our house. Lastly, we went and saw The Princess and the Frog at the station theater where the kids were free (free for ages 6 and under) and adults were $2 each. The boys each bought candy for $1.50 with their own money and my husband and I shared a small combo for $4.75 that included small drink, popcorn and a candy. After the boys went to bed, we rented a Gran Torino from our local RedBox and spent $1 (none of the coupon codes I had would work). Full exciting day for $9.75.

On Sunday, we hiked up Telegraph Pass (see picture at top) and then went to the Lettuce Days Festival.

We had a pretty action-packed weekend and without spending very much money :-).

Saved $23.65 w/ coupons!

2010-01-22T14:21:00.000-08:00

Good day for coupons!

First stop was Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts where I bought a new crochet hook and some yarn. I was need of a G/4 hook and decided to try out the soft touch crochet hook this time. They're more expensive, so it was just the right time to use my 50% off coupon, saving me $3.50!

Second stop was Old Navy where I went to check out their clearance items. All clearance items were an additional 50% off. I bought a pair of shorts and 2 shirts for my oldest and 2 tanks, a dress, and slippers. I had a coupon for $5 off a $25 purchase that I printed off their site. I was just under the $25 amount and had to throw in some clearance mints. I spent $21.85 and saved $5 with my coupon (the mints ended up costing $0.39 after discounts).

Third and final stop was the commissary. The big score today were in-store coupons on a few items I buy regularly like UP frozen fruit and Presto sandwich/garbage bags. The coupons don't expire for a while so I stocked up! We use frozen fruit in our smoothies and I usually buy at least a couple of bags a month - those coupons don't expire until September 2010! It's only $0.35 off 2 bags, but since I buy them regardless, this was exciting (cheap thrills, right?). Today's commissary savings was $15.15.

Add all this to my $69.05 saved since my last trip plus $2.00 in RedBox coupon code savings and that brings my 2010 coupons savings total to $94.70!!

Hat's off to me!

2010-01-21T07:06:00.000-08:00

After making the cute little teddy bear beanie hat, I was inspired to try to make a beanie hat for myself. Not as easy as it seemed. The one pattern I tried to go off us, gave a gauge instead of a hook size and I guess wrong - the hat was way too big. I tried again changing the pattern up a bit and the hat didn't seem to be coming out even. Before I gave up completely, I decided to make another baby hat instead since I had better luck at that. Except this time I used a lighter weight yarn and the hat is way too tiny for any new born I'm sure. While flipping through Step by Step to Better Knitting & Crochet, the other book I picked up at the library last week, I found a hat pattern that listed a crochet hook and set off again to make a hat for myself. I modified the pattern a bit to get the stripe that I wanted, worked in continuous rounds, and used an F/5 hook....And Viola! It was a success!

www.YumaMom.com

2010-01-20T08:12:00.000-08:00

My latest project, one that I am very excited about, is the launch of my new website: http://www.yumamom.com/!!

http://www.yumamom.com/

Finding out what there is to do with children in this town can be such a chore. The library, MCCS, and parks and rec websites are either never up to date, or incredibly difficult to navigate. Because I'm diligent and want to take advantage of everything my local community has to offer, I spend a lot of time digging up all the right information. And I'm not afraid to learn from other moms activities and I'm always sharing, too. This site will have all the information a mom in Yuma needs to know. Please check it out and if you live in Yuma, AZ, subscribe so that you won't miss our on what's going on!

It's in the bag

2010-01-19T23:00:00.000-08:00

Somehow, despite my lack of luck, I'm still trying new things. And look, I made a bag! Okay, what you can't tell in the picture is that the bag turned out a little wonky and the handles don't match up (unless I work hard at it to make the bag look good like I did for the picture). I'm still fairly new to working in rows and think there may have bene a hick-up when adding rows. But none the less, I completed it and used leftover yarn to do the job. Maybe I can store produce from the Farmer's Market in it? My son thinks I should put all my crochet stuff in it. What do you think I should put in the bag?

I had a few extra minutes at the library before picking up my son from story time and checked out a couple of crochet books.

This one, "Getting Started Crochet," had a few cute projects in it, including the bag I made.

Cheap Date

2010-01-17T22:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, we took a family bike ride down to the nearest RedBox to pick up a movie for the night. For $1, you get the movie until 9pm the following night. Even better is when you have a promo code for a free rental. While I'm a big fan of Hip2Save for most of my coupon/deal finds, I occasionally visit SwagGrabber to see if there are different deals listed. SwagGrabber often has free promo codes for RedBox on their site. When I see the codes, I jot them down into my phone and viola, free movie! I was able to do this twice this weekend.

And then, for dinner tonight, hubby and I served mac n' cheese and chicken nuggets to the kids, complete with the healthy balance of a homemade fruit smoothie. We bathed them, put them bed, and then sat down for a nice romantic dinner for two. We had Caesar salad, steak, garlic green beans, and mashed potatoes by candlelight. We love to do this every once in a while. My husband can't stand paying for steak at a restaurant because they "never know how to cook it." Dinner at home is much more affordable, it's quiet, and there's no cost for a baby sitter. Yes, we still have to cook and clean up, but it's just so nice doing it together without the commotion of our children that we don't really mind. So, cheers to a cheap date!

Getting Organized

2010-01-16T20:00:00.000-08:00

With my new love of coupons, I decided it was time for a coupon organizer. While I was at, I bought one for my money too. (They were under $4 each at Walmart)

Dave Ramsey promotes the use of envelopes - spending your money on paper first and then setting money aside for those expenses. In an effort to be more efficient than envelopes, I thought a coupon organizer for my budgeted money might work. I did this once before and found myself robbing from Peter to pay Paul or taking clothing money to pay the babysitter, so let's hope that I'm more stringent this time around. I'm quickly discovering all the things that weren't budgeted for. Like party favors for my son's birthday, wanting to buy a tomato plant for our garden and the $30 I had to spend on printer ink. My husband and I were both allotted some "blow" money that is ours to spend how we choose, but it wasn't very fun taking $30 of my blow money to buy computer ink. Hmmmm.....still working out the kinks. Now with my new handy money organizer, our going green project is in effect. My husband got paid on Friday and I took out a big withdrawal from the ATM and then sorted and divided the cash into the various categories.

As for my coupons, it's much nicer having them organized. I watched Collin's video on coupon organizing to help me determine what dividers I would want. I'm missing something for bread...packaged goods? I'm hoping this smaller, accordion organizer will suffice for a while. Collin using a binder and I'm just not sure I want to carry something that big around with me to the store.

Speaking of taking all this with me to the stores - I need a new, bigger purse now more than ever. I found one that would do the job at Wilson Leather when Hip2Save posted about a save they were having, but without being able to see it in person, I just couldn't commit.

Will all this work and be full proof? Obviously not. But I'm open to adjustments.

Saved $10.05!!

2010-01-16T19:41:00.000-08:00

It was slightly discouraging to only save $10.05, but the coupons weren't in my favor while doing my weekly grocery shopping yesterday. There were several times that I had a coupon for the item I wanted, but another brand was cheaper or our commissary didn't carry a brand I had a coupon for. I still made some good shopping choices, so I can't complain. Ten dollars saved is still ten dollars. The previous two trips, I had been able to buy Rayovac batteries with $3 off coupons and those really accounted for a big chunk of my coupon savings. So, I will not be discouraged, but will continue to save and track my savings. My 2010 savings total was $59 and this now brings it to $69.05 and the month is only half over.

Someday I'll laugh at these....

2010-01-11T21:51:00.000-08:00

I'm starting to hate slippers. After making my own pair, my eldest said he wanted some too. Does anyone realize the struggles I go through? After many failed attempts and a few patterns-gone-wrong, I successfully made slippers that will fit my 6-year old's size 12 (kids) feet - thank goodness! Are they pretty? Heck no! But they fit and they're about the same size, so in this, we have success. Of coarse, he then tells me, "Mom, I told you I wanted boot slippers." Really, kid? Really?

To make these, I pretty much used the little bootie pattern from the bear paw booties, but made them bigger. I tightened at the heel to make sure they'd fit since that was the error I kept coming across. And I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner, but before this last successful attempt, I traced my son's foot on a piece of paper so that I at least had a better gauge to work off of. I really want some slippers that fit, but not sure I'm ready to start that all over again. In the mean time, I'm making a scarf....it has nice straight lines and does not require a matching pair ;-).

Bear paw booties

2010-01-11T21:38:00.000-08:00

My sweet friend loved the little bear beanie cap I made for her soon-to-arrive son and thought it would be even more perfect with bear paw booties. My experience lays mostly with square/rectangular objects so there was a lot of starting over with this project. And am I thrilled down to my toes? Okay, they're really cute! But the raging perfectionist in me wants to start all over again. At a certain point, I had to wave the white flag and be happy with my newly modified skills. I must say, I'm starting to understand crocheting much more now - now that I'm experimenting outside the box / outside the baby afghan - lol!!! And to make sure I'm not stealing anyone's credit, I based the booties off of a pattern from CrochetMe, but had to make them quite a bit smaller so that they would fit an infant. The bear paws are just little circles that I made and then stiched on. Not bad, right?

Saved $34!!!

2010-01-09T11:27:00.000-08:00

Another successful commissary shopping trip. I save $28 yesterday. I bought 79 items and all but about 25 of them (some of them were produce) I had a coupon for. I had a few high dollar coupons, so not sure when I'll be able to top a $28 savings. Also, I saved $6 at Walgreens, getting 4 small boxes of Ritz and Saltines for free and getting Visine for about $2.50, plus I got $1 RR back. So, that brings my daily savings to $34 and my annual savings to $59! Most of my coupons come from coupons.com or from links posted on Hip2Save. I admit, my grocery shopping takes a bit longer, but there's also a thrill to using coupons and watching the total drop with the scan of each one!

Current purchase obsession - I need a new purse

2010-01-07T20:02:00.000-08:00

I'm very ready for a new purse. I was hoping to do some purse shopping while I was in California at Christmas time, but ran out of time. I have a coach bag now that I've been very happy with. The leather braided strap stays on my shoulder, it's not too big, it has the perfect pockets for my keys and iphone.....

but I've had it a year and a half and I want something with more room and more pockets. I want one that opens at the top with a covered magnet closure (no flap like my current one and no zipper) and 1-2 dividers in the main compartment so that I have nice ways to keep my coupons and sunglasses separate from other contents. My friend recently got a new coach bag, the maggie, that I thought was perfect, but after trying it on I found that the leather straps slip right off my shoulder. It's a good thing too, because the retail price on that purse was way more than I'd like to pay.

I know what you're thinking - what, Coach purse? I thought this girl was thrifty with her coupons and trying to save money by paying with cash. But a girl's gotta have a good purse! We all have our weaknesses, right? It's a balancing game - I save with coupons, bargain shopping, buying second hand and then every couple of years, I splurge and buy a good purse. If it's any consolation, this last purse was bought at the MCX at the recruit depot in San Diego. If you're not familiar, an MCX is a Marine Corps Exchange (my husband is active duty) and they sell name brand items at a lower price plus there is no tax....so it was a little bit of a bargain ;-).

I found a great purse at the Cole Haan outlet. It was brown suede and slouchy and had leather ropey handles, but I was afraid that one of the straps would keep falling off my shoulder and it didn't have any of the dividers inside that I was looking for. It was on sale for 60% off, but I was afraid I wanted it for all the wrong reasons. I'm having buyers remorse and wishing I would have bought it. Not sure if I'll find "the" purse at that price.

I've looked online and I'm burnt out. I went to a few local stores like Marshalls and Dillards, but can't find what I'm looking for in a brand that I like. Plus, I have shoppers guilt when making such a purchase this big. It's humbled me enough to be happy with what I have for a little while longer.

Hopefully, I'll get a new purse before summer :-P.