frugal tip :: make-up brush recycle

I mentioned in my organizing post (here) that I sometimes can't find what I need.  Well, I have a little Pinterest project I am working on and I was in need of a small paint brush.  I know I have some, but I must confess my organizational skills are still being honed.  So I got creative and even green!

For sanitary purposes I believe you are supposed to change out your make-up brushes every so often.  I'm sure if you properly clean really nice, expensive brushes they are ok to use for a while, but lets face it mine are just little cheapie brushes.  I have several that have been haning around since college, which was a while ago - so they are probably bacteria laiden.  Rather than toss them, I just washed them and converted them to paint brushes for my vairous projects.

Don't forget to check back later in the week to see what I was painting with that repurposed make-up brush.

I linked up with Super Sunday Sync, so if you stop by be sure to follow and leave a comment so I can return the favor!




Hope you are enjoying your Sunday!  xoxo

number crunch :: family budget

First, you may be wondering why I started this blog, work overtime, and pinch every penny

Meet Lil Man

Now after that dose of cuteness it may be hard, but on to business....

I suck at math.  It's true.  Just ask my advanced math teacher from high school.  I also had no clue how much money my little family had, nor did I realize how much money we owed on anything.  In those days being a stay at home mom was just a little pipe dream.  Nowadays, I'm serious about this.  Time to crunch numbers.

First you need to see what you bring in vs. what you spend each month.  That's where my handy dandy spreadsheet comes in.  Just download my spreadsheet HERE.  Once you download the spreadsheet, you will need to take the file out of protected mode (a little message should pop up near the top and prompt you to do so when you open it in Excel).

Once out of protected mode you can begin to fill in your numbers.  You can change the items as well.  Lets say your child is no longer in diapers so that is not an expense for you, but you do have homeowners association fees.  Just replace "diapers" with "HOA fees".  I also left a few places there for other expenses.  Do NOT change anything in the area where you get your totals or your disposable income, this will take away the formulas and the spreadsheet won't work.  If you mess up too badly just delete and download the spreadsheet again.

Once you have everything filled out look, at your disposable income.  If there is a negative beside that number, you need to seriously evaluate your spending as you are spending more than your are taking in.  If there is not a negative number then you are doing ok.

Now the fun part.  Play around with the numbers.  See how much extra money you would have if you got rid of cable.  Want to be a stay at home mom?  Put your income at zero and see just how far your partner's salary would get you.  This really puts things in perspective.

Monthly Budget Spreadsheet

Now go grab your calculator.