How to Dress For Less

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Want to refresh your wardrobe but strapped for cash? Many of us can overspend on clothing, some items of which we may only wear once or twice. Buying less clothes is the obvious way of cutting costs. However, many of us may be able to slash our clothes shopping bill simply by avoiding the high street retail outlets and buying clothes from other places. Here are a few ways that you could dress for less.

Get thrifty

Expensive vintage stores aren’t the only place to go thrifting. Second-hand stores such as charity shops and jumble stores are great for finding items of quality clothing for cheap. Flea markets and even yard sales can also be fantastic places to go for cheap second-hand clothes. Condition may not always be top notch, so bear this in mind.

Bid on clothing

Auctions can sometimes be great places to find quality clothing for cheap. Bidding sites such as Dealdash are a good place to look for low-end clothing. Make sure to always go into a bid with a maximum price in mind, otherwise you could end up spending more than you’d hoped.

Shop out of season

The cheapest time to buy summer clothes is in the winter. There’s little demand for them, as more people are focused on wrapping up warm and dressing in cooler winter colours. You may have to wait a few months to get your wear out of these clothes, but you’ll have saved a lot of money. Similarly, you should buy winter clothes in summer. You can also sometimes get deals on last year’s clothing lines from the exact same season.

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Hire clothing

When it comes to special occasions, you don’t want to buying a new expensive dress each time – but you may also not want to risk being seen in the same dress twice. What’s the solution to this? Hiring dresses instead of buying them is the answer. Companies such as Rent the Runway could allow you to hire a luxury dress for a tenth of the sale price. Such clothing is professionally dry-cleaned and treated so that it remains looking brand new. You do of course have to be careful when hiring clothes as any damage you make to a dress will have to paid for. Also, if you grow too attached, you may want to think twice before buying from these companies as whilst they may allow it, they’ll often charge more than the sale price.

Collect coupons

Couponing can get you deals on all kinds of things. By signing up to few coupon sites such as Wowcher you may be able to collect vouchers and promo codes that could allow you discounts from various retail stores. Remember to use these coupons before they run out as most have a strict expiry date on them. You can also occasionally find coupons and vouchers in magazines and newspapers.

Children Will Have Hours of Fun With Magformers

One of my favorite things to do is sit back and see how Scarlett plays with her toys.  She frequently puts Mr. Potato Head's eyes where his ear should be, or she loves to build her own version of a tower using blocks.  It's interesting to see the thought process behind how she chooses to play.  I don't correct her or ever tell her she's doing it wrong, because every child is creative in their own way.

Magformers offers children a creative outlet by allowing them to enjoy magical and powerful magnets that can transform into just about everything! The multiple geometric shapes and accessories allow for higher, stronger building.  With such a wide variety of shapes and colors that offer endless combinations, it leads to children using their imagination creativity in new ways.  It's always a good idea to turn off any electronics and really let children use their mind as well.

Magformers product construction and high quality finish leads to long lasting play experiences each and every time.  You'll find several Magformers sets available that any child would enjoy hours of fun with.  Keep Magformers in mind for any of your gift guiding needs both present and future.

Whether it's building a house out of blocks or coloring to her heart's content, creativity really runs deep with my child.  She definitely uses her imagination through play and it's really exciting as a mother to see what she'll come up with next.

When Scarlett received the Tile Blox Rainbow 104 piece set, I knew she'd be really excited about it. Your tiny tot can become the ultimate builder with 104 different magnetic pieces.  Design anything from houses and rocket ships to animals and more.  With six different shapes and various colors, this is great for any master builder ages 3 and up.  The set includes 24 equilateral triangles, 44 squares, 4 trapezoids, 8 rectangles, 12 right-angle triangles, and 12 isosceles triangles, it's ideal for putting your mind to work. 

Scarlett was very excited to try the Magformers after she woke up from her nap and had no issues diving right in! She saw the giraffe made from Magformers on the box and was instantly intrigued.  I think Magformers are perfect for indoor rainy day play as well as when it gets too cold to play outside.  Cooler weather will be here before you know it.  (RIP summer!) The pieces are bright and colorful and definitely attract little hands.

Since we have a large living room, this set is ideal for playing on a spacious surface.  I laid all of the pieces out and my tiny tot immediately got to work.  Since Scarlett knows her shapes, she liked naming what each shape was.  That's an added bonus of this set, you can use it for teaching shapes too.

Scarlett was really excited to play with the Magformers and it really held her attention for a while.  I even got down on the floor and played with her.  There's something addictive about magnets for any age, it's hard to stay away.  The pieces are strong and adhere securely to each other with ease.

You really can create anything you want with the Magformers set, the possibilities are endless. Whether you want to create a castle or even a robot, the sky's the limit! Since this is a toy that's geared for a wide age range, it's not one that Scarlett will outgrow quickly.  It's always nice to have toys that will last for years and not have your child lose interest in it fast.

One thing that I do wish that the Magformers set included was a carrying case.  If the box breaks or rips, it's hard to store the pieces in an organized manner since there are so many.  It would be nice if there was a large storage bag or carrying case included.  In the future we may have to store the pieces in a large ziploc bag.

It's never too early for holiday shopping either.  Consider adding Magformers to your holiday gift list for a lucky boy or girl!

*DISCLOSURE* Thank you to Magformers for providing a product sample in order to facilitate this post.  All thoughts are strictly my own. 

PetCakes Will Make Dogs Everywhere Happy!

Lynnie is an absolute treat fanatic. Just mentioning the word sends her into a frenzy of crying and jumping around. There's not any treat that she doesn't love.  Whether you give her a bone, beef stick or milkbone, she will devour them all the same.  Lynnie loves Scarlett more these days because she's constantly giving her treats!

Lucky Paws proudly presents PetCakes, the first ever microwavable dog treat that will make your pet extremely excited.  Founded by owner Melinda Kirk seven years ago, this unique concept of a canine cupcake has been extremely popular.  It is available for purchase online and will be in Kroger in October.  PetCakes is made of all natural and organic ingredients and can be microwaved in less than 3 minutes creating a tasty and totally unique experience for families and their pets.  The Petcakes product line includes frozen dog and cat treats in flavors like banana carob and honey yogurt as well as the microwavable treats.  Pets around the world will go nuts for Petcakes!

If you're conscious of your dog's diet and don't want to feed them anything with unnatural ingredients, Petcakes would be a great choice for you.  Everything is sourced in the USA and they only use the finest human-grade ingredients free of harmful additives and preservatives.

Petcakes dog treats can be made in just 2 minutes and 30 seconds in the microwave.  Each kit comes with a special purple pan that features 3 molds in the shape of dog bones. Each kit comes with 2 mixes. There are three different flavors sold separately featuring original carob, pizza, and 3 cheese.

After Scarlett woke up from her nap, I thought it would be a fun project for Scarlett to help me make treats for Lynnie.  She loves to help out in the kitchen so I figured this would be right up her alley.  Lynnie received a carob Petcakes kit as well as a holiday kit.

The treats were really easy to make.  All you do is combine one packet of mix, 1/2 cup water, and 1 tablespoon of peanut butter into a mixing bowl and stir until blended.  The box says that you can substitute applesauce, yogurt, or even cottage cheese into the mix instead of using peanut butter if you prefer.  Go ahead and customize the treat to your pet's taste and food preferences. The directions say to fill each mold to the top until full.  After that, you microwave for 2 minutes and then the treats cool for 5 minutes until serving. The mix looked sort of like raw pancake batter.

Lynnie was going nuts the entire time Scarlett and I were making the treats.  I told them they were for her and she was very excited.  I don't think she took her eyes (and nose!) off of us and the microwave for one second.  Can you blame her though? This girl loves her treats!  Scarlett really enjoyed helping me mix the batter although I didn't trust her to pour the batter into the molds!

After 5 minutes of cooling it really did look like I had baked the treats.  They went from raw batter to "cooked" very quickly.  How adorable is that bone shape? Lynnie couldn't wait to try them! Since she is a small dog and the treats are very large for her, I cut a small piece off of the end and had Scarlett give it to her. She happily gobbled it down instantly and then looked at me for more! I think it's safe to say that she loved them.

You can also spread some peanut butter or cream cheese on the top of the treat for some added yumminess for your dog.  I might try that next time with the holiday kit that I'll be using in the coming weeks.

The trays are reusable if you want to make your dog happy by making them delicious treats over and over!

Keep Petcakes in mind for a tasty gift for your pooch or a friend's, they will absolutely love it.

*DISCLOSURE* Thank you to PetCakes for providing a product sample in order to facilitate this post.  All thoughts are strictly my own.