Happy Birthday to Me!

I suppose this is an extremely selfish post considering I'm posting about my own birthday. But whatever... It's been a week since I posted so what better a topic than me?!  Just kidding!

I turn 25 today! Weird... I'm not really ones of those people that freaks out about getting older. However, I did wake up this morning looking a little rough despite sleeping for 9 hours last night, and I immediately blamed it on being 25.

My mom gave me some money because I told her there were a few things I wanted, but wasn't sure what to get yet.  I'm thinking REALLY hard about ordering Sigma's Eyes Kit and Synthetic Kabuki Kit.  I've been wanting both for a long time!  But I also think maybe I should go to Sephora and get some anti-aging cream and eye cream or something.

I don't have any major plans.  Husband and I don't usually make too big of a deal out of birthdays.  Tonight we're going to eat pizza at our favorite pizza place, Rotolo's.  They sent me a coupon for a free pizza for my b-day.  Then we're going to the mall for me to pick out some black leather riding boots.  I would much rather pick out my own present that have someone choose one for me.  I'm picky about stuff.  Then I'm thinking we'll go pick up a king cake.  Since my birthday is right before Mardi Gras season I always get king cakes instead of birthday cakes.

Friday night my amazing friend, Victoria, just so happens to be throwing a Fun Party.  So I'm going to eat Mexican and have Margaritas with a few girlfriends after work then headed over there.  I'm so excited! I love Fun Parties.  They're always a blast!

Saturday is our nephew's 5th birthday party.  He was born yesterday, the day before me.  Then Sunday husband is taking me to eat brunch at a surprise location in the French Quarter.  Then we will spend the day together there.  This will probably be our last fun outing until April 15th, the dreaded tax day.  He'll be working crazy hours at work until then. 

I thought these two pictures were funny. Excuse the poor quality I took a picture of the picture with my iPhone.  The first one is my sister and I.  She dressed me up in Teddy Ruxpin's outfit.  The second was like my 3rd birthday I think.

Hope everyone has a great day!
XO-Heather

Frugal Friday- Save to Spend

I just realized my blog turned one month old yesterday!!! 

One of my favorite parts of using coupons and being frugal is that it frees up my money to spend it elsewhere.  What's the fun in pinching pennies if you have none left to do anything with?

 The grocery, health & beauty items, and household budgets are one place anyone can really manipulate.  Our gas/car budget is set and there is really nothing we can do about that.  The husband and I both commute.  So it's not like we can just not buy gas... We have a miscellaneous category that random things and emergencies fall into so that we don't have to pull money out of savings.  Keeping a tight watch on the things that we can help allows us to do fun things together and splurge a little.

image source

One area I splurge in is my hair.  I like to go to a nice salon to get my hair cut and colored.  I've tried going the cheap route in that department, and it never turned out in my favor.  I have fine hair, and I'm picky about the shade of blond that my hair is.  So to me, it is worth it to splurge in the first place.  If not, would you have to pay someone to fix it and pay double?  That has definitely happened to me before.  So I learned to fork up a little more up front so that I can feel good about the way I look.

The husband is really picky about clothes.  So while I can find a $1 pair of jeans, a nice $25 outfit from Loft, and shoes from Payless... The husband only wears certain brands, but they last him for a long time while I change how I dress often.  Now I make sure we buy them when they are on sale or at the outlet, but he's not wearing a shirt from Target.  I think it's a little harder to imitate nice Men's clothes and shoes.  We're both ok with it since we plan for it.      

Another area we splurge in is our entertainment budget.  This probably sounds like a lot of money, but we each get $100/week cash to spend on whatever we want.  I call this "play money."  We go out the eat together on the weekends, go out with friends, go to the movies, eat lunch with co-workers occasionally, take trips (Vegas in November), and go shopping.  When the $200 total runs out... That's it! 

NYC 2005

snow-mobiling in SD 2008

TN 2009

Destin 2011

So you're probably thinking... If you're so frugal why do you waste $800-$1000/month on eating out, etc... But to us, right now, that is what's important.  We don't have kids yet.  So why not have fun and make memories together and with our friends while we have our freedom (ha)?!  Once we start a family that money will go to daycare, diapers, and food.... So I want to enjoy it now.

So while I am really picky about how much I will fork out on groceries, household products, and health & beauty items I have the freedom to have fun with my friends and husband while we can!   

So what do you splurge on?  Do you budget for your splurges?
Happy Friday!
XO-Heather