About a month ago my sister, Tallia, pointed me in the direction of the blog Fistful of Coupons.  It’s a blog written by a woman in the Tri-Cities that teaches you how to coupon effectively and she helps point in the direction of really great deals.  Her blog has inspired me to get into couponing and I’ve actually found it to be quite fun.  It’s almost like a game of trying to match up the best coupon with the best sale or deal.

Here’s my great deal today.  I spent $0.41 on all of this.  Yep, that’s it.  I saved $15 with coupons.

Here’s the receipt that breaks it all done.  Anyway, these are just some of the pleasures from couponing. Getting ridiculous deals like this.

In other news, Ben and I are going to Seattle today.  He has an interview tomorrow with Amazon and then another one on Thursday with Expeditors.  I’m very excited for him and we’re really hopeful that one of these interviews will get us over to Seattle.

I stretched my ear to a 2g a couple of days ago.  They’re starting to look kind of big.

I just made the best green smoothie yet and had to write about it.  Here’s what it was:

1 frozen cut up orange

1 frozen sliced banana

about 2 cups of spinach

1 tbsp cocoa powder

around 10 drops of vanilla

Blended it all up in my vita-mix and voila!  It has a nice creamy citrus flavor. Kind of like an orange creamsicle.  I think the vanilla really made it taste perfect.

I’m getting back into the green smoothie kick.  I struggle to eat enough fruits and veggies and this seems the best way.  They’re easy to make, they taste good (yes, even with the greens in them which you can’t even taste by the way), they’re filling, and you get all of the fruits and veggies you need for the day.  Some people say that since they are blended that it is also easier for your body to absorb the nutrients.  I’d been noticing myself feeling very sluggish and gross because I hadn’t been eating well enough.  Even over the last 4 days of having these I’m feeling a lot better.

Things have been going great in mine and Tallia’s Etsy store, RosyAppleVintage.  We hit 50 sales last week which is amazing.  Some people struggle to get their first sale in that time.  I’m very proud of us.  It’s been so much fun doing this store and I hope to continue it for a very long time.  We’ve learned a lot in the last two months of being open.

I received all of my items that I talked about in my last post.  I’m so happy with all of them.  The scrubbies have been the best.  They work just as well as a sponge from the store, but they are so much softer and prettier and you can throw them in the wash.  Totally worth buying.  The reusable paper towels are very soft and absorbent so I highly recommend those as well.  The swiffer pad replacements work very nicely.  The material that she used for them is such that it grips very well to the velcro and it picks up all the dirt.  They are a little harder to slide along, but not too terribly so.  It’s worth it when you consider the money saved.

I wish I had picture to put in this post right now.  I’ll have to take some later.  I’m a very visual person so I find blogs far more enjoyable with pictures.  I’ll try to include some later.

Etsy is a great place for finding re-useable eco-friendly items. They are also great for saving money which is becoming more of a conscious effort on my part.   I hate to think of all the money that has been thrown away with so many disposable items.  So here are some of the things I ordered to help with this issue.  And all cost about the same as what you would pay at the store.

First up is the scrubbie from Laksaware. I ordered two of these; one for the kitchen and one for the bathrooms.  So many sponges have been wasted.  Often it’s because they become too musty smelling to stand rather than being used to death.  The great thing about these is that they can be cleaned in the washer so no more musty stench!  Oh, and they’re super cute.  They cost $3 which is pretty amazing.  If I’m not mistaken, a 3 pack of sponges runs $2-$3 and this scrubbie will last longer than that.

Next is a dish cloth from the same seller as the scrubbie.  This runs along the same idea, but it’s not in the scrubber form.  These are super handy dandy to have around.  These run $3 each as well.

These are reuseable swiffer wet jet mop pads from Mama’s Little Monkeys. I’ve been meaning to get some of these for quite awhile, but I finally have even more reason to now.  Andy’s bathroom gets coated in a layer of dust from his kitty litter.  It takes a lot of mopping to get it all up. I find myself going through the wet jet pads very quickly and they aren’t cheap.  These 3 pads only cost $8.50 for all of them.  They can be washed like normal in the washer and dryer. This is going to save me a lot of money very fast.

These are reusable paper towels from Moo Cow Momma. I haven’t actually ordered these yet because I’m requesting them in specific colors. Anyway, I find paper towels to be an annoying waste of money, but they can be so useful.  So, I’m going to use these towels and put them in a bowl in the same spot where the paper towels are currently.  These can be washed and dried like normal.

I’m quite amazed by the creativity of these Etsy sellers and cannot wait to use these products.  And to not have to buy anymore of the disposables in store either!

I’m kicking my coffee habit and picking up a new one: tea.  I love tea for so many reasons.

• It’s calming. Just the very idea of drinking tea is calming.  Something about the warmth and comfort.  I also don’t get jittery or anxious from it like I do with coffee.  Which really isn’t good for me because I already have issues with anxiety.  In fact according to a study by UCL researchers, drinking black tea lowers stress hormone levels.   We can all use a little less stress in our lives.
• It has many health benefits.  I don’t think many people can argue that tea is good for you.  It has so many benefits that coffee doesn’t have.  Some of these are anti-cancer properties, boosts mental alertness, boosts the immune system, lowers chances of cognitive impairment, and so many more.  Who can argue with that?
• It will help us save money.   Being addicted to coffee means being addicted to Starbucks.  I don’t even want to think about how much money I’ve wasted on coffee.  Sure, it tastes good, but tea is more fun.  Tea comes in so many varieties, you can drink it in fun mugs, and it makes you feel good.  Today we bought 100 tea bags of black tea and it cost $5.50.  A typical Starbucks trip is $4-$5.  I think this goes along well with my idea of being less wasteful.  Eventually I want to begin purchasing loose leaf tea and use reusable tea bags.
• It goes so well with food.   Cookies and tea?  Sandwiches and tea? Breakfast with tea?  My favorite is definitely something like pumpkin bread with tea.  Such a simple little pleasure.

Much of the information I found about tea’s benefits was found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_tea

I was thinking last night of something cool I could do relating to thrift stores and being thrifty.  The past couple of months I’ve been going to a lot of yard sales, estate sales, and thrift stores and I’m just amazed by what things you can find for such a great deal.  They’re like little treasures.  Anyway, last night I was thinking “Would it be possible to only buy from these things?” Think of how much money that would save and how unique your finds would be.  Aside from groceries and certain items that I wouldn’t want to buy used (socks and underwear for example) I really think it would be possible.

To affirm these thoughts even more, I was browsing through a blog I frequent called Walk Slowly Live Wildly.  It’s written by a mom of two that is very into not wasting, eating very healthy natural foods, photography, and she has beautiful dreadlocks.  There’s just a lot of things she does that I find myself interested in.  Anyway, I was browsing through her old posts and came upon this one about a concept called “compacting”.  It’s basically where you commit to not spend frivolously on things you don’t need and to not buy new things except for your necessities.  I felt that this went along with the idea I was beginning to create with buying second hand items.  To me it just seems practical and doable.

So I think I’m going to delve into a year long experiment of sorts where I commit to this.  This means no more starbucks trips, no more new clothes (except for the aforementioned socks and undies and probably flip flops because your bare skin touches them).  I think this will be fun and very challenging.  I love to buy things.  I feel like I always want, want, want.  We live in a very materialistic society and I’ve found myself quite caught up in it.

I would like to keep the door open to Etsy, though, where all items are handmade.  I like the idea of buying handmade and supporting peoples businesses.  But other than that, it’s second hand.

Here is what I plan to do:

• To not buy new items unless they are of necessity.  Necessity are things that obtain to health, business, and basic human needs.
• To simplify my life.  De-clutter the apartment in any way I can.
• To buy only the things I need.
• Find ways to be less wasteful.

What I strive to learn and obtain from this:

• To save money and use less.
• To be content and not feel the constant urges of needing something.
• To be more resourceful and learn to use things more resourcefully.

I’ll keep you all posted.

I think I finally found my place in the vintage world: dishes and other kitchen items.  I’m in love with the vintage dishes ranging from the ’50s through the ’70s (and occasionally the ’80s).  My favorite brand by far is Pyrex.  But there are some others that are quite nice as well: Fire King (Anchor Hocking), Corning, Corelle (I believe they are owned by corning, but it’s all iffy to me right now), and Glasbake (yes, just one ’s’).  I also love the old pedestal cups, especially the ones from Japan.

Ok, now time to share some pictures of some of my finds relating to these items.  It’s always thrilling to go to a yard sale or thrift store and to find an amazing piece for a steal.

This is everything I found yesterday from local thrift stores.  A Pyrex daisy casserole dish in great condition, a lime green Pyrex bowl, a blue pyrex nesting bowl, 3 crazy daisy Corelle cups, three old town corning cups, and one floral bouquet corning cup all for about $10.

A Corning Ware floral bouquet teapot.  This particular pattern seems to be a little rare.  I couldn’t find any pictures of it on a teapot and a few people on flickr commented on never seeing it.  Got it for $2.

Some fun pedestal cups.

A very cheerful mug from Japan.

I finally have some things going on that I feel are worth writing about.

As most everyone who reads this blog knows, Ben and I moved to Pasco a couple months ago for his new job.  We’re  all unpacked and settling in quite well.  We have a cute new kitty named Andy that we adopted from the Humane Society.  He’s been so much fun to have around.  I forgot how nice it is to have a cat around.  They can be very calming.

I’ve picked up some new hobbies since I’ve been there.  The main one is going to estate sales and buying vintage items.  I just started an Etsy store at http://zannajune.etsy.com to sell some of these items.  I just really enjoy finding some of the unique items out there.

Another hobby I’ve started is making jewelry from polymer clay.  I played around with it last week and made some earrings for stretched ears.  They didn’t turn out too bad.  I’m hoping the more I play with it, the better they’ll get.  And maybe I’ll have another etsy store on my hands   If not, then I’ll have some fun jewelry to wear.  Either way, it’s just for fun.

I’ve been doing a lot more reading lately.  I started going with Tallia to her book club.  I’ve also been cooking dinners just about every night.  I’ve been keeping busy and haven’t had a chance to be bored.

About a year ago I started noticing a difference in my abdomen. It would never get quite as flat as it used to and I couldn’t “suck it in” like I once could as though there was something in the way.  I just figured it was from some weight I gained and brushed it off.  Since then I’ve lost weight and it hasn’t changed.  Over the last few months I’ve been noticing a large, hard raised area  in my abdominal area.  I thought it might go away with time, but it never did.  It began to worry me so I finally made an appointment to see the doctor.

Upon seeing the doctor she told me that I have a diastasis recti.  Basically it’s a separation of the abdominal muscles from where they are suppose to meet up in the middle.  It’s hard to say how it happened, but somehow my muscles tore a little bit causing the separation.  It’s not a serious condition at all and it isn’t even worth considering getting it fixed until after I have kids since it’ll probably separate again with pregnancy.  The only thing  I need to be aware of is if it begins to feel painful or feels as though I might have a hernia.  As of yet it has caused me no pain.  It’s just a really annoying bulge in my abdominal area.  It makes me feel like I’ve eaten too much.  But I’m glad it is nothing to be worried about.

Ben and I went to Seattle this last week for his job interview with Varolii.  It went well and we’ll be hearing back from them this next week.  We looked at apartments while we were there and found one we really like in Magnolia.  They’re called The Hillcrest and they have everything we could want.  It’s in our price range, everything has been updated, the neighborhood is awesome, and they allow pets.  We’re hoping that by the time we know we’ll be moving that they’ll still have availability.

I’m getting really excited about moving on to the next phase in our lives.  Life will finally begin and we can start to focus on real things.  We’ve been wanting to move to Seattle for so long that it’s hard to believe it’s finally going to happent so soon.  I’ve been in Cheney for 5 years and I’m ready to move on.

I found a treasure among the trash of blogs out there.  VintageSeattle.org .  For those who have been to Seattle and are fans of history, it’s a blog full of pictures of Seattle’s past with a description or explanation of them. I found it to be quite fascinating and thought I’d share it.

The “after” picture that I promised in my last post.  It feels kind of like a fresh start.  I think I was needing that mentally.

This weekend I’m going with my friend Miranda to the west side of the state to visit her family.  We’re going to make a day trip the Coast while in the area which I’m really looking forward too.  Those who know me well know how much I love the ocean, not to mention beautiful western Washington.  It’ll be nice to get out of Cheney for a few days with a good friend.  Even more so that we finally have some beautiful spring weather.