Sunday, April 28, 2013

Pinterest???

So I found this recipe on pinterest and thought I would try it out. It claims to be low in calories and taste just like a Wendy's frosty. I was like right, ok I don't believe it, so I tried this recipe exactly how she had it. It was so thick my blender wouldn't even turn so I had to add another half a cup of Almond milk. I used half a banana and stevia to sweeten. If I made it again I wouldn't add the half a cup of Almond milk, I would just use like 3 or 4 ice cubes as opposed to 15.  It did taste really good though.  My total calorie count was 260.



The next pinterest link I tried was this Brazilian Butt Workout and let me tell you I probably won't be able to walk very well tomorrow, this workout is awesome and with swimsuit season right around the corner, what's not to love.  I also did crunches, 10 min of arms and walked on the treadmill for 30 min with this workout.  I am able to exercise more on the weekends.  Hope my reviews helped.

Friday, April 19, 2013

Catching up

I am playing catch up on blog posts since I was too busy to blog my crafty stuff last year.  I was in my best friends wedding in October and I threw her Bachelorette party.  I found this cute kool aid and vaseline lip gloss on pinterest, she even has a link to make your own printables for the containers. I used sticker paper to print the labels on and punched them out with my circle punch, but I had trouble finding the containers.  I finally found the containers at Walmart in the craft section near the beading and jewelry making stuff.  The funny thing is this stuff is great like vaseline cause that is what I used to put on my lips but has a tint to it and a flavor, so even though I made these for party favors, I think I'm going to make more for me so I don't ever have to buy chapstick again. LOl Here is a picture of the ones I made, the containers I found didn't have black lids. This stuff was easy to make, Jack helped me make them.


Saturday, April 13, 2013

Penny Pincher

I have always been a penny pincher, and people always ask me what are some of the things I do to save money.  Well I have always been like this.  When I was little I would save up my piggy bank money for toys that I wanted.  When I was a teenager and got a car and a job I did the Dave Ramsey envelope saving strategy before I even new who he was.  I had my car insurance envelope, a car tax one, an oil change and gas one, clothing envelope, and dining out-fun envelope.  I would split my pay checks up this way. Now that I am an adult, I do easy things like open the windows and turn air or heat off when weather permits, if low on gas in car turn air/heat and radio off to save until you get to the gas station.  I also use tap water not bottled water because I drink a ton of water per day.  After Christmas I go the shopping a week or 2 after the holiday and shop for kids toys, I get male and female even though I only have a son. I spent $50.00 bucks this past January and got like 20 presents. I store them in a storage tote all year and whenever Jack gets invited to a birthday party, also for valentines and easter stuff I have instant presents.  My boss takes 6 weeks off a yr and I don't get paid when we are off (I get my 2 weeks paid vacation per yr, but not 6), so this comes in handy around those times.  I also look up in the local paper or online for free activities for kids in the town where I live. I take Jack to as many of those as possible, as long as he has been good, and I almost always will take picnic food there to avoid food costs.  I take my lunch to work everyday, most days anyway, sometimes I eat out but it's like once every other month or so.  I get cheap haircuts at great clips and I use coupons (my hair is so thin, can't do much with it anyway), my hubby and his dad cut Jack's hair.  I make crockpot meals in the summer to prevent the house from getting hot with the oven.  For summer time boredom never underestimate libraries, parks, feeding ducks, sidewalk chalk, kites, bubbles and cold smoothies on a hot day. Don't eat out as much, find free events for the kids, keep a storage tote of gifts for children and I keep stocking stuffers too. I also buy stuff up when they go on sale for future use. In the fall time you can get beach balls for .25 cents a piece and I have found bubbles for .10 cents a piece too. I always get 25 of each item if I can for end of school gifts for all the kids in my sons class.  Same for ornaments or Christmas decorations when they go on sale I use for the next yr for teacher gifts as well.  For clothes I love yard sales, consignment sales, Goodwill, Walmart and store sales.  It's not like I can't afford to buy clothes at department stores, but I refuse to pay 30 bucks for a pair of jeans my kid is only going to wear for 6 mo and probably stain up so bad you can't sell them.  I know a lot of this might sound extreme to some people but but doing all this allows me to pay extra principle on the mortgage every month (to hopefully pay it off sooner), and we were able to go on 3 vacations last year.  Don't know if this will help anybody or not, but I hope it does.