Julep Maven May Box

Yesterday I received my first Julep Maven box, I only subscribed to this new subscription because with the coupon code COLOR2012 you get your first box for only $0.01! Normally the monthly subscription costs $19.99 so going off the normal price I'll calculate how much everything is worth.  On the website they say that every box is worth at least $40 so it already makes it a good deal.

April BirchBox

So I signed up for BirchBox last month since I decided that I need to buy something for myself every once in a little while. My first box came this month and I was soo excited to go through it and discovered a few interesting surprises.
 
After reading a few other blogs about beauty sample boxes I figured it would be good to figure out if I am getting my $10 worth of samples.

So first off I received:

Three Things I Hate About Apartment Living

1. No yard or hose.

We went to the beach earlier this month and decided to camp on the beach well not having a yard made it so we couldn't set up the new tent to make sure everything was included. We got to the beach and started to set up the tent and noticed that the elastic in one of the poles was broken in not one but two places. If we had a yard we would have known this before we were at the beach and could have returned it.

Not having a yard or a hose makes it hard to clean up after a weekend at the beach. We are like little kids at the beach and we bring home sand covered beach toys as well as all of our camping gear. Trying to clean all this stuff on our tiny patio is hard because I have to bring buckets of water outside just to rinse everything off and then I don't even have the room to let everything dry... don't even get me started on cleaning the tent. That is something we will have to tackle inside the apartment.

2. Neighbors too close

We currently live on the first floor in a corner apartment which means we only have to share our walkway with the upstairs neighbors. This proves to be problematic instead of nice, especially when your upstairs neighbor has 3 children and they are friends with every child in the apartment complex. On many occasions we have had to tell the kids to move while carrying in grocery or trying to take the dog out. Not to mention the fact that they always leave trash, food, candy wrappers everywhere. Just yesterday they threw a metal hanger into our patio area striking the sliding glass door, when confronted just minutes later they claim they heard nothing (there was a loud crashing sound that scared both me and my husband) and they saw nothing...right.

3. Can't paint or remodel

I understand that some people won't find this a problem but I do. I would love to redo the cabinets because they are basically particle wood covered with contact paper and they are falling apart. I hate white/beige walls, I would love to paint the living room a nice meadow green, the bedroom a warm shade of brown, the kitchen would be red and white, bathrooms shades of blue, and the guest bedroom/office/craft room would have to be three different shades of purple. We would also love to have ceiling fans in the bedrooms as well as lights our current apartment doesn't have any overhead lights in the bedrooms.

Starting Off Febuary Right

So in an effort to stick to my resolutions I finally saw the first benefit of weekly meal planning and once a week grocery shopping. I managed to go to the store and only pay $20 for the items I need for the week, my list contained: paper towels, two cans of tomatoes, one can of chili beans, 2 onions, and some sinus medicine for hubby. My highest priced items were the paper towels and medicine which totaled about $15 of the $20 I spent. I managed to get around buying much because I have been buying larger packages of meat at HEB where they markdown the price per pound about $.30 and I have been taking advantage of what they call weekly meal deals. This last week I was able to a 4 lb. bag of frozen chicken breasts (they were on my shopping list already) and get several items for free including: garlic chicken broth, corn tortillas, cornbread, and a mixed frozen vegetables. I wish we had another freezer because ours is currently packed with lots of frozen veggies, meat and all extra leftovers that I know won't be able to eat within a day or two.

The one other thing we are starting to work on is getting the apartment cleaned up and organized, my husband is reenlisting with the army as soon as he is able to clear all medical exams so we are expecting to get orders to move within a few months. My husband has looked at his options for when he signs a new contract and we are more than likely getting orders to go overseas by the end of summer. So this is causing lots of stress because I tend to worry about every little thing that needs to be done and I decided that we need to get rid of everything we can live without and organize like crazy. I found the best boxes for my craft room at Michael's they were on sale for $2 a piece normally $3.99 so I bought 10 of them... while my husband was hiding in the car for fear of me giving him a heart attack with the total. He seems to think that 10 boxes are more than enough and I am really kicking myself for not buying more now. I got them in all white and I have now filled up 8 of the 10 as follows:
Box 1: Sewing Thread and Bobbins
Box 2: Elastic, Velcro, ans Bias Tape
Box 3: Sewing Patterns
Box 4: Purse Handles
Box 5: Buttons
Box 6: Wax (for wax warmers)
Box 7: Candles
Box 8: Misc. Trims and Ribbons
Box 9: Soon to hold Embroidery Thread  I Had so much embroidery thread I actually bought different containers for them
Box 10: ?

If feels good seeing all my boxes match the next few things I need to get is matching bins that stack so I can store my yarn and fabric tastefully. Right now I have 3 small bins I picked up at the dollar tree years ago that hold some of my fabric, they only really work good for pieces under a yard in length so I can see what I have. I have a few things of fabric that are larger in size so they need bigger bins so they can be folded nicely as well as allowing me to see what I have on hand. I need my fabric bins to be the same as the ones for my yarn because I have soo much yarn. I plan on making a catalog of sorts so that I can always know what I have on hand and how much at any given time, I currently have 3 milk crates, a storage container and a couple of reusable bags filled with all of my yarn. I can't wait to get these organized so I can use what I have. After a couple of hours online looking for suitable storage bins I finally settled on these from Walmart, I am having them shipped to the store to save money and with taxes the were $27 for a set of six. They should work well with 2 of the crates I already have. That is all for now hopefully the next storage update will include pictures of my set up :)

Upcoming Year

So many of us tend to make resolutions and they get broken within a few weeks. Well my resolutions just happen to be ones that will be focusing on saving us money and eating a bit healthier. They will hopefully keep our lives in a healthy balance.

Step One: Every weekend compile the whole weeks worth of meals and ingredients, prep everything on Sunday and freeze them. Doing this will make our weeknight meals go a lot faster.

Step Two: Buy whole chickens, and use the carcasses to make homemade stock. Store bought stock is fairly expensive and I use a lot of broth and stock in place of water for many recipes.

Step Three: Making my own seasonings, We use a lot of taco seasoning, ranch, and onion soup mix. By making on our own we can make a bulk amount and we won't have to worry about buying those little packets that can cost a fortune.

Step Four: Make some of our breads from scratch. Flour tortillas, rolls, crescent rolls and some loaf breads.

Step Five: Purge most of the stuff we haven't been using.

Step Six: Organizing the craft room. Re-purposing shoe boxes and storage baskets.

Step Seven: Use as many of my crafting supplies without buying more.

Step Eight: Use some of my already purchased clothing patterns and fabric to make shirts

Just been sitting here... Crafting

We are officially moving in 3 weeks and all I seem to want to do is crochet, crochet, and crochet. I packed up the majority of my crafting stuff but all my yarn is in bins and crates so they don't need to go in boxes. I still have the sewing machine my husband got me for Christmas out so that I can repair stuff and make purse linings. Speaking of purses I have two completed purses that I'm going to be putting up on Etsy after we move and I'm still looking for the perfect fabric for the third purse. I am starting on a fourth on already, I have the matching fabric already and I just need a good deal on some handles to keep the price lower.

Busy busy bee!!!

So I'm back in Oregon packing up my things that were in my parents house. So far I have managed to discover 3 giant bags of yarn, 1 box of crochet thread, and many large balls of recycled yarn. I estimate well over a couple hundred different types of yarn >.< Me thinks my husband it going to kill me when he sees it all coming in the house. I know I won't be buying anymore anytime soon. All most all my art supplies are packed, only things left are the stuff that is floating around the house. I just hope that we have enough room in our apartment 1 bedroom apartment for all of my things.