Monday, November 14, 2011
Chic for Cheap: On a Grocery Budget but Love to Cook and Stay Healthy? Here are Some Tips!
I'm a food snob. There's no way around it. I like making and eating tasty, fancy food. No ramen for this girl. Even though I'm a food snob and I like to eat out, I'm on a budget and I was finding it really hard to buy groceries for under $100 a week. Actually, we were spending between $200-$230 a week on groceries alone! Well, I have embraced "frugal." It's actually kind of fun to learn how to budget! First, I tried switching to only off brand products- it helped, but not a whole lot. I tried buying less meat and only in season fruits and veggies- again, helpful, but not very. Then I realized, accidentally, that Trader Joe's is surprisingly a lot cheaper than your average Lucky's or (if you live on the East Coast) Shaws. Trader Joe's is unfortunately pretty limited, but if you switch to buying all of your fruits and veggies, as well as dairy and bread solely at TJ's and stick to just buying your meats at your local grocery store, you save a ton of money! We've got it down to $75 week now, which we're pretty stoked about. Try it out. Besides, Trader Joe's is way more fun to shop at- plus you can always pick up some cheap seasonal flowers on your way out.
Cheap for Chic: The Eczema Potion
Chic for Cheap: Updating Dated Pieces (Photos taken from Design Sponge)
Hey readers! Now, a lot of you know how much I LOVE all things interior design. It's one of my passions and I could spend all day shopping in various furniture stores, rearranging pieces, and creating centerpieces for my humble dining room table. These photos and pieces are not mine ( I copied them from http://www.designsponge.com because it is a FABULOUS site) but I'd like to take what I know about being on a budget and having a love for beautiful homes and share with you.
I actually have a few funky musty antique shops on my street, geared towards poor college students and at first, I was totally discouraged when I went to take a look-see for the first time. There are a lot of cheep, cheesy pieces-totally dated (and not in a good way) and kind of thrown around haphazardly. There's something to be said for presentation when you're selling low end products. It makes all the difference! Dusty, dated, and faded products are a tough sell. Luckily, if you train your eye, you can find some great foundation pieces for your house if you're willing to put in a little time and effort.
So: I'm going to focus on painting and stenciling pieces. Stenciling can take a lot of time and patience (and painters tape) but if you take your time, you'll be totally impressed with the transformation.
I love this piece because of how much I HATED the armoire/dresser monstrosity as is. It looks kind of overbearing and overwhelming and while I'm sure it has its place, I wouldn't put it in my home. It definitely looks great for storage though. I really love what this person decided to do with it. Geometric, simple patterns really modernize things and grey-blue colors are totally calming and sophisticated. The pop of yellow on the nobs give it that extra umph and I kind of hate/love them but the pillow to the left really helps tie the punch of color in and make it believable. Overall, definitely a great focal point for any room.
I'm totally into this desk transformation because it's so doable. I see this kind of desk all the time for as little as $40 and they kind of just sit there. That's great news for you if you want a new project and a fun little desk! All you have to do is slap on a fresh coat of paint, get some various sized letter stencils, spray paint them on, paint the handles a more modern color, and boom! You have a rad desk.
I dig this. I have to say, I don't know that I have a steady enough hand to paint this on a piece of furniture but the basic concept is great. Pick a strong solid color, paint the whole piece, then paint a strong and simple industrial image in the center. Pretty fucking awesome. I want this for my entryway!
I actually have a few funky musty antique shops on my street, geared towards poor college students and at first, I was totally discouraged when I went to take a look-see for the first time. There are a lot of cheep, cheesy pieces-totally dated (and not in a good way) and kind of thrown around haphazardly. There's something to be said for presentation when you're selling low end products. It makes all the difference! Dusty, dated, and faded products are a tough sell. Luckily, if you train your eye, you can find some great foundation pieces for your house if you're willing to put in a little time and effort.
So: I'm going to focus on painting and stenciling pieces. Stenciling can take a lot of time and patience (and painters tape) but if you take your time, you'll be totally impressed with the transformation.
I love this piece because of how much I HATED the armoire/dresser monstrosity as is. It looks kind of overbearing and overwhelming and while I'm sure it has its place, I wouldn't put it in my home. It definitely looks great for storage though. I really love what this person decided to do with it. Geometric, simple patterns really modernize things and grey-blue colors are totally calming and sophisticated. The pop of yellow on the nobs give it that extra umph and I kind of hate/love them but the pillow to the left really helps tie the punch of color in and make it believable. Overall, definitely a great focal point for any room.
I'm totally into this desk transformation because it's so doable. I see this kind of desk all the time for as little as $40 and they kind of just sit there. That's great news for you if you want a new project and a fun little desk! All you have to do is slap on a fresh coat of paint, get some various sized letter stencils, spray paint them on, paint the handles a more modern color, and boom! You have a rad desk.
I dig this. I have to say, I don't know that I have a steady enough hand to paint this on a piece of furniture but the basic concept is great. Pick a strong solid color, paint the whole piece, then paint a strong and simple industrial image in the center. Pretty fucking awesome. I want this for my entryway!
Chic for Cheap: Honey Cinnamon Hair Dye
Hey guys! So I went through some hair drama over the past year or two and I went a little hair dye, hair bleach, hair cutting madness. Now I'm paying the price! I used to have really thick, long, shiny hair and it grew about an inch per month. After some accidental bleaching, my hair is still relatively thick, but it lost a lot of its shine and was refusing to grow. I still have a lot of breakage and my hair isn't nearly as soft or shiny as it used to be but I'm treating it right and it's on the slow mend. Because I had bleached my hair about a year ago and then dyed it with the color closest to my natural hair color (dark brown with red hilights) my hair is really unevenly colored. For a while, I switched from permanent dye to semi-permanent dye (again, a color that was as close to my natural color as possible) and I felt good about at least treating my hair a bit more gently but I realized, even though semi permanent dye is a lot less stressful on your hair than permanent dye, it still stunts the growth of your hair and I want long lustrous hair! So I've been looking for better, healthier solutions (that are better for my wallet too!)
I recently discovered using spices and juices as natural hair dye. Having already brown hair, I went with a mixture that would give me slightly darker hair with some red undertones. I also wanted to make a mixture that, if possible, also stimulated hair growth and strengthened my hair. I looked up what various spices and came up with this:
Ingredients:
-Cinnamon
-Paprika
-Brewed Coffee (2x's as strong as you would regularly brew)
-Olive Oil
-Conditioner
-Honey
You really want to play with the amount of each ingredient you use based on the look you want to achieve. I wanted the treatment to double as a hair oiling/deep conditioning so I used a decent amount of olive oil and conditioner (you can also use lotion in place of conditioner if you don't want to waste your fancy conditioner). Applying the mixture can be tricky because the honey makes it really hard to comb through. I would recommend sectioning your hair and applying the mixture section by section then tying those sections up. You have to get all of your hair pretty saturated and leave it in overnight so make sure you don't have a romantic evening planned! I recommend putting a shower cap over your hair and putting a towel over your pillow, as these spices really stain clothing and fabric. Wash your hair out with cold water, initially.
I recently discovered using spices and juices as natural hair dye. Having already brown hair, I went with a mixture that would give me slightly darker hair with some red undertones. I also wanted to make a mixture that, if possible, also stimulated hair growth and strengthened my hair. I looked up what various spices and came up with this:
Ingredients:
-Cinnamon
-Paprika
-Brewed Coffee (2x's as strong as you would regularly brew)
-Olive Oil
-Conditioner
-Honey
You really want to play with the amount of each ingredient you use based on the look you want to achieve. I wanted the treatment to double as a hair oiling/deep conditioning so I used a decent amount of olive oil and conditioner (you can also use lotion in place of conditioner if you don't want to waste your fancy conditioner). Applying the mixture can be tricky because the honey makes it really hard to comb through. I would recommend sectioning your hair and applying the mixture section by section then tying those sections up. You have to get all of your hair pretty saturated and leave it in overnight so make sure you don't have a romantic evening planned! I recommend putting a shower cap over your hair and putting a towel over your pillow, as these spices really stain clothing and fabric. Wash your hair out with cold water, initially.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)