5 Money Habits that Will Turn You Into a Saver

Do you consider yourself to be a spender? Or are you a saver? When it comes to managing your finances, you likely fall into one of the two categories. I would consider myself to be a saver, but I wasn’t always this way! There was a time when I would have categorized myself as a spender. So what changed? I changed some of my money habits to make me into a saver or a recovering spender, I should say. Here are some of the money habits I developed to turn myself into a saver.

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10 Things We Learned from Building a DIY Porch Swing Bed

When I was a kid, our house had a porch swing and it was one of my favorite things. We spent hours on that swing being rocked to sleep by my dad, swinging with friends, and sharing secrets on warm summer nights in the midwest. I have very fond memories of it, with the exception of the one time my dad was rocking my little brother, Ben, to sleep and as he carefully came back inside a bat flew in too. There was an evening of screaming and running from end to end of the house chasing a bat with a broomstick for what seemed like hours. In the end, no one slept much.

We have a covered porch area much like we did when I was a kid, and when I saw the plans from Plank and Pillow for an easy-to-follow DIY porch swing bed, I knew I wanted one! I had purchased outdoor furniture for the back patio about 11 years ago for $10 and had grown tired of it. I was able to sell it on Facebook Marketplace {check this post for more tips for selling your items}for $150, so we used some of the profit on the lumber because, hello, wood is expensive right now! 

Keep reading for 10 things we learned from building a DIY porch swing bed and how we made it our own.

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Upcycled {Sweet} Tea Tray

This post is written on behalf of Southern Breeze Sweet Tea. All opinions are 100% my own. 
One of my most favorite things to do is to upcycle things that I find at garage sales and thrift stores. I have a drop down menu full of DIY projects and crafts that I have made using things I've found at garage sales. I don't usually change the items so much, I just give them a little update or add some personalization or character. When I heard that my favorite Southern Breeze Sweet Tea was getting an update, I knew I wanted to help them celebrate their new look by updating something I had. I took a plain tray I bought for a dollar and added some black vinyl to make it not quite so boring. I'm sharing the full tutorial with you on the blog, plus I'm also letting you in on a fun giveaway you won't want to miss!

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Top Blog Posts of 2016

I can hardly believe how quickly this year flew by. I had a crazy year with a few lows {this was one of them} and some pretty awesome highs.  As for the blog, it's been a pretty amazing year. Almost three years ago, I started to realize that I could turn my hobby blog into my business and have been working towards that goal since. In the past year, I became an LLC, rebranded from Holy Craft to RachelTeodoro and have been hustling to make my blog my full time job. It's been a lot of work, but it's been so very rewarding for me.  For the past seven years, I have been wrapping up my year of blogging with the top posts from that year. It's always fun for me to look back on the year and see what I have done. So let's take a stroll down memory lane with me, won't you?

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A Collection of Elf on the Shelf ideas for Lazy Parents

I heard about the Elf on the Shelf a few years ago but thought that maybe my kids would be too old for it. I sort of wish I had started it then.  It seems like such a fun Christmas tradition that so many families are having a lot of fun with. If you are one of the few that haven't heard about elf on the shelf, the idea is that your family adopts an elf of your very own.  The elf then is the eyes and ears for Santa reporting back who is on the naughty or nice list.  In some houses, the elf gets into some mischief of his own at night when everyone is sleeping.  
It's hard to be good all of the time! It's also hard to remember to move the darn thing! These ideas will help you get that Elf moving in under 5 minutes or less.

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Printable Christmas Gift Courtesy of Jones Design Company

A few weeks ago, the amazing Emily over at Jones Design Company, offered up this Christmas printable for FREE!


I had my husband make a few copies (remember I don't have a color printer) and I picked up a few frames at Ikea.  

They make wonderful hostess gifts.  Thanks Emily!

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Window Shopping Day 4-Halloween Edition

This whole week I have been sharing with you some of my favorite things from a recent window shopping trip. Yesterday, I started my Halloween Edition and today I continue it.

This little guy was found at a scrapbook store. Pretty sure, he's all paper. Totally cool

This Halloween topiary gets an A for best use of an old thread spool. And check out the Halloween colored twine...love it.

So many great things to see here

I love the poison jar, the black tree and the silver glitter skull

Aren't these owl ornaments amazing?

There was a bucket of skulls too

I couldn't get enough of all of the really cool figurines they had. I love the tissue paper details.

I found this owl high up on a shelf

Every year I spray paint and put glitter on several real pumpkins. I love that they added ribbon and flowers to these. Keepin' it classy!

Like I mentioned yesterday, there were a ton of Halloween trees out there. And why not? How else are you going to hang your Halloween ornaments?

This Dracula ornament was too cute! You pulled the bat at the bottom and he did little jumping jacks.

This little owl was too cute.

I love the vintage feel of these black cats

I don't even know what to say about these guys. I just thought they were pretty cool. Like "hello, you are interrupting my conversation".

And these look like the bratty kids who steal your candy from your pillowcase on Halloween night

I love this black pumpkin

Seriously, weren't those some of the best Halloween decorations out there?! I had so much fun sharing my window shopping treasures with you. Did you have a favorite? Next time, lets go shopping together!

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Window Shopping Day 3-Halloween Edition

For the past few days I have been sharing with you some of the treasures I found while out window shopping with my husband on his day off.

One of my favorite places for window shopping is downtown Sumner, WA. The shops were all decked out in preparation for Halloween. Here are a few of my favorite things.

Check out that black cat

and these paper mache dolls were so fun! I loved how they had displays with various cages and bars.

Does this remind anyone else of Harry Potter?

I love mice...when they aren't real!

There were a lot of black trees

I thought this sign was pretty cool. And it looks like it would be easy to make.

I love these pumpkin scarecrows and the pumpkin in the pot

I'm pretty sure this candy corn was painted packaging peanuts

The embroidery on this towel was great. I think it would make a cute shirt for a kiddo or a little framed picture

I love the font and the colors on these signs

Look at the base of this guy. It looks like a candlestick and and some round wood pieces. Again, something that would be easy to make

I love Cinderella pumpkins!

These were little ornaments for the black trees I was talking about earlier that were everywhere. They had little black jewels hanging down from them too.

LOVED LOVED LOVED this pumpkin treat basket

More ornaments for your spooky tree

I love all of the details on this little girl. And the orange trees in the background are super cool

I thought this little girl had the best expression and I loved the white house behind her

This pumpkin was pretty cute too

Aren't these some of the best Halloween decorations you have ever seen? I have more to share with you tomorrow.

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Super cool table

I'm a sucker for cool vintage up cycled pieces, so when I saw this Number 5 table at The Painted Turtle , I knew I had to share it with you.

The color choices are amazing together and the distressing is perfect. I think it looks like the side of an old race car.

Head on over to The Painted Turtle and see how to make one yourself.

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Let me Introduce you to Our Wonderfilled Life

A long long time ago (o.k. maybe not that long ago!)  in a pledge class above me, I met Kennedy. Well, really Michelle, but back in the day we were too cool to go by first names (yep, some people still call me Foster...it's gansta or something). Through the wonders of Facebook, many of my sorority sisters from the Delta Zeta house are able to keep in touch with each other. Facebook gives us the chance to see lovely growing families, hear about weddings and births, job changes and moves. Michelle is one of those people who I have connected with more on facebook than I probably did when we lived in the same house! I'm pretty sure my craft blog addiction (and the reason I ultimately started Holy Craft) can be blamed on Michelle. Michelle is an amazingly creative woman. She sews Little Marvels Capes She does complete room makeovers in the middle of the night She plans amazing birthday parties for her boys Boys... that's right, did I mention that she has FIVE boys?! Yep, five of them! Four of them share a birthday. How cute are they?!!! Michelle to me, is the ultimate expert on all things boy. Just check out her Boy Wonder Toy Awards . So if you didn't think Michelle was cool yet, get this. Before kids, she worked at Anthropologie in their home department (and in my opinion it's the best department there). Check out some of her insider tips . Michelle is currently running a giveaway. She will be giving away three of her Little Marvels Super Hero Capes. You can enter here . And while you are it it, stay awhile and check out the rest of Michelle's blog . I know you will love it!

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