Tuesday 17 June 2014

Budget Friendly

This might be kind of boring for some but I feel like it's really important to know. I'm the type of person that loves to make lists, I could make a list about anything! When I know I'm going to go clothes shopping I'll make a list in my phone of all the things I want to get (weather I stick to the list or not), going camping I'll make a list of food and what to pack, going on a trip I'll make a list of every piece of clothing I want to take, planning a party I have tons of lists. My 'notes' in my phone is full of lists :) I also really like to budget, like budget my finances, it's an easy way to keep track of how much money is coming in and whats going out and when. That way I never find myself in a jam or strapped for cash. Well of course even if you have a budget it doesn't always mean you stick to it so there are times when money is tighter from not sticking to the budget, however I always know when that is going to happen so I can be mentally prepared.

What I like to do is keep a running spreadsheet of each paycheque, so I will have my budget planned out for a few months in advance. I do all of my banking on my phone so come pay day I take out my budget (which I keep as a paper copy in my purse) see what payments I need to manually do and I do those immediately through my online banking. That way those payments are done with and I don't accidentally spend the money that was allocated for that bill. Then I cross off those items from my budget plan so I can visually see what is left to pay. I take a look at what scheduled payments are supposed to come out of the account so I know what to expect for the next 2 weeks.

This is what my budgets look like with both mine and Mark's income and expenses combined:
*numbers do not reflect actual income and expenses, I used dummy numbers for visual.

                                 June 13/14

Cheque Total: $2000

Expenses                               Other

100 Fuel                                100 Mastercard
200 Groceries                        100 Credit Line
100   Smokes
160 Spending
100 Insurance (car)
100 Phones
100   Hydro
$860 Total
+$200 Other
1060 Total Expenses
-2000 Income
$940 Extra Money

 
                                June 27/14
Cheque Total: $2000

Expenses                             Other

100 Fuel                              100 Visa
200 Groceries                      100 Credit Line
100   Smokes
160 Spending
100   Insurance (escape)
600 Rent
$1260 Total
+$200 Other
1460 Total Expenses
-2000 Income
$540 Extra Money




This is exactly how my budgets are set up. All of my normal expenses are on the left hand side, and yes I budget for smokes. Mark is a smoker and that wont change so I know that money will always get taken out of the account so I may as well budget for it. The 'spending money' is more of a guideline. I'd like to stay within the dollar amount I allocate for it but if we go over that gets taken out of 'extra money'. The 'other' expenses I keep for credit cards and credit line as well as any other things I know I will need to pay for (such as gifts, clothes shopping, new tires, ect.). I keep these in the 'other' column because I  know they wont be permanent bi-weekly expenses. The 'extra money' that is left over is supposed to be for saving, or for putting onto credit cards if we need to make more then a $100 payment. One good idea is to put that money into a savings account right away so you can't even touch it, that way your $160 spending money is all you've got and it may keep you from going over that. But if you aren't good at that then you might end up going into the minus in your account and that will affect your next weeks budget.

Right now we are renting but if we owned a house I would also have sections for fire insurance, property tax and that sort of thing to go into a separate account monthly so that at the end of the year we aren't scrambling for money.

I hope this helped anyone thinking about doing a budget or realizing they need a budget more then they thought they did. Just because I have a budget doesn't mean I always stick to it though (something I need to work on). It does help you to see just exactly how much money you could be putting away though and that might help guilt you into not spending so much ;)

Monday 16 June 2014

Fast & Easy Curls

Wow, I need to get on top of this already. I've had internet at home for over a month and my blog and YouTube are not getting any better. So much for my resolutions :s BUT that can all change, I just need to be dedicated. As for my YouTube I posted a video yesterday and I have 3 more videos recorded I just need to edit them and upload so there's that to look forward to! As for my blog... I thought I would have more to blog about on a daily basis but I seem to be at a loss most days. I do think about my blog often, I just don't know what to write about most of the time. Maybe if I just get into the groove of things then things will come more naturally. Here's to hoping! Anyway, THIS post is about the video I posted on  My YouTube Channel yesterday.

I've been styling my hair this way for about a week now and I'm in loooooove with it! It's super easy and quite fast when you get the hang out it. It takes me about 20 mins start to finish but if you are working with already dried hair it would go faster. I styled my hair this way today too but of course my bangs didn't want to cooperate so I'm not really feelin it :( You know how you can go all day at work and absolutely hate your hair and then you go home and look in the mirror and you're like "hey, this actually looks pretty good" and then you get all your confidence back again. But you didn't even change anything, so you went all day feeling like you look like crap but in the evening you feel like your hair is as bomb as Iggy Azalea ?!? I'll probably feel like that today.

Products used to achieve awesomeness:

Osis Blow and Go Thick heat protectant
Healthy Sexy Hair Soy Touchable hairspray
Arbonne texturizing mousse

If you live in the Winkler area a good tip for you is to go to Masters of Design in the Southland mall and get your hair products from there, they are usually always on sale!


(sorry for the quality of this pic)


Tools Used:

1" curling wand
Blow dryer with diffuser.
(pretty self explanatory, didn't think you'd need photos of these)




Wednesday 11 June 2014

Site Seeing (pun lol)

I'm always on the lookout for a cool new website so I thought I'd share what sites I've been visiting lately and maybe you will find something new that you can fall in love with. Maybe love is a strong word... maybe you can find some sites that you strongly like ;)

First off is Etsy. Now obviously this is a huge forum for independent "shop owners" to post their stuff. So you essentially have a million tiny sites within one huge site. One persons shop in particular I've been eyeing down is Jadorelexiecouture ( click  here for her site). She has all kinds of things in her shop but specifically I've been dying over her flower bun wraps *heart eyes*.






Other random things from random Etsy shops:

Yellow and grey pillow found here

Grey pillow found here 

I don't even like skulls but this just looks so cool
Found here
IPhone cases found here

Cross necklace found here

I could go on forever with Etsy stuff but we will leave it at that for now. Another site I often frequent is Hautelook.com , it's a site that has discounted products from a wide span of companies. Each sale lasts a week I believe (I could be wrong), with new sales starting every day. I personally like to check the site for makeup deals. They often have brands such as NYX and The Balm. They also have home decore stuff, clothing, shoes, accessories. It's an awesome site the only thing that sucks is their shipping takes forever... like a month I think. But if you are getting it on sale its worth it right?! (don't forget to pay attention to shipping costs though, make sure you are still getting a deal! 

Speaking of The Balm, I also like to go to nailpolishcanada.com it says free shipping for a limited time but I've seen that there for about a year now. I like to the The Balm products from there. They have some makeup and skincare, hair care and also top brand name nail polish (obvi) for decent prices. And if you can skip shipping costs it's sooooo worth it! They also sell Sigma brushes and I am dying to get my hands on all of them... well maybe all of them is a bit excessive but I like a lot of them lol. They also have Lime Crime lipsticks and let me tell you- these lipsticks are to die for! So creamy and smell so good!

$25.99 plus free shipping (this brush is at the top of my 'want' list) However this brush is 
$21 on the sigma site but you do pay shipping so weigh your options. 



I'll be attending my sister-in-law's wedding this summer and I'm actually in it too so I've been on the hunt for a nice black dress. I haven't had much luck while browsing through stores so I've been keeping my eye on some online sites too. One site in particular is Modcloth. Some of the dresses are a bit more pricey but since this is a wedding I'm willing to dish out a few more bucks then I usually would. 

I really like this one (and its only $65!) but I'm not sure if its
 too "daring" for this type of wedding


This one is $100 but it might be a bit too...over done 
already? Been there, seen that kind of deal. 



That's just a few sites I've been frequently visiting. I hope everyone is having an awesome day! I'm super tired so I'm trying to stay caffeinated, so far so good! 

Tuesday 10 June 2014

My Happenings

So, it's been a while... oops! Even though I have internet at home I don't feel like I have a lot of time to blog or to do YouTube videos. Actually it's probably more so that I don't have ambition for it because if you want to do something you'll make time. My apologies. But I don't run on a schedule here, maybe if I had a bigger following I would be more regular but for now random posts will just have to do! I want to get back into doing regular YouTube videos again but I've just been feeling kind of down about it. Like I'm no where near as good as a lot of other beauty guru's out there. But then I need to remind myself that I started it so that I could GET better and push myself to go outside the box with my makeup style/techniques. So I wont quit making videos there just might be some time in between postings like this blog too. I just need to figure out my time/schedule and see what works best for me.

I thought it might be fun to just write about recent things that have been going on in my life. Nothing too special but I was thinking about how some of my friends and I just can't get together a lot because of conflicting schedules so if they wanted to see what I was up to they could just read my blog lol!

1. Last week I got contacts and its been awesome! When I was at the optometrist the receptionist had to show me how to put them in and out. First my eye doc. had put them in so I had to show her I could take them out. It was taking so long and my makeup was running everywhere that she almost gave up on me and sent me on my way lol. She was just asking me if I lived with my mom (she thought I was still in highschool!) and if she could take them out for me if I needed. Pretty much right after that I got it out. Then I had to put it back in which took literally a second. The next day however when I was on my own it took me 20 mins. to put in ONE contact!!! And then 2 seconds for the other one. I'm a little faster with my right eye now, probably down to about 5 mins. which isn't too bad I don't think ;)
            (oh, putting glasses on over your contacts will make you see better, however it will make you dizzy)

2. Don't flush grapes that are still on the vine down your toilet. And especially don't do this if you don't have a plunger. Maybe if they aren't on the vine it will work but I wouldn't really recommend that either. Your parents will have to bring over their plunger and your niece will tell everyone you have something weird in your toilet.

3.I went to an Arbonne party and discovered they have some great new stuff that I'm dying to try out! I found out they now have hair products and I purchased their mousse so I'm waiting for that to arrive in the mail. They also have shampoo, conditioner, smoothing serum and hairspray. I think they have more but those are the items I'm interested in. Also this melatonin spray that you spray in your mouth before you want to fall asleep. It speeds up the sleeping process and you are supposed to have a very restful sleep too. It's also not addictive which is awesome. They also have some protein shakes (and a shaker mug!!!) that I'd like to try out. Also they have this Gelee stuff that does multiple things but it also works as a wrap- the kind you put on your skin then wrap yourself in saran wrap and keep it on for a while and you lose inches. Kind of like the 'ItWorks' wraps but for a better price. There was lots of awesome stuff but those were my favorites.



4. I started working out again. Well I started 2 weeks ago and went good for a week (even ate good too), then I didn't work out for the next week (I suck I know) but I still went for walks so that's good I guess. Then Sunday went for a run and yesterday I did yoga (and I'm feeling it today!) so I intend to stick with this this time. I do want this to be my lifestyle, not just a weight loss thing (although that is what I'm wanting right now). Next week I think I'm going to start a class at the gym too, it's a mix between turbo jam and kick boxing they said- high calorie burner so I can't wait!



5. A little while ago I had posted something about living out my dream. It's at a bit of a stand still right now and that's because what I had planned to do was sell name brand makeup and clothing at discounted prices. I was under the impression that the product was slightly defective and thats why they couldn't sell it in stores. I ordered a few items to test out for myself to see if it was something I'd want to sell to others and I was slightly disappointed. The makeup packaging is exactly the same as the makeup brand but I don't know for certain if the product itself is legit. I was expected the packaging to be damaged or something but the product itself in tact. I ordered a palette that I already have myself so I could compare and the colours were slightly off. So I'm not totally sure if I want to sell this to other people. I could however buy makeup that doesn't have a brand to it and resell that for a great price but I'm not totally sure. I also bought a pair of Lululemon yoga pants and I received them and they have the logo and they are super comfy and I LOVE them but because of the makeup I'm not sure how authentic the pants are. But then I thought to myself- well I bought a knock off Louis Vitton purse so people might buy knock off clothing and makeup... I don't know. For now I posted a few items on VarageSale (an app) to see how they sell and I have a few more things coming that I will post and see how things go. I just don't want people getting mad at me if they don't like the product. Any input on this topic would be greatly appreciated! Also I plan on selling phone cases and flower crowns/ head jewelry. I think these will go over very well on the VarageSale app just because you can't get stuff like that locally around where I live. OH I also want to get makeup brushes from my supplier and sell those because even if they aren't a top brand but still super good quality I think people will buy them. There is practically NO WHERE to buy makeup brushes where I live and it is beyond annoying!

         I think that's pretty much it for whats been going on with me lately :) I have another post idea ready so that will be coming either tomorrow or sometime this week! I hope you all are having a fantastic start to your summers and any feedback on all of this would be great!


xoxo