Penny Pinching Mom

Beating the Heat on a Budget

It has been ridiculously hot here in the mountains all summer. Last weekend was the hottest weekend I can remember since I’ve lived here, with temperatures in the 90s. I guess I should consider myself lucky since the mercury was over 100 in the foothills, but that was little consolation when I was sitting in front of the fan and still sweating buckets.

Don’t get me wrong – I love sunshine and warm weather. If it weren’t so oppressively hot, you might have found me sitting outside on one of those nice comfy outdoor chaise lounges (in the shade, since I don’t tan, I just burn). But when it gets as hot as it has been getting, I just want to find a way to beat the heat. And when you don’t have an air conditioner, that means you’ve got to get creative.

When I heard the weather forecast for this past weekend, I immediately decided that I wasn’t going to sit at home and be miserable. So on Saturday morning, before it got really hot, I took a shower and grabbed the truck keys. I invited Hubby and Pumpkin to come along, but Hubby decided to stay home. Pumpkin, for once, decided to go with me, since I promised to take her to the library so she could check out some magic books.

So off we went. I took her to the library first, and told her to take her time and check out as many books as she wanted. Unfortunately, that didn’t take too long. So I had to come up with another idea. I remembered a new thrift shop in town that I had wanted to check out, so we went there and browsed for a while. I ended up getting Pumpkin some like-new clothes for school at great prices.

After that we went to Walmart, looked around a little, and bought her a couple more things for school. When we got done there I was out of money except what I had brought for gas, so we filled up and headed home.

It was still hot when we got home, but at least we got to spend a goodly portion of the day in air conditioned comfort. The lesson here: When it’s unbearably hot out, if you can’t keep cool at home, find something inexpensive to do indoors. The library is of course free, and thrift shops are a wonderful destination for shopping that won’t break the bank. Some other ideas include:

• Going to a museum
• Going out for ice cream
• Hitting the mall (with a definite budget in mind, or even just to look around)
• Having lunch with a friend who has air conditioning

Of course, if you want to enjoy the outdoors, you can always cool off by going swimming.

If you have any other ideas for beating the heat on a budget, please share in the comments!

How to Fix Broken Lipsticks

I promised to post a video about this some time ago, but I never seemed to get around to it. But here it is: How to fix broken lipsticks. This is a really simple method that anybody can do, and it looks like it would work very well. I haven’t tried it myself yet, but if and when I do, I’ll let you know how it goes for me.

I saw another video at some point that showed how to melt lipsticks down and put them into contact lens holders or those watercolor paint containers. That would probably work best for those that are badly broken, as long as you have a good lip brush to apply them with (or don’t mind getting lipstick all over your fingers). Anyway, hope this helps my fellow cosmetic clutzes of the world save some money and preserve their favorite lipstick shades!

I Should Really Set Up a Home Network

Since I’ve only got one computer that I use, I’ve never bothered setting up a network. But lately I’ve been thinking about doing so. We recently got a killer deal on a PS2, and we also got satellite TV, and both of those can be hooked up to the Internet for additional capabilities. Plus I’m hoping to get a laptop one of these years so I won’t be chained to my desk. So I need to look at my networking options.

I’m hoping to go wireless, because it’s so much simpler. But then again, with my tendency to lose stuff, I might be better off if I had to hook my laptop up to a cable to get it online. Then I could just follow the cord when I forgot where I put it. (With my scattered brain, laptop insurance is definitely a must!)

So, does anyone out there have any advice for setting up a network on the cheap? Wireless or wired, I’m open to suggestions.

To Vacation or Not to Vacation?

I believe I’ve mentioned many times on this blog how much I would like to take a vacation. Scratch that – how much I desperately need a vacation. Well, Hubby informed me yesterday that we might be going to the beach. Yet I had a strong urge to say no, and I still haven’t ruled out the possibility.

He said we wouldn’t need much money, that most of the expenses would be taken care of. So why am I not jumping for joy? A couple of reasons:

1. The people who would be covering the expenses are some of the people that I would like to go on vacation to get away from. In fact, I think I can safely say that I would rather clean toilets for a week straight than spend a few days with them. Seriously.
2. The beach would be very, very crowded this time of year. Crowds don’t really bother me much, but Hubby absolutely hates them. He can’t stand being around a whole lot of people, and he doesn’t have the patience to wait in line for anything. So the way I see it, the whole ordeal would require me to do a lot of hand-holding and listen to an insane amount of bitching and moaning.

I don’t know if he’ll talk me into going or not. As much as I would love to take a vacation, I just don’t see the whole thing as being very relaxing. By the time we got back, all of our nerves would probably be worn to a frazzle.

DVDs for Cheap at Amazon

Do you know what the top rated diet pill is? Me either. But I do know that if you’re looking to expand your DVD collection, Amazon is the place to be right now.

I got an email from them a couple of days ago advertising a “Big DVD Sale”. I was interested, so I clicked the link to see what they had to offer. Turns out they’ve got hundreds of DVDs as low as $6.49. They’ve got tons of movies and full seasons of popular TV shows, and even some Blu-Rays for cheap. If you love movies, be sure to check it out!

Are We Insured or Not?

Last month, a lady from the Work First office called and asked me some questions so she could decide how to proceed regarding my family’s Medicaid. She said I would be hearing from either her office or the Medicaid office. Well, it’s been nearly a month now, and I haven’t heard from either one.

I believe our Work First Medicaid ran out at the end of last month. I’ll have to look at my card and see. But I’m hoping that we at least get to keep it until Pumpkin and I go to the appointments we have this month. I may call the doctor’s office and get them to check their system and see if it’s still active, or call the Medicaid office and ask them what’s going on. I’d probably have better luck with the doctor’s office.

I’m glad I don’t have to buy some expensive prescription eczema treatment or something, because there’s no way we could afford that right now without insurance. And if we don’t have Medicaid, I’ll have to see if the doctor can either give me some samples (which I’m sure he will if he has them) or point me in the right direction for assistance. He’s really good about stuff like that, so if there’s any way he can help I have no doubts that he will. The biggest problem will be paying for the doctor visits without insurance if we don’t have it. He’ll probably give us a discount, which will help, but it’s still going to be tough to come up with even a lower amount.

All we can do is hold on and see what happens right now. I hate the feeling that gives me.

The Transportation Situation

My truck has been parked for some time. It needs various types of work, but the reason that I have refused to drive it is because of the spring hangers. They’re broken, and when I hit a bump it sounds like they’re coming through the bed. They’ve already dented it, and I don’t want to make things worse, so it’s been sitting next to the garage.

I’ve got my car tagged and insured, but I don’t like to drive it unless absolutely necessary. That’s because the throttle got stuck a couple of times when Hubby was driving it. He says it’s fixed now, and it hasn’t done it sense then, but I’m paranoid that it will. And besides that, it’s really unpleasant to ride in it when it’s hot out. That’s because the windows won’t roll down and the AC isn’t working.

So for the most part, I stay home unless I go somewhere with Hubby or can drive his truck. The plan was to get my truck paid off and then get it fixed with the money we were spending on payments. But we’ve found someone who’s interested in buying it as-is, and if he decides to take it, I guess I’ll part with it.

I don’t really want to, but we could definitely use the money right now. And when our finances are in better shape, we can go buy another used vehicle. I hate to do that, because I love my truck, and I know that used car dealers aren’t exactly the best allies. But it appears that in the short term, selling it would be the best thing to do. And as much as I prefer to operate in a way that works out best in the long run, our short-term finances are in dire straits right now.

But I suppose I’m getting ahead of myself. The prospective buyer hasn’t even driven the truck yet, and he may decide not to buy it. In a way, I hope he doesn’t. But if he wants it, I guess let it go.

Breakouts Are a Bummer

I’ve been dealing with breakouts since I was a teenager. But that doesn’t mean they don’t still drive me nuts. I hate looking in the mirror and seeing a big red bump on my face or neck. I have a bad habit of picking at them too, as much as I try not to. And, as we all know, that just makes things worse.

I need to buy some more acne wash of some kind. Right now, I’m just using Dial soap. It does a surprisingly decent job since it’s antibacterial, but soap clogs your pores, and that’s not a good thing. I’d love to try something all natural like Pronexin and see if it works for me.

Just from reading about it, it looks like pretty good stuff. I have used tea tree oil on some of my worst zits with success, and that’s one of its main ingredients. Maybe when we have the money I’ll give it a try.

Noise in My Head

I’ve been trying to get caught up on the small amount of work that I have lined up and find more work to do. Our finances need serious help, and it’s up to me to try to get more money coming in. But I’ve been having a lot of trouble concentrating, and that has made things difficult.

I sit down to write, and then I think, “Hey, why don’t I play a game of online sudoku before I get started?” And that’s always a bad idea, because I’m terrible at it due to the whole lack of concentration thing, and it takes me forever to solve a puzzle. And when I do, I want to do another one to see if I can do better.

I think one of the reasons I like playing is because it keeps the noise out of my head. If I’m not doing something that requires me to at least attempt to concentrate on a very specific task (as opposed to being creative, as I must when I write), I have random thoughts flying around in there constantly. Like my long-deceased grandmother’s phone number, what I’d like to eat for dinner, whether I should be doing housework instead of sitting in front of the computer not getting anything done, which are the best slimming pills, and on and on and on.

I had hoped that the new medication the doctor put me on would help, but it doesn’t appear to be doing anything in that regard. I guess I’ll have to talk to him about it when I go back to see him next month. Something’s gotta give.

How to Fix Broken Eyeshadows

Ladies, have you ever had a great shade of eyeshadow that you dearly loved, only to drop it and have it crumble into a million pieces? I have. Sometimes you can still use them anyway, but not always. I had that happen to the shadow that I used for eyeliner all the time, and it was nowhere near empty. There was no hope of getting it to go on smoothly with that tiny little brush, so I threw it away.

I really wish I had seen this YouTube video before I did that. I had no idea that you could salvage broken eyeshadows so easily! Watch and learn:

If you’re a major klutz like me, this could certainly save you some money. Now I need to find a video that tells how to salvage broken lipsticks. If I do, I’ll share it as well.