I'm in the same boat as most college students - I'm in a state of perpetual brokeness. I know, I know, "brokeness" is not a word, but the point is, I'm almost always short on cash. After I pay for the essentials (rent, food, cell phone and interest on my already existing loans), I don't have much moolah left over by the end of pay day. It sometimes becomes very sad to see my bank account go up, and then way, way down again in a matter of hours.
So in order to save some money I'm going to try to find more furniture at second hand stores instead of buying it new. I was just looking around some websites looking for accents (specifically for small vases) and ended up looking at some of the clearance items for funzies. Wow. Maybe I'm really cheap, but I'm not going to pay hundreds of dollars for some of their things, as cute as they may be (like this). I should be able to find the things that I want at resale shops for much cheaper. Even if I want to make something look more worn or repaint or varnish something so that it fits with the colors that I have, it would still end up being significantly less expensive to do that. So that's what I'll be doing next weekend with a friend. We're going to redesign my living room for his architectural portfolio, so we will be browsing Goodwill and other places next weekend. I'll take some before and afters of the living room.
Another way I can save money is making my own reed diffuser oils instead of buying air fresheners refills and batteries for them all the time. Hence the need for some cute little vases. And it ties in with alternative medicine (my thesis topic), so I'm getting a double whammy of saving money and learning something knew that will probably be of use to me in my career. At the very least, I'll have some fun creating new scents for my apartment. Finding some cute little vases is also a fun way to accessorize my apartment!
The initial cost of the essential oils involved is a bit pricey, but from the research I've done on different recipes for the oil themselves, I should be able to use them over and over again since it shouldn't take too much of any of them to get my apartment smelling just the way I want. And I can start making my own perfume with them, too. It's gonna be a while before I go through my existing small collection of body sprays/perfumes, thanks to Bath and Body Works sales! It would also make a more personalized gift for friends and family. I'm really excited to try this out!
I already knit moderately well, so this is just another way to be creative and do something fun. By moderately well, I mean that I have mastered the knit stitch and can generally knit in a straight line. My first attempt at knitting ended up looking more like one side of a kid's Christmas stocking that would go over a fireplace than an actual scarf. So, over the years I have made some major improvements. I might become brave and make an attempt at the purl stitch. It is really hard to think about knitting when it's 90 + degrees outside, as it is currently. We've hit a record number of 100 + degree days this summer. That's a record I could have lived without breaking, ugh!
It's about time I got some new yarn so I can knit while I'm watching TV. That is one way of relaxing for me. Besides that, I don't like just sitting and doing nothing (watching TV often feels like doing nothing) during the semester. It keeps me from slacking off too much if I keep my down-time to a minimum. Once some of my shows come back on for the fall season I'll turn on the TV more. Usually I'll have my nose in the monitor or in a book. I prefer reading over watching TV, so it is really mostly used by my boyfriend. And when he's watching something it's usually on National Geographic, Science, History or Discovery channel. Except for watching The Price is Right or cartoons or what we've recorded on the DVR.
Anyone else out there have some arts and crafts or DIY hobbies that you want to share? I'd love to hear about them!
So in order to save some money I'm going to try to find more furniture at second hand stores instead of buying it new. I was just looking around some websites looking for accents (specifically for small vases) and ended up looking at some of the clearance items for funzies. Wow. Maybe I'm really cheap, but I'm not going to pay hundreds of dollars for some of their things, as cute as they may be (like this). I should be able to find the things that I want at resale shops for much cheaper. Even if I want to make something look more worn or repaint or varnish something so that it fits with the colors that I have, it would still end up being significantly less expensive to do that. So that's what I'll be doing next weekend with a friend. We're going to redesign my living room for his architectural portfolio, so we will be browsing Goodwill and other places next weekend. I'll take some before and afters of the living room.
Another way I can save money is making my own reed diffuser oils instead of buying air fresheners refills and batteries for them all the time. Hence the need for some cute little vases. And it ties in with alternative medicine (my thesis topic), so I'm getting a double whammy of saving money and learning something knew that will probably be of use to me in my career. At the very least, I'll have some fun creating new scents for my apartment. Finding some cute little vases is also a fun way to accessorize my apartment!
The initial cost of the essential oils involved is a bit pricey, but from the research I've done on different recipes for the oil themselves, I should be able to use them over and over again since it shouldn't take too much of any of them to get my apartment smelling just the way I want. And I can start making my own perfume with them, too. It's gonna be a while before I go through my existing small collection of body sprays/perfumes, thanks to Bath and Body Works sales! It would also make a more personalized gift for friends and family. I'm really excited to try this out!
I already knit moderately well, so this is just another way to be creative and do something fun. By moderately well, I mean that I have mastered the knit stitch and can generally knit in a straight line. My first attempt at knitting ended up looking more like one side of a kid's Christmas stocking that would go over a fireplace than an actual scarf. So, over the years I have made some major improvements. I might become brave and make an attempt at the purl stitch. It is really hard to think about knitting when it's 90 + degrees outside, as it is currently. We've hit a record number of 100 + degree days this summer. That's a record I could have lived without breaking, ugh!
Here's some of the scarfs I've made.
Me wearing one of my scarfs last fall.
It's about time I got some new yarn so I can knit while I'm watching TV. That is one way of relaxing for me. Besides that, I don't like just sitting and doing nothing (watching TV often feels like doing nothing) during the semester. It keeps me from slacking off too much if I keep my down-time to a minimum. Once some of my shows come back on for the fall season I'll turn on the TV more. Usually I'll have my nose in the monitor or in a book. I prefer reading over watching TV, so it is really mostly used by my boyfriend. And when he's watching something it's usually on National Geographic, Science, History or Discovery channel. Except for watching The Price is Right or cartoons or what we've recorded on the DVR.
Anyone else out there have some arts and crafts or DIY hobbies that you want to share? I'd love to hear about them!
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