Anything to save a dollar!

A few weeks ago Neal and I thought it would be fun to take Lydia swimming. She already had a cute swimsuit, but still needed some swim diapers. I had a coupon for $1 off Little Swimmers so I sent Neal to the store to get some. I probably asked him 4 or 5 times if he still had the coupon and if he was going to remember to use it. As he was leaving, he repeatedly assured me that he had already put it in his pocket and no, of course he wouldn't forget to use it. Upon returning, he placed a plastic bag on the table. It contained; a package of little swimmers, the receipt, and a one dollar bill. A dollar bill? Yep, he had gone to Walmart and bought the diapers without remembering to use the coupon. It wasn't until he was standing in the customer service line at Kohl's (we had a return there) that he remembered the coupon. After finishing up at Kohls, he drove back to Walmart and explained to the lady what had happened. He told her that he just couldn't go back without using the coupon because his wife would not be very happy with him. She laughed, refunded him with a dollar bill, and said that her boyfriend forgot things like that all the time too. Maybe it was just a dollar but I'm glad he remembered and went back. A dollar saved here and there add up more quickly than you'd think. :) 

After a few weeks of moving to Bountiful, I was called as a den mother for the Wolf cub scouts. Among other things, I needed to go down to the Scout shop and buy a yellow den leader shirt.After watching KSL and D.I. in hopes of finding one that is a bit cheaper (and finding nothing),  I finally decided that I needed to just bite the bullet and go buy one. Lydia and I drove down to the scout shop and looked at the shirts again. They only had ones with long sleeves and they were $33! Yikes! No way! I would NEVER pay that for a shirt, especially one that is not cute and that I only wear once in a while to my meetings. After wandering around the store for a while and trying to think up some alternative, I found the clearance section. In the middle of the pile of scout shirts there was one yellow leader shirt. I started to pull it out and the fabric just kept coming and coming. It was HUGE! Definitely the biggest shirt I have ever seen. Finding the tag I read the size- 56. It didn't have a price tag so I asked the employee there how much it cost. He replied it was $4.95. Great! I'll take it! $5 is SO much better than $33. He gave me a really funny look when I wanted to purchase it and wanted to make sure I knew that it was a really big size and wouldn't fit me. I told him for $5 I would find a way to make it work.

My lovely new scout shirt. :) This picture doesn't do it justice, but it really is HUGE!

After getting back home I got out my scissors and started cutting! First I had to take off the pockets and badges so I wouldn't cut throught them. Next I cut off lots from the bottom and from each side. After sewing up the sides and hemming the bottom, it was time for the sleeves. I decided to make my new sleeves by using the cuffs on the long sleeves- this way I didn't have to hem each sleeve and it makes the shirt a bit cuter. I sewed the pockets and patches back on in their new spots and , TA DA! I had a new, much smaller, and much cuter version of my $5 shirt.  It was actually kind of fun and my shirt turned out better than I thought it would. 

My finished shirt. Hopefully this gives a bit more perspective to how big the original size was. The fabric below my shirt is what I cut off from the bottom of the original.

After seeing my cute new shirt for only $5. Who wouldn't want to be a den mother? :)