and i am still learning. prior to the best surprise of my life (aka hendrix) i was an overindulgent party girl idiot...then hello, wake up call!! now i love to save and score things on the cheap. part of the fun of planning our wedding was seeing how cheap i could do it. and if i do say so myself, i did pretty darn good. in fact, most of things i enjoy stemmed from trying to save money...cooking, gardening, crafting, decorating our house.
when mike and i first got together we ate out quite a bit, but then i started to experiment more in the kitchen. cooking is always more fun when you are cooking for someone else. then came pregnancy and baby...so did grocery budgeting and with it, the wonderful discovery of aldi. god, i love that store. we eat pretty good around here for about $80/week thanks to that store and my meal planning.
i started gardening when i planted some herbs in containers on my apartment balcony. my cooking was getting more sophisticated (i.e. going from warming ragu up to making pantry marinara in bulk) so herbs were just what i needed, but they are so expensive at the grocery store. so one day i saw some herb plants on sale and i was gardening in no time. meeting mike really brought my gardening to the next level. our old house had the best dirt. i loved that garden. thankfully, it is now our rental property so i still get to visit.
with the wedding came a lot of diy projects...really bringing out the inner crafter. i have always liked creating and building. it is one of the reasons i chose to study architecture in college, but man did that wedding light a fire in me. i am hooked on making free shit look good.
actually, i love anything free. for instance, i painted the whole inside of our house for free. most of our stuff is thrifted, free, or from a garage sale and you know what? i like it that way.
i simply cannot imagine walking into nebraska furniture mart and getting a matching bedroom set. first, i would feel like a poser. second, i don't like matchy matchy. third, the sticker shock would just be too much. oh, and a pet or kid would promptly scratch it the moment we brought it home.
how the hell did this happen to me? how the hell did this former boutique worker get hooked on FREE? a surprise baby and a bad economy, i suppose.
....
here are some of my favorite spots to score a deal:
aldi (groceries)
new life thrift (everything)
restore (hardware/lighting)
under the sink (free paint/household cleaners)
hobby lobby (craft supplies)
menards (hardware)
super saver (bulk beans + grains)
target (diapers)
joe's collectibles
big wheels to butterflies (check out the last chance store, too)
dollar general (cleaning supplies/kitchen toiletries/party supplies/art & craft supplies)
ace hardware (hardware/plants)
qc supply (gardening supplies)
cirians (plants)
garage sales
what about you, do you like scoring a deal? what are your secrets?
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