New House, New Blog Style

I’ve been MIA for quite a bit now (over a year now… oops) so, it’s time to dive back in. Guess I have been on a mission of self-discovery. Over the last year I have learned other ways besides couponing to save a dollar. I purchased a house in August of last year and it looks a little different than my last house. On my path of learning more about myself, I found out that I am ok not having more than I need.
Our (yuppers, there is a hubs here) first home was more house than we needed – and that came with a weighty mortgage payment. After all, we would never need the space, unless I ended up with twins. We had decided one child was it. We ended up owning the house (aka “the money pit”) for just over two years and we were just over the cost of everything associated with that house. Of course, the hubs hated the house from the beginning, so I knew we were destined to leave that house. As much as I enjoyed repairing everything that broke, ha…ha…ha… it was ridiculously overwhelming. So in the beginning of 2007, the FSBO sign went up in the front yard (For Sale by Owner). We were lucky enough to sell when we did.

Fast forward three years and we realized that our priorities had changed. The desire to buy more house than we needed was just not there. There were tons of homes out there that were just so large that we would not be buying a need, we would be wasting our money into a want, and a “want” only drives you into debt – not very Cheapaholic Living friendly. I have redesigned my life to become more aware of where our money goes. Had we placed an offer on the larger home, (beautiful kitchen aid loaded kitchen, stunning great room, formal living and dining rooms, 3 fireplaces…ahh…ok, back to reality) we would be in trouble. While that house was under our budget, it would have cost us more than we wanted to spend each month due to the utilities alone! I cannot even fathom the power bill with three a/c systems. Eek. We found a modest home, under budget, quiet neighborhood, walnut flooring throughout, a decent kitchen (ugly, but it has major potential), and with a nice chunk of land made it a better home for us than our first home.

So what does all of this randomness that I am typing have anything to do with Cheapaholic Living? Well, due to recent events in our lives the budget is a little tighter and not only am I couponing to keep the peace, I am remodeling my home – Cheapaholic Living style 

Cheapaholic Furniture Facelift

Like many American consumers, I love new things; like most American consumers, I am on a “beer budget with champagne taste.” When I look around at my apartment, I am a little disappointed with some of my pieces of furniture – 2 in particular: chest of drawers straight out of 1985 and an old large dresser that I bought on craigslist for $20.

On a cold Saturday morning, my husband and I headed out to IKEA to buy a new mattress (desperately needed). The mattresses are wonderful there and they have a better warranty than most others out on the market. We decided against the mattress and went with a 2 inch memory foam mattress topper. It was much cheaper and there was enough leftover “freebie” money to play with. I thought of our chest of drawers and large dresser at home that we should replace. Being the Cheapaholic that I am, I decided to sleep on it.

I have a passion for designing and refurbishing furniture. The next morning, we decided that we should not spend the money on two new pieces of furniture and refurbish what we have. I was off to Lowe’s; bought 2 cans of semi-gloss enamel (oil paint, NOT latex – water-based paints tend to be a bit sticky once dried). By the end of the night I had two beautiful, new to me, pieces of furniture.

So my fellow Cheapaholics, if you ever get the urge to buy new furniture to replace something that you already have and it’s in good shape, update it! All it takes is a little paint, some fabric, or new hardware. You do not need to rush out and spend hundreds of dollars when you can make what you have even better!




Gray

FREE Sample of Dunkin Donuts Coffee!

Awesome, Cheapaholic Approved Homemade Gifts

With busy malls, crazy shoppers, and irritable sales people, why torture yourself this holiday season? Why not make (yes, make –bust out the hot glue gun, metal tins, and ribbon!) great gifts this year for your friends and family? After all, they probably have more useless objects lying around from last Christmas than they need.

Here are just a few really great gifts for everyone on your list.

1. Etched Glass Gifts

Just about every craft store sells glass etching cream. It is a small investment at first but it can turn many everyday items into gorgeous and most importantly, useful homemade gifts.

Ornaments
Drinking glasses
Pitchers
Votive holders
Or any glass object you want to have fun with

2. Knitted Gifts

If you know how to knit this is right up your alley! Time to pull out the needles and the yarn, or go buy a few skeins of soft yarn.

Scarves
Gloves
Hats
Sweaters
Blankets – great for those with new babies!

3. Concrete Gifts

Believe it or not you can make great gifts for the gardener in your life or really just about anyone. You could buy the expensive one time use kits from the craft stores or you could hit up your local home and garden center and grocery store for a Cheapaholic Approved gift. For inside use, buy a plate holder or wooden picture frame stand for the recipient to display their handmade gift

Garden Stepping Stones
Hand, Foot, or even Paw print keepsake


4. No-Sew Monogrammed Hand Towels

Monogrammed towels are always a great hostess gift. Plus, you can use any color you want to!


Here are a few How-to's -

Etched Glass Gifts

Materials:

Glass cleaner
Glass etching cream
Contact paper, painter’s tape or masking tape
Ruler or other straight edge
Stencils
Gloves
Paint brush
Anything glass that you want to personalize

Directions:

TIP: PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!!

Clean and dry glass

Decide on the design you want and create a template from the contact paper or tape.

Cover your work area very well as the cream will ruin anything it touches (now would be a good time to use the left over newspaper you do not need after clipping all of your coupons).

Apply sticky medium of your choice (tape or paper) to the glass. Make sure there is not a chance for the cream to run under the template!!

Apply a heavy layer the cream with the paint brush and wait about 5 or so minutes

Rinse with warm water



Concrete Gifts

Materials:

Drop cloth
Wood paint stir stick
Mold(s) – disposable aluminum pie tins work great
Bag of concrete – decide how many gifts you are making before buying a bag
Old bucket that you will never use again or a buy a bucket that you strictly use for concrete
Rocks or broken glass – you can buy bags of broken glass from craft stores
Dowel rods for writing in the concrete
Gloves
Sandwich bags - if you want to make an imprint of your child’s hands

Directions:

Find a work area that can handle spilled concrete and cover with drop cloth

Mix according to bag directions

Pour concrete into mold(s)

Pick up the mold and drop to get rid of any possible air bubbles

Create your design: Press rocks, glass, handprints, etc into the concrete

Allow to dry and remove from mold(s).


Monogrammed Hand Towels

Materials:

Hand Towels
Washable Fabric Paint
Stencils
Paint Brushes

Directions:

Lay hand towel on a piece of cardboard or paper

Place stencil on the towel

Holding the stencil firmly, apply two to three coats of paint

Remove stencil and allow paint to dry

Looking for Cheap(aholic of course!) Airfaire??

As the Miracles once said “My mama told me, you better shop around.”

• Look at more than one website, there are plenty of deals to be had if you are willing to take the time and do your research. Besides looking at the airline sites directly make sure you visit sites such as: Expedia, Travelocity, Kayak, Travelzoo, Priceline, and Cheapseats.

• Check airfares by searching for just one ticket, even if you want to buy multiple tickets. Any given plane will have a multitude of different prices for their seats. You will find that sometimes buying multiple seats all at once is not always the cheapest. If you buy them separately, you might be able to buy more than one seat at a lower cost as opposed to buying them all together and getting one price.

• Flexible? Travel flexibility has its rewards. Sometimes changing just one date can make a world of difference in price. Be sure to check out websites that allow you to search within a range of days (Airfare Watch Dog, Travelocity, Kayak, and Fare Compare to name a few).

• Is your destination somewhere within a day’s drive? Compare airfares vs. the cost of driving. Savings by car can be considerable if you have a large group traveling. Check out AAA Fuel Cost Calculator to get a good estimate as to what the drive would cost.
  
• Frequent Flyer Miles/Rewards Points. Don’t overlook these resources if you know the flight is going to be costly. If you have a lot of miles or points saved up, don’t forget to calculate the value of your frequent flyer seat to get the most for the points you'll spend. If it’s a short, cheap flight, you might want to save these points for a later date.

Keeping in the song theme..."I get by with a little help from my friends!"

Thanks Celeste!

Gray

You want me to pay WHAT?!?!?!

I was really excited about trying something new. I love smoothies. I will replace a few meals with them occasionally – not a fan of high calorie ones though...

Yoplait has come out with smoothie mixes in the freezer section. Grabbed a few Sunday papers and clipped the Yoplait smoothie coupons - I really wanted to try it; that is, until I saw the price and what they were selling. A bag of frozen, over priced fruit. WHAT? $3 and change for a small bag of fruit? Insane. I can add my own fruit to a cup of milk and call it a smoothie.

My take: DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY

Remedy: Walk over to the produce section and buy real fruit. Search the circulars to see who is selling bananas, blueberries, etc cheap and freeze it yourself.

I bought a couple of pounds of bananas, chopped them up, divided them into equal parts, and they are sitting in my freezer begging to be a part of my next smoothie.

You could do this with any fruit your heart desires.

Enjoy and please do not over pay for frozen fruit!!!


Gray

SIGN UP FOR CHEAPAHOLIC LIVING'S MONTHLY NEWSLETTER!!

The December edition is in the works and it's not too late to sign up for November's.

For your copy, email gray@cheapaholicliving .com with "Newsletter Request" in the subject line

OR

Go to www.cheapaholicliving.com and fill out the "Contact Us" form to have one sent.