Frugal Friday #6

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If you’re new here:  On Fridays I share a few frugal things I did during the week.  Then in the comments you to share a frugal thing or two you did during the week.  If you are a blogger feel free to link to your Frugal Friday post in the comments and we’ll come check it out.

  1.  Remember that office plan for Darren?  To make that work for him I need to buy a leather chair ($1,500), an oak executive desk ($900), an 8×10 rug ($700), 2 locking lateral filing cabinets ($600), a 42 by 36 picture frame with glass ($65), and a royal blue velvet moroccan pouf ($200), for a grand total of $3,965. There are a few other expenses too (like wood for the build in bookcases, flooring and the optional tv and tv cabinet.)

Darren's office before fireplace view leather chair

Darren's office blue desk

I’m not in a hurry to start this project since I have a few other rooms I’m working on.  On the other hand, Darren really needs a space to be organized in.  So I started looking around the web on craigslist for affordable options.  You’ll never guess what I found?!!!!

There was an office having a business closing auction.  I got those locking filing cabinets for $16 each or $32 instead of $600.  All they need is a new coat of spray paint (since they are putty colored now, and I have my heart set on white.)

The executive desk was $60 instead of $900.  It just needs a coat of blue with black glaze in the details.

The giant picture frame for the dry erase board was only $6.

Then Craigslist had a leather chair for a mere $50.  It just needs a coat of leather stain to nudge it a little more golden brown instead of reddish brown (for $6.)

leather chair

The area rug was on sale 80% off for $156!

I found a sewing pattern for the moroccan pouf on Better Homes and Gardens.  I haven’t settled on fabric for it yet, but my mom is looking in her stash for something that might work and I have old towels and batting on hand to fill it.

My grand total:  $304 for a savings of $3,361

It’s your turn. Inspire us with some of your frugal activities this week.

How to never go over your food budget again….ever (+Darren’s Office Plan)

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how-to-never-go-over-your-food-budget-again-ever

I’ve been having trouble focusing on work the last few days, because I’ve been dreaming about our basement.  It’s supposed to be Darren’s office, but right now it looks like this:

darrens-office-before

Yes I’m embarrassed, and yes this will eventually circle back around to the food budget.  He can’t work down here because it’s too cold (there’s a crack in the exterior door) and it’s an organizational disaster….so he’s in my office.  I don’t mind sharing my office with him (you believe me, right?), but I want him to have his own space that has organizational systems that work for him.

I love how photoshop, even poorly done, can create visions from daydreams.

darrens-office-blue-desk

I did a craigslist search for the office items that were sure to blow our budget and I found a business closing auction a few cities over.   I bid on the essentials and have been sitting at my computer hitting refresh ever since.  Right now a brown version of the above desk has my name on it for 5 cents and is begging me to paint and glaze him a pretty blue.  The auction is over in 9 hours and 12 minutes…..excuse me while I hit refresh.

The other side of the room currently looks like this:

darrens-office-before-fireplace-view

But would prefer to look like this:

darrens-office-before-fireplace-view-leather-chair

Except that Darren thought the space needed a TV….so I made a tiny tweak….

darrens-office-fireplace-view-tv
Then I got lost on pinterest searching for tutorials on sewing Moroccan poufs after I saw the prices of ready made ones.  Who knew this was the perfect use for my stacks of worn out towels? Of course I had to research the best value on navy velvet (ooh, maybe my Mom has some in her stash!) and find free building plans for bookcases and buffets…..and refresh.

envelope-system-2

Budgeting is like making these concept pictures in photoshop.  It’s dreaming and planning without ever touching a paint brush or saw.  Eventually that plan needs to come to life, and it doesn’t always turn out like the picture said it would.  I can’t tell you how many money fights Darren and I have had when we were using credit cards for all our expenses.  We figured we would pay them off at the end of the month and earn the 1% back.  When we compared our credit card bill to our budget we were over EVERY TIME.  We could barely pay it off and made no traction towards our financial goals.  He would ask, “What did you BUY?”  (insert accusing voice inflections here.) I’d swear it was all necessities: food, clothing, toilet paper…..

Then we switched to cash.  I put my food money for the month in an envelope and when it was gone we had to eat what was already in the house.   I made decisions differently when I could see clearly the plan and the goal (the cash that’s left.)   That first cash envelope happened 11 years ago and the system is still the best one for us.  Here are my tips from years of experience:

  1.  Only budget for people FOOD in your grocery budget.  Have a separate category for pets, cleaning supplies, paper products etc.
  2. Take 1/4th of the budget and save it in a separate envelope for the last week of the month.  If you don’t, you’ll learn to be VERY creative with your cooking that last week.
  3. If you shop at stores for food where you also might buy items from other budget categories (such as clothing or cleaning supplies) be sure to get enough small bills when you pick up your cash so you can make change for yourself between the categories.
  4. If you are scared of carrying cash (because you know every criminal in town will pick up the scent and try to rob you) try just using cash for food.  If it works out you can add other categories later.
  5. If you hate it, you can always go back to your old method :).

Do you currently use cash? What are your tips for making it work?

This is Day 3 of our Series: Shrink Your Food Budget

Why We Wait

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why I wait

How long are you willing to wait to save a few bucks? I’ve been asking myself that lately.  I was ready to paint the boys’ bedroom in July, before school started.  Except my home repair envelope was empty.  I hosted a garage sale in August and earned enough money to buy paint if it’s on sale.

That sale is supposed to happen this Labor Day Weekend.  By waiting I’ll save around $40.  Waiting also means I could either move the boys out of their room until I leisurely finish it;  This would displace them while they are trying to get good sleep and be organized for going to school,  OR I could push myself and paint their room and put it back together over the 3 day weekend.

The pushing sounded like a good plan a month ago, before I knew how much other fun we’d have opportunities for this weekend.  It’s going to be a blast of family experiences with some little pockets of time for painting smooshed in.  I’ll need to be efficient.

I’m still feeling optimistic though. I took the popcorn ceiling removal, skim coating and ceiling painting off the schedule this time.  I decided I could do that part later.  Maybe NEXT summer so they aren’t disrupted during the school year.

tom_sawyer_whitewashing_fence_l-2

I’m optimistic because I’m thinking about all the ways I can bribe my teenagers to help with the painting. My first plan is try the Tom Sawyer method and to make it so much fun that they can’t stay away.  If that doesn’t work, I’m going to try candy…and then money.  If all that fails I’ll remind them of the hours of labor it took to bring them into the world.  That should do it.

Living debt free can be hard. Sometimes we wait for things or do without.  We make hard decisions about what we can and can’t do.  Sometimes we face criticism of friends and family.  It’s hardest when we see other people enjoying the immediate gratification of debt, while we wait. Since we aren’t there for their private moments when the consequences of debt are felt, it’s hard to remember they still exist.

It’s impossible to rightly judge another person’s choices unless we are there, loving their family as much as they do and knowing every detail of their income and expenses.  We can’t really know what we would do in their shoes without being in them.

Recently I had to make a tough financial decision that made some friends close to me question my faith. The decision was painful, but the criticism was more painful.  They thought I should move ahead  and commit to something that I couldn’t pay and trust that the money would come.  Since the money wasn’t there, we chose to live within our means.

As hard as waiting and doing without can be, living with debt is WORSE.  It’s a panic that is there all the time.  An awful feeling that becomes so familiar you don’t realize it’s there until it’s gone. We choose freedom.

That’s why we wait.

House Updates and Clip-on Lenses for an iphone

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Last week I started back to school with teacher meetings.  I usually only teach 1 hour a day, but the week of teacher meetings I’m at school quite a bit more.  I don’t mind.  The staff is fun to be with and they fix us breakfast 🙂  Really yummy breakfast.

I had big plans for blog posts last week…but I underestimated the amount of stuff I had to do in the amount of time I had to do it.  You know how it goes I’m sure.  We finished the week with a family gathering at our house.  Perhaps this is a good time to note that I am now 39. I love that we have a big family on my husband’s side.  Just his parents, his sisters and their kids (plus us) is 29 people!  My house has been a dirty disaster for months and I was excited for the motivation to clean it up.

I only yelled a couple of times.  I find it helps if I say, “I’m trying not to freak out, but I’m worried about… ” The kids are great about seeing me as human and pitching in to help before I get completely overwhelmed.  If I am getting overwhelmed, I just say “I am getting overwhelmed.”  Everyone can relate to feelings like that.  It’s so much better than screaming and storming around like a 2 year old which still happens except less.

Sometimes I hand the kids something and tell them to hang it in the closet and when I walk by the room I see it in the middle of the floor instead, like they stood in the doorway and threw it in. Please tell me stuff like that happens in every house.  We are working on it.  If I were going to be completely honest, I’d have to admit I still stand in the doorway and throw stuff into my office.

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My mom got me a really cool gift for my birthday.  I see they have a magnetic version too.

These little lenses clip onto a phone camera and make the pictures a lot better. My favorite is the wide angle lens.  It allows me to take pictures that are much closer to what I see with my eyes.  The macro lens is cool too.  It allows the camera to focus really close up and get amazing details–like fingerprints on your own finger.

Here’s a shot of the boy’s bedroom without the lens

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And with the wide angle lens.  This was a low light situation which is why it’s a bit blurry.

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And while I’m being completely random, here’s the inspiration photo for their new bedroom.  We are buying paint on labor day weekend when it’s on sale  :). I’m excited and overwhelmed with the to do list at the same time. The window on the left is a mirror.  It’s the only thing I haven’t purchased yet for the room….I hope it’s not crazy expensive.

Brandon and Grant's Room Gray rugby stripe

I’m not pushing myself to get done quickly.  The goal is to have the room painted and the boys sleeping in there again over the holiday weekend so their school routine isn’t disrupted.  Then I’ll piece the rest of the stuff together as it happens.

The other side of the room will be a saw horse table lego station with toy towers on either side.  I built the towers this week.  I’m not a great builder, but with a few tips from my husband they came out pretty good. I forgot to stain the book shelf…I’ll do it later. The slide out bins are from Ikea’s Trofast line.

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While we were building stuff, we put some more touches in the girl’s bathroom.

If you’ll remember the before:

Girl's bathroom before

Here’s where we are now.  When I get more things finished I’ll do a detailed post on just this room. The shower curtain is lowering back down as soon as I can bribe my husband to move it.  I thought I would love it high, but I really don’t.

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Here’s a close-up of the towel hooks.  I used the chop saw all by myself after I saw my husband do it once.  I bragged to him how I did it all by myself.  He responded with, “You WHAT!??? I would have liked to have been there for your first time.”  I guess those things can be dangerous.

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The hook on the left came with the house.  It used to be green and I rub and buffed it gold.  The other 3 are from Hobby lobby.  They were rusty some kind of metal and I gave them the gold treatment too.  I’m afraid the gold wax will rub off onto the towels.  I’ll let you know how it goes before I can recommend it.

Here’s proof that I’m a sawing monkey.  The compound sliding mitre saw is my new favorite toy.

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A lot of things on my Honey-Do list have been transferred to my own list now that I have some skills.

 

 

 

A Few Cozy Touches

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There were some things in my master bedroom plan that I had planned on doing from the beginning, but needed to wait to save up a little more cash and take the time to search for just the right thing.

Here’s the before.   Read more…

DIY Stump Table

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All summer, our town has seen one storm after another.  There has been some tornado action, some microbursts, and some general strong wind.  So far everyone has been safe but there are a lot of trees on the ground.  Some of them are huge!

A tree down can bring a lot of loss, but it’s also a lot of raw material for affordable furniture.   Read more…

Rustoleum Tub and Tile Transformations Review

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Knowing my bathroom remodel budget was made of pocket lint, I contacted Rustoleum and asked if they would donate some product in exchange for a video, a couple of  blog posts, plus some serious social media promotion.  They graciously declined and bruised my ego a bit in the process.   Read more…

How to Choose the Right Area Rug

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How to choose the right area rug

Let’s talk area rugs for a minute. They won’t take you anywhere you want to go, but they do another kind of magic.  They take a bunch of individual items and make them one.  When done correctly, you get the feeling that everything in the room is a family.  Area rugs are like marriage.  Never mind, that’s weird. Read more…

How to Hang Curtains Correctly

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how-to-hang-curtains-correctly

What I’m about to tell you will give you the power to change your room from ordinary to amazing.  Yes, your room.

Your room is not too small.  Your ceilings are not too low.  There’s not much in a space that can’t be fixed with properly hung curtains.  Read more…