Books, Books, Books! TIPS ON HOW TO SAVE FOR A BOOKWORM

I know I have not written in a bit but have been busy on my end with life events and summer. So I have been wanting to write a post about this for a while now and as I am taking a break from my book my words and thoughts are a little clearer so what better time to write about how I acquire books!

Property of  A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life- A picture of my favorite used book store

If you do not know I am a book worm and I actually family members past and present that would have their nose in a book. I am always trying to seek out new authors, new reads, and so forth to keep my bookish habit appeased. Now even though this hobby is on the cheaper side of hobbies it can still get expensive very quickly for the most avid reader to the person who picks up a book up now and then.

So here are my tips on how to get your books cheap or free!!!

1. NEVER BUY THE BOOK WHEN IT FIRST COMES OUT! Twilight Series, Harry Potter, Fifty Shades of Gray, Hunger Games and so on the must reads and the must haves. Got you biting at the bit? Just say no! As amazing as most of these books are they will likely be hardcover and higher price. Wait until they publish it in soft cover. If you must have it hardcover buy it used!

2. BUY YOUR BOOKS USED! Find a local used book store, 2nd Charles, library sales,  thrift stores, and local garage sales to pick up books. Being a military family I have moved around a lot and one thing I always looked for is used book stores. I personally love locally owned used book stores because they usually have their own personality and charm! Most local used book stores will offer used books half of the retail price or cheaper. Also will have a credit system for turning in your used quality books! 2nd Charles is similar to a local used book store except they are a national chain and a sister company to Books-A-Million. They often run sales as well. The last sale I came across was on their clearance was buy one get one free and when you are a $15 budget you cannot hit payday better than that when the books are ranging between $0.50-1.00!

3. GO TO YOUR LIBRARY! Who would have thought? Yep there are books there! I know I am being a little bit of a smart a** but you can check out books too read and return them to check out new ones. Just make sure to return them on time or you will have to pay the late fees like my brother has done for my sister-in-law more than once (not unless you turn it in on amnesty day). However, it has been brought to my attention that numerous libraries have set up eBook libraries as well that allow you to check out eBooks for a period of time on your device then will remove it when the time is up.

4. STAY AWAY FROM BOOK CLUBS! Buy 4 books for $1? Sounds like a great deal but then you read the fine print and you have to buy X number of books at regular price in a certain time period. It really is a big hassle because what they do not also tell you in these book clubs is that pre-select books for you each month in which you have the option to opt out of in X amount of days before your card is charged and sent to you. You have to remember to opt out each month of their monthly selection if it is no the book you want and if you forget to opt out and they send the book you can either send it back to get partial refund (minus refund) or suck it up and keep it!!! In other words it is one big hassle and one big money waste!

5. GET FREE BOOKS ON AMAZON! If you have a Kindle or the Kindle App you can get tons of books free on Amazon! I have probably over 900 books on my Kindle and I have probably only paid for only 20 since I have had my kindle for several years now. There are not only a lot up and coming authors offering their books for free (which I have a lot of) but well known authors such as Patterson, Bond, and Webb will offer one day for free. There are tons of sites that you can sign up for that can let you know which books are free or sale on Amazon that day. I do not use these sites I like the thrill of the hunt and actually like finding these gems on Amazon. That is how I found Peggy Webb, she was offering the first book in a funny series for free for one day I snagged it, read it, and now have purchased two of eBooks in the series (will be purchasing the rest down the road).

6. FIND OTHER READERS! Find other bookworms in your area whether this a friend or a local book club. The point is if you find someone who also is an avid reader they maybe up for sharing, swapping, or giving a book they have read. The beautiful part of this you may discover a new author or a new genre of books!

7. JOIN GOODREADS.COM! This is an amazing site for all readers. As much as love this site for just being for bookworm gathers. There are also two neat things about this site. Authors often join this site upcoming authors as well more famous authors. You can become their fans and in some cases they will even befriend you. I am friends with a couple of authors even a couple of known Authors. I have even had Authors message me offering me a free copy of their book in return for a free honest review usually on Amazon and/or Goodreads. The other thing Goodreads offer is giveaways! They have an area where authors, publishers, and groups run giveaways for books! What I like about it is pretty much 24/7 and in almost everything you can think of. You are not required to purchase anything and even not required to leave a review on the book you have won. Now I never win anything and I have won a couple books from them!

So there you have it how I have save on my love of reading!!!

DIY: Bachelorette Favor Bags!

So when I was put in charge of my friends Bachelorette Party I do not take my job lightly. One of the things I wanted for the party were favors for the night! So I decided to make my own little gift baskets for my friends big night! Each gift basket I made cost about $5 dollars to make so they are very budget friendly but depending on your own budget and the items you decide to put in the basket will reflect the overall cost of each favor!

Here is how I made the favors for the Bachelorette Party!

The first thing you will need is to decide is the "basket" that will hold all the goodies. This does not have to be a basket it can be a bowel, cup, jar, bucket, wine glasses, and so on. Be creative almost anything can be used as a basket! I found these bowls at the Dollar Tree they are 4 for $1. I also decided to use the favor bags to help hold the goodies in because I had to haul these favors down to Florida. Now I keep tons of these on hand for bow packing but I also get these at the Dollar Tree in Party Section. They even sell them in them in clear but I liked these for the theme I was going for and had them on hand! You can also buy them at craft stores and party stores but they are more expensive and I cannot tell the difference so if you want more bang for your buck pick them up at the Dollar Tree. 

Property of A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life

The second thing you will need to do is decide is what to put into the "baskets"! Now this is where most of your budget will go. You will also need to decide what type of baskets you are making and what I mean by that is how "adult" themed you are going to make them. If you look up ideas or even look for bachelorette party items you basically can see what I mean by "adult" theme. I decided on my items based on who would likely be coming to the party and did not want to have to tailor the favors to guest. I knew because the first part of the bachelorette party there were going to be two teenagers from the bridal party, the mother of the bride, and none of us were huge drinkers that I did not want to make a  wine/bar themed gift basket. So I decided to go on a pink and spa like basket!!! 

Property of Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life

I was actually to get all of these items at Dollar Tree Store and the dollar sections of stores. Some of the items came in multiples in a package such as nail file, Tylenol, gum, tissue, and hand sanitizer. I do suggest when you are buying goodies for your favors that you buy all at one time to make sure you have enough for the favors. No I do not mean you have buy ALL the goodies for the favors at once if you are on a budget or looking for a specific item. What I mean by that is when you find one item for the basket is buy enough for the entire amount of favors you are making so you are not scrambling  to find matching or similar items. I found by making sure that I have all the same items for favors that you stay on budget.

The next thing you want to do is decide how you want to place things in the basket, if any items need to come out of its package, and if your basket needs filler. I did not take any pictures (sorry) for this part but I did add filler and took the nail polish out it package. 

I placed the bowl inside the favor bag first. I found this made it easier to place and position the goodies.

I then added filler to bowl. I bought two packages of pretty but pain my butt plastic shinny shreds. You can find them at Dollar Tree where I bought mine or you can purchase it party stores or craft stores. They all kinds of filler and if you decide to use one just find the one that will make your basket pop! 

Next add the items to your basket any which way you feel! 

If you used a favor bag or something that is holding everything together make sure it closed. I just simply twisted the favor bag and used the twist ties that came with favor bags. You know the dreaded bread ties! I then added curling ribbon as finishing touch! 

Property of Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life 

A view of all the Gift Bags... Sorry on the Book Shelf again (you may actually notice this a lot)... They were going to Florida so there is no fancy table display and it keeps it away from little hands! 

Property of Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life 

Property of Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life 

HAVE FUN WITH IT!!! 

A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life! : 52 Week Savings Challenge : Frugal Change or shoul...

A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life! : 52 Week Savings Challenge : Frugal Change or shoul...: There are many aspects of the frugal lifestyle. As I have researched the many areas of being frugal the one area of being frugal is the abil...

52 Week Savings Challenge : Frugal Change or should I say ching ching?

There are many aspects of the frugal lifestyle. As I have researched the many areas of being frugal the one area of being frugal is the ability to start saving money. Now there are many topics about saving and which is the best way to go about it to pay down your debt and save at the same time and frankly for me it is overwhelming with all the information and which is sad I am a person who likes to research. All I can is say about this point I highly doubt I will blog about this exact subject and which way we decided exactly to go. However, but that will be for a different time and blog post if that does happen. There are also many articles out there about easy ways to save and how to cut cost to put some extra money in your pocket. So I figured that is prefect area for someone who is exploring the frugal lifestyle to start when it comes to savings and to really get started about serious about saving money.

Now with most of these frugal post I am going to put a little bit of testimony/truth/confession in here on why we are doing this. I feel like expressing these on here it helps relieves the stress but being honest where you at in your life makes you face reality and you can move forward. I also know if I can be honest openly I know maybe there is someone out there that I may reach and say "hey I am not alone","Wow they are really being honest about their life situations and they are taking it a step at a time" or "they are just telling me how to do it they are living it and really doing it step by step". When I ready for a change or want to make a change in my life I usually get all excited about it and bite off more than I can chew whether it is weight, taking a new approach to my bipolar disorder, organization, a new plan with the kids, and so on. I read stories, research, start with too much, and so on. I become overwhelmed, become very intimidated by all the success stories, and even a little jealous who I view has their life really put together (whether it is actually or not because I do not know what is going on behind close doors). However, it took me a long long time to realize with any change it really does take small steps and nothing will really happen overnight. Even though if you have this huge goal or change in mind if you take small steps, small goals, small changes to reach it... you will have amazing results. So at the end of this blog post I want to thank a couple of people who really inspired me. So moving on  from this sidebar and on to the truth part of this post.

TRUTH: My husband and I are horrible at savings whether we like to admit or not. Now we have multiple savings accounts and besides the one I keep for small craft business Gifts By Vaughn (https://www.facebook.com/GiftsByVaughn?ref=hl)  they are pretty sad. Now why cannot we save? Well the first answer is we can't but that really is a lie because we have an allotment going to one and if we were able to leave it alone than we would be "saving". Well the first honest reason is the main one that usually goes hand in hand with checking (like most people have with banking) we just do not add money to the savings account plain and simple. If we do start putting money in there it will eventually make it way back over to checking whether we moved it or the bank moved it because we were short in our checking account and then we lose a $1 for them moving our money for us. So we open an additional account outside to a different bank and set up an allotment to that account to start building our savings up. Well sadly every time we thinking we are getting ahead something comes up and we have had to take from that savings and when you take take from savings and only put the bare minimum in you have no growth in savings and a whopping no balance and the constant fear if something happens what are you going to do next? So what does this really mean? My husband and I really need to reprogram ourselves on how to save money and save it well. So that is why we decided on the 52 Week Savings Challenge as one way to approach to saving and the main reason for this post!!!

52 WEEK SAVINGS CHALLENGE

If you simply Google 52 Week Savings Challenge you find your answer and tons of charts on what type of challenge this is. However, the basic concept of this challenge each week of the year you will deposit a certain amount of money into a account or place of your choice. It is recommended that your  weekly deposit follow the week that you are on. So for week one you will deposit $1, week two $2, week three $3, and week fifty two $52. If you follow these amounts by the end of the year you will have saved $1,378. You can find more information about the basic concept of the 52 week savings challenge here http://www.52weekmoneychallenge.net/welcome-to-the-52-week-money-challenge/ .

How we are doing it. Now we decided to take this challenge but decided to leave the money outside the bank and a place to see the money to watch it grow.  So if you are going to leave the money outside of the bank you will need a 52 week savings challenge chart you can simply Google it or look it up on Pinterest there are tons out there that range from fancy, simple, and even are modified a little for people who have adjusted the challenge to meet their need. I posted below a simple example of the 52 Week Savings Challenge Chart for you but I will also show you what and how we are doing.

Source: amittenfullofsavings.com via Google images

Like I stated above you just have to search and you will find tons of these charts! Now onto the way Christopher and I are doing it and I will throw a little psychology into it. Hey I have a Bachelors in psychology and working on Masters might as well use it! Well my chart is nothing fancy in fact I jotted it out on an index card... I know fancy right?

source: image belongs to Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life! http://pcos4lifejourney.blogspot.com/

Well I decided to write it out one it was quicker to jot it down and because we are "both" doing the challenge I can write down the actual amount of each weeks deposit. So for us week one is $2, week two is $4, and week fifty two is $104. We also let room if were able to save a little extra. We actually just deposited week 2 and we actually put in an extra $1.77 so as long as the base deposit is met each week by 52 weeks we will have saved $2756! Do not fear the bigger deposits towards the end of challenge because by the end mark it should be easier to save which is the goal of this challenge!! Also if you are living frugal it should start having extra money to save making this challenge easier as is progresses through the year. You also need to decide when you are going to deposit your money each week since it is not going into a bank account. For hubs and I we decided on Sunday and since we may be adding more than the base deposit we store the deposit on the side until it ready to go into the jar so it can be counted.

source: image belongs to Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life! http://pcos4lifejourney.blogspot.com/

Since the money is being stored in our bedroom we have these plastic leave dishes that went with our bedroom decor (we are country/woodsy) that I bought at the Dollar Tree a couple years back that ended up not being used and were collecting dust on top of jewelry box. So this where we sit that weeks deposit until the wend of the week until Sunday and count it put in  the mason jar! The cat is just my crocheted kitty that protects the money...hehe! Our challenge sits on my bookshelf  on the top shelf with Dean Koontz you cannot get any better than that in our bedroom!!!

source: image belongs to Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life! http://pcos4lifejourney.blogspot.com/

Now if you remember earlier in this post I stated that my husband and I needed to basically reprogram ourselves on how we think about saving. That is why decided to keep the money outside of the bank and bare with me this where the psychology comes into this and why this is a good challenge for someone who needs to reprogram in the way they think about saving and how to positively reinforce that behavior by positive motivation. Motivation is simply defined as the process that initiates, guides, directs, and maintains goal-orientated behavior. It is literally the desire in which we decide to do something whether to actually make a change or just sitting around thinking about making a change. In psychology terms motivation involves biological, emotional, social, and cognitive forces to activate one's behavior. Now there are a number of theories on motivation and fancy terms that are used when psychologist discuss/debate about what motivation really is but that really is not the point. So lets stay focus on positive motivation and why me and hubs are using are using at as a tool to positively reinforce our behavior on saving. By seeing are money actually grow through the year we have a tangible results on hand to see that it is working and growing. You can also look at as extrinsic motivation or outside positive motivation at work at this challenge and at the end of this challenge we can take that tangible "result" and do something with it whether it is vacation, investment, savings, and so on. Now there is also intrinsic motivation or internal positive motivation at work as well in this challenge and what I view as the most important of these challenge. By completing this challenge not only will you have personal gratification that you completed your goal but you are helping yourself reprogram your brain on how to save and setting yourself up for positive results, success, and a long term future. Well that is what we want to do! Well that is my psychology degree at work now only if my grammar was better and my student loans would just up and vanish...hey I can dream/wish?

Sorry I had no idea this was going to be as long post

Personal Thanks: There are a couple of people I wanted to thank who have motivated me though my life. These thanks are not all directed at 52 week savings challenge but just in general about motivation and change. 

I first want to thank my parents. They have been one of my biggest supports in my life through so much through my heath issues, life struggles, ups, downs, good times, bad times, and so on. They are who keep me motivated besides my husband! I am not sure what I would do without them. 

Shannon-  I first met Shannon when we first moved to Camp Lejeune. You talk about a woman jack of all trades. She has been one of the most motivating people I have ever met!! She actually reminds me of a much younger version of my mother and which is amazing because my Mom is one of best friends. Now I can go into details of all things on why I am very motivated but all I will say she is an amazing military wife and mother and now it is her time to shine! So I am going to give her a shout out. If you live in North Carolina check out  https://www.facebook.com/shannon.sines.9  the Owner Formal Creations she does amazing work! I just want to thank Shannon from the time that I known you from your jokes that people often do not get, to some great conversations, being a role model whether you realized it or not, and reaching for dreams you truly are a motivating person to me. 

Lisa- she is also another positively motivating person I have ever met and the sweetest. She has helped me embrace my physical life changes as well as the emotional ones that come with trying to make a healthier lifestyle. Just with type of change it can be overwhelming and she is right there with you helping you. She runs a group Lisa Kingslayer Fit Future https://www.facebook.com/FitFuture1 and I promise she is not in your face about her group but actually cares about the ups and downs of obtaining a healthier lifestyle. She is a real person not a supermodel and embraces herself flaws in all and which makes herself that more motivating! I want to thank her so much for the impact that she has made on my life. 

Ashley- I have known you through a couple of deployments now and I think you are an amazing and motivating person, wife, and mother. I know there are tons of wife and mothers out there in our shoes but you have always to me seem so motivated and positive in the things you do through the life of being a military wife. Which is extremely motivating and encouraging to move forward with all my goals in life especially as a mother and I thank you for that.

There are a couple of wives that I just need to thank: Jodie, Megan S, Dara, Dawn, Carri, Sarah C,  Shelly F, and Rebecca D.  

A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life! : The Start Of This Full Frugal Adventure Of This Bi...

A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life! : The Start Of This Full Frugal Adventure Of This Bi...: When you look in a mirror at your life are you where at in your life? I am sure you can answer this question nine ways to Sunday and hop...

PANTY LINER USE 101: The Other Wonderful Uses of these products!

By the title of this post I am sure I have a couple of you thinking why is this woman talking about panty liners and how to use them? No this is not about health, puberty, or instructions that can be found on the package they come in. I have found neat, functional, emergency,and alternative uses for those little mini pads that I actually use on a daily/weekly basis!

For any woman or man who has purchased personal female care products likely have bought or have noticed the selection of panty liners. The first thing if you noticed they are range in price but are cheap. I personally purchase a lot of panty liners keep on hand and mostly not "ALL Personal Reasons". If you do the math from a personal stand point depending on what actual product you bought and you used one panty liner a day for whatever reason you could buy a year supply for around $15.00.

Now this is a basic liner. I know they come in all shapes, sizes, scents, and colors but for this post and purpose I use the cheap basic ones. However, in a pinch and need of one part with more expensive panty liner and when it is over you will see why I keep the cheap ones on hand! Now obvious and will be stated to get out they way the number one use for panty liners the directions and the use can be found right on the package.

Here are my uses for using panty liners on a daily/weekly basis 

1. Removing my nail polish. Now I am not taking credit for this idea but my sister-in-law gave me this idea. When I was at my parents my sister-in-law was in the process of painting her nails. She had everything but the material she was going to use with nail polish remover. Thought she was going to run to bathroom to grab a cotton balls or tp....she came back with a panty liner. She removed her nail polish with a panty liner. Well when I got home of course I had to try it! What I like about it is it does not fall apart, one does both hands and feet, and I usually get multiple uses from them! So instead of using cotton balls or rounds were I go through several I now keep a small package of panty liners with my nail stuff.

2.I do not what kind of shoes you wear that do not require socks but I wear tons of flats (thanks to be one inch short of being 6 foot) wedges and some times things with a little height if the mood hit me. Now I know they make no shoe socks and insoles which I both own but I have run into a couple of problems. I love the no show socks I buy mine at PayLess because I can find them in many colors such as black, white, brow, nude, green, and pink to fit my big size 11 gorgeous feet! However, if you wear these no show socks you realize they really are not "no show" socks and it really for me is not a problem when I am not wearing jeans but when I am dress or something where my shoe is being completely seen I do not want my socks to be shown it kind of one my pet peeves! Now I go without wearing socks and for a short time it is an okay solution but for having to in your shoes all day is a no go for me... foot sweat and stank! So I went looking for solutions I could by insoles and they have a wide variety of these as well. Well I ran into a couple of problems with these. I found a lot of them made my shoes to small and unlike tennis shoes you cannot remove the sole of these type shoes to replace with the other insoles. Well I started researching where else online when I am across a woman who used panty liners as shoe insoles. So I gave it a try! I took the panty liner took the strip off and stuck the adhesive side down into my shoe. After a trial and error of placement I found that my feet do not sweat and provide a little cushion in my flats. Now they lady trims the liner for her shoes because of her shoe size but because I have big feet I do not have to so I just grab a couple of liners out of my sock draw when I am wearing shoes that require assistant! You can also adjust the liner to other parts of your shoe it really is a trial and error process to see what works for you! 

3. Dog's personal use. If you have had female dogs that are not fixed well they go through heat. They just go not through often as human women. Well I have a female Jack Russell Chloe and my husband kept going back and forth in we were going to breed her. In the mean time we had to deal with her in the heat moments! Well I bought her something called bitch pants... I know funny right? Well basically they are blue diaper with a hole for the dog tail with a white absorbent layer and come in multiple sizes. Now you can allow her to wear as is and then wash it but as most women know when "accidents" occur it very hard to completely removed if not taken care of right away. Well I looked at the dog care products and low and behold they make pads for dogs and they are expensive!!!!!!!!!! They are more expensive than my products and thin like paper. Well LIGHT BULB! Well just as a woman would use a panty liner I lined her bitch pants with the liner in the area where she needs, change them out when I walk her, and wash the bitch pants at the end of the day! 

4. I cut myself in the truck. I was trying to open a package and sliced my finger on right on the finger. Well I was running out of the couple of napkins and my kids were crying and my husband was going into caring but not required panic mode. So I was looking around in my purse for something when I came across a panty liner and desperate times call for desperate measures! I opened it and placed it on my fingure and applied pressure calmed the kids down. Then when I realized the first aid kit was in the glove box the whole time! However, in a pinch the liner was clean a lot better then a somewhat clean napkin! So you know what I added to the first aid kit?That is right panty liners! 

Now I am sure there are other uses for these panty liners besides the "conventional" use these are just some of they alternative uses I use panty liners for.

WARNING BE CAREFUL  RESEARCHING PANTY LINERS ON THE INTERNET. I NOTICED NOT SOME NICE TITLES AND IN THE IMAGE SECTION HAD SOME PICTURES THAT I THOUGHT WERE NOT RELATED BUT WERE XXX RATED AND OTHERS WERE GROSS