My Sister's Bday Weekend

My sister is coming up to celebrate her birthday weekend and I'm excited/nervous to host and entertain under a budget. We're going to go and see a show and then spend the rest of the weekend hanging out and enjoying quality time.

I'm hoping that I can keep track of my spending this week. Here's what's gone down so far:

Birthday Cake:
$1 on chocolate cake mix
$2 on 2 chobani yogurts
=
$3 cake!!!

Ice Cream and Cake Icing:
$1 on small container of whole milk
$3 on large container of heavy cream
=$4 birthday extras!

I have an ice cream machine and I'm a pro at making my own icings from my vegan days so whipping up the cake extras was a breeze. It's pretty incredible to spend $7 bucks for cake and ice cream.

Birthday Gift:
$1 on basket
$12 on two bags of specialty coffee
$2 for 2 cute dollar store mugs
=
$15 Bday present

Pinterest has been a great inspiration for cheap but great basket gifts. My sister loves coffee and presenting coffee plus mugs in a basket makes it seem like such a bigger gift. I really hope she enjoys it.

Once she gets here we're going to stop by the grocery store to pick up food (eating in is much cheaper than dining out constantly). I'm so incredible excited for this weekend :)

14 Days of Love

So I had an amazing plan to do all these blog posts about easy DIY gifts for Valentine's Day. I was going to do one post each day before Valentine's; I had even made a lovely Word Document with links and helpful hints. Of course my computer chose that time to die out on me and now it's February 3rd and I've done nada but oh well! I figure I can do my best to try to post some amazing, helpful, lovely ideas for love day.

I swear we our on the tail end of a money hemorrhaging season. The holiday's drain you, there's tons of money spent on Thanksgiving food, Christmas presents, New Years booze and sparkly dresses (or maybe that's just me). THEN the end of January just happens to be my anniversary and then 2 weeks later I'm supposed to get all romantic and gift-y again for Valentine's day. That's a lot of stuff to deal with. I already told my boyfriend that I can't deal with all that so we went on a trip right in the middle of our anniversary and Valentine's day and on the actual day of love I'm just going to order a pizza or something. It's just too much pressure to try to be romantic all of the time.

However, there are so pretty easy ways to show the one you love that you really do care during this time of year and most of them you can do with out breaking the bank. Since it's already the 3rd day of February here are 3 easy/cheap/fun ideas to try to up the romance this love day.

Day One: Breakfast in Bed
This one is incredibly easy. There's nothing more lovely then waking up and realizing your partner has risen early to create a wonderful meal for you. I love breakfast but it usually takes my stomach a bit to wake up but whenever I wake up and my boyfriend has gone out of his way to make coffee for me (a drink I love and he is not very interested in) it warms my heart. Valentine's day (to me) is all about sweet gestures to show someone that you care.

Here are some great breakfast ideas:

Day One: Breakfast in Bed

Photo Courtesy of SweetCDesignes

Cocoa Kissed Red Velvet Pancakes

Day Two: Handmade Cards and Poetry

Jade Louis Designs

A handmade card is so much more thoughtful than a store bought one. I'm in no way artistic but I like the idea of taking time to create something for some one I love.

Day Three: Scavenger Hunt:
I've never done one of these but I've seen them on movies/TV and they look pretty adorable. Thinking of significant places you share with your mate and taking the time to lay out clue is just really sweet and thoughtful. I think it's pretty obvious that I value thoughtfulness over material objects. I'd rather have a really sweet gesture from someone who really gets me than a generic store bought gift.

Non gym work outs (aka burning calories puttering around my house)

Today I'm skipping the gym in order to get some things done around my house. I don't think many people realize how many calories can be burned by being active and present in your own home.

Projects today:
1. Pinterest DIY headlight cleaning with toothpaste

                                                       Source: Frugal Fun Ideas

My headlights are filthy and it's really effecting how well I can see at night. I'm hoping this works because I don't really have the cash to purchase a specific cleaner (I'm using the last of my disposable income on a haircut because the last time I got a trim was in January).

2. Weeding my garden
Do you even know what a workout weeding is??? I had no clue until I started. My whole body ached after the first day and I could barely clinch my hands. It burns something crazy like 400 calories an hour. And it's totally free!! AND it makes your yard looked cared for and nice.
I plan on posting some before and afters of my Rosemary bush. It took a few days but I trimmed her up, weeding her out, and even destroyed a rotting stump right in her middle :)

I don't have much time so that's probably all I can do today before work but I have a 3 day weekend coming up and I'm really hoping to get my closet sorted out and a pantry made.

LOVE house work :)

Social Media

I started a Tumblr today. There's this whole community called "Fitblr" that post the most amazing, inspiring stuff about fitness and healthy eating. I'm hoping that looking at it daily will keep me dedicated to a healthy lifestyle.

So here's my Tumblr:
http://brokeasswino.tumblr.com/

And just in case you forgot here's the link to my Pinterest:
http://pinterest.com/pourgirl/

Follow, comment, love!

More Attempts at Pinterest

OKAY. So I'm back from bum-outs-ville and I'm feeling so much better. Honestly, that brief period of sadness did me a world of good. I realized that almost every protagonist in feel good movies goes through some sort of down swing before they realize their true potential. I'm not saying that I have everything figured out (I doubt I ever will) but I'm definitely realizing what is important to me and what I want out of life.

This post is dedicated to my first attempts at self lead crafting. My grandmother is a crafting God and when I was a child she taught/ helped me with all sorts of projects. However, I'm 26 and it's been a few years since I broke out a glue gun. But you gotta start somewhere, right?

First thing first, my attempt at a sea shell souvenir frame!

My boyfriend and I went to the coast a month or so ago and I wanted a cheesy souvenir to remember the trip by. Unfortunately, cheesy souvenirs can cost a pretty penny. While strolling the beach I collected some shells and when I got home I figured I could hot glue them to a frame that displayed one of my beach pictures. 

I ended up picking up a couple of super cheap frames from Ikea that had a beach-y feel to them. They were around $3 bucks a pop.

I'm sure I could have done this project better or more professionally. My plan of attack was just to glue beads and shells on the frames until I ran out of space or beads. If you look really closely you can see a few strands of hair like glue from my hot glue gun. I didn't create a beautiful piece of art but I did make a cute little frame that will always remind me of a fun trip. Also, it does look better from a distance and surrounded by other frames.

I posted a few weeks ago about some homemade sugar scrub. It was seriously so easy! I made two mason jars full of scrub for $0! I had all of the ingredients for the scrub (brown sugar, white sugar, oil) and I had some mason jars and ribbon laying around my house. And the labels I used? They came with my crock pot. So easy.

A few weeks ago on Pinterest I saw a recipe for Cheesy Quinoa cakes. I could have sworn I pinned them on my DIY I Want to Try but alas I'm not seeing them. Either way, they were incredibly easy to make and so delicious. The recipe can be found on Spoon, Fork, Bacon:

Their picture is so much better than mine (did you notice how my dvd remote is photo bombing my cakes?)

Trust me, if I call a recipe easy, it's easy. Plus it's super cheap, all I had to go out and buy was lemons for the aioli and green onions (both were less than $1). I made them for Girls night and for my boyfriend and they were a hit. Plus, its the kind of recipe you can easily modify with success. 

Gifts on the Cheap // Attempting Pinterest Crafts

The month of May has been hard on me financially. I had to get about $360 worth of dental work done (trust me, it was a HAD to not a WANT to). I also had to get some basic car repair and then it's my sisters birthday, college graduation and Mothers day. Awesome. When it rains it pours. But just because I'm broke doesn't mean I still can't give awesome gifts. I managed to get my mother and sister pretty cute stuff and spent less then $15 total. Awwww, yaaa. So how did I manage that? A bit of craftiness, a bit of cheapness, and the knowledge that my family isn't that big on expensive stuff (thank God).

First, the wrapping. If you haven't stopped by Targets dollar spot GO NOW. Just stop reading this, it isn't even important. I got both of these cute bags for just $1. I KNOW, RIGHT? I also got a 4 pack of greeting cards for a buck. The dollar spot is the best place in the world.

Cost of 2 bags: $1
Cost of 4 cards: $1
Total: $2

My Mom likes to knit so I found a half done scarf that I had been trying to work on for a year now and unraveled it and tied it with a bow. This whole being broke thing has made me appreciate how much I have and how I don't really need all of this stuff. I for see a lot of giving away in my future.

Cost of Yarn: Free
Cost of ribbon: Free
Total: $0

Homemade sugar scrub. Pinterest has given me a ton of great DIY projects I want to try. Luckily I had all of the ingredients for this basic sugar scrub. You just mix up brown sugar, white sugar, oil (don't use sesame oil like I did. Trust me), and some vanilla and BAM. Amazing scrub and since I already had everything it didn't cost me a dime.

Sugar scrub ingredients: $0

The item I spent the most on? Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me and Other Concerns by Mindy Kaling. I found it for $12 bucks at Half Price Books. A friend got it for me a few months ago and I love it and I'm really hoping that my sister will dig it.

I've gotta go since I'm already late for work but I'll be back soon with more fun stuff!!

Fell Off the Wagon: Shopping

This whole blog is about me being broke and trying to find a way to live/eat all while paying off my ridiculous student loans. I've been going strong for a while now but I am only human and not only am I human, I am a girl and there's only so long I can stay strong when it comes to shopping.

Some things you should know about me; I never throw clothes away. EVER. I have clothes from high school. If it still fits and is basically clean then it's mine forever and ever and ever. Unfortunately I am in an interesting period of my life. Adult puberty. I am going from a teenager/early 20-something to a 26 year old professional woman. The way that I dressed when I was 19 no longer reflects the person I am. Me at 19 = slip on ratty vans, tight cigarette pants, and Obey t-shirts. Think this:

Now, there is nothing wrong with this outfit or style of clothing (although, it could be argued that a pear shaped chick like me should stay away from cigarette pants but I digress) but it no longer is what I'm about. I still have these clothes but as the years go by I don't wear them as much and while my closet is filled with clothes my actual wardrobe is very small. I can't really pin point my style but I'm starting to drift more towards classic clothes and finer fabrics. Sometimes I border on preppy which is an entirely new thing for me. Here's some examples:

Photo courtesy of A Well Traveled Woman.

Photo from Pinterest

Due to my non-exisistent shopping budget I've just worked with what I've had and dealt with feeling unfashionable and sad (cue sad female drama). But I finally broke and my busted old cardigan is all to blame.

Despite living in Texas and dealing with unimaginable heat 9 months out of the year I am in love with sweaters. Cardigans, boyfriend sweaters, hoodies, and pull overs I own and love, love, love them all. I have one black button up cardigan that I wear constantly that is as near death that a piece of clothing can be. I've owned it since high school, it's missing a button, it's faded and peeling (is that the correct term?), and at one point I dropped it in my parking lot on a rainy day, ran it over with my car, and found it 8 hours later.

One day last week I just couldn't deal with it anymore. I chucked the old sweater in the trash and dragged my boyfriend to Highland Mall. Now, if you live in Austin you know Highland Mall is on it's last leg. I think there are like 5 stores remaining in it and there are constantly riots there (charming, right?). I figured I could swing by the mall, pick out a cheap sweater from the clearance Dilliards, and move on with my life. But like most things in my life this didn't go as planned. The only store left that had anything CLOSE to what I was looking for was Wet Seal. I  haven't shopped there since high school but beggars can't be choosers and it turned out to be a treasure trove of cheap, awesome finds.

Wet Seal is apparently so hard up for customers in this sad, empty mall that half the store was on clearance and they had a special deal where you buy one clearance item you get another for only a penny. I lost my mind a little. I bought a brand new black, lightweight button up, a thick gray cable knit sweater, a boyfriend style long striped cardigan, a striped flowing tank, a pair of southwest style slip on shoes, black strappy sandals, 2 pairs of panties, and silky gray camisole. All for only $32.48. That's 9 pieces of clothing for less than what my boyfriend and I spent at Taco Tuesday at Quality Seafood (best day to go IMO).

Now, I know I can't go shopping like this all the time but being able to pick up some new items for cheap made me feel so much better. My next plan of attack on my wardrobe is to buy a sewing machine and try to jazz up what I already own.

Here's a fashion show so you can see what I bought (all images from the internet because I'm too fucking lazy to take pictures).

Photo courtesy of Color Me Blue.

Tiny screenshot of sweater (but in black).

 I love this little slip ons so much. Comfortable and perfect for Texas summers. 

Haven't worn these yet but I'm excited to pair them with a fun summer dress.

Follow me on Pinterest so you can keep up with my future projects and inspiration. I have a bunch of new DIY in the works (it be coming sooner but I have to spend money on lame things like the dentist and car parts).

I drank the Kool Aid

I started a Pinterest thing/account/whatevs to try to keep track of all the DIY projects I want to do. Follow me? (or Pin me? Is that accurate? I'm usually better at the internet then this).

Pour Girl on Pinterest!