How To Save On: Lighting

    I needed some more light in my living room, I only had the one light in the ceiling fan and a small lamp from Ikea and it just wasn’t enough. I also have a big blank white wall behind my couch and I hated it. I tried looking for something artsy to put behind it but because it was such a large space, they were all really expensive ideas.

     Then one day, I was wondering aimlessly through Target and probably buying things I did not really need, I found the solution. There were these beautiful vine planters, that looked like wrought ironwork but were about 1/5 of the price, at least and much lighter. For only about 60 dollars, I grabbed three. Then patrolling along the Christmas clearance section, I found these beautiful iridescent Christmas lights on sale for about a dollar per strand. I quickly grabbed a bunch, (I still have leftover strands) and knew I had found my solution.

     I twirled the lights around the vine growers so that the outlets were mostly hidden and then spray painted some small gold wall hooks black. I used four hooks per panel to secure them to the wall.

     As you can see, it gives my couch the light it needed without it being super bright or too confined of an area. I love plugging them in during a party and turning off the overhead lights, it gives this wonderful soft glow to the place and did not cost me an arm or a leg. Not only did I get the lighting I needed, I also was able to cover up the ugly blank wall.

50 Dollar Fix: Couch

    Whenever fall semester rolls around again, I always start to patrol the sidewalks of my neighborhood because people are moving out. They have graduated (hopefully) and are ready to get on with their lives and often part of that means leaving stuff behind. Stuff I wouldn't mind…


     Take my couch for instance; it was a neighbor's who didn't want to move it. Now it wasn't very pretty, but it was free and I knew that with a little love and some sparkle, I could make it work out just fine.

    So with a light cleaning and a few accessories, it became one of my 50 Dollar Fixes.

     The two necklace pillows were half off, costing me a total of $24 dollars. The other two pillows were stolen from a different couch that had too many. And the fur blanket can be found at any Marshalls or TJ Maxx for about $25. Though another cheap fix would have been a slipcover (those stripes are awful), the couch was too odd shaped for that, sadly. Though one day, I may re-stuff the bottom pads.

Picture Frame Fix-up

I bought these pretty flowers a while ago on sale at JoAnn's because … Well they were pretty and in a cute jar and on sale? I have been trying to figure out something to do with them ever since then.

I finally did something with them. I used them to decorate a frame for a friend's gift.

Just use some modpodge to glue some flowers to a frame covered in scrapbook paper. Then print a photo on photo paper or be lazy like me, and go to your local drugstore and have them print it. TA DA!

Super Savings!

So yesterday while frantically dashing in out of Goodwill's, trying to find a suitcase for a display, I found the perfect addition to my cookbooks. Well almost perfect, it's not the first run, but hey, it's pretty close.

That's right. Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I loved Julia Child, I have seen her kitchen in the Smithsonian, seen the movie, but have yet to read the book. (Don't kill me.) I could not believe my eyes that this book was at GOODWILL. It's a classic. Even if I don't use it regularly, it will look great displayed somewhere, it just screams to be shown to everyone!

And you may ask, what did I pay for this beauty of a cookbook?

That's right $3.99. You can't be that. Now I just need to find an equally pretty stand.



The moral of the story: Don't discount Goodwill. Ever. They sometimes have some fabulous finds and they won't ever break your bank account.

How to save on: Dry Cleaning

For some reason my favorite garments to wear seem to be those ones that are labeled DRY CLEANING ONLY. And though I love to wear them, I hate to have them dry cleaned as it gets quite expensive thus enters one of my favorite finds: DRYEL. This innovative system makes it possible to lightly dry clean at home. Now I am not saying it will have the same results as sending your suit to the cleaners to get starched and cleaned but it works quite well on those every day wear items. Honestly it is worth it alone for just the stain removing pen, which is one of the bests I have ever used.

And the website has $2 off coupons! Can't beat a coupon and not having to pay for dry cleaning!

http://dryel.com/get-free-coupons/?gclid=CML38MDKy6YCFUpJ2goddH8YIw

Where to buy:

-Drugstores

-Grocery Stores

-Target

-Wal-Mart

Jewelry Frames

As a girl on a budget, framed art pieces to decorate my walls are a bit out of my price range, so I have had to get a bit creative. In my bedroom for instance, I framed my jewelry. This actually doubles as a very easy to keep organized storage for it as well. I bought frames from Goodwill, Michael's, and even the Dollar Store. A simple way to save money is to buy frames that have broken glass, since it's not needed for this project (Clearance aisles are a godsend).

Materials:

Frames

Corkboard (can be found at Joann's, Michael's, Home Depot, etc)

Hot Glue

Tacks or pretty Push Pins (again craft or home improvement stores)

Paint (Optional)

Jewelry!!!!

Tips:

• Always lay the jewelry out on the cork before pushing in the pins
  
• Make sure you place it vertical so you will see how it will hang.
  
• Glue on the back so nothing shows through
• Make sure the cork is thick enough that the pushpins stay intact
• You can paint frames to match your decor

Soup Fairy

So this holiday weekend sadly, two of my good friends were sick, leaving me with plenty of free time to make them a get well soup. Of course, I could not just make the two of them soup nor just bring soup over for all four roommates, I had to go all out and give them a treat. … Enter the Soup Fairy Bags…

You might be wonder what is in each bag…

They got one name decorated bag, a biscuit, a green tea with mango (which they all loved!), a carrot cake muffin and my famous butternut squash soup.

Butternut Squash Soup Recipe:

1 box V8 Butternut Squash Soup

1 diced ham steak

1 can of Butter Beans

Directions:

Place the drained can of Butter Beans and diced ham in a pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally until they are heated through. (about 3 minutes)

Add box of soup and simmer till soup warms as well. Stir and serve!

This soup is super easy to make and everyone loves it, the addition of the ham and beans makes it look like it took a lot more effort than it did. It's perfectly filling on a cold day and has two full servings of vegetables, what's not to love!