Don't be afraid to try something New

I color my hair out of a box at home and it saves me a lot of money rather than going to the salon. My hair color comes with a conditioner that is to be used once a week to hold the color in and make your hair feel soft and silky. This conditioner does a fairly good job except for when its close or past due for another color treatment.  In the past I have had good success with V05 Hot Oil Treatment. In looking for this product in a number of stores in my area with the limited time that I have I was not able to find it.  In a last ditch effort I was looking at the alternative products they have out there and since I like and use Pantene's shampoo and conditioner I thought I would see if they had something that might, just might do the trick or at least put a bandaid on my hair situation until I could find my V05 Hot Oil some other place. I'm sure Walgreens would probably have it or Amazon for SURE would (doesn't Amazon have everything?).  I came across Pantene's Color Nourishing Treatment that claims it will Nourish colored hair to enhance color and shine. 

 

I was very skeptical at first but after the first application was very impressed. It might not be the long term solution but for the first try it is helping my hair a ton. So don't always be closed off to trying something new is my latest advice.  For those curious as to the price it was in the $5 range.

Clip coupons

I try to save money by clipping coupons. I take the Sunday newspaper for this reason and this reason ALONE. Yep, you got it. I pick up the paper sort through the contents until I get to the coupons and then I put it with the recycle.  It pays for itself pretty quick.  Especially if you get just the Sunday subscription and not the whole week subscription.  Unless you really like to recycle or compost, which is another post for a later date.  Weekly I go to websites like www.coolsavings.com and www.coupons.com for other coupons than what come in the paper or sometimes in your mail.  Most grocery stores and places take these web coupons, there are a few that don't that I have run across in my neighborhoods like REAMS and Dan's. I have had intermittent success with Dan's but REAMS has never taken my web coupons. If you do a search for printable grocery coupons you are going to get a ton of websites. I have found that they are both basically these same coupons that the sites I mention above have and some make you sign into them. That means they want to solicit you in some way shape or form, even if its by email. I personally have enough email even with email I want and like let alone the junk and then add some more junk into it.. no thanks.  There is one other site that I almost forgot that I sometimes find some coupons on www.redplum.com has some every now and then that I use.

Some people claim to not have time for these or they are too hard to organize. The amount of time I spend on a weekly average to clip and organize is seriously 15 to 20 minutes total.Weekly savings varies but I would average that I at least save $2-$5 a week. I figure any savings is savings. Over time it adds up. If you save even just $2 a week in a years time you will have saved $104. Imagine if you saved more per week and you usually do. It ebbs and flows.

Organizing the coupons: for me the best thing that works is a cash/bill organizer that expands as needed. I put all the coupons in order of date. Each pocket has a month and within that month the coupons that will expire the soonest are in the very front. Every time I put new coupons in I put them into piles per month and then incorporate them into where they belong by date. You can get all fancy and sort them by type of product like the supermarkets but this requires monitoring multiple sections for the expiration dates and even though there have been a few times that they have not noticed the expiration date and they have worked for the most part the checker is on their toes and they will not accept the coupon beyond the expiration date. I do go through all my coupons every week before I do my shopping. It takes probably 3 whole minutes to pull out each month and see if there are any coupons that will aid in saving you money on your pending shopping trip.
The exceptions to the organizing rule.  Printed web coupons go to the very back of my organizer. They are all the same size and its easier than mixing them in with the slick paper that the others are printed on. Store coupons, the ones that are specific to that store and can only be used at that store I put in their own store section near the back with the printed ones. This way you can look at just that store and they all usually expire at the same time. Makes for easy clean up.

If you have any tips or tricks regarding coupons feel free to leave me a post. Would love to hear more ideas and what works for you.

Write it down

My brain is continually failing to remember all the many things that I want to keep tabs on in my day. Recently I had a birthday and my dear husband (DH) asked me a few days before the day what I would like or could use for my birthday. I usually keep a running wish list for myself and other lists for DH and the dear kids (DK) of things that I think they would like or they have mentioned throughout the year.  So I thought it would be simple to pull up my wish list and let DH know what I have been wanting, he could run out with his limited time before the actual day of my birth, get something that he was sure I wanted/could use, and all would be great. I get to my list and .... UGGG.... nothing there. So I was left with little time to think of something to help the guy out. He is so good to get me what I want instead of what he thinks I should want I felt bad. When in doubt... write it down. You can even write it at the back of a calendar at your house, a post-it on your bathroom mirror, send yourself a perpetual email forwarding it to your self every time you think of something new and deleting the old. Many creative ways that you can accomplish the same thing.  Write it down.

Excercise

When your day starts at 4:30 a.m. and doesn't end until 10:30 p.m. when would you find time to exercise? I have found for me the best time is at lunch. It doesn't happen every day but most days it happens. There is always room for a lunch with a friend but getting away from the office and getting outside or even walking the stairs in the building I work in can really help get the legs stretched and clear the cobwebs from the head.