DIY: Pillow Fix

I have a junk back. Always have pretty much. I have slight scoliosis and the twist plus my usual routine of running/weight lifting don't help. I have an awesome back support pillow that I got from target years ago. It wraps around my body and has arm rests and even a cute little pocket for your remote. Over the years it has deflated from overuse and offered less and less support.

Instead of buying a new one I figured out that with a little love I could bring it back to life.

Pillow Before:

Pillow After:

Please excuse the light saturated photo :/

This was the easy DIY // up-do that I have ever done. I've been spring cleaning my house top to bottom and I have 3 assorted pillows that have come to the end of their little pillow lives. I cut a small hole in the bottom of my back support pillow and used the stuffing from my old bed pillow to fluff it up. It took 1 full bed pillow plus an Ikea couch pillow to re-stuff my back pillow but it feels amazing and looks so much better. The only cost of this project was around $2 for a little thread and needle kit. 

Helpful Links

Two posts in one day! Miraculous. I've been having great luck today finding really helpful sites for dealing with student loans and I thought I'd post them up for everyone :)

National Student Loan Data System: Monitors how much you have in student loans so you can accurately start figuring out how to cut it down.

Student Loan Calculator: Just plug in what you owe, how much you plan on paying monthly and at what percentage and it tells you how much time it'll take to pay it off. Awesome.

And Then We Saved: A really sweet blog that features tons of inspiring stories and helpful hints for leaving a debt free life.

Revisiting my thankful place...

First let's start this post with the required, "I'm terrible at updating this thing...blah blah blah...I swear to post more...blah blah blah".

The past few weeks I hit a bit of a rough spot. Just felt really bummed about my place in life. I'm 27 and I'm no where near these big life events that I think I should be. Luckily, I'm feeling so much better and happier and I realized that it's been far too long since I posted things that I'm thankful for. I spend so much time on this blog complaining about my debt and my bills and I should focus more on the riches I do have.

What I'm Thankful For:
1. Paying off my debt: in the past three months I have paid off THREE times as much of my principle debt than I have in the past year. The first year that I was paying off my college loan I only knocked off about $1200 in principle now I'm knocking off around that much each month. It's been incredible hard to see so much of my check go each month to bills but I know at the end of this year I'll be so much happier and that much closer to ultimately paying my debt off.

2. My friends and family: I have such supportive and amazing family. That really all there is to it. In this wild and crazy world I have so many people that I love that love me back and that's really very special.

3. My boyfriend: Yeah, he gets a number all his own. I seriously love this guy. I never thought I would live with someone again and now I can't imagine living without him. When he's not home I get so sad and when we're together it's the best part of my day. Our work schedules are completed jacked and we sometimes go days with only seeing each other briefly at night but last night we actually went to bed at the same time and it was so nice. Just to lay with him and laugh and fall asleep together.

4. My job: I really do love my job and even on days where it's hard I'm still so luckily to do what I love.  I was able to go from a job with low pay and terrible treatment to a job with amazing pay, great hours, and awesome co-workers. I'm really blessed.


There's a million more daily things I'm thankful for: great weather, good running trails, Dr Who on instant Netflix, insane genes that allow me to eat my weight in sugar and not get diabetes, sunshine, laughter, and so much more. Even though it's taking me a few months to save the extra cash I'm finally going to be able to buy a sewing machine and I'm so excited to start sewing again. I want to try my hand at DIY clothes/up cycling and quilting. I'm hoping to be able to post more about cheap DIY projects.