Frugal Friday!!!

How was your frugal week?  Mine was pretty good.  We only ate out 1 time and that was actually delivery of pizza for the National Championship Game (CLEMSON WON, in case you had not heard...just saying!)
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So my big savings was food this week.  I only picked up the basics that we needed as we needed them (last night on the way home from work I made a quick stop for fresh lettuce, tomato, dog food and milk.)  Otherwise, I shopped and planned through what was in my fridge, freezer and cupboard.  A couple of weeks ago, I went to the downtown farmer's market in my town and bought a meat pack from Orvis Hill Farms which guided me through my meal prep and gave the basis for a menu.  It was nice to have the freezer with meat in it but not so much that I felt no direction, so I think this "meat plan" may be a good way for me to plan and keep me from spending to much "on the way home from work."  A new meat traditional meat market just opened up in my town so I need to check it out because they often have "fill your freezer" deals that include a variety of meats and poultry. 

The downside of my budget was some unexpected medical expenses as both my sons had accidents (unrelated) that resulted in 3 sprained ankles between the 2 of them.  So, I had some drugstore expenses I didn't expect and angle braces are not cheap!  But, thankfully, no one was broken although they were in a lot of pain.  By the way, if you have  a Sonic close to you their ice makes the best ice packs and you can by it in 10 pound bags for under $2.00. 

Let me know your Frugal Tips!

A can of paint...

CAN REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE! 

Our new-to-us house had a kitchen redo somewhere in the mid 1990s and we knew before we moved in  that we would need to give it a bit of TLC. 

Fortunately, I actually like the cabinets and they are great quality,  and plentiful, so we decided there was no need to consider changing them.  Eventually, (translated to mean when the $$$ is available)  we would like to have new counter tops. The current ones are solid surface, neutral and in great shape, so we kept those as well, which fit with our budget!  At the point we change counter tops we will also change out the cook top but since it has 6 burners and a grill I am happy with it for now.

This project was a first for us, in that we didn't remove the wallpaper before painting.  After hearing several friends say they had painted over wallpaper successfully we decided to give it a shot.  It worked and you would never know...and it saved us many hours of stripping wallpaper!
 

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After:

 

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We decided to have a little fun and painted a chalkboard on the wall so we could include all the silly "rules" that have evolved in our family over the years.  This was a super easy project with just some chalkboard paint and  molding to frame it out. 

I am still waiting on 1 window treatment (for over the sink) and plan to get a new rug for the breakfast area as the one above is one that I put there just for functionality. We used as many accessories from our old kitchen as possible. Of course, there are decorative items that need to be tweaked but I am just thrilled with the results and couldn't wait to post pictures.



Budget for Redo = $0 (well, you know what I mean!)

Results = Priceless!!!

I am participating in the 88th Metamorphosis Monday!!!!

 and Before and After Party at Thrifty Decor Chick

Dinner Dilemma!

After many months of not really having a typical schedule and lots of eating out and on the run, I have found myself at a loss at how to get back in the groove with cooking at home.  Yes, I desperately want to cook at home every night (really) and I want my family to have healthy, made from scratch food regularly - not to mention being easier on the family budget.  But here is where I am struggling.  I used to sit down and make a menu for 10 days or so, and then a grocery list to go along with it and we were able to pretty much stick to that and it worked great.  Now when I sit down with just that intent, I am just blank...what to fill those days with???  What can I plan for that is healthy, reasonably cheap and works with my time frame?  What did we used to eat?  Gosh, I am just lost.  Tonight I sat down and went through a couple of cookbooks trying to get some inspiration and organization, but didn't come away with much.  I also used to think I was a pretty descent cook but now I don't know, maybe just being really, really out of practice is showing? 

So, I would love to hear what y'all all have as standards in your menus.   Help me out, blog friends...please!

Frugal Friday Product Reveiw...sort of!

I had my Frugal Friday Product Review post all written in my head. It was one of those I am kind of excited about this one posts. I wanted to regale you with words of praise over my new frugal cosmetic find, to gush over its outstanding performance, and the miracle results I got, but I got the wind shot out of my sails when I logged onto the product website to find this amazing product has been discontinued! What???? How can this be??? For me to find this product felt like a major deal since I have been a department store cosmetic counter devotee for more years than I can count! The very act of venturing into the cosmetics aisle in the drugstore felt like sacrilege, but in an attempt to continue to streamline and reduce costs (and I had some hum-dinger coupons!) I thought I would give it a try. And try I did, to a thrilling success!

I found a foundation that was wonderful. I was so pleased with it that I wanted to share it here in blogland because even though we may all be trying to be budget junkies we also still want to be beautiful! The product I am referring to is Cover Girl’s Advance Radiance Age Defying Compact Make Up. It is fabulous, not too heavy but gives a super coverage and stays on; not to mention at about ½ the cost of my department store brand. Of course, the powers-that-be-in- make-up-land apparently like to mess with me and they are replacing it with Simply Ageless Foundation…hmmmph!Both of these foundations are a joint product of Cover Girl and Olay so there is hope that the new version will be even better.

Although, I have had a short stint with this product, I am so sad to see it leave. It does appear though, that the powder, which I also really like, is still going to be available. After having such a good experience, I will give the new Simpley Ageless version a spin. So, if you are like me and have always felt you needed to shop the cosmetic counters at the mall or Sephora I would encourage you to stretch yourself and give good old Cover Girl a try!

By the way, I would love to hear about any new (or old) products you have found in your search to beautify on a budget!