Tag: frugal

New Couponing Tip of the Week

Back to School BreakfastSo I’ve been continuing on my couponing adventure since my last post about my first attempts at really saving money on groceries. Results have been GOOD! Granted I feel like I’m spending a bit more on groceries than usual overall because I’m hitting up to four different stores a week and stockpiling items I know we will use that are very very cheap. We now have a LOT of Diet Mountain Dew, paper towels, deodorant and Pringles. We will use them all, no doubt.

Anyway I discovered something in the past few weeks of couponing that really surprised me. Every other week, CVS has gallons milk for super cheap. I always thought that most food items at CVS were over-priced due to the convenience factor. I knew that HEB had cheaper milk than Target or Kroger. But the price of milk has been steadily riding and HEB has not had gallons of milk for under $3 in a long time. So when I saw that CVS had 2% milk on sale for $2.99 WITH a CVS Extra Buck back, I jumped on it. That’s the equivalent of a gallon of milk for $1.99. I figured it was a fluke, but I only bought a gallon because one gallon usually lasts us a little more than a week. As it turns out, CVS ran the same special AGAIN two weeks later, except $0.20 higher. Still cheaper than anyone else. I managed to make our gallon of milk last two weeks until it was on sale again. Score!

I now have a strategy. Buy 2% milk on sale at CVS. Make it last two weeks till it goes on sale again. Use the CVS Extra Buck towards the next gallon of milk! Mega savings. I used to pay at least $3.50 a gallon.

This is What Works for Me this Wednesday.

Got any similar tips or tricks that you’ve discovered to save your family money on groceries?

The Great Hair Highlighting Experiment

You women know what a big deal it is to find a hair stylist you trust and are comfortable with.  Leaving my trusted stylist, Chloe, who’s name was really Ashley, behind in Philaelphia was so hard.  She knew my hair.  Everyone teased me about how I would have to learn to wear my hair big and blond once I moved to Texas.  They weren’t too far off from the truth.

I tried a few stylists in Houston before settling on one who cut my hair well and listened to my pleas to keep my highlights subtle.  The salon she worked at was pricey, so I was thrilled when she moved salons and cut her prices dramatically.  I guess her former salon threatened to sue her for stealing clients, but that never happened.  After almost two years, her husband got a promotion and they moved away to Memphis. 

So I’m left with no stylist again, and I wanted to get my roots highlighted before our trip north.  I asked for suggestions on Facebook but most of the answers came from friends with stick-straight, non-highlighted hair.  And the salons they mentioned were either super expensive or highly sketchy (next to a tattoo parlor?!).  So ever the frugal fashionista, I took to the beauty products store and investigated the options for tackling this task myself. 

Crazy, I know. 

I figured using a cap with teeny little holes made logical sense.  So I selected the Loreal Frost and Design kit for darker brown hair. 

And I asked my Facebook friends to pray for me. 

First I did the strand test.  I discovered that only painting the roots leaves a REALLY weird stripe halfway down. 

The kit gives you two sizes of hooks, with which you are supposed to pull clumps of hair through the world’s smallest holes.  Let me tell ya, it SUCKS.  I could not get the strands hooked onto the hook.  And the larger hook did not fit through the holes. 

And then there’s the matter of not being able to SEE THE BACK OF YOUR HEAD.  Kind of a problem when trying to fish for hair with a tiny hook through tiny holes. 

Eventually I got what seemed like a good amount of hair through the cap in a “face framing” pattern.  Mix bleach, sit around for half an hour, and then rinse, shampoo, and coat with freaky purple toner.  This kit had a LOT of steps.  But the results were not terrible. 
I did get some bolder streaks in the front.
And didn’t get quite enough of my roots covered.
And I had no idea about the chunk of darkness in the back.
So in the end, I will be paying someone to highlight my hair next time!   As you can see, I’m not that great at flat-ironing my curls, and I certainly will not try to cut it myself.