From Facials to Frugal...

Now being cheap was never in my nature. EVER. It still isn't. I didn't care if you could get an item somewhere else for cheaper, I never price shopped, I was never a coupon cutter, I never bought store brand. I never did thrift stores or garage sales.. You would have never caught me there. I was a full price, name brand, label whore, to put it as accurately as possible. Until this year. I don't know what snapped or what changed. Maybe wanting to save money, maybe growing up, maybe not having money like I used to, but something did, and you know what I learned? That life continues on & you can dress nice & your home can be nice & you can still have things you wanted. You may have to wait, you may have to do your research, you may have to cut a crapload of cupons or even get it second hand but eventually you will have it.

Kids stuff .....

For the baby, I don't mind the hand me downs, she only uses everything for so little time anyways. I appreciate them actually. I love finding things in great condition on http://www.freecycle.org/ & knowing I saved our family close to $100 a pop. That is 100 closer to owning a house. I love the consignment shop my mom showed me in Middletown, the stuff is like new,so cheap, & alot of name brands. I have yet to hit the one in Port that my mother in law raves about but I plan on getting there this week. For Lissi, well she is tougher, since I have no relatives in her age range. But I have been getting great name brand finds at the consignment shop. They look new & some even have tags on them.. She will never know. But usually, she ends up becoming the one who provides all the hand me downs, which is fine cause I know I am saving my cousin $. Plus her grandparents spoil the crap out of her so that leaves me hardly ever having to buy her very much. I don't ask them to do it, but I cant stop them either. I have tried, there is no stopping her & her Pappy from shopping sprees. But I also have become an Amazon shopper where you can buy things that are used but are like new for a fraction of the cost, so when Lissi wants a certain game or toy I will shop it on Amazon.

Groceries & household items.....

I have been buying store brand cereal, which honestly, tastes the same. That saves us about 10-15 a week since Lissi & I both pile off a box or 2 each a week. For Lissi's though I have to put the store brand cereal in the regular honey nut cheerios box, she would eat it otherwise, though she has no idea that its the store brand. I always get the Sunday paper & cut out the coupons. Lately I have been looking at all the store adds to see who has what & next shopping trip I plan on hitting each store that has it the cheapest with the coupons.... even if this is an all day event, a penny saved.... I also learned that it is easier & you spend less when you make a list. Go into your kitchen & look at every cabinet & take not what you do & don't have. Then make of list only of what you need. If you plan your meals for the week also this helps save $ & cuts out the unnecessary buying. I bought a membership to Sam's club for $40 this is good for Alyssa's school snacks & drinks & for Taylor's formula & diapers even electronics are cheaper there. If you calculate how much you spend a month on snacks & about how many of those snacks you buy you realize that this saves you a crap load, not to mention less trips to the store. http://www.craigslist.com/ is also a great website to find little odds & ends you may need for your home inexpensively, as is the back of TJ MAXX, Home Goods, & Target in the clearance section. It will go on sale at target it always does!!

Beauty products....

These were my biggest $ drainer. Pedicures, waxing, facials, makeup, hair cuts & color. Well, I realized the only reason I want a pedicure every 2 weeks is that I have really dry feet. Gross actually & the only thing that made them nice was a pedicure or so I thought until I sat down & realized it is the $4 callus eliminator treatment I get every time. So I went on the web, looked up the callus eliminator, price shopped & got 2 bottles for $10.95 on amazon with shipping. These two bottles will last me um, 2 years. Luckily I paid attention every time I got a pedicure & know how to do it. The polish lasts me up to 3 months beautifully so this saves alot of $.

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Facials.. as much I miss them they aren't necessary, I bought an exfoliator, a bar of perfume free facial soap & my dove moisturizer which I love love love! Honestly my skin looks better than it has in years & all these items last at least a month if not more totaling $ 19.

Makeup... I love love love bare minerals.. LOVE IT, but it is very pricey. So I found a decent alternative called raw minerals & so far I have gotten 3 free trial sets out of them for the cost of s&h $3.95 All you have to do is use a different name every time. Same address & cc is fine, but name has to be different. So, I am Ginette Munro, Elena Bloom, & La La Luni.. Seriously! The trial kit contains 2 over the facial powders one light & one for the summer, the bronze glow, & the mineral veil all in the normal size containers, along with a 4 brush set. 3 of them will last me almost a year seeing as how I hardly wear makeup & they tend to last for a while normally. So a years worth of facial make up which is the most expensive for $11.85 not bad. http://raw.glow.com/dms974/?gclid=CI3b0fDPqpkCFQpinAodymxWqA

My new colorist has become my brother.. Poor thing having only older sisters, this is what we taught him. He does great color from a box... He even helps me pick out my color!! So instead of $120 for color I now pay 9.99 for a nice box o' brown from CVS. I get it cut by my Nan's in Queens for $20 including the razor & flat iron. NICEEEEE!!!

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I even found a new way to get rid of the nasty old blackheads that I hate my skin for... Elmer's Glue... I am not even kidding. I saw it on the Ellen show one day & thought its worth a shot. Hell I have seriously like 20 bottles of glue in my house & the Biore strips are like $10 for what 6? Guess what .. it works!! Just put a coating on your nose & let it dry then peel it off.. You will see!!
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Even gym memberships are unnecessary if you have cable. I have the fit TV on demand that is free & dvr so I can either record the workouts I want to do or order them on demand for free. This convenient because I hate going to the gym, I always feel like everyone is staring at me knowing damn well I have no idea what I am doing there.. So this way I get to do it on my time schedule in the comfort of my own living room without the embarrassment. Also now that its nice out I can take Taylor for a walk in the carriage everyday to get some fresh air & sunlight. This is proven to be very good for you mental health as well.

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Teeth whitening... EXPENSIVE... but when you are a gross smoker like me.. It's much needed.

So I wait for the crest white strips to go on sale.. & make sure I have coupons. These are good for maintaining. But I also found a website where again you get a free months trial of their whitening product for just the S&H which is 2.95... So of course I have about 6 months worth of that & it is good.. It is time consuming & tastes nasty but you see results immediately. http://micro.moviestarlook.net/s-gTWnonbrand_VPC_tw/lp?gclid=CIO8v_fQqpkCFQudnAodtC_cpQ

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So as I am typing this I have just done my own pedicure, tweezed my eyebrows (cause I don't really have any anyways so what is the point of paying $6 a month?) & have Elmer's glue hardening on my nose, once that is done, I am putting Little Miss in the carriage & we are out for some sunshine.... Yes it is beauty day today & it cost me a nap!!