Budgeting & Groceries

After moving out and getting married I realized my responsibility of shopping wisely and budgeting well. Life certainly is different after growing up in a bigger house where we froze or canned  everything from our garden and moving into a tiny apartment. So I wanted to share some of what I have learned and different materials that I use.

Budgeting
Budgeting is something I have always wanted to do, but hadn't. The basics of budgeting is knowing how much you earn and how much you're spending. My husband and I decided on a number figure for our monthly groceries which we include food, pet supplies, and personal care items (such as shampoo and deodorant). I go shopping about once a week and plan accordingly through coupons, deals, the Ibotta app, and the Kroger app.

Meal Planning
For me and my husband we love food, especially fresh healthy food. Which fresh produce can add up in cost and spoil easily if you forget to use it. So we try to meal plan to have just the food we need for about a week. That way our fresh produce doesn't spoil, it gets eaten. Part of our meal plan each week includes pizza. It helps clean through the leftovers we acquire in the fridge. Leftover sauces, cheeses, meats, and produce can easily be used to make a delicious pizza! 
My biggest meal planning buddy is Pinterest. There are so many great recipes that are cheap and/or for only two people. I can reuse recipes or find new ones. Making it easy to compare prices through my Kroger app and go through my coupons. I can also plan meals that I can use purchased items in more than one meal. Because a lot of times items are cheaper in bulk. 
Another thing we do to save money is eating less meat. We honestly rarely eat meat. We aren't vegetarian's, but we don't have to have meat for every meal either. Since we rarely buy meat, when we do, it turns into a real treat. Probably our biggest substitute for meat is eggs. We buy eggs in bulk of the pack of 30 and go through it in about a week and a half. You can make egg salad, fried eggs to put on almost anything, boiled eggs in tuna salad or potato salad, and scrambled eggs in stir fry. And that my friends, doesn't even scratch the surface.

Couponing
Using coupons can make or break you. The smartest way to look through a physical coupon book is to only clip the things you know you will need or use. Toilet paper and paper towels I am not too picky on the brand so I clip those coupons. That way when I am almost out I can compare the prices and choose what will benefit me the best. Another thing I do when going through coupons is trying to make a meal around the discounted or couponed items. 
The way not to use coupons is clipping things you think look tasty or that look nice to buy, but you don't normally purchase that item. Coupons are really convincing to buy products you never would have bought and don't need. Don't be trapped by the coupon monster.

Kroger
I do most my shopping at Kroger. Yes, I could be shopping at Walmart, Food City, or the equivalent, but I will tell you why I use Kroger instead. Kroger has an amazing app that you can connect to your loyalty card. The app shows you the weekly deals that the newspaper publishes, downloadable coupons, and you can make your shopping list right on your phone! I love typing in something I need such as marinara sauce. I can compare all the prices on the app, see if there are any coupons for those items, if there is a mark down on an item, and simply add to my list what saves me the most money. Also if you find a coupon for a brand of juice, the coupon will tell you what products you can buy with it. So no more buying something and having your coupon not work! (That is always very frustrating to me). Kroger also adds fuel points to your loyalty card which lowers my husband and I's gas bill. These are the reasons I use Kroger and their Kroger app.


Ibotta
I am not sure if you have heard of the money earning app called Ibotta. You keep your receipts and scan them into the app and redeem different offers. After you 'earn' $20 you can redeem it as a gift card. I read about it in a ton of different money saving blogs so I thought I would try it out. 
Let me try my best to explain it to you:
Ibotta is connected with several different name brand stores. Such as Food City, Walmart, Kroger, Amazon, Lowe's, Home Depot, Joann's, etc. If you add one of the stores as your favorite, you can look up offers that the stores offer. (Some stores are only for online shopping. I will explain in a bit) So for example, I look at the offers for Kroger. There may be an offer for $0.25 back on any receipt or $0.50 on cheerios. Sometimes there will be an offer for $1.00 or more back! The best way to use this app is add offers of things you already buy. Sometimes you get even luckier and can earn money with Ibotta and use coupons at your store! I have earned between $0.25 to $5.00 with one grocery shopping trip. That app definitely takes some time to get used to but it has been worth it to me. 
The select stores that you can only use online usually have deals such as 'get 10% back on your purchase'. So anytime I shop at Amazon, I shop through my Ibotta app and earn some cash back! Super simple.
If you do get the app or already have it I would recommend connecting your Facebook account. That way you can form a team. Your team consists of any of your Facebook friends that also have Ibotta. If, as a team, you redeem a certain amount of things then everyone earns some cash! 
Interested in joining Ibotta? Here is a link to sign up! https://ibotta.com/register

I hope some of my tips on budgeting and saving money have been helpful. Don't hesitate to message me with any questions!

Erza Scarlet – Main Costume

 

Fairy Tail is a hilarious, fun, action packed anime with lots of amazing characters. One of my favorite is Erza Scarlet. Erza is a strong, serious character, which honestly the best way to describe her is… Badass. She has a depressing backstory and incredible character development whether you have witnessed it or not. Just watch the show if you want to learn more about her.

Wig

I ordered my wig from a random store online that had a sale on wigs. It took over a month for the wig to come in, but it worked out great. I would recommend it for a cheap wig, but not for anything particularly styled or nice… I had to straighten it (with a very low setting), trim the bangs, and de-shine it. The best tutorial I could find to take out that super plastic shine from a wig is fabric softener. I followed this tutorial and improvised a bit. https://cosplay--tutorials.deviantart.com/art/Cosplay-Wigs-Taking-away-wig-shine-354558972 Instead of painting on the fabric softener, I filled a bowl with fabric softener, soaked my wig in it to it was saturated, squeezed out excess fabric softener, lightly blow dried, and then let it finish air drying. I will warn you! Your wig will smell like fabric softener! Your wig will also tangle easier!

Blouse

Erza’s blouse is simple enough. I found a sleeveless white blouse at a local thrift store, and I bought some white 100% rayon from Hobby Lobby. The blouse was a bit wide and Erza’s blouse is very much fitted. I put the blouse on inside out and had a friend pin it to my size along the seam of the blouse. I then sewed it. Next, I created the fun ruffle in the front. I took two long strips of about 4 inches wide and sewed them together all the way around except for the bottom. I then turned it right side out and handstitched the bottom seam. Then I handstitched a very loose strand through the middle of the piece longways. Then I pulled that string tight which caused the fabric to bunch. I made it the right length and pinned and pinned and pinned till I felt that the ruffle would be even when I sewed it. That is how I made the blouse!

Scarf

The scarf was super simple. I took some left-over fabric from the skirt. I folded it and half and stitched the top and side. Turned it right side out and hand stitched the bottom. That simple!

Skirt

PLEATS ARE MY ENEMY… But if you have patience and can do a little math, you can make a pleated skirt. There are two parts to the skirt, the waistband and the skirt part. They are both rectangles. There are a lot of good tutorials online, I used several different ones. So you would just have to find one that makes the most sense to you!

Boots

I bought them off amazon. Here is a link if you are interested. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ODV41RK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It is very difficult to find boots that have the fold like Erza’s. They reminded me a bit of pirate boot but with a closer feminine feel. The boots I got are not made to fold, but they do. I had to take a bit of acetone and rub off the sizing information on the inside of the fold. But other than that, they are perfect! 

 If you have any questions about my costume or want more details, please don’t hesitate to comment or contact me!

Strategy: An Attribute of Chess, a Necessity for Gaming

A while back I was sitting in the library taking advantage of free wifi. Next to me a father was playing chess with his son. It soon became obvious to me that the boy probably had never played chess. The father had very little patience while he was teaching his son. In the struggle of this game of chess, I hear the father say to his son, “Chess is a puzzle. You have to think ahead unlike those video games you play.” To an extent, I do not know if this statement is entirely true. Yes, chess is a puzzle, and you do have to think very far ahead. I am, for one, awful at chess. Running through my mind, is the thought, ‘What kind of video games does this boy play?’ Depending on the video game there can be a lot of memorization, strategy, reflexes, and (ooh boy….) thinking ahead.

My starting example begins with shooter games such as Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, Battlefield, Halo…. the list goes on. I personally enjoy seeing how long I can live without blowing myself up, falling off a cliff, or having the enemy stab me in the back, but I lack skills in these kinds of games. Playing a shooter game, you need the ability to understand the controls. Without basic knowledge of what each button does it puts you at a great disadvantage. Next, you should have a decent understanding of your weapons, whether an energy sword, a pistol, grenades, assault rifles, machine gun, or a bazooka (a personal favorite). Once a game starts, there are tons of people running around, hiding, ducking, dodging, shooting, stabbing, sniping, you name it. You need a strategy to do well. Yes, you may re-spawn, but that may deduct points. Depending on the mode, the strategy is ultimately to kill the enemy more than they kill you to win. To be good, you need to think ahead, be aware of where your surrounding enemies are, use amazing reflexes, and take the enemy down.

Legend of Zelda, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy. Who would think ahead in these games?! There is no need! Uh… actually, there is. Legend of Zelda (LoZ). No matter which one you play, whether Legend of Link to Breath of the Wilds, there is a lot of thinking ahead. The number of puzzles in this game amazes me. Even something simple like a door latch. You are in a dungeon. You know you must get from point A to point B, but how? You just began the process of thinking ahead, the process of figuring out a puzzle! I have honestly had to put down LoZ games because the puzzles were so great I could not figure it out in the moment. But I came back and thought and explored options and eventually figured out how to beat the puzzle. Dragon Quest has many, many, many battle scenarios. In boss battles especially, one must think ahead to the possible scenarios and timing of healing, buffing, and attacks. Sometimes you must try to defeat that boss again because you didn’t plan well enough. Perhaps you ran out of MP and didn’t buy any magic water to replenish it. But the next time, you will have planned even better. And just like a game of chess a boss can be unpredictable, doing a move you haven’t seen before and taking you off guard! In Final Fantasy, I want to talk about the Final Fantasy Tactics games for Gameboy and DS. These consist of thinking ahead for what items are needed for a quest, terrain plays a part in attacks and defense, and predicting the moves of the enemy. Sounds a lot like glorified chess to me.

Let me go back in time for a moment to Atari and Arcade games. The first game that comes to mind is Pac-Man. As soon as the game starts you begin to think of the quickest way to collect all the dots without getting caught by the ghosts and strategize your moves to collect the bigger dots in the perfect moment to conquer the ghosts. If you win this game by pure luck and don’t think ahead, please let me know. I would like to sit down and have you tell me how to do it. Tetris is an intensely satisfying game if you have OCD. You can’t just push down on the controller and expect to win. One must think ahead about what pieces could fit where and how to get the most lines to disappear with one play. Galaga is one of the most satisfying button smashing games if you ask me. But if you do not stop firing missiles you end up blowing yourself up. You are required think ahead and plan your move and when to fire at the precise moment to defeat the enemy.

Now for what most video games the populous plays, but might not admit: apps on your phones or tablets. I don’t even know what is all out there. Some of these games I might agree with that boy’s father that you don’t think ahead in these games. One turns their brain off and makes it mindless entertainment. But let me name a few games that you do not have to think ahead with if you are aiming to win: Candy Crush and Temple Run. Candy Crush can have strategy, but most of the time it is a mindless way to waste time. Connecting matching candy to gain points over and over; your strategy begins to turn into a blur of sugary colors. You most likely lose the ‘thinking ahead’ aspect. Temple run is basically a game for reflexes and responding time. Not much thinking ahead. Same goes with Flappy Bird.

As you can see, I don’t have many games to give a bad rap on. Most video games consist of thinking ahead and working on strategy or puzzle solving. So if someone tells you that you don't have to think to play video games, you should definitely tell them otherwise.

Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes

Every Christmas season is a joyful time. Lights, presents, family, and food. But not everyone has a joyful Christmas, or know the reason for Christmas.

Operation Christmas Child (OCC) makes sure that children all over the world experience Christmas with shoeboxes. These shoeboxes are lovingly packed by people all over the United States. Not always with shoes either. Some churches get together and pack shoeboxes via an assembly line, or some churches have drop offs for families or individual who have made these shoeboxes. Once the shoeboxes get dropped off at a church or collection center, they will make there way to one of the Samaritan’s Purse Processing Centers. You may be familiar with OCC. If you are I hope you find some good ideas; if you are not, then I hope you might try to contribute to this organization this coming Christmas season.



The Processing Center in Boone, NC

Step 1: Box

First you need to get a shoebox. BIGGER IS NOT BETTER. I have volunteered in the distribution center, and it makes things more difficult for shipping purposes. You can use a shoebox from some leftover shoes or also get the OCC boxes made specifically for OCC. All in all, I recommend a shoebox from your house, or one of the OCC boxes.

    Step 2: Label

Pick a gender and an age category for your box. You can get labels here. The age groups are 2-4, 5-9, and 10-14. Ages 5-9 typically get the most donated boxes.

Step 3: Items

The items you put in the box are very important. They can impact the child's life more than you can imagine. You want to put useful things in the box and also put allowed things into the box. You also don’t want to put anything useless in the box. Volunteering at the distribution center can give you great ideas of what to do and what not to do.

In December 2016 my mother and I packed some shoeboxes for 10-14 year old girls and boys.

Here is what we packed:

IN BOTH	GIRLS	BOYS
Pencil Pouch	Sewing Kit	Pump
Pencils	Brush/Mirror	Deflated Soccer Ball (size 1)
Pens
Keychain Flashlight
Calculator (Solar)
Toothpaste
Toothbrush
Cup (Design your own)
Washcloth (Magic)
String Backpacks

Girl's Box

Boy's Box

We had a lot of extra room in our shoeboxes, so we added some more to them.Here is some of what we added and some extra ideas:

IN BOTH	GIRLS	BOYS
Shirt	Fabric	Fishing Kit
Socks	Reusable menstrual pads (Tutorial 1, Tutorial 2)	Tools: paintbrush, measuring tape, screwdriver set, etc.
Flipflops	Elastic Headbands
Notepad
Bandaids
Underwear
Eating Utensils
Bowls

There are many items you cannot put into the shoeboxes and there are more good things to put in the shoeboxes; here is a link to those items. There are other items that are just a bad idea. First of all, make sure the items in your box are age and gender appropriate. Baby dolls in a 10-14 box for a girl does not make much sense. Also remember that camo is a war related item and a big no-no.

    Step 4: Finding a collection center

There is probably a lot of churches in your area that collect packed boxes. Sometimes there are other official collection points (collection points). If you live near a processing center you can drop them off there.