Decorating Ideas - Budget Decorating Ideas and Links

I still have some decorating to do in our home... downstairs anyway. Upstairs is a disaster and will take some real re-imagining, I'm afraid.

I have a feeling that with our current budget I'll be frequenting thrift stores to see what I can find. I also need to break out my sewing machine and make it pay for itself. LOL For those of you who like the DIY aspect of home making, this link (which has other links) might be of interest to you.

Decorating Ideas - Budget Decorating Ideas and Links

Amy Googles Cut The Crap

I googled “cut the crap” and came up with some pretty interesting entries.  For instance, The Clash’s 6^th and final album was titled Cut The Crap.  And then there is this youtube video that’s absolutely hilarious.  For those of you with sensitive ears, I suggest that you refrain from clicking on that one.  There is also a movie review site, a hair studio in Amsterdam, and an interesting article on the French’s view of adultery, of all things.  It seems many of us have different views, but universally, cutting the crap means getting rid of what we don’t need.  I pretty much thought so, hence the name of my blog.    

Yahoo! Finance - Financially Fit

Yahoo! Finance - Financially Fit

I'm doing most of this stuff already. Any new ideas?

Over a MONTH! BUT there are good things to report... good things...

WTH is wrong with me?  I've been writing on the side, and perhaps this has satiated my need to update my blog.  Perhaps I should start a "writing" blog like my friend and colleague Brett.  Then maybe I would be inspired and motivated to keep a running tab on this blog as well.  Or that could backfire... and this blog would become obsolete for me...

Since last I posted, I have lost 5 pounds.  Not much for a month of better eating, but it is good.  My husband has lost more than 20lbs, and that's a very good thing!  My family and I continue to eat more healthy foods, and I'm certain that's having a positive effect on our well being. 

We've started taking advantage of a program called Helping Hands in our neighborhood.  For $55 a week, we get to fill up a grocery cart with food and household items.  It's been an interesting journey since foods are never the same.  You get what you get.  It has saved us a tremendous amount of money on groceries, however, and since our budget has been tight, this has been a good thing.  We've gotten a lot of produce from this place, and since it has been necessary to eat it quickly, our meals have had less preservatives!  We continue to cut the crap!

My best friend Jenna and I have decided that together we're going to eat as fresh as possible.  I know that was the initial goal postulated in this blog, but I haven't had anyone to actually do that with.  My hubby isn't for it... and sometimes fast is easier when you have kids.  I wish I had more time to prepare fresh meals for my children... they deserve that... but working 45+ hours each week doesn't leave much time for that.  So... Jenna and I are going to hold each other accountable as much as possible.  I hope it works!

Home projects are going well, too.  As I posted before, we picked up some patio furniture from the curb and Rob started spray painting them to give them a new life.  Again, we're cutting stuff from the landfills AND we're saving money.  Can't beat that!  I'm hoping to post pictures of our recycled bistro set soon.  Nothing fancy, but it serves its purpose!  We (meaning mostly ROB) put some steps in our backyard.  For those of you who haven't seen our yard, it is severely sloped and terraced.  We have one section that -- for lack of a better word -- is a slope that leads to the uppermost portion of our yard.  It was nothing but dirt... so we installed railroad ties and are in the process of filling those in with river rock.  It looks great, and the whole project cost only $50!  The river rock was free on Craigslist, and the railroad ties were given to us by our friends who no longer needed them!  We paid for rebar and garden tarp.  Cutting the crap has never been so cheap.  It's been hard work, but as I said, it looks GREAT!

I also promised some opinions and comments on said opinions... when I posted the question "What would you do to cut the crap?"... I'll get to those next time, and I hope next time is sooner than a month from now.  Those were silly and interesting and deserve a little more time than I have to go over them right now. 

So that's the post for now.  I hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend! 

It's MONDAY. Here's your cut-the-crap post...

We need to save money... especially after this weekend.  What was supposed to be a nice, inexpensive trip to Rock Springs, WY quickly became an expensive one.  We spent nearly $500!  However, I must say that it was all worth it... Next time, we will NOT spend so much on food, I think.

So in the spirit of cutting the crap, I found this article to share with you.  AND BTW... I put some questions up on Yahoo Answers and got some very interesting answers.  I'll share them with you in my next post. 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/8-Painless-Ways-to-Save-usnews-4181079233.html?x=0

Butter or Margarine? Experts Reveal What's in Their Grocery Cart

Butter or Margarine? Experts Reveal What's in Their Grocery Cart

This was an eye-opening article. I was especially intrigued by the frozen veggies vs. fresh veggies bit. Good to know!  I prefer olive oil as opposed to canola oil, and we already drink 1% milk.  Milk... I'd love to go organic but it's literally twice as expensive.  As for the butter, did anyone read that viral email a few years ago that stated margarine is literally 1 MOLECULE away from being plastic?  It made me never want to eat margarine again.  Besides, butter tastes better. 

I'm getting groceries again today for the first time in about 3 weeks.  We wanted to eat as much from the cupboards to get rid of the bad stuff we don't need.  Now we can replace these items with more healthy choices.  I have a feeling our grocery bill will be quite expensive this week...
   
So am I cutting the crap or making my life more simple by making better food choices?  One could argue that if I simply didn't care so much about all of this that I'd reduce my stress and thus become happier.  What could be more simple and unencumbered then that?   

Cut the Crap Day WHATEVER

So here we are a month later. Much has happened. Crap has been cut, but still not to the extent I had hoped.

• Rob got a work from home job as DSL tech support. He just completed training on Friday. We’ve cut the crap a lot with that job:
• He doesn’t have to drive to work, so we’re saving a ton on gas. He has a ’79 K5 Blazer. When I say “a ton”, I mean it.
• He’s eating at home obviously, and he’s already shed 20 lbs. He’s cutting the fat! YAY!
• We finally got our tax incentive for buying a house. I can’t say we cut the crap with that, but we did get new furniture, new carpet, and a new TV. I must say, my house is looking GOOD.
• We rescued some terra cotta planters from the curbside… as well as some patio furniture. Rob is going to sand down the patio furniture and repaint it. So… even though we didn’t cut the crap on that, we cut the amount of crap going to the landfill. AND all it cost us was some water, cleaner, and two cans of spray paint.
• Xander burned his hands on our door threshold on Friday. After an ER visit, much Tylenol and Motrin, bandages, and some sleep, he’s doing fine. We have an appointment with the burn specialists at Children’s hospital tomorrow morning. Part of keeping Xander comfortable means keeping the AC cranked. I want to make sure he doesn’t have any undue swelling. So, that was kind of the opposite of cutting the crap. We’re actually using more energy and will pay for it in our next bill.