Vanity DIY: Before Pictures

Ok, so technically it's a dresser not a vanity, but it will serve as my makeup and hair area. It's in the corner of the dining room. This way I can be with the kids while I'm getting ready for the day. Trust me. You don't want to leave a two year old alone for too long!

The dresser was found in a storage unit that my husband bought at an auction. He only paid $30 for the unit so I didn't feel too bad for keeping it. I'm thinking of painting it white. I may paint the pulls, too. Here's the Pinterest inspiration picture:

 

Next is the mirror. I was in the very back of the master bath. As you can see, I tried to paint it white a long time ago. The bathroom was too humid for the paint to stick. There's also still masking tape stuck to the glass. I'll clean that off and paint it gold.

 Then there's my plastic drawers for holding my make up and hair stuff. It was full of last year's school books and not being used. It's kind of an eye sore. I may paint it? At the very least, I'll clean it up and take the books out and the labels off.

And last, but not least is a spice rack that was also found in a storage unit that my husband bought. It will be used as a nail polish holder. I plan on painting it and attaching wallpaper to the back as shown in this Pinterest photo:

I'm using wallpaper found in the back of my closet that I never got around to using. It's a floral on a beige background. (See a little of it in the picture of the dresser above.) Not sure what color to paint the spice rack.

I can't wait to show the after pictures!

Losing Weight on a Budget: Part 3: Exercising without spending a dime

It would be easy to spend thousands of dollars on exercise equipment, gym memberships, work out clothing, and other workout equipment. But if you're like me and don't have any money to spend on these things, you can still get a fun, varied workout. Here are some free ideas:

• Walk. This is common sense, I know, but grab the dog or the kids and go for a walk around the neighborhood. We are lucky enough to have a trail in the woods on our property that we can walk (if it hasn't rained recently.) Right now the temperature where I live in like 7 degrees or something crazy like that, so the walking will have to wait until spring.
• Exercise with YouTube.  As if I needed another reason to love it, I have recently discovered that there are free, full length workout videos on YouTube! There is so much variety there: classic aerobics, step aerobics, yoga, tae bo, dance, boot camp, you name it. The quality ranges from professional, to someone filming workouts in their home gym. Here are a few channels to check out:

• Lionsgate Be Fit
• Fitness Blender
• Livestrong Woman

• Work. Put the "work" in workout. House work and yard work can burn serious calories, plus you get chores done! According to myfitnesspal.com thirty minutes of gardening can burn 220 calories. I like this type of exercise, because I don't fell guilty - like I should be doing something more productive.

Did I miss something? What's your favorite no-cost way to exercise?

Coastal Scents Revealed Eyeshadow Pallete, Dupe for Naked Palletes, On Sale!!

I know I just posted about a makeup sale, but just got an email from Coastal Scents telling me there Revealed eyeshadow palette is back in stock and on sale for $14.95 (regularly $19.95.)

Why am I excited by that? I just read this morning on Beauty Broadcast that it is the perfect dupe for the Naked 1 and Naked 2 palettes! (Click here to read the post and see the comparative swatches.) I have been wanting to try the Naked palettes, but at $50 a piece, I can't even think about it. That's why $14.95 looks so good! (Shipping for USPS Pririoty is $7.15, for me.)

I have $3.00 worth of "Points" for registering and signing up for emails, so my total would be around $19.15-ish. Pretty cool!

 

SALE! ELF 11 piece Studio Makeup Brushes for $2.14! ends 1/13/14

Need makeup brushes, but wallet still empty from Christmas shopping? Yeah, me, too. I found this deal on the 11 piece brush set on eyeslipsface.com and wanted to share. It is normally $30, but you can pick it up for $2.14!  All you need to do is add a minimum value of $20.14 in your cart, add the brush set, and then enter the code BRUSH2014. You can even end up with free shipping if your total is $35 or more. I've heard really good things about the ELF studio brushes. EmilyNoel83 from Beauty Broadcast swears by the "C" eyeshadow brush from this collection which is included in the 11 piece set.

Losing Weight on a Budget: Part 2, Keeping a Food Journal

According to WebMD, a recent studied showed that dieters who kept a food journal and wrote down everything they ate, lost twice as much weight as dieters who did not.

Keeping a food journal is a simple way to help yourself out when your trying to loose weight. It's simple: if you bite it, write it. Often times we eat more than we realize and recording what goes into our mouths makes us more aware of exactly how many calories (or fat or whatever else you are counting) that you are actually getting.

 I first started recording what I ate when I was dieting after the birth of my first son. Back then I wrote everything down on paper and looked up the calorie count. Then I had to add it all up at the end of the day. It was tedious, and eventually I stopped doing it.

There's a much easier, more convenient way to keep a food journal. And it's free! (Remember the goal is to loose weight without spending any extra money.) With www.myfitnesspal.com you can record your food intake online or on an app on your smartphone or tablet. Or all three through out the day. It is available for IOS and Android. This is starting to sound like a commercial, but it's not. I'm really excited that I don't have to write everything down any more. :)

The app and website are pain-free. Simple click "add food," click the meal you want to add to (breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack) and search the food you have eaten. There's a large data base full of common foods including name brand packaged food. If you can't find what you've eaten, you can add it.

This website/app also doubles as a weight tracker. Enter your weight after every weigh in and see your results in chart form. Very motivating.

Another feature that I like is that you can add friends how are also using myfitnesspal and share your results. Weight loss becomes easier with encouragement from friends!

Losing Weight on a Budget: Part 1, Fitting in exercise

The holidays are over, I don't know about you, but I'm ready to lose some weight!

According to Business Week, Americans spend an average of $40 billion dollars a year on weight loss! Well, this American doesn't have ANY money to spend. But that's not going stop me.

This is the first post in a series called Losing Weight on a Budget. I will share how to eat right and exercise without breaking the bank. It's easier than you might think.

My first challenge is to sneak exercise into my already busy day, I found this on Pinterest:

 

Unfortunately, according to my calculations this won't burn 100 calories. I timed myself and it only took about 2 and a half minutes to do this. I calculated it on myfitnesspal.comm and it would burn about 73 if you did this twice for a total of 5 minutes.

SO my challenge to myself and to you is to do the above set twice a day. Surely we can find 5 minutes. :)

In Part 2 I will introduce keeping a food diary.

SALE! E.L.F. 50% off site wide, last day! eyeslipsface.com

What did u get when you take 50% off already cheap makeup? Anything you want! I'm so excited about this SALE. Use the code LASTBLAST when you check out with at least $30 of mercy in your cart. Plus spend $30 (after discount) and get free shipping. Hurry! There's only hours left.

Coming soon ELF haul!