thrifty little blog

New Year and a New Strategy

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:05:00 +0000

For 2012 I'm officially stepping away from my old clearance/coupon-obsessed shopping habit and into a more sane shopping strategy. I feel like the recession has created such a !!MUSTSAVE!! mentality that we as shoppers are now bombarded with opportunities to "save" left and right. Retailers have caught on to this trend and have given us what we craved for- artificial "savings" to help us sleep at night.

Luckily, the Christmas bushes (?) were on sale the entire holiday season!

At this point the excitement of finding a good sale has almost completely worn off for me. I mean, when was the last time that you've been excited about JoAnn's constant 40% off opportunities or Bed Bath & Beyond's $5 coupon?! And don't get me started on those flash sales sites (One Kings Lane, Joss & Main, etc) that aren't exactly always selling the higher-end pieces that they claim to be, but tempt people into purchasing with their large "markdowns." At some point we're all going to have to face the reality that the shirt Gap is selling for 40% off was meant to be priced that way from the second that it it the sales floor. I have to give major props to JC Penney for following the lead of stores like IKEA and Lowe's that just offer their best values for the majority of the year and revamping their pricing strategy. I wish more stores would get on board!

I'm officially going into this year with a new *even thriftier* mindset:
I will... determine the value of a product based on its ingredients, manufacturing process, or maker. This means you might hear more things like "Wow, I found a 100% silk dress for $x.00!" or "I can't believe that they were selling organic apples for so little!"

I WON'T... brag about finding something on "sale." It's a bad habit and makes me look stupid when all the other shoppers were able to use those same sales.

I will... continue to shop at thrift stores and buy things off of Craigslist!

I WON'T... always trust the Craigslist sellers who claim an original retail price as what they paid. I like to do a quick check for current web prices on items rather than using the seller's number.

I will... start branching out by shopping in new stores and online. Yes, I'm guilty of avoiding certain stores because they didn't have enough sales.

My first experience with the new strategy was earlier this month when I was shopping for a new refrigerator for our rental house (we're renting out the old house- more on that later). Before going out shopping, I set a budget for the fridge based on my previous appliance shopping knowledge and put my flashy sale sign filter goggles on.

...and, wow, I'm so glad that I did that before going to the Sears Outlet. Talk about worst values ever! Not only do they have previously and/ or scratched up appliances, but they inflate the original sales prices (like Sears does) so that the markdowns are only slightly better (if that) than buying the new, scratch-free stuff. Oh, and on top of that, their delivery charges take away any change of savings that you had left! We (I) ended up leaving that place in a foul mood (the nerve of them!) and did some comparison shopping before settling on another Lowe's appliance which was right under the budget and delivered two days later for free (they do inflate by around 10% so expect some sale here as well).

So, who's with me in setting a new strategy for saving this year?

The Yard and Keeping the Dogs In

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:37:00 +0000

*I was not compensated in any way to write this review.*

I think you know my dogs by now:

Hugo is the little one and C.C. is my big girl. Hugo is our little escape artist. Before moving, he would climb our bull-wire fence and terrorize the neighborhood from time to time. That was fine in the last house, but our new house is in a more central part of town that comes with a lot more traffic.

I can't remember if I've shared much of the new yard. Here are a couple panoramic shots I took when we did the house inspection:

The whole yard has a mishmash of wood, lattice, and wire fencing. I just knew that Hugo would climb out to chase something and get hit by a car! Even with a new fancy fence (that we want to add eventually), I wasn't feeling very comfortable at all...

So we got an Invisible Fence! Can you see it? Kidding... Actually, you can tell where the boundaries are based on those white flags. They tell Hugo where the safe zone is.

You can see what the wire looks like from this picture. We plan to redo the driveway so the installer just used large staple-like things to keep the force fields in place.

Oh, and if you haven't caught on, Invisible Fences are the things that shock your dogs when they cross over the boundaries. We only have Hugo on the system (see his collar) because he's the one that actually tries to escape and has the personality that matches this training method better. I know that some people would say that this is cruel in a way, but... small shock to teach a lesson > getting killed by a car!

I can't tell you how much peace this "fence" has brought to my mind!! Hugo has done an amazing job and has received a "correction" (shock) fewer than ten times in the month+ that we've had it.

For the indoors, we use a disc by the front door for keeping him from bolting out towards traffic. It works so well that when I've forgotten to pick him up to carry him out for a walk (the routine we have to do to get past the door), he actually pulls back from the correction area when I'm trying to lead him out the door!

I do wish that I though more about the placement of the hub. I didn't really think about how large it would be and how they would need to drill through the wall to get it in place.

We paid right around $1,500 in total for the system, installation, collar, training, battery backup, and indoor disc... but, as thrifty as I am, I truly don't regret a penny of it! At the same time, I don't think that I would fully trust it if we did not have backup fences in place because I know that he could get by it if something really worth the effort went by (like a cat or squirrel). Stay tuned to see how we plan to upgrade the fencing and rework the landscaping!

Does anyone else use an Invisible Fence? How does it work for you?

PS Nate had one of these fences for his Husky growing up, but he said that his dog would just charge through the system. I have a feeling that it doesn't work for all breeds/ personalities.

First Finished "Room"

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:19:00 +0000

Since we actually downgraded our living space by around 100 sqft with the new house and *maybe* have six total rooms, I would appreciate if you all would let me call my five foot long closet a "room." Thanks!

Remember when I declared that my first project in the new house would be to take care of my the disgusting closet in the master bedroom?

yuck!

You might or might not also remember that I was once the proud owner of a PAX closet from IKEA which was super efficient and stored all of my clothes in style. Since moving, I haven't been really successful at recapturing that same organization level with my wardrobe...

...and cue the "until now!"

Thanks to my addiction to buying organizational tools on clearance, I was able to get my new closet up and running after only spending an additional $10 for a double hanging rod at the Container Store (which I did actually have at some point but donated earlier last year).

I think that the key to successful organization in small spaces is to use up every square inch of space. Having matching hangers and a black-white-clear-wood-metal theme keeps everything from becoming too visually overwhelming. To sort my clothes, I basically put like-items together and tried to focus the things I would be most likely to wear on a daily basis towards the center of the door opening.

I realized that I had a problem with matching up socks and throwing shoes around so I went ahead and added bins for them at the floor of the closet.

For some reason I felt the need to label that top section as "tall shoes" instead of "boots..." I suppose I might be keeping my options open for future stripper shoes or something?? Speaking of shoes, I was thisclose to buying a fancy shoe rack for my shoes, but I'm glad that I went with the vertical plastic one (I think it was from the Dollar Tree at some point)- it's so much more space-efficient!

Anyone else find closet organization remotely interesting? Is organizing part of your New Year's resolution?

PS I do have pajamas and underwear- they're in the dresser drawers on the other side of the bedroom.

PPS Running shoes and coats shoes go in the coat closet by the front door.

We'll Be Home For Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:53:00 +0000

AKA: what our new house looks like with our furniture in it

After owning the house and leasing it back to the owner for ten days... then taking two weeks of our own time fixing it up... we finally actually moved into our home last week (after which, I promptly got sick!). For documentation's sake, I thought I'd post what the house looked like a couple of days into the move:

True story: I strategically planned our move so that we would not go one minute without losing cable tv usage. Like that's the most important thing to worry about right now... Oh, and my big girl thinks that the world revolves around her now because we've temporarily replaced the coffee table with her bed.

A few things about the kitchen:

I'm DYING to get rid of that tiled bar, but Nate said that we need to finish with the projects in the garage apartment first.
I'm still in love with the paint color. Really. LOVE. One day I'll take good pictures of it.
I'm the crazy person that hired movers and plumbers to drive around the city all morning in order to swap out the appliances from our old house to our new house. To make a long story short, not only did the plumbers not really hook everything up (note the refrigerator sticking out of the wall because the ice maker isn't connected), but they also managed to help flood the entire garage of the old place. Just thinking about the experience again gets me in an ALL CAPSSSS mood.
We have a serious case of "I don't have a spot for my dog food anymore" disease right now.

The second bedroom is where all of the extra stuff is. Nate is most excited for this room because we're making it into an office/ workout room. It's a pretty decently sized room.

It's crazy how switching around some furniture and accessories can easily put a wrench into your decorating plan. I'm not happy with anything about our master bedroom right now. Expect many posts to come.

The whole coffee table/ dog bed has seriously gotten to her head. I can't tell you how many photo-bombed pictures I had to not post.

The bathroom is obviously in progress!

With the move, we bought both dogs new beds to enjoy. Hugo still prefers using his old bed.

I think he is destroying his new bed in an attempt to symbolically communicate his hatred of the move and desire to go back "home." It could just be that he's upset with us for getting an Invisible Fence system- more on that later.

Looking for Lighting

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:46:00 +0000

Due to some notourstyle/ oversized light fixtures in the majority of the house, we're been on the lookout for some new fixtures. I actually like the dining room chandelier in the new house, but want to center it in the room which would be next to impossible due to its massive size:

(before)

Again, the living room light is just too big for the space:

(before)

Don't tell Nate, but the bedroom chandelier is actually growing on me and it will probably be the last to go...

(before)

The positive is that while they aren't working for us, my guess is that we should be able to sell them on Craigslist pretty easily (oh, and you know I'm already looking there for the replacements).

Since I'm now officially on the hunt for new lighting, I was happily surprised when I wondered into the Lowe's lighting section last week and noticed a few options that were not only pretty affordable, but actually attractive (unlike most of the fixtures that I've seen in the past):

This bathroom fixture could end up saving me a trip to the Restoration Hardware Outlet (where I usually get nice fixtures for cheap). I'm obsessed with how expensive it looks compared to the price!

This one could be a good alternative to the super low hanging fixture in my living room (or kitchen or hallway) and isn't bad at <$100 (better than most overstock.com options).

This one reminded me of the West Elm Globe Pendant, but a little more rustic (and slightly more expensive).

We should be replacing some of the fixtures sooner rather than later so stay tuned to see where we end up! Where do you like to look for thrifty lighting?

More Paint and Priorities

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:54:00 +0000

After reading some of the comments about brown bedroom paint, I wanted to avoid turning my bedroom into a cave and went lighter. We also went ahead and gave the more expensive Valspar paint+primer another shot because the Lowe's people said that we might have better results with a lighter color compared to the dark blue-grey we painted the dining room with... and they were right! With this paint, we only needed to go back and do a few touch-ups after the first coat. Here's the "Ivory Brown" in action (in the evening and with bad lighting):

(now)

It reads as a slightly darker neutral in person and flows well with the living room/ hall color. We also went ahead and painted the ceiling and trim in this room and the living room- the before vs. now really shows off those yellow ceilings!

(before)

I know that a lot of people would rather have the blue walls from the before picture, but they were in really rough shape so we had no choice but to paint them. In the end, I think that going in a more neutral direction will give us more decorating options as far as fabrics and rugs.

We I also made another improvement on the new house over the weekend:

Yes, we will continue to eat our meals off of a Rubbermaid container on the floor... but I refused to go one more minute without putting up the tree (and no, Nate, my time could not have been better spent elsewhere)! This image kinda-sorta reminds me of Christmas 2009 when I believe I swore off doing renovations and moving during Christmas... oops!

Painting

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:17:00 +0000

As I've mentioned before, I'm not the greatest painter, but I'm probably worse at deciding on paint colors! Check out the assortment of samples I went through while deciding on the colors for the living room, dining room, and kitchen:

Trust me, even at $3 each, the money is well spent in my case! I couldn't believe how horrible some of the brown shades looked when up on the wall (especially in the bathroom...).

I went ahead and took the opportunity to test out two different levels of Valspar paint quality and I must say that the $10 more a gallon paint went on more smoothly, but needed just as many coats as the cheaper stuff so I'm not sold on it.

We also splurged on the Benjamin Moore Advance paint (Cloud White) for the trim. I'll let you know in a few weeks if I think the $50/ gallon paint was worth it.

While the fancy paints aren't exactly my favorites, I do have to endorse the Shur-line paint edger. It takes a bit of practice to keep it from dripping, but it must take 1/4 the time to paint around the trim and ceiling with this thing compared to using tape and a paint brush!

Anyways, back to the colors... We used a really unscientific way of making our selections:

1. I wanted a light neutral for the living room and Nate said that he was over the gray paint that we have all over the first house so I looked out for something that leaned in the brown direction.

2. Nate wanted a pop color somewhere in this new house and I thought a blueish color would look good with the light living room, wood floors, and black and white kitchen/ bath.

3. We found a bunch of grey-brown-blue colors and went to Lowe's three times because the samples weren't working.

4. I used Google images to make sure the colors I was leaning towards weren't too crazy on other rooms (and found one in a very chic blogger's house- sold!).

5. Finally, we got the kitchen paint color customized because buying paint samples was getting expensive.

And here they are:

(now)

(before)

The living room is Valspar's Woodrow Wilson Putty and the kitchen/ dining is a variation of Valspar's Ocean Storm.

FYI, I'm absolutely in love with the dark grey-blue color and glad we took a risk by going bolder. More pictures next week when we have some furniture moved in!

PS We're thinking about going browner in the bedroom. Anyone have a brown bedroom? How do you like it?

The First Project

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:59:00 +0000

We finally took possession of our new house yesterday after the seller's 10-day lease ended.... and after she spent three additional hours (of our time) trying to get a Murphy bed out of the front bedroom. Apparently Murphy bed moving is tricky stuff because the handyman who tried to get it out on Sunday went to the emergency room after it hit him in the head (and I did see the blood). Then yesterday, a one hour job turned into three after the seller's moving people showed up with a small car (?!) to move it to her new house.

Anyways, we're in the house, but already behind on moving! Before we can even get into the space, there is a lot of painting that needs to be done. While I do like the blue colors that are on some of the walls, they just have too many scuffs and discolorations to keep.

There is also a whoooole lot of yellowed trim to take care of as well.

Before I head back to the house, I'll go ahead and share the very first space I went to after getting the keys...

Look closely and you'll see the grossest closet ever...

Yuck. Stay tuned for those afters and the new paint colors (which I haven't exactly picked out yet).

We Closed Today!

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 21:54:00 +0000

Who has two thumbs and two houses?? ....you guessed it! We closed on the new house today. The seller will lease back the house for another 11 days so we just walked out of the office and drove back home with a whoooole lot less money and nothing to show for it (yet, of course). I like to call it "the least exciting closing ever." Unexciting is better than stressful and crazy so I'll take it!

Not having the house doesn't mean I can't share some pictures I took while we did the home inspection, right!? Before I start, I'll be upfront with you all, this isn't much of an upgrade as most people would expect to take when buying a new home- for one, the new house is just about the exact same size as our current house. The new house is, however, in a much better location and has the potential for a future addition (current house does not). AND-AND-AND-*this is most important of all*- the new house has a bonus garage apartment in the back that we plan to use for extra income before we build the addition!

So... here it is (really bad, fuzzy pictures and all):

You all know me- I'm probably going to be making a lot of cosmetic updates to fit my tastes and the exterior is going to need some tweaking along with a ton of other things. I'll make sure to update you on the full to-do list later!

*selling feature* There's a lot of landscaping already in place and a really nice sprinkler system.

<view of front entry>
*selling feature* I loved how this home had a designated entry space and coat closet.

<view from front door into living and kitchen/ dining>
*selling feature* I love the original hardwood floors that go through most of the house.

<hallway to the right of the living room that leads to bedrooms and bathroom>
*selling feature* original solid wood doors

<current master bed towards back of house>
*selling feature* double windows in almost every space

<other angle of master>
*selling feature* before we build the addition, it will be nice to have the double closets

<garage apartment>
*selling feature* we should be able to rent this out easily in the $500-$600 range

<bathroom in apartment>

We can't wait to get those keys and get started on making this place "ours." Can you guess which projects we'll tackle first?

New House Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:15:00 +0000

We received final loan approval, the HUD documents are in, and we're on our way to the bank to get a cashier's check so it looks like we're really actually buying another house this Friday. I figured this would be an okay time to give a mini black and white preview of the house we're buying:

It's small, full of character, and nothing like the other homes we almost bought, but I promise that it was the best choice for us. When (if) we do close, I'll share the rest of the pictures and the reasons why we chose this one!

The Homes We Almost Bought

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:30:00 +0000

Before there was ever the mystery un-blogged under contract house, there were three houses that we tried to buy. Of course, I looked at hundreds of other houses online and we visited several without actually submitting contracts, but there were only three (well, four including our house-to-be) that were worth putting in offers on. Now that all three of these have sold, I thought it would be fun to share slightly disguised MLS photos of them and their final sales prices compared to what we offered. And, of course, I'll give you a little insight as to why we went for these particular homes. The funny thing is that they're almost nothing like the house we ended up with!

House #1
A 2,325 sqft foreclosure (rare for the neighborhoods we looked in)
Pros: Good location, great view, wood floors downstairs (stained carpet up), lots of space
Cons: It is partially down a steep hill (bad for our cycling and running, future kids), not really part of the neighborhood because of the hill, larger than we wanted and McMansion-like, history of water damage because of the sloped driveway, the yard was tiny and not fenced in
List price: $334,900
Our offer: $300,000 The day we made our first offer, two other people came in and created a bidding war. We still weren't sure about the location and didn't want to overbid because of "the war" so went in at a price we wanted to pay. Obviously, it didn't work out for us and we're happy we don't have to deal with that hill!
Sold for: $330,199

House #2
A 1,584 sqft ranch home in great neighborhood
Pros: Location, lot size, great layout including formal entryway, a ton of potential

Cons: we would not be able to move in without doing a ton of structural updates including foundation and electrical work, almost every square inch of the house would need work
List price: $299,000
Our offer: $250,000 This was a solid offer based on the neighborhood comps, but the seller only came down to $290,000. We came back with $265,000 and pointed out the work that needed to be done. He came back at $274,000 and would not budge so we walked.
Sold for: $260,000 Yep. Our realtor said that we probably did all of the work convincing him that he was priced too high and let the next buyer get all of the rewards. It's okay in the end because it was the farthest north that I wanted to live and it needed a TON of upfront work that Nate wasn't especially excited about doing.

House #3
A 2,080 sqft mid-century home on a quiet street

Pros: curb appeal, mature trees, school district and neighborhood (several $500k+ homes), lot size, a ton of potential, newish roof, obviously cared for
Cons: bottom of a hill, not walkable at all, needed a lot of immediate work, parts of the layout were strange- no windows in dining room and small master bathroom

List price: $339,000
Our offer: $305,000 and no counter offer. We then came up to $320k, but didn't feel comfortable going any higher based on the location and the amount of work we would need to put into the home.

Sold for: $330,000

Again, the house we ended up with is almost nothing like the three above! The one common factor among all of the homes is that they're all the worst (read: cheapest) homes in the best neighborhoods. I will say that house #4 tops them all as far as location goes- and it's all about location-location-location!

How many offers did it take before yours was accepted?

Moving and Hoarders

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:42:00 +0000

So... I'm still being really superstitious about the new house. The negotiations have been over for a while, we breezed through the appraisal (it appraised $20k over our contract price), and locked in a historically stellar interest rate (<4%! for 30Y).... but I'm still not quite ready to show pictures until we've signed that big stack of papers at closing (set for NEXT FRIDAY)! Even then, it looks like we won't be in the house until November 29th because we're leasing the property back to the current owner while she makes moving plans. This date has changed three times already- so, who knows! I am seriously excited about sharing our *crosses fingers* new house having more thrifty renovating and decorating posts in the near future (oh, and there will be a lot to talk about), but for now all I've got are my deep thoughts about the A&E Hoarders show...

I've already admitted to everyone in the blogosphere that I'm half-hoarder and that I have certain addictions, but I've realized more than ever while pre-packing that I have some behaviors that tiptoe right on the edge of being totally crazy! Thankfully, those professional organizers and behavior therapists on Hoarders (which is way better than the TLC version) seem to be speaking directly to me. Here are some of my favorite tips and tricks that I've been using while deciding what to get rid of instead of move into our new house:

1. Buying home organizers will not make you organized. I have boxes with labels, ones with drawers, ones with lids and without... but they're not what makes me an organized person. I make me an organized person by knowing where my things are and by focusing on using organizers to keep the things I need-- not by finding things to keep in the organizers!

2. The memories are not attached to the physical items. Take a picture of the item if you'll to see it to hold on to the memory. Flash drives are so much easier to store!

3. Holding on to the guilt of never using something that you buy will weigh down on you mentally and physically on your house. Just let it go and learn a lesson for the next time. I blame one too many garage sales for this!

4. Ask yourself: How much time would it take to complete your projects? Will you be able to finish them by next week? When will you get around to finishing them?

5. Remember... having the tools doesn't make you a mechanic, owning the machine doesn't make you a person who bakes bread, and storing books doesn't make you a person who reads. In my case, it turns out I'm not a person who sets the table every night. It turns out that couple napkin sets will do.

6. When in a tough spot, rate your need for the item in question- '1' being trash, '10' being your family, '9' as food, shelter, etc. This week, I watched a man rate a rusty tool as a '9,' although the therapist eventually got him down to a '4.' Yikes!

Does anyone else feel like they're actually learning something while watching the Hoarders show?

PS I don't recommend the one about animal hoarders!

Moving Towards Moving

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:01:00 +0000

Guess who has a house under contract?! We've completed the inspection and option period and, well, are pretty committed to getting this new home (next month!). The funny thing is that the day after I posted about shopping for houses and whined about being outbid on three homes over the last few months, a house came on the market in our price range... in an amazing neighborhood... with a lot of our our wants and most* of our needs!
*more on that later...

Obviously, if I showed you pictures now or went on and on about my amazing new house, a tree would fall on it or my lender would deny my pre-approved application or something and I'm just too superstitious to go that route! Anyways, this all means that it's officially time for us to start working towards the big move. After reading back over my thrifty moving tips from almost two years ago, I decided to cut back on boxes, truck space, and gas by donating a ton of stuff:

Luckily, we've been planning ahead for this move and realized another thrifty moving tip earlier this summer...

Thrifty Little Tip: Use pots for all of your new plants. Your house will still look nice when you sell, but you'll have the added bonus of bringing over a little housewarming gift to yourself on moving day. Thankfully, we thought of this back in July and potted some of our extra wedding flowers (2nd pot) so that they'll move with us (and yes, we should probably continue to rake the lawn until then).

Have any thrifty moving tips of your own?

FAQ Why now?

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:09:00 +0000

My mother absolutely loves questioning and re-questioning my (our) decision to buy a new house... so I figured I would go ahead and answer her questions in one easy to reference spot. Besides, being nosy is fun so I figured you all might be interested in some of the same answers:

Q. Why are you buying again after only two years in your current house?
A. This is really a strategic financial decision. We've never thought that we'd live here forever and it would be nice to have more space. Besides, interest rates are at record lows right now and we happen to have the 20% down (and emergency fund) just sitting in our savings accounts and there are houses that we like within our budget so now seems like a good time to start looking.

Q. But you've worked so hard to make your house nice, why not enjoy it a little?!
A. Trust me, I have enjoyed it! It has been a great starter home. I bought it before Nate and I were really seriously dating and there was no way that I would have guessed that we'd be married right now and in the financial position to move on. We do love the location and current condition of the home, but there's just no legal way to expand it at all in the ways we'll need in order to eventually raise a family in it.

Q. What are you going to do with your current house?
A. We're not 100% sure. Fortunately and unfortunately, Austin is currently booming- so many people are moving here that rents and home prices continue to rise. Would you believe that the rental prices in my neighborhood have increased 20% since last year?! So, obviously renting it out is still an option on the table. On the other hand, we might decide to sell it and have already received a fair offer from an interested family member. Either way, we can afford the monthly carrying costs with the new home's payments (mainly because I bought it on one income) and don't want to make a final commitment until we move so that we're not rushed into buying the wrong house.

Q. When are you going to take that honeymoon?!?! You better not skip your honeymoon for a house!
A. We're taking the honeymoon after we buy the house and before our 1-year anniversary. We're just not sure what we'll end up with and don't want to pass on an opportunity for a great house because we don't have enough cash up-front to pay for the improvements.

Q. What are you looking for?
A. This is the fun stuff! We (I) obviously love a good project so we're interested in getting a home with the potential to become our dream home with a little sweat and creativity. What it all boils down to is...

Must-haves (or could-eventually-haves):
*A fantastic location
*1,500-2,000 sqft
*3 bedrooms, 2 baths
*A good flow- two separate living areas so that the living room doesn't have to be the tv room/ office/ playroom/ dining room/ etc

*An outdoor space for our dogs

Really-would-love-to-haves:
*An excellent walk/ bike score
*A nice front porch
*A place for a king-sized bed for the 6'4 guy that will be living there
*A laundry room that isn't in the garage
*A dining room that can seat a lot of people

We've already thought that we found the place three times and have been outbid by others (which is the unfortunate part of the Austin boom), but we're working on the fourth right now so I'll be sure to keep you all updated!

On the Hunt

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:48:00 +0000

We're looking for a new house. Actually, we've been looking for a new house for the past few months. If one of the three homes that we put an offer on had accepted, we'd be moving in about now. Really, I wanted to share the big news with a reveal of a new house, but instead the blog has been close to silent over the time that we haven't been able to find anything. So, now you know that we weren't exactly skipping house projects and going on a spending freeze because we were broke from the wedding, but because there are going to be big things in the future!

Oh, and while I'm on the subject, I have to give a shout-out to my favorite thrifty home-buying discovery. I know that it isn't available in every city, but check out Redfin if you can! The site is really user-friendly, but more importantly, it also gives you access to stats that normally only real estate agents have available!

In Texas, we're a non-disclosure state, which means that the actual sales price is normally only reserved for buyers working with members of the MLS. With Redfin, signing up with a free account gives you those same privileges and lets you make your own decisions on what similar homes in the neighborhood might be worth. I can probably blame Redfin for letting three other buyers outbid me on homes because I've been using comps from the past six months as motivation to keep looking for the better deal.

Oh, and as a bonus, it has a direct link to the Google Street View of the home. Call me a late bloomer, but I didn't know until recently that there is a full screen option in Street View. I can't tell you how much gas money I've saved by using Street View to "drive" around neighborhoods instead of my own car!

In addition to the site, Redfin has also partnered with local agents to offer commission rebates on sales made through the site. I've decided to use another agent, but this could be another great way to save $$$.

I'll admit that I do have fun searching for homes, but after making the decision to buy earlier this year and saving up every extra penny we had, I'm ready to make the big purchase! Sure, it might be easier if I wasn't so picky (more on that later) and if I didn't feel the need to get a good deal...

Anyone else on the hunt for a new home? How long did it take for you to settle on a house?

(Of course, I have no connection with Redfin and I'm not being paid to mention their site.)

Tips for Quick-Shopping Thrift Stores

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:06:00 +0000

From my experience, there are two ways to get great deals at thrift stores:

1. Get lucky.
2. Go often.

I think that my blog can be a little misleading at times... I pop in every once in a while to show off my super cheap finds and after reading for a while, it might seem like I have some magic touch for getting 50-90% off of everything I buy. By now, you've probably caught on to the fact that I'm getting most of those deals from non-retail spots to start off with (Craigslist, Marshalls, outlets, thrift stores, garage sales, etc), but I can't emphasize this enough- I'm not super lucky, I'm always shopping!

Thrift stores can be really tricky places to shop for deals. I know most people don't really enjoy the atmosphere, but even more people are turned off by the selection. For these reasons, you need to try and get in the habit of getting in and out of there as often as you can (because it's more fun when you're not shopping for an hour and walking away without anything!).

My tips for quick-shopping thrift stores:

1. Remember, Goodwill is not the only thrift store out there! I like to pick stores that offer specials and individually price each item- this gives me a better opportunity to find a great deal. Other than some local favorites, I like Savers because there's always a big selection and they rotate through 50% off tags on weekdays.

2. Shop early or on weekday evenings. Most stores are going to be replenishing stock throughout the day, but you want to avoid wasting your time on a picked-over selection on the weekends. As a bonus, you'll avoid any annoying lines if you do find something to take home.

3. Shop with your eyes. Housewares, clothing accessories, and furniture are the easiest to shop for when you're in a rush. I always try to remember to bend down to check the backs of each shelf and hone in on the material/ shape/ quality of the items.

Thrifty Little Tip: Used book stores are the places to go for books- they're always better organized and prescreened so that there is less junk to sort through.

4. Get strategic about the clothes. If you're looking to spend hours searching for treasures, it will be easy to do, but I save a TON of time by only targeting women's jeans and dresses (and that's only if I need them). Sure, there are cute tops to be found and shoes that have barely been worn, but they'll be more the exception than the rule. Think about it: which items hold up really well, but become the first that don't fit when you gain or lose weight (this is not true for men's jeans)?

5. Don't forget the "fancy stuff" cases. In a lot of cases (but definitely not all), the thrift store employees are able to find the most valuable donations for you! These cases are always worth a quick glance.

6. Never feel bad for walking out empty-handed! Buying junk or paying too much for a used item is not thrifty.

My New Bedroom

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:33:00 +0000

Don't worry, I'm not going to follow up my wedding post with a "I'm no longer sharing the master bedroom with my husband" post... but I've come to find out that the extra bedroom is really turning into being more my bedroom than anything else. Apparently, it's where I throw in all of my decorating choices that receive the veto from Nate:

First off, you can see that my possibly all time favorite Craigslist find, the x-bench, has turned into the desk chair until it's reunited with its partner when we someday have a bigger house. My vision of it as the perfect place to put on shoes in the bedroom was not so great whenever Nate would run into it during the middle of the night.

And apparently my guy has an aversion to strong smelling candles and pretty apothecary jars ($3 estate sale) with "no purpose." Pssh...

I still love my gold frames and I'm sure they'll be much more appreciated in my new room! You know that gold is making a comeback, right?

Oh, and I'm sure that all of the people in my bedroom will agree that organizing books by color is way more fun than by author and country!

All of my things are much happier living in my new room- especially the Euro shams that won't have to put up with being thrown on the floor each night.

So, really it's "my bedroom" that I just look at and let other people sleep in. Instead of "Mom Cave" (I'm not a mom), I thought of calling it my "Lady Cave," but somehow that sounded dirty... so "my bedroom" it is.

Do you have a special place in your home for all of your taste-specific decorating choices? Have you ever heard of organizing books by country?

Budget Breakdown: Our Wedding

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 19:49:00 +0000

Remember when I promised to keep the wedding out of the main blog until the big day passed? Well, the time has come for me to share ~~way too many pictures of~~ my wedding budget breakdown!

I'm still working on finishing up detailed recaps on my wedding blog, but for our purposes, I'll go ahead and give you the main steps of how I went about planning and budgeting our thrifty day....
1. We decided that it was important to have our friends and family present to witness the wedding (so eloping was out).
2. Realizing that most of those friends and family would have to travel in order to come support us, we decided to put a little extra effort into creating a nice day for them (so we had to feed them).
3.We rarely stay up past 10 PM, have the most fun in summer, and could save a ton of money by doing an off peak day so Sunday summer brunch it was (plus, breakfast food is the best)!
4. I wanted to have as much fun and as little stress as possible so hiring experienced professionals was key!

Here's just how much everything ended up costing (oh, and thanks to my very detailed budget sheet I did count every penny I could on my very detailed Excel spreadsheet- except for some potted plants that went home with my mom)...

The Venue and Rentals: $2338.03
$1,815 for 10 hours at Mercury Hall
$276.79 rental of tables and chairs
$246.24 purchased some used and some new linens

Officiant and License: $11
$0 Officiant- Lucky for us, my uncle is a judge.Ordaining a friend online was our backup plan.
$11 Marriage license- We took a free (thanks to my work's benefits plan) marriage counseling course which discounted the license down to $11.

Photography and Videography: $2,111
$2,111 for photos by Mary Sledd- I went for quality over quantity and purchased a two shooter 5-hour package without any prints, but with printing rights.
$0 for video- I came to the conclusion that the wedding would seem more magical in my head and seeing the video would make me pick things apart (yes, I'm that person). Apparently my uncle did take some video so I might watch it at some point.

The Food: $3,611.13
$3,491.13- Included food for 85 people, silverware, plates, glasses, cake cutting, table and chair setup, cleaning afterwards, and waitstaff by Whole Foods.
$120- additional tips

The Music: $700
$700- Ceremony and reception music by Greenbelt DJ with an audio file of the entire event
This is another place where the off-season Sunday morning timing really paid off for me because I was able to get a generous discount on a DJ with an amazing reputation (see #4 above). If dancing were realllly important to us, we would have probably done the Saturday night thing, but to my surprise people got out on that dance floor and had fun.

Day of Coordinator: $250
Money well spent!!! There is no way that I could have done everything myself and have gotten ready!

The Drinks: $475.38
$185- Bartender and tip including bar tables and set-up
$290.38- Misc. alcohol and non-alcoholic welcome drinks including a lot of sparkling wine that probably should have been returned but ended up with my sister...

The paper: $370.74
$126.95 for invitations
$55 postage
$18 online save-the-dates
$14.06 thankyou cards
$88 ribbon, tape, and paper for programs
$68.73 more misc. supplies
All printing was done on my home printer without any ink refills.

The Flowers: $237.30
This was one of the areas I couldn't handle spending a big chunk of money on. I decided that the venue was nice enough that I didn't need elaborate flowers for decoration and just made some carnation bunches for the tables, my bouquet, and the cake topper.

Misc. Decor: $87.52
Included: Dollar Tree vases, DIY cake stands, thank-you notes for escort cards

Cake and Pastries: $348
$225- Cake from Russell's Bakery
This was maybe the one thing I was surprisingly well under budget on! I was also happily surprised at how well they replicated the cake design that I found on Google the day before ordering the cake.
$103- Pastries and tax
$20- Tip
Notice no delivery charge... they didn't deliver so I actually had Nate pick up the cake the morning of... in his suit!

Hair and Makeup: $124.19
$124.19 Makeup supplies- I did my own makeup, but bought several products and brushes that I'm still using today.
$0 Hair- My cousin, a hairstylist, gifted me my hair styling.

Clothing: $973.58
$298- My dress (Nicole Miller via Rue La La)
$253.79- Alterations: hemming, bustle, cups, and steaming
$231.32- His suit (Tommy Hilfiger via Macy's)... which he has worn to work several times already
$53.97- His tie and shirt (Nordstrom Rack)
$64.31- His shoes (Nordstrom Rack)
$21.63- Pocket squares for him and BM
$34.33- Earrings
$16.23- Hair pin
$0- My shoes and his belt (we already owned them)

Grand Total: $11,637.87

PS I don't think that they really count as far as "wedding" costs, but:
$0- Engagement ring (family ring)
$1,372- My band
$85- His band
$TBD- Our honeymoon: Nope, haven't taken one yet.

This Labor Day weekend marked the one year anniversary of Nate's proposal. It reminded me of two things: first, of course, that I hadn't shared my wedding budget breakdown... and second, how much things can change in a matter of a year. Although I did think that we would eventually get married, I had no idea last September that I would be married within the next year- not unlike in January of 2009 when I had no clue who Nate was... or that I would be living with him 11 months later :). And with smoke across the Austin skyline and the destruction of a park that Nate and I have shared great memories in, I can't help but think how dramatically things can change in the other direction within short time periods as well. With all of this in mind, I am so grateful that I did go ahead and put the effort into having a "real wedding." With each day ahead of us filled with the unknown, I'll always have the memories of that joyful Sunday morning in late July with my friends and family supportive and smiling. Worth $11,000+? Absolutely!

Some "Finally" Projects

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:42:00 +0000

Currently, we're still in recovering from the wedding and in super-saver mode (yes, it gets more intense than my normal thrifty mode)... so the random Craigslist buys and the big home improvement projects have to be put on the back burner for now. Instead of sitting around doing nothing (which is, of course, free) we're back peddling a bit and finally getting around to finishing up some projects that we did buy the supplies for, but didn't quite get around to finishing...

The first is more than a bit pathetic. I finally got around to hemming and hanging white curtains in my living room. I'm embarrassed to say that I bought these back in February of 2010. I remember because I bought them and the rods from IKEA right before my purse was stolen along with the receipt- meaning I was stuck with them. I guess I could half-blame my procrastination on the fact that I was traumatized by the theft... or not.

I sure wish I had gotten around to finishing these earlier- my dogs sleep much more soundly during the day when they don't have to guard the house from squirrels!

The second project was so worth half a day of Nate's energy because the closet-turned-built-in shelf looks so much better with the extra trim that he installed!

Ahhhh, the closet and I have been through so much together. First as a double-wide with curtains before half was taken away for the bathroom remodel:

Next, as a smaller version: that wasn't so functional:

Much -improved, but not quite perfect:

And today...!

And finally, I'm really proud because I went ahead and printed out a couple wedding pictures for my bedside table. I had the sneaking suspicion that they might take years to make an appearance otherwise! I've never used one of those instant printing Kodak kiosks before, but let me tell you the ease of just putting in my flash drive and walking away from CVS with ready to frame pictures was well-worth the $1.50 that I spent! I'm already brainstorming up some ways that I can instantly print up arty pictures to fill up the frames that sit empty in my garage...(TBC).

PS. Yes, that is a custom dog cave at the bottom of the built-in. Yes, if you look closely in the living room picture, you'll see another dog bed by the window. We spoil them big-time!

Has anyone else recently discovered the wonders of adding trim to a space (or instant print kiosks)?!

Half-Hoarder

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:25:00 +0000

I'm not really a hoarder... I just sometimes do hoarder-like things.

I promise, you won't go into my main living areas and see piles of trash or old clothing. Plus, I love donating things that I don't want to use anymore. However, I am guilty of buying things (especially home decor) without a specific use in mind... and then let them sit around (usually in the garage) for months (or longer).

Oh, and I also do that hoarder thing where I find free or super cheap stuff and say, "I bet there's some way that I can use this!"

Anyways... let's rewind back to May of 2010 when I bought a really nice wooden round mirror off of Craigslist. I'm embarrassed to say that I just got around to hanging it up in my house this past week. There's the whole "I'm really bad at hanging things on the walls" excuse, but then again there's also the fact that I'm half-hoarder.

Luckily, I found a pack of hook picture hangers that not only hold 50 lbs, but allow me shove them into the spot I like without needing a level or stud-finder (which Nate, by the way, loves to hover over his chest and say, "the stud is right here!") . So, the hanging things up on the walls problem was solved.

I decided to stick the mirror over the desk in the guestroom so that I can maybe get a bit more light bouncing around this tiny one-window space.

Unfortunately, the hooks wouldn't work for my normal pictures (that have been leaning against the wall for months) so I have to wait until the weekend so that I can talk Nate into doing the leveling for me:

Just looking at the level stresses me out!

Now that the wedding madness is over, I'm making some serious attempts at using all of the ~~crap~~ pretty things I've been buying for the house. With a little luck, I'll have a fully-spruced office/ guestroom to share with you in the next couple of weeks...

PS I'll try to take the next set of pictures when the lighting is a bit better!

We've Been Busy...

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 02:12:00 +0000

But we're back!

A detailed post on our $11,xxx wedding is coming, but we should finally be back to thrifty projects around the house as well! A big thanks to those of you who haven't unsubscribed over this hectic summer... and a bigger thanks to those of you who helped me make some decisions over on the wedding blog!

The Backyard Budget Breakdown (so far)

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:05:00 +0000

The yard has come a long way in the past year- we've built a garden, installed new sod, and created some granite pathways that lead to a fire pit area. While the work isn't 100% completed and there are a few flower beds that could use a bit of color, I think enough basics are in place to go ahead and break down the budget.

First, let's remember what we started with:

The plan:

The results:

Obviously still some work to do here, but the basics are in place!

The Grass $564.86
Tiller rental from Home Depot- $55
Hourly truck rental from HD (twice due to broken tiller)- $74.80
Yard bags to collect debris- $6
Sod pallets (3 with a lot left over) and delivery- $429.06

The Beds and Paths $766.57
A ton of composite edging and stakes for borders- $351.70
Weed blocking fabric- $71.28
Sand for granite paths and sitting area- $46.50
Decomposed granite for paths and sitting area- $112
Delivery for granite and sand- $95

Mulch and soil for flower beds (so far)- $70.09
Solar lights (on mega sale)- $20

New Tools $37.94
Tamper- $32.97
Rubber mallet- $4.97

The Garden Box $128.29
see garden breakdown post

Grand total*= $1497.66
*Excluding plants and future projects such as A/C screens

If I were to do it again...
I would have never guessed that laying new sod (after prepping the area) would have been so easy and relatively cheap. Unfortunately, I also never guessed that the edging for the beds and pathways would have been so expensive. We wanted to plan a good amount of granite and flower bed areas in order to limit the space we'd need to water, but I'm sure there would have been a more efficient way to design the path and bed layouts to minimize the need for those borders!

PS To all of you who were jealous when we had yard work and warm weather while you were buried in snow this past winter... you might be happy to find out that we had to watch our fireworks on T.V. this year due to drought conditions in our area :(.

The $200 Grocery Budget

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:10:00 +0000

Last week I renewed my domain subscription for the second time... meaning Thrifty Little Blog is about two years old! To celebrate, I'm going to...well... blog (I know that I've been slacking a bit). I've got some budget breakdowns, cheap home improvements, and thrifty little tips coming up, but today I'd like to go into more detail on one of the most controversial topics I've posted on so far- my grocery budget.

When I say that we aim to spend $40-$50 per week on groceries (or $200ish a month), people usually wonder what we're buying and how we can possibly live such a horrible, boring life. I'll be the first to admit that we might be boring from time to time, but I wouldn't say that our meals are all that horrible. Here's a look at what I bought on yesterday's shopping trip:

It might not seem like there's a week's worth of meals in that group, but it's because there isn't. Remember, one of my big savings tips is to stock up on frozen proteins and other products I use all the time when they're on sale. This week, I obviously bought a ton of Fiber Once Cereal because I had a good coupon.

We combine things like these frozen proteins, condiments, and pantry items like flour and sugar to make all of our weekly meals and aim to eat every bit of fresh produce by the next shopping trip. Here's what this week's meal list looks like:

Monday- tacos and Mexican street corn (I make the tortillas from scratch, the corn and beans are left over from last week's trip)

Tuesday- spaghetti and (fake) meatballs with zucchini squash and salad

Wednesday- baked potato and salmon with salad

Thursday- pizza night (this is a weekly tradition that we always follow up with special dessert like frozen yogurt)

Friday- sweet potato fries, fake chicken, and salad

Saturday- we eat out

Sunday- fettucini alfredo

*Lunches are always leftovers or salads and snacks are usually fruit, yogurt, or smoothies. Based on sales or coupons available, we might have a few packaged snack options, but we try to avoid the unhealthy stuff.

With all of the details that I share with you on the blog all about my own crazy tendencies, I'm sure you imagine me running around the store with my calculator and list. I'm proud to say that I'm bit more carefree about it than you might think. The price of the trip is not actually as important as getting everything I need so I make a mental list before walking through the store, grab things if they're part of an especially good deal that I didn't know about, and feel satisfied with the total before the cashier even rings anything up. That's why I'm usually okay when we go a bit like we did this week:

Besides, the high weeks usually balance out with the low weeks:

If I could sum up my top grocery savings tips, I would probably narrow it down to four main points:
1. Always have some sort of a plan- When will that item be used and why do you need it?
2. Avoid processed packaged foods- They pack very little nutritional bang for their buck.
3. Stay flexible with your brands and meal plans- If a great sale comes up, you might just have to jump off of the meal plan or grocery list.
4. Don't let your food go to waste- If your picky 6'4 roommate (*cough cough*) consistently lets half a loaf of wheat bread go moldy... stop buying it for him! Eliminating the unneeded extra apples or sour cream equals instant savings.

How do you keep your grocery costs low?

Unplanned Accomplishments

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:27:00 +0000

I get distracted really easily. I might be in the middle of cooking dinner one moment, but dusting the room the next just because I catch an unclean surface out of the corner of my eye. And yes, I do burn food more often than I cook it correctly.

To get myself out of the habit, I made a resolution to "finish the projects that I start" in 2011. This meant that I had to go back and patch/ paint the drywall that my cheapo blue tape pulled off while I taped out the mirror's size (reason #233 why I'm sticking with Frog Tape).

Ta-da:

When I veer away from the to-do list (which I had already completed in this case) and start a project out of the blue, I like to call it an "unplanned accomplishment." It's not necessarily a bad thing, it would have probably made the to-do list at some point, but it's just something that I hadn't fully planned on doing. That's what I tell Nate when he comes home and finds things like the bathroom repainted:

I liked the stencils and they were fun to have for the past two years, but Nate always hated them so I figured that I'd go ahead and take care of the project while I had my paintbrushes out.

I think that the new paint color (Olympic's Plantation Moss- left over from guest bedroom) gives off a sophisticated vibe which is okay because it's at least a little balanced by my feather shower curtain:

I was on such a roll that I went ahead and started taking out the stripes in the half bathroom.... which I later found out Nate actually liked. *sigh*

This is maybe why I should think projects through a bit more before I start them.

Anyone else have a habit of starting projects out of nowhere?

a bath for the granite and haircut for the hedge

noreply@blogger.com (Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 21:48:00 +0000

Do you know when you realize that you've been slacking on blogging? When the person who lives your with projects day-to-day, hears your rants on how to cut costs, and sees you track your spending down to the penny asks, "So, what's up with your blogging?"

I might have gone a little bridezilla as I screamed, "SERIOUSLY?! YOU KNOW WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO!!"

Anyways, Nate, this post about projects we worked on last weekend is for you. You know, just in case you've forgotten or something.

The weird thing about three day weekends is that I feel like I have all the time in the world and therefore can accomplish at least 1,001 projects. So, of course I just knew that we would get the entire yard spruced up for the summer over Memorial Day weekend (ha).

It hadn't rained very much since we put in the new granite path and sod so we hadn't realized that the dirt mounds next to the path could cause any issues until a 3-inch rainstorm blew in last month...

...and moved a bunch of mud around:

My favorite bendy tree by the firepit area also created a mess of berries all over the once perfect granite:

So my super-smart soon-to-be-husband came up with a way to separate the heavy granite from the other gunk:

He realized that sweeping the leaves, berries, and dirt into a pile then scooping them into a wheelbarrow bath would be the most efficient way to clean things up.

Lucky for Hugo, things are looking a lot better down there!

Next, Nate began work on a future flower bed...

...and didn't get far before running out of mulch.

I know, blog posts without "afters" are really lame.

At least we've gone somewhere!

Luckily, I do have an "after" shot of the second worst* haircut of all time:

Although I did spend a good deal of time trimming up the hedge and stuffing its branches into the lawn bags, it's hard to even call it an accomplishment when it ends up that ugly!

*See worst haircut here.