Extreme Apartment Makeover: Cheap Edition!

Do I use too many exclamation points in my posts? Oh well, I don't care. I like 'em.  Anyway, the other day I was looking at our cute little apartment and decided that it needed a little face lift and I knew just the gal to do it...me! Ever since I was little, I have loved redecorating my room and changing things up a bit. Here are the pictures:



Breakdown:
flowers: $0-Grandma's closet gift certificate
pot: $0 wedding gift
trunk: $0 Austin's grandma's
red moss: $2 Michaels
styrofoam: $1 Michaels
TOTAL: $3


Step one, acquire adorable pot (thank you wedding presents). Step two, place Styrofoam block into pot and arrange flowers. Step three, place moss in pot to please the eyes. Step four, obtain rundown trunk. Step 5, line the trunk with leftover fabric from another project. Step 6, place in desired area and at embellishments.

I got $75 worth of stuff for only $22. I know, I'm pretty good.

7 Day Workout Challenge!....... UPDATE

I'm about not posting Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. I was too busy to get to a computer. But don't cry, I'm here now.

If you are still a little weary of doing the 7-day challenge. Here's a little guide to show where you are going to be sore the day after your work-out.



Day five is actually your bum but I didn't want to scare away what few readers I have with a photo of that. I wasn't sore at all on day 6 or 7. You aren't too sore but it feels like you worked out. If you missed the last work-out Wednesday here is the challenge. And I seriously want to hear about it if you tried the challenge. I did it and I want to keep it going. I'm going to be super buff! It really felt great to say that I could do it all and it only took me about 15 minutes each day (except day 6 and 7). TRY IT, you don't have anything to loose... except for maybe a few pounds.

Yard Sale Success!

As I mentioned on Thursday, we had a yard sale and it was fabulous. Here's some tips I learned:

• Don't try and do everything yourself. Assign everybody one task (i.e. put up signs, handle money, walk around, take goods to a donation center, etc.). These tasks seemed simple but if you try and do all of them by yourself you get overwhelmed very quickly.
• Using a spreadsheet with a multi-family yard sale is crucial. I made one that added up totals after each customer and balanced itself (give me a break I'm a teller, for crying out loud). This made it so easy to see instantly how much each person had made.
• Putting ads on KSL and Craigslist brings in the people. I put a map on each website and I also created an event on facebook.

This was a great way to clean out the house, get some extra cash, and let someone turn your junk into treasures.

Austin's Birthday Surprise!

So Austin's birthday was in May, but I'm new to blogging and apparently pretty bad at it, so that is why I did not post this sooner. For my Love's 24th I set up a scavenger hunt with 24 things I love about him (it was hard to narrow it down). Here he is looking for the clues: they were all over the house, garden, mailbox, and his car. Some of the clues came with little presents like candy or toys. It was so much fun. At the end I gave him the big present: his Sanuks! He loves them. Happy Friday!!!

Headbands & Bracelets for Sale...Sorry SOLD OUT!

At the beginning of July we had a huge yard sale with my sister and our friends. It was a great success and contributed greatly to our "cruise" fund. At the yard sale I decided to make some easy headbands and bracelets from old t-shirts that I found online...somewhere. I can't remember where I saw this but if you deserve the credit for this brilliant design, then take it- it's yours.

Step 1: Find an old t-shirt that you are willing to cut up. I think that it has to have some polyester in it or it won't stretch when you get to step 4. Austin and I got two extra large men's t-shirts for volunteering at a race. We were never going to wear them so I thought these were perfect for this project.

Step 2: Cut the seams off the bottom of the t-shirt. If you don't it will mess you up when you get to step 4. Next, cut the shirt up the side and along the sleeve, so that the shirt is cut in half. This makes it easy for you to make long strips along the bottom of the shirt.

Step 3: Cut the shirt into 6 long strips. I made mine about an inch wide and I left them all connected at the top. It made it a lot easier to weave. NOTE: I tried cutting some of the headbands into 4 strips or 8 and this changes the width of the band. 4 strips was a lot easier to weave and may be a good way to start until you get the hang of weaving.

Step 4: Pull the pieces to that they stretch and roll into long strings.

Step 5: Get ready to weave! This was the hardest/longest step. Start with the farthest string on your right and weave it under and over the other strings. Continue with the next string on the right. When you start, it looks wrong but keep going and it will turn out fine.

Step 6: When you think it's about done. Put it around your head to measure the length your want. REMEMBER: it will stretch so cut it accordingly and leave enough room for step 7...

Step 7: Using Velcro, attach the two ends together. At first I tried sewing them together but I decided that it was easier to put on and take off with the Velcro.

BONUS! Step 8: For fun colors, try dying or bleaching your headbands. I put this whole headband in the bleach and got a wonderful white headband (great contrast for brunettes like me). I also tried just dying parts of the shirt before I cut it up and it was a wonderful tie-dye effect. Depending on how you dilute your bleach, you can get a variety of colors (i.e. the more water the less color will be taken out of the shirt).

Step 9: Sport your headbands with pride. Or sell them like I did. I sold mine for 25 cents or 5 for $1. I had a few come and buy 5 each and one lady bought the my whole supply. I made about $10 bucks off of them (that's a big ticket item at a yard sale).

7 Day Workout Challenge!

I saw this on KSL's Studio 5 website, thought I'd give it a try, and I added days 6 and 7 to make it a full week. I'm only on day 3 (squats) and it's been great so far. I did the crunches just fine but the push-ups were killer. I can't raise my arms above my head today but that only means that it works! If you try it out let me know how you felt. I really like it...so far. I'll let you know how it goes next week.

Breakfast Burritos

I've been loving looking at ways to make meals and freeze them. At Money Saving Mom she makes a lot of freezer meals in just one hour every week. I've tried some of them and I love having them all ready to go and I just have to reheat them. Click here for the link to the breakfast burritos. Yummers...

I think I made about 15 and they lasted the whole month. They were so good for any meal. I definitely recommend them to anyone!

Rule of 72

This is going to be a short but very sa-weet post. Well, I had no idea about this little formula but it's really cool when you are planning investments. Here it is:

72/interest rate =

Years to double your money

For example, let's say you get 2% (interest rate) on a certificate at your financial institution.

72 / 2 = 36

So, it will take 36 years for that money to double.

Pretty cool, eh? It does help you see how your money can work for you. Have a great Monday!

Happiness.

Just a few thoughts to brighten your Sabbath.

"Happiness consists more in small conveniences of pleasures that occur every day, than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom to a man in the course of his life." - Ben Franklin (1706-1790)

"Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."  - Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)



Being happy. Also, being patriotic....



"If you aren't happy, why aren't you?"