live frugally, but stylishly and deliciously

To achieve this, I need to be better at enjoying and taking care of the things I already have.

i realized a while ago that i could be buying my makeup on ebay. at first i was apprehensive because i have a bizarre and paranoid notion that someone will open it up and tamper with it, maybe i watch too much law and order? anyways i figured that if i browsed makeup “power sellers” who exclusively sold new, unused, sealed cosmetics, i should be ok. well, i did so and got my smashbox primer for $9 instead of the $17 in store. with shipping, it turned out to be just under $14 which doesn’t seem like a huge savings, but considering the shipping at sephora.com is more i’m still better off. i could go downtown, but what i’d pay at the dept. stores is more than what i paid to the seller and in terms of gas + lunch + the impulse buy factor, i always end up paying more for cosmetics by going and buying them in person. this is a good way to not have to buy drugstore brands and still save money.

ducked into a few different targets yesterday to pounce on the new alexander mc queen collection the first day it was out. thankfully, i wasn’t crazy about most of it but did walk away with an amazing black draped front mini for all of $30. amazing. i went on the website last night and found flats from the siegerson morrison collection on clearance for $7.49. i love target and how there is always something on sale that i can snatch up then immediately wear. seeing that my clothes and makeup shopping has been a big goose egg lately its a treat to get new shoes. at that price, i should have bought another pair of the flats in a different color, but thats a whole other habit i have to break.

takes 20-25 min. beginning to end – ok add 10 more for cooling maybe – and is way satisfying.

I think the best way to live frugally and deliciously is to learn to cook, and invite your friends over for dinner. While groceries are expensive, they are still less expensive than going out to eat all the time. I’ve got a collection of cookbooks that I love. I’ve found some websites that I love. and I’ve found some friends that I like to cook for. Way better than going out for dinner, because you can stay at your table forever, you don’t dread sorting out the check at the end of the meal, there’s seconds if you want them, and you can progress from sitting at the table eating dinner to sitting on the floor drinking wine over the course of a long, slow evening.

so nice.

and I think the thing I’ve learned about cooking for other people, is that simple is usually best. Just make simple things that you know how to make already and enjoy cooking, and it will all be all right. And invite your guests to bring/make something too, it will get everyone involved and make less work for you.

... of a plant thief.

I admit it, I steal cuttings of plants from homes in my neighborood. Spider plant babies, philodendron tendrils, stalks from out-of-control succulents. Things that are really easy to propagate. I never take much, just a little bit here and a little bit there. I take them all home and start them, and so I have plants in my apartment, without paying for them.

Well I pay for the pots, which I get at the thrift store for 50 cents each.

Plants make me so happy… and whenever my plants get big enough, I give away cuttings, so that I can balance out my plant-karma… please don’t judge me too harshly… :)

It is incredibly expensive. In fact, food in general is very expensive in the Bay area, for reasons I don’t understand. So I think I will try to have a baking weekend once per month or so, where I bake a bunch of rolls and a few loaves of bread, and stick them in the freezer. That way I’ll be able to make good bread and rolls for lunch and dinner, it won’t take too much time, and it will be comparatively inexpensive. I mean, $4-$5 for a loaf of bread? Come on now…

And homemade bread, how luxurious can you get? :)

Last month for my birthday me boyfriend payed for me to go to a spa and get a facial. It was amazing, but inlcudind tip it was $90, definitely a once and a while treat. I’ve been trying to take care of my face more so tonight I did a facial at home! First I used some Neutrogena Deep Clean cleanser to wash my face. Next I filled a big bowl with boiling hot water and a couple of tea bags. I then got a towel and put it over my head and over the bowl so my faced would get all steamed up. After several minutes of that I then used a Biore nose strip and put on Olay eye cream and Olay facial lotion. It was cheap and my face feels all smooth. It wasn’t as amazing as going to the spa, but it will have to do.

In efforts to redo my bedroom I want to get a bunch of simple black picture frames with a white backround and put photographs in them or postcards or whatever. Well frames are effing expensive, so cheap little me went to the salvation army and bought some hideous frames and just repainted them. Woohoo for cheap art!

Today I went to the farmers market to buy a bouquet of flowers which normally run for about 7 or 8 bucks. Not many vendors had any so I picked one that was really pretty except for the fact that there were a bunch of flowers in it that were almost snapped off. Well the vendor gave it to me for 3 dollars because of the snapped flowers! And instead of throwing away the flowers away that were falling off I just cut them off and put them in tiny vases. Woohoo for cheap flowers!!