:::: MENU ::::

Sep 30, 2014    |       20 comments

Making Do: Shampoo

by

I have a bit of a silly, but quite practical, story of making do to share today (see previous making do posts here and here).

As we near the end of the month, I’ve been struggling with our grocery budget. As it stands now, I’ve spent $483 on groceries this month – nearly $100 over our $400 budget. Obviously this is a problem, particularly in light of our lower income that we’re working with. So when last week I was beating the bottom of the shampoo and conditioner bottles and finally admitted that we have NONE left I was a bit worried (side note: yes, they both ran out at the same time!!! Ugh!). We buy shampoo/conditioner out of our grocery budget and I knew we had no money leftover for these products. But my hair isn’t the kind that can just go a full week between washes. What was I to do?

Instead of simply saying, “oh well” and running to the store to buy more, I decided to really dig into the bathroom cabinets. Please tell me I’m not the only one whose bathroom cabinets are filled with all kinds of random clutter! Anyway, I was digging around hoping to find a random spare bottle of shampoo when I found the perfect short-term solution to our problem that could get us through to the month of October…..I found a whole storehouse of old hotel shampoo/conditioners that I always steal when I’m traveling! I used to travel a lot for work-related things (at least 2-3 conferences per year), and I would always make a point to take the hotel shampoo and conditioner! My thought at the time was that they could come in handy if we ever travel on vacation somewhere and need little travel-sized bottles of these products (which is kind of silly, because when we visit family they always have full-sized bottles of shampoo/conditioner we can use, and when we travel elsewhere and stay in hotels….guess what…they always have these mini toiletries for free). So all of these years-old products have been sitting around collecting dust and cluttering up my bathroom cabinets.

I happily grabbed a few, put them in the shower, and haven’t had to worry about it since. They’ll easily last us until the month of October when I can buy some fresh full-sized shampoo and conditioner from the grocery store.

Score #1 for my pack-rat tendencies! Woohoo!!!

Do you keep the mini bottles of shampoo/conditioner from hotels? What other products do you “pack-rat” (I’m using that term affectionately)?

Sep 29, 2014    |       42 comments

Wedding Gift Dilemma

by

Do you remember several months ago when I mentioned that one of my good friends got engaged? At the time, I was mentioning it in reference to how expensive it would be if I were asked to be a bridesmaid. Let’s revisit this topic now that some time has passed…

My friend Mary* (*not her real name) has decided to go a bit of a nontraditional route with her wedding. Her idea was to do something small and low-key – the goal was for it to be in-between eloping and an “actual” (traditional) wedding. They’re getting married at the justice of the peace downtown, and have rented out a brewery for a small 2-hour reception afterward. There’s no bridal party (bridesmaids and groomsmen), no bridal shower, no bachelorette party, none of the crazy shenanigans that often precede a wedding.

In lieu of all that stuff, the couple has let it be known that they much prefer to be gifted with money rather than any physical goods. They have all the basic necessities most new couples are gifted and would far prefer cold hard cash. They have not registered anywhere at all.

Soooooo, what to do?

Physical gifts can generally be bought at a discount either at bargains stores, using coupons, etc. Not so much with cash gifts.

My initial thought was that I want to be generous with this friend. She has always been generous with me and I want to return the favor during this important time of her life. If I weren’t focused on debt reduction, I would want to add up all the costs that I would have spent if I were a bridesmaid (the dress, the shoes, the bachelorette party, the bridal party, the wedding gift), and simply give her a check for that amount. That would likely be in the range of a few hundred dollars.

Welllllll, you all know my finances. We do not have an extra few hundred dollars in our tight monthly budget. Since I’ve started this debt-repayment journey I’ve tried to keep gift costs in the range of $10-$15 (for birthdays, baby showers, etc.), but I certainly want to give my friend more than that!

To compromise between these two extremes (giving only $10 versus giving several hundred), I feel like a gift in the range of $100-$150 would be appropriate. But even that amount of money is so much right now! Particularly with our lower income last month (and this month is turning into a bit of a nail-biter in terms of income, too. Though – update – one of hubs’ jobs was finally able to be completed late Saturday evening (you work when you gotta work!) and payment was collected! Sigh! Still 2 other jobs sitting in waiting-land-limbo, though).

What would you do? How much would you give to a good friend for her wedding? Would you honor the couples’ wishes of giving cash or would you go your own route and get a gift anyway?

1 … 959 960 961 962 963 … 1,951