Thursday, January 30, 2020

Want to talk about money?  This is a topic I have not really broached here – except when talking about my shopping habits and purchases maybe.  Why do people shy away from talking about money?  I currently read a couple of blogs about frugality and I love a good personal finance book from – where else?  – the library!  I love to hear money saving tips and I’m curious/nosy and like to hear how other people manage their money, too.   I guess this is a pretty personal topic.  I respect that different people will choose to spend their money in different ways.  

January seems to be a good month to become more frugal.  I know many people make financial resolutions, plus, after the excess of the holidays, I just feel yucky money wise; it’s time to reign in the spending, right?  

I would call myself selectively frugal.  I try to save money where I can so I can splurge on things that matter most to me.  

I have always loved working and making my own money.  I babysat from the time I was able, I was a lifeguard, a pool manager, a language lab instructor in college, a college reporter and photographer for the newspaper, a waitress at Pizza Hut, a waitress on a floating barge restaurant on the river, a law office receptionist, a stock room person at a clothing store – Talbots Surplus store, and a Spanish teacher!  I worked every summer as a beginning teacher and even worked the summer I was pregnant with twins.  I love to work and want to use my money wisely.  

Here are some ways I have enjoyed a fabulously frugal (in my opinion) lifestyle getting to enjoy the things I enjoy in life without spending too much money…

I love clothes, shoes, and accessories. I love searching at consignment stores for treasures and have found amazing finds – not so many lately, though. Also, for 3 years I tracked my clothing spending. I learned so much from doing this. I would re-evaluate purchases at the end of the year and see the good purchases and shopping mistakes I made.  

I love reading – but I don’t need to own the books because I won’t read them again. The library is my best money saving tip ever!

I love being outside in nature – sometimes hiking or walking and sometimes just sitting. Parks are free and I must live somewhere with an outdoor space – I have a wonderful patio and will have an additional deck soon.  Even better if I have people to join me and a coffee or a cocktail!

I love being with people and talking over a meal with them at a home or a restaurant. (This is what I save my money for during the week – I take my breakfast, lunch, and coffee to work with me and rarely spend any money during the week from Monday-Thursday on ANYTHING – except for gas, maybe.  I try to do all the grocery shopping on the weekend so I don’t have to go back to the store during the week.  

I love cooking and trying new recipes.  This is a pretty cheap hobby because I am not buying filet mignon or lobster and you can argue that it is a money saving hobby because you spend less cooking.

Splurges:

Gifts -I love to give gifts and love finding the perfect gift for people.

Nails– I love having nice looking nails. I am spending about $10 a week on these dip treatments right now ($35 every 3-4 weeks). I have cut down on Starbucks to justify this. I used to treat myself once or twice week to the tune of $5 a coffee and now it is rare when I get one. So, this has been worth it to me. The dip nail treatment has made me happy and been worth the money.

Hair – I space it out as much as possible and only go to the salon about 5-6 times a year.

Travel – We have taken some amazing trips on a budget. I did lots of research to find good deals on lodging and we camped on one of these trips (along with other camping weekend trips). We also drove rather than flew on all the trips except Germany. I packed food for snacks and some meals. There are lots of ways to save on travel. From the time our boys were 2-14 we traveled most spring breaks and summers. It has gotten more difficult in high school with homework, camps, activities schedules, etc. We did Myrtle Beach, Okaloosa Island, Assateague and Chincoteague, Colonial Williamsburg, Washington DC, Disney, Universal, The Keys, The Everglades, Asheville, Nashville, Panama City Beach, Destin, Michigan multiple times, Hilton Head, Chicago, Dauphin Island, and Germany. Fun fact: On every vacation my boys got a t-shirt and I am making them into a quilt for them soon.  I am so excited to do this!  

Education and Books for my kids – We spent money on opportunities to learn – extra classes, camps, lessons and books our boys wanted. They loved the library, too, but wanted to own books that they loved. We felt this was a good use of our money.

Museums and Experiences for my kids – I guess I could lump this in with the above category.  I never skimped on things like this and would always pay full price if I had to, but I have always been good about finding free things to do in my city.  I have researched free days or ways to get in for reduced fees.  We have gone to festivals and done some really unique things.

Boating – Boating is a big splurge but we had dreamed of being able to boat since before we were married.  We also live near a body of water and have family members with a boat business.  We took the plunge and bought a used boat 5 years ago and it has brought us so much fun.  We used to belong to a pool in the summers so I guess you could say this has replaced that – in a much more expensive way!  

So, that’s all I can think of for now!  If you lasted that long and are still reading, what are your saves and splurges?  What type of spender are you?  Remember I’m very curious about this topic!  Lol!  

Amy 

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Are you tired of your winter clothes yet?  I am still doing o.k. and maybe it is because of my challenge here!  I am linking up with The Style Six today so go hereand visit some wonderful ladies!  

I think I have more hits than misses now that I have pared down winter clothes that were not serving me well.  

This is what I wore to watch the UK game – blue top (for the team colors), black vest, black pants and clogs.  

Dinner out at at Mexican restaurant – Hue jeggings, Sanitas clog booties, black top, leopard sweater/kimono

School outfit – leggings, black top, pink ¨burberry plaid” sweater

School outfit – velvet matilda janes, velvet top, velvet kimono – too much velvet maybe? 

School outfit – leggings, swing dress, faux fur vest

School outfit – new polka dot top from Steinmart, black pants, black vest 

These all feel like my true style.  They were all comfortable and did you notice what they all had in common?  They all employ the rule of three.  I had three pieces in each outfit.  The third piece, the topper, or the completer piece ties the outfits together in my opinion.  

All of these pieces are KEEP!  I probably am close to the point where I can repeat and say that my winter closet is set.  I plan to only buy things that will work for spring unless I see a crazy good deal!

What about you?  What have you worn?  Any favorites in the outfits above?  

Thanks for reading!

Amy

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

I always appreciate it when a blogger follows up on a product recommendation so today I thought I would share my honest thoughts on my Rothys flats that I purchased exactly a year ago – well, February 2019.  First, a disclaimer.  Everyone has different feet.  Everyone has different opinions.  I can only speak about the rounded toe flat as that is the only one I have purchased and worn.

I thought I would model for you on my mudroom tile.  I bought the mink color which I would call a purplish brown hue.  I found this color to really work with so much of my clothing.  You can see a little foot powder inside.  

I love the flattering v shape inside the shoe.  I love the material.  It is really a cool weave – made from recycled water bottles. 

I love the little blue stripe on the back of the shoe. 

They are the most comfortable flats I have ever put on my feet.  I also have Tieks and Tory Burchs and I have also worn a lot of flats over the years as a teacher.  

I think they are in great shape a year later and I have put them in the washer once.  

The only negatives for me are that I think they shrunk very slightly in the washer – I should have only washed the inner liners – and that they make my feet stink and sweat a bit.  I have not tried to find many solutions to this and really it is not a big deterrant for me. 

So, final thoughts – yes, it is a heck of a lot of money to spend but if you love flats and wear them often I think they are more than worth the money.  Maybe it would be a good use of Christmas or birthday money or you could request these if someone asks you for an idea. 

They have new styles and prints that are to die for.  I cannot justify another pair right now but I wish I could!  

Thoughts?  Anyone else own them?  

Amy  

Monday, January 27, 2020

Hello last week of January!  I am always relieved to be finished with January, which I know sounds bad.  It is a hard month for me.  Do you agree?  I am linking up with Heather, etc. so go here for other Monday posts.  I guess January hasn’t been too bad this year.  We have had mild temperatures and lots of sunshine.  

This weekend I was under the weather a bit.  I had the sore throat and a cough but nothing else really.  I bought a Starbuck’s medicine ball tea once and made them myself many other times.  I really think it works.  My homemade one needs a bit of peppermint oil but other than that it is really close!  

Fuzzy socks and medicine ball!

Friday night I met hub on his way home from work and our friends Dan and Kara for Mexican.  We had a nice time catching up with them. 

We didn’t share this time and we should have.  We brought home lots of leftovers. 

Jack had two last shows of Pride and Prejudice and was gone from 11 a.m. Saturday until 1 p.m. Sunday!  They had a cast sleepover (well – 6 cast members) and then he went back to the theatre for another audition.  Mason was gone all day for an academic competition. 

I made myself go get a pedicure and a manicure.  I had a hard time sitting for both at the same time!  I chose dark blue for both. 

I finally started You Season 2 on Netflix.  Beware – once you start you can’t stop. 

I haven’t had any good library books lately so I think I binged more because of that.  

I took the pink and sea green baskets back because I just didn’t like the look.  Thank you for all of your suggestions.  I could’ve lived with pink and white but decided to just keep the white I have.  I am done talking about my baskets now – I promise!  

Saturday night Mason was tired and wanted to stay home and work on homework so Tom and I went to watch the UK game at a pub with our friends Heather and Scott and Heather and Eric. 

This was before it filled up.  It got very rowdy and the speaker for the t.v. was right by me and we had to shout to talk.  It was not pleasant.  I can’t do the shouting over loud noise that I did in my twenties! 

Sunday I did meal prep (took a week off from it last week) and tried to do some shopping at Aldi.  Are all Aldis not created equally?  I see many bloggers get amazing things.  I don’t even think it’s that much less expensive than my Kroger prices.  I spent $34 on two bags of groceries.  That’s not that great in my opinion.  

Mason had to go to the library to work on a project but Jack was back in the nest.  When Mason got home, Tom and I left to see a matinee of The Gentlemen.  I see everything with Matthew McConaughey.  It was good but it is a Guy Ritchie film so they are a little bit different if that makes sense.  There were lots of famous people in it – Henry Golding and Hugh Grant were also in it.  

We didn’t go to our regular theater and we were not happy with the chairs not being as comfortable.  We are spoiled!  

We got home and finally had dinner with the four of us again!  It will be a busy week but then it will be February!  Maybe winter will come?  

How was your weekend?  I hope it was relaxing, productive, fun, and much more!  Stay healthy!  

Amy 

Thursday, January 23, 2020

These pretzels are really good but they are quite pricey!  $5 for a small bag was what I paid.  I think they are even more on Amazon.  Do you need an easy Superbowl recipe?  Read on!  

My aunt and cousin have been making these for years and then I put two and two together – they are very similar!  They were basically making Dots pretzels!  By the way, my aunt has lots of recipes that I use!  

What you Need:

3 bags Butter Twist pretzels (I went to three stores and could not find so I used thicker rods/sticks and I only used two bags but I used less oil and less ranch)

canola oil (1 cup)

1 and 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 and 1/2 tsp. dill weed

1 and 1/2 packet Ranch dressing powder 

Mix all together

Mix together.  Over the next few hours stir and then put in a baggie. 

Yum!  

Let me know if you try it!  Thanks Aunt Judy and cousin April!  

Amy 

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Happy Hump Day, dear readers!  As much as I love a Monday off, it really throws off the whole week, you know?  It is already Wednesday!  

So I am continuing my Wear EveryTHING Til Spring challenge by wearing each piece that is seasonal until I repeat a piece.  As I do so, I am purging items as need be.  But, I have a problem.  My classroom is so hot – like I need short sleeves hot – and the weather outside is frigid.  I feel like a crazy person pulling items from my spring and fall section to add to my winter clothes.  I guess you could say this is forcing me to be creative and forcing me to wear more clothing?  I have been told there is no way to adjust my heating system in my room.  The only thing I can do is open a window and that does not go over well with the students sitting by the window!  

Matilda Jane olive long pants, camo top, light spring cream cotton cardigan(had to take cardigan off most of day!) – KEEP all!  

Black Chicos capris, black short sleeve, leopard duster.  The duster came off for most of the day.  KEEP all! 

I tried this outfit on and the vest just did not do it for me.

SELL vest! 

I changed to this sweaterish material leopard poncho.

KEEP! 

I wore this to eat Mexican.  I bought some Hollywood tape to help keep the buttons from slightly gaping open.  Old Navy button down, JCPenney fur vest, black Hue jeggins.  KEEP all! 

I am on the fence about this top.  I wore it to run Saturday a.m. errands. 

UNDECIDED! 

I had an opportunity to hit some stores over the long weekend.  I was still shopping for my closet so I went to Hobby Lobby, Target, and then also got to go to Kohls, Old Navy, and I wandered around the mall.  

I picked up two blouses at ON for 5.99 each.  They had blush and mustard.  I like the high yoke and I think they will work under my kimonos and cardigans – even now and not just in the spring!  

What do you think?  Good purchases? 

Closet Update:

Mom was right.  I waited a week and the additional white baskets were gone.  I feel like this looks too baby room.  I can still return them.  Thoughts? 

The floors have been really cold while getting ready and I knew I wanted a rug.  I was thrilled to find this at Marshalls for $29.  

Are you doing the challenge?  What have you been wearing lately?  

Thanks for reading!

Amy 

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

If you have been around blog-land, you have heard lots of talk about this hair tool.  These are available at Target or on Amazon and I’m sure other places as well.  I bought mine about a year ago and as I am writing this post it looks like I paid double the current Amazon price of $35.

First a little bit about my hair routine: I wash my hair at night and go to bed with slightly damp hair.  I wake up to dry hair but I have some bed head going on.  I spritz my hair with water mainly in the sections with bed head and then use my Revlon tool to fully dry those sections and to smooth my hair all over a bit.  If you wear your hair straight, you are done.  You look like you have a salon blow out – no joke.  

These are the tools I use to style my hair:

I prefer my hair curled.  I use a very old one inch barrel regular curling iron.  I learned the importance of clipping the top sections up and doing the bottom first.  I curl away from my face, then I let the clips out and curl the top. 

The finished product.  I think the curls look better after using my dryer tool first.  I have learned not to comb out the curls I just created.  I spray lightly with my hairspray and let them cool and then I use my fingers to style and…

use this comb to gently tease the top of my head a bit.  Then I do a final spray. 

My favorite hairspray.  It is only 5.99 and I now have it on autoship from Amazon because I can’t find it in my stores regularly.  It is really good for my hair.  My hair is fine and stick straight but I have a lot of it.  The smell of this hairspray is not offensive at all and I am very, very picky about smells. 

The finished product.  This only takes me about 10 minutes because my hair is virtually dry when I start. 

Word of advice:  If you start with really wet hair and you have a lot of hair, I would use a traditional blow dryer first and start with the Revlon tool when your hair is only damp.  I am the least coordinated person you will ever meet and I can use this tool successfully.  It won’t tangle in your hair.  I should have shown you a picture with straight hair, but I didn’t think of it.  

Do you own one?  If you have been on the fence, I do think it is well worth the $35.  

Amy 

Monday, January 20, 2020

We are off today to honor MLK, Jr. but I thought I would stick with my normal Hello Monday post.  I am linking up with Heather, etc. if they do the normal link up today so go here to read more posts.  

So, how was your weekend?  Our was full of good stuff!  It had been a busy week so I was really ready to see Friday come!  I am trying to just enjoy and find good in each day and not be too stressed.  This is my boys’ last semester of high school (How did this happen????) and I want to be laid back and happy (or as laid back and happy as a type A person who is helping twins figure out college decisions can be)!  

First, on my Friday Favorites here I wanted to follow up with this for your car.  It really does what it says it will do.  If you have a big console or someone in your front passenger seat leaving you with no room for your purse, I think this is worth looking into.  I bought mine on Amazon for around $20.  

I chose tan to match my car interior.  It was super easy to install by hooking to the head rests with clips.  I am not too handy but this was no problem at all. 

It provides kind of a hammock for your purse to stay next to you without falling.  There is also a pouch for the people in the backseat or for you to keep Kleenex or anything else you might need at your reach.  I wanted to follow up because I hadn’t installed it as of Friday. 

So, anyway… get you one if this is a solution to all of your problems!  

Friday night just hub and I met our friends at the Mexican restaurant up the street.  We split a new to us dish that was perfect.  It was Hawaiian shrimp, chicken, and chorizo.  One son was at his play and the other wanted us to just bring him something home.  My husband didn’t really want to go out, but I had cooked every night but one and I was not feeling it.  We got to chat with our friends for an hour or so and he ended up glad we went. 

Saturday was the matinee and evening performance for my son Jack (2 shows in one day!) so the other three of us met my mom and her best friend at the theatre and then took them to a deli for lunch before the 2:00 performance.  I had a very southern sandwich – benedictine and bacon.  Benedictine is a cucumber and cream cheese spread with green food coloring.  The slaw wasn’t very good.  It was Stevens and Stevens if you are local.  So, we ate and chatted and then had a bit of time to drive around some new developments and construction projects being done by my husband’s company.

Our friends Beth and Bob also met us there for the performance.  Pride and Prejudice was much more funny that I remembered it.  I also had a student in the show so that was fun!  I brought her flowers and a candy bouquet for my son. 

Jack was Mr. Collins if you know the book and the role really suited him! 

Jack’s fan club.  Jack is in the short sleeve shirt.  The director asked Mason not to sit in the front row so there would be no Mr. Collins confusion from the audience!  Beth was in the restroom and my mom’s friend took our picture. 

Jack only had 2 hours before his next call time so he and most of the cast went to eat and shop at Urban Outfitters.  They ate at Cane’s and found $2 matching button down bowling style shirts we found out later! 

Mason, Tom, and I lounged around at home and then Tom wasn’t feeling great at dinner time so Mason and I went to Tzatzikis Mediterranean and talked and talked.  It was really nice.  Then, we started watching Jane the Virgin again.  We had both watched season 1 on our own but stopped for some reason.  Mason enjoyed asking me questions about the Spanish in the show.  It is a really clever show if you are looking for something new to watch. 

Jack came home around 10 and was so tired after such a long day so I let him sleep until about 12 on Sunday.  

Sunday Tom felt better and worked on a water issue we are having with the new mudroom dog wash.  He just installed the fixtures.  I’m sure Ernie is so excited to get more baths at home!  Also, I was thinking I could make money off of this baby by letting people come to wash their dogs.  Just kidding!  

I enjoyed coffee and reading for a little while longer than normal and decided to forgo my normal Sunday meal prep.  I may do it today, though, because this week will be my second busiest week of January! 

I hope you had a great weekend and that you are continuing to have one if you have a three day weekend!  
Come back tomorrow for a hair post! 

Amy 

Friday, January 17, 2020

Hello and happy Friday!  This week was the week I was dreading because I knew it would be the busiest of the month!  My son Jack has not been home for dinner since Sunday night!  And, he won’t be home for dinner again until this Sunday night!  Theatre is no joke and it makes me sad when all four of us aren’t home most nights together.  I guess this comes with having teenagers.  I am happy to link up today with Andrea, etc. so go right here for more Friday posts.  

Here are my favorites:

Organization!

What did help me this week is to be super organized with my breakfasts and lunches prepped for the whole week.  For dinner, we did get Jimmy John’s one night but other than that we ate from the freezer and fridge and tried to use up things that needed to be eaten.  

My new closet made it a joy to get dressed every day this week!  If you want to see it go here!  I need to shop for a few more baskets and things this weekend.  

The Bachelor!

Yes, I am entirely too old for this show and I can only handle it with the help of my beloved DVR so that I can fast forward when needed, which is often.  By the way, I watch very few shows live and love that I can set a series recording and watch any show at my convenience.  I have two friends that have no idea how to use their DVRs.  They are missing out.  If you have recording capabilities and are not using it, you should!  It is amazing and if I can do it, so can you.  

Photos!  

I came across this picture of me and thought it looked so much like my boys at the same age.  Most people say that they look like both hub and I.  

Me with really bad hair around age 10 maybe?  

The boys around the same age

What do you think?  

Dip Nails!  

I have enjoyed this white with a tiny hint of sparkle.  I think I had this done on Dec. 30.  They last 4-5 weeks if you can stand the re-growth at the cuticle.  This was a nice change, but I am definitely a darker color nail person.  What color should I do next?  

More organization!  

I have talked before about teens and I have given some advice even though I’m not an expert here.  I am a mom of teens, though, and I have been working with teens for 26 years.  I made Jack a schedule and put it next to his backpack Sunday night.  He came up and thanked me for it.  It could have gone really wrong with him accusing me of not thinking he could handle his own schedule – whew!  

And, more organization!  

I bought this to hold my purse next to me in my car.  I have been thinking about buying it for some time.  I haven’t gotten to really try it out yet but I thought I would share.  Anyone have this?  

And, that’s about it!  

How was your week?  Any favorites?  I would love to hear!

Thanks so much for visiting me today!

Amy

Thursday, January 16, 2020

I realized that along with my challenge that I may have left some of you hanging – pun intended! Before you start wearing everything or during your time of wearing everything ’til spring, you may want to start the purging process.  I started my wear everything last week and then moved to my new closet over the weekend.  As I did so, I went ahead and started my process.  By the way, I do this at least once a season.  I feel that if you don’t it is very easy to let things accumulate and then it becomes a bigger job.  

Just how do you purge your closet?  Have you let things accumulate over time?  Do you have multiple sizes, styles, and colors?  Why do we hang onto things we shouldn’t?  The biggest reasons are…

Guilt – We feel bad because we made a shopping mistake that may have been a costly one.  We feel bad because someone that we love gave it to us.  We love that person, but we don’t love the well-intentioned gift.  My husband often laments that adults should not buy other adults clothing, shoes, and accessories.  He says this not to be mean, but because it is a very personal thing and by the time we reach adulthood we should do these things ourselves because otherwise it causes guilt, extra trips to the store, or wasted money.  He is not wrong here! We feel bad that we can’t fit into the size anymore.  Guilt is a powerful emotion but it is not a productive one.

Fear – I will need this item SOMEDAY!  Yes, you may, but you should think more in terms of your present life.  One exception would be cold weather gear which really doesn’t go out of style and is expensive to replace. Keep a bin of gloves, scarves, tobaggon hats, etc. if you use them sometimes.  

Before you start my challenge here or during my challenge, I think you should do the following:  

Grab bags or bins and designate them as “donate”, “give away”, “sell” , “repair” –  whatever you like and whatever works for you.  

Go ahead and get rid of:

-anything with stains

-anything with holes that you don’t love enough to spend time and money getting repaired

-anything that makes you feel bad about yourself right now at your current weight

-anything that is a duplicate.  Example:  You have 5 pairs of similar black pants.  There are only 7 days in a week and you probably only get dressed 5 of those 7 at most.  Are you ever really going to wear your 4th or 5th favorite of that collection?  

Going forward, keep a bag or bin to toss things like this in and you can sort and separate when it gets full.  

There is something really strange about having less but feeling like you have more!  It’s amazing how it feels to be able to move hangers and not fight with them.  

Remember that your goal is to wear each and every piece of seasonal/winter clothing until spring comes.  Let’s say you wear a piece and hate it all day long.  Where should it go?  In one of your bins.  

You may be thinking…

Isn’t this wasteful?  They are just clothes!  Well, you’re exactly right.  It really isn’t about the clothes, though, it’s about YOU and you feeling your best self so that you can live your best life.  Have you ever hung back in a corner at a party because you hated your outfit?  Maybe it didn’t fit quite right and you kept having to tug or pull or feel self-conscious?  This steals your confidence.  This takes away your ability to be you.

One thought that makes me feel better is that I may make someone very happy by getting my discarded article of clothing.  It may be perfect for them and they may be able to be their best self!  

Wouldn’t it be nice to have what you need in your closet and only have what serves you?  Wouldn’t it be nice to have only items that make you feel great?  The only way to get to that point is to lose the things that don’t do the above.  Maybe as you go through this process you can keep a list of holes in your closet or events you need to dress for where you didn’t have the right items.  

I would love to hear your thoughts if you are participating!  What have I forgotten?  Do you have any other tips?  

Amy