My friend Jen from Jlogged had this totally awesome and inspired idea.

“Let’s trade clothes!” her evite says.

If you’re keeping it, but it doesn’t fit you right – give it to someone who is likely to love it.

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So I go through my closet and drawers with this running dialogue in my head.

Love these shoes – never wear ‘em.

This jacket is great – it’s too big now.

These slacks are one size too small. Every time I look at them they make me feel I’m making no progress. It’s been a year. I’ll buy new pants when I actually get there.

I never wear these shoes.

I wore these shorts all year, they never fit me right, they make me look like I’m carrying a load in my crotch and if I don’t ditch them now I’ll wear them for a whole other year, maybe 2.

These shirts are too short waisted for me.

I paid real money for these two Gap shirts, but I don’t like them anymore.

And thus, half my wardrobe – the half I don’t wear and don’t like – ended up in a black plastic bag.

Post from: Blisstree

Inspired Clothing Exchange

I want to introduce you to my Frugal Guru, Jen from Jlogged.com.

She recently redid her website to help people use their money wisely. If I want inspiration to stay on track with the family budget she’s my “go to.”

Jen’s one of the few people I can compare detailed notes with about income and out-go and saving and financing, etc.

She knows her business. Her business is living a larger life within her means.

And she lives a pretty good life, eats organically and reduces her carbon footprint, etc.

She’s doing Nablopamo and she’s writing about money for all 30 days. You don’t want to miss it. She’s got good stuff.

She has this one on cars.

This one on books you should read to change your thinking about money.

This one about those damn Jones’.

This one about lunch boxes.

This one on costumes for Christmas.

Her ideas are always worth stealing (I steal them all the time) so I’d sign up for the RSS feed if I were you.

Post from: Blisstree

Frugal Guru

I’ve turned my entire bathroom into a library. The haphazard way of just putting books and magazines on the back of the toilet was driving me crazy. So, I added a magazine rack next to the toilet paper roll holder.

But, the part I love most about my library/restroom is the wallpaper. It’s the pages of a real vintage book. I tore the pages out and modge podged them onto the wall and painted the molding pink.

My grandmother had a pink bathroom and my whole childhood I just loved that room. Since becoming an adult I’ve always painted my various bathrooms pink.

While using the guest bathroom at someones home I was taken with their wallpaper. It was expensive, I’m sure. What I loved about it was that it was all poetry. But, it was poetry about Time. Every poem was in relation to time. Time, and running out of it, I decided, was not going to help me do my business.

I loath most poetry. Say what you have to say. Don’t make me critically deconstruct it to figure it out. But, rhyming poetry is much, much worse. The one poet I truly adore is Dorothy Parker. So I took an original Not So Deep As A Well printed in the 1960s that I already had and glued the pages to the walls. Because the book was over 40 years old it gave the walls a really romantic aged look.

I accented with signs and towel hooks that say things like ”When train is in station, please do not flush” and “Bath 5 cents, Towel 10 cents.” I kept the cameo pink and white cut-outs (honestly I haven’t the slightest idea what they are really called) for art. 

But, alas, my daughter is starting to read and Dorothy Parker is more suicidal, morbid and maudlin than is appropriate for small children.

Razors pain you, drugs cause cramp, acid stains you, rivers are damp, guns aren’t lawful, nooses give, gas smells awful – might as well live.

I thought perhaps the bathroom should be just a tad more optimistic and uplifting. So, I found a Leaves of Gold book, also printed in the ’60s. This time the pages are encouraging thoughts and affermations about life. My favorite is the one about Abraham Lincoln’s resume, which includes a lifetime of failure after failure and then BAM President of the United States. Dig that. I pasted these pages right over the top of the Parker pages.

I adore my bathroom. It’s probably my favorite room in the house. I love words and this bathroom reflects that. It also functions as our library or reading room, so I dig that it reflects that. And it was cheap, the book was $3.50 and the liquid starch I got at the dollar store.

Post from: Blisstree

Library/Restroom Wallpaper

I can’t really understand why kids need a whole new wardrobe for school. I mean, kids get clothes all year long these days right? It’s not like in my Grandma’s day when she saved up enough to buy her children two pairs of shoes a year, for school and Easter Sunday.

I went garage sailing and picked up about all she’ll need for about $12. I’m not about to blow a couple of hundred dollars for this consumerist tradition. I picked up a black  pair and brown pair of nearly-new Mary Janes and some super cute Sketchers for $2.50. The rest was spent on new-looking matching outfits, dresses, tops and jeans in her size.

If I have the cash on hand I may take her to Old Navy and let her pick one outfit for the first day.

To read about how I really did take all her clothes away after repeated clothing tanatrums and fits of hysteria, you can check out Kindergarten Fashion Show on Sioux So Me. Yes, I did. It worked, and I’ll do it again if she loses her grip on reality about how important her clothes are. I got the advice from Madonna of all places.

Post from: Blisstree

Debt-Free School Clothes

Turns out he just wanted to watch some VH1. I turned on the Jump Start music videos – why don’t they play these more than just in the early morning? He shut right up. Snuggled up. And drifted off to sleep. I tried to go back to bed. Nope. Wasn’t gonna happen. Back to the living room and VH1 and right back to slumberland.

Heading off to an area swap meet. It’s called a Trade Day. Quite possibly I am even cheaper than Thrifty Mommy. Sometimes I think I am cheap to the point of mental illness. You know, like when I insist on shaving my legs with the cheapest possible razor only to suffer razor burn and cuts for 20 years rather than spend an extra $8. Really struggling to find a balance.

For instance, I staged a photograph of all the grandkids, including the newborn, on Easter for my mother-in-law’s Mother’s Day gift. I ordered a very nice 16X20 canvas print from a professional lab. Paid extra for a luster gloss and even some color correction because I don’t trust the color on my monitor. However, today I’m looking for the frame to put it in at the Trade Days. Why not recycle one that I can pick up for cheap? I’m hoping to spend no more than $5 for a $200ish frame. I’ve done it before.

Also on my list of things to find is a Zack-sized chair. He’s really into sitting in his own chair, but sadly he doesn’t have one yet. Hoping to blow less than $2 on this expenditure.

I took my mentee girl shopping last night for our big mentoring banquet that’s coming up. I was excited to go looking for formal dresses. Really I virtually never have any reason to get really dressed up. I’ve been using the same formal gown since after having my daughter, but the last time I wore it I was finally too small. Great excuse to buy a new one. Turns out kids today are not that interested in wearing any type of formal gown or fancy dress. She bought a pair of slacks and a blouse. Since we first went to Ross, the outfit cost only $20 total and we had $30 of our budget to score some pumps and a handbag. She was thrilled to get the new shoes and bag. Hello, Payless. You could pay more, but why?

Since she’s wearing pants, I’ll just wear the black pin-striped slacks my mother-in-law handed down. I may find a fancy blouse for cheap, cheap, cheap today at the swap meet.

Wish me luck.

Post from: Blisstree

VH1 Baby, Trade Days, Slacks from Ross