I promise

during the month of September I will cook more.

With both us being busy it has not been a priority to menu plan, cut coupons, grocery shop and cook. To make matters worse, the crock pot broke and its been too hot to slave over a stove or the oven. But now is the time for me to learn how to cook and cook at least three times a week.

Why?

We spend way to much money eating out and now we are eating out at more high end restaurants. Also, my taste buds are changing and I want constantly want to eat fresh food, natural foods, different fruits and vegetables and different ethnic cuisine ( I just discovered Vietnamese food and am in love with Pho and anything with crispy noodles). I would love to learn how to make the foods I love because I'm sure I could save beaucoup de money, and experiment a little bit.

The only way to keep myself accountable to this is to post what I cook. So I will be posting a few pics and recipes every week.

Do you have any quick, healthy and delicious recipes I could try? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Saving Money on Hair costs

One of my favorite bloggers Small Budget Big Style had a great blog on how she saved on hair style costs by going to the Aveda Institute nearest her in DC. I thought about doing the same thing but then I realized I didn't have to go to the Aveda Institute, I could go right down to the 4th floor at the school I work at. I work at a Vocational Technical School that has numerous trades for the students to enroll in, and lucky for me I teach the senior Cosmetology girls who will hopefully pass their state board test this year and become licensed cosmetologists before they graduate. A couple of weeks ago one of my favorite girls asked if she could straighten my hair and I said "sure" with a quickness. You see I am all natural, in fact I have not had a perm in 5 years and when straightened my hair is about 2-3 inches away from my bra strap. I am also tender headed, which is why I have only been going to one hair dresser since I have been in Philly ( she is the only one that can deal with it). However, my student did a great job, and got it silky straight. I need a trim, may go back to my regular hair dresser for that next week, but otherwise I think my cos girls might just be doing for my hair for the rest of the year.

$75 vs. $0.00 I know what I will be paying. I do have pictures so as soon as I find them I will post them.

Until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

A wonderful weekend that cost money

I was going to do a budget for July but my mortgage person told me not to spend anymore money. She said whatever money I get from paychecks do not use at all. "Just let it sit in my bank account" her words not mine. That is not really a problem, the only bills I have to pay this month are my car insurance and car payment. Everything else is pretty much taken care off.



I have, however, spent some money that I probably could have done without spending this weekend. My parents came down to look at the house that I'm buying. Dad said it was a good investment which is good. However I did take them out to dinner at a little Hibachi grill place in center city. The total bill was around $210.00 I looked at it a nearly fainted. Then I looked at it again, and thought... well there were six of us so that's not that bad. Then DH paid some money to it and my mom paid some money to it and so I only had to put up about 80ish dollars ( I put this on a credit card, the only major credit card I carry with me daily and I always pay off the balance each month)



My other spending this weekend was at a candle, 2 shirts, and a pair of capris all on sale at Old Navy. I spent 40.00 total and put this on my gap card. Lucky for me that is the only thing charged on the card and the payment won't be due until august. I plan to pay the full balance of this in August.

in other news:
I will be cutting any unnecessary expenses in an attempt to live a more frugal lifestyle. I also am going to be doing weekly meal menus so that DH and I can stop eating out. As for right now I will be eliminating my $35.00 a month gym membership, and my prepaid legal membership( my parents are going to be highly upset). Once we move we will be getting a house phone/Internet(29.99 a month) bundle through comcast so our sprint phone bill ( unlimited everything $99.00 per month per phone) will go down to the bare minimum.

Right there is roughly $180.00 in income that is added to the budget!!!

I will continue to look at my past few months of budgeting from PearBudget to see what else I can cut..

oh PearBudget( another thing about to be cut) ..that's $3.00 a month ...i am pretty sure I can find some free money managing tools out there. If anyone knows of any let me know.

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP