Break Time

I am so ready for Thanksgiving break. A much-needed vacation from work, with some much-needed family time.

And in honor of my love for ridiculous, childish jokes, a cartoon.

Penny Pincher

Like most people, Austin and I have been trying to cut back on expenses, and save a little money. Our monthly cost of living is relatively low, considering that we live in a basement and do without a lot of luxuries. And luckily we have cars with good gas mileage, and we live within about a 3 mile radius of anywhere we need to go.

So we decided the best place to save more was in our grocery bill. I feel like it's much harder to cook for just two people, cause I find myself throwing out a lot of leftovers and produce that goes bad before I can use it. So I did some research, and read tons of articles on how to avoid throwing money away.

The best advice I found was using the 80/20 rule. The idea is that 20% of the items on your grocery list will cost 80% of your budget, so by cutting out just a few things in that 20%, you'll save a ton. And it applied it to the actual kitchen--that 20% of the staples you already have (flour, eggs, milk, sugar, etc.) will be used in 80% of the meals you make. So there's no point in keeping a ton of excess around, when you already have 80% of what you need.

With that in mind, I sat down last night and planned out 14 healthy (and delicious) meals, meals that we already had the majority of the ingredients for in the house. I found that we have a lot more on hand than I ever would have thought. I also chose meals with similar ingredients, so that each item on my grocery list would be used in at least 2 or 3 meals (I found some things that I would use in 5 of them). Our list was much shorter than usual, and more efficient.

We ended up buying everything we needed for all 14 meals for just over $70.00. That works out to almost exactly $5.00 dollars a meal. And that's only $2.50 a person! And I tried to choose things that would be easy to take for lunch as leftovers, so who knows how long it will last. It all seems so simple, but it ended up cutting our grocery bill almost in half, and will likely avoid all that waste.

Sometimes it's just not so bad being poor.

Things I love....

NARS blush!



My dear sister and make-up coach Siara introduced me to this blush. I have it in a color called Torrid, and it is absolutely amazing. I've had the same one for THREE YEARS, and it's still not out. And I use it almost every day. It is the most beautiful texture and shade, and seriously will change the way your face looks. The $25 is more than worth it for how long it lasts.

Things I love...

Here is something I discovered burning at a little shop in Sugarhouse called Koodeker. They actually sell them at the place next door called Hip and Humble, but you can get them online.

Votivo Red Currant Candles


They smell absolutely divine. Seriously, the most incredible smell ever. You can order them online here. They are so potent that you only need to light it for a few minutes and your whole house will smell like heaven!

Encounter

So at the Gold's Gym right by our house, they finally put those awesome individual TV's on each of the machines, so you can watch any channel you want. The other day I'm minding my own business, just watching a marathon of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleading Tryouts on CMT, and this guy comes up and is kind of lingering behind my machine. I had headphones in obviously, so I was trying to ignore him. But then he comes up to me and says, obviously a little embarrassed,...

"Uhh...what channel are you watching?"

"Channel 31"

"Umm...okay thanks."

Then he precedes to go get on another machine, and watch the scantily clad blonde girls jump around in their uniforms.

Some boys have no shame.

Give. Me. A. Break.

I must say that I think it's absolutely ridiculous that all these rumors are spreading about Barack Obama being the "Antichrist". Not only is it just plain ignorant, stupid, and fanatical, it's not fair. Just because the candidate you voted for didn't win doesn't make our President the Antichrist. Don't get me wrong, I think there are a lot of signs that the end of the world is nearing. But to make such an audacious statement about a politician is out of line. I just wonder what happened to supporting the leaders of our country simply because we are American citizens?

I think there were a few other people in recent history that are more worthy of the title Antichrist. Anyone remember Hitler? Stalin? Mao? Give me a break. This doesn't mean that I'm happy about the direction our country may be going, and it doesn't make me an Obama supporter--I'm against Socialism and government handouts as much as the next person. But what I don't support is the rumorous slander that instantly starts spreading amongst dissatisfied election losers who exaggerate the power that Obama will actually have.

If you still believe all this trash about Obama fitting the bill for the Antichrist as supposedly described in the Book of Revelation, read THIS.

A modern American's interpretation of Socialism...

Please tell me this is a joke.





Karl Marx is turning in his grave.