About Me Part II

I haven't been tagged for a meme recently, but I thought I'd share a few random facts about me anyway:

1. My family cat is an emotional eater. When he's been left in the house alone a lot, he gobbles up his food and makes himself sick. His food portions have to be closely monitored.
2. I have to say the word nosey in my head before saying it out loud because I grew up pronouncing the word "newsy." I'm not sure if that's a family quirk or actually a real word.
3. I get mistaken for Ethiopian occasionally and have had people come up to me and start speaking to me in what I assume is Amharic several times over the past few years.
4. I get called 'little lady' occasionally by strangers. I don't take offense because I am literally a 'little lady.' I'm small and short in stature.
5. I didn't know what a credit score was until my freshman year of college when my roommate (now one of my BFF's) explained it to me. I learned what an IRA was from another friend during my sophomore year. My good friends are always passing along valuable information to me!
6. I read the wedding announcement feature articles in the style section of the New York Times on Sundays. They are usually well written and I'm a sucker for 'happy endings.'
7. If I see a piece of clothing that's in what I would consider a reasonable price range, I'll buy it in a heart beat, but cringe at the idea of spending lots of money on restaurants and take-out.
8. I will never like Go-go music no matter how long I live in DC, though I have respect for it.

Anyone who is reading this can consider themselves tagged!

November Goals

I didn't manage to set goals for the month of October, but that will be remedied this month. I didn't make any goals last month, mainly because I wasn't strongly feeling the 'intention' I knew it would take to achieve them, but I'm feeling more motivated this month, so here they go:

1. Blog more regularly. I love blogging and I need to put myself back on a somewhat regular blogging schedule as I did when I first started this blog. Thoughtful posts take time, energy and inspiration. My plan is to outline what I'll write about each week for this blog and my other blog. I'll then post three times a week. Writing about style has become a passion over the last several months, but writing about my spending and meeting my financial goals helps to keep me accountable. Writing posts on both blogs should allow me to indulge in both interests if I actually plan out my time better.
2. Exercise 3 times per week. I need to get back on track with exercising on a regular basis. So, a mixture of doing DVD's at home, taking classes and going to the gym will help me meet that goal.
3. Cook at least one new dish and one new baked good. I'm so tired of all of the regular dishes I cook, so I'd like to branch out and try a new dish and baked good this month. I've been playing with the idea of becoming a vegetarian in 2010, so I will try to stick to vegetarian or vegan dishes. I'll try another recipe from this book and perhaps look for a good soup recipe.
4. Contribute to holiday gift fund. As I mentioned in this post, I plan to contribute to my giftfund with my November paychecks.
5. Learn some Photoshop basics. I plan to spend some time each week playing with Photoshop and looking for online tutorials on the Internet. I saw a few books on Photoshop at the library, so I'll also pick one up on my next visit. Ideally, I'd just take a class but taking on a class right now does not fit into my schedule or my budget. I'm trying to get into the habit of taking photos more because I usually forget about taking photos and then kick myself later for not having photographs of special (and not so special) occasions with family and friends. I also share outfit pictures on fashion communities like wardrobe remix and weardrobe. Since I'm sure everyone is not interested in what I'm wearing on a given day, shoot me an email or comment, and I'll send you a link to my pages on these websites.
6. Limit Extraneous Spending. I want to spend less this month but not feel like I'm depriving myself at the same time (that's possible right?). I will allow myself to buy food, household items, holiday gifts, and pay for transportation costs around the city and to my hometown (I have to make two trips home this month). Socializing will have to revolve around things that cost little to no money this month. I tend to visit people more instead of going out during this time of the year anyway so this shouldn't be too difficult.
7. Finalize my Spring 2010 class schedule with my advisor. I've picked my classes, and I'm pretty sure they will get approved by my advisor, but I'll double-check to be on the safe side.

I have the feeling November is going to be a good month!

Closet organization without spending money

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It's time to organize my closet. A more organized closet will make for better wardrobe remixing. I explained the meaning of wardrobe remixing in this post. I need to weed out clothing and accessories I really don't use and organize what I have for ease of use. Lately, I have found myself digging for a particular clothing item to finish off an outfit only to give up in frustration and wear something else totally different because I can't find said clothing item. If I'm really honest with myself, I know I don't NEED and more clothing or accessories. I just need to better utilize what I have. I'm going to use items I already have lying around my apartment to group, separate and organize my closet. So here are a few ideas I plan to implement:

• Decorate old boxes with wrapping paper to organize out of season clothes. I can't bring myself to spend money on storage boxes, so I'll use boxes I already have stored away to house out-of-season clothes. To make the boxes look better, I'll wrap them in wrapping paper I save for gifts and use index cards to label them. I've done this before with shoe boxes to house bills and records and it's an easy, cheap way to make them look uniform. Labeling them also ensures that I can easily know what's in the boxes without opening them.
• Magazine holders to store small handbags and clutches. My smaller handbags and clutches tend to get thrown in the top of my closet and it takes time to look for them when I actually need them. Organizing them so I can actually SEE them when I open my closet is a much more functional way to operate.
• Baskets to store make-up. It's about time for me to go through my make-up and weed out items that are too old to use. After I do this, I will place make-up in small baskets I have lying around. I will also throw away ratty make-up brushes and store the ones I use up-right in cups.
• Glasses, tea pots and cups to store jewelry. I have cups, tea sets and china that can be used to store some smaller pieces of jewelry like earrings and smaller necklaces.
• Hangers to store tights and stockings. I've acculumated a large amount of colored and printed tights over the last few seasons since my go-to clothing items are skirts and dresses. Storing tights on hangers ensures that I can actually find the tights I want to wear to coordinate my outfits. I can't find the exact post, but got this idea from this fab style blogger.

I also joined a clothing swap Meet-up group in my area and hope that items I no longer wear but are still in good condition can be swapped with someone else and given a new home.

Do you have any other inexpensive ways to organize your closet?

Holiday Shopping Count Down

I have no idea what I'll be buying for Christmas gifts this year, but I know the holiday season is approaching fast, so I need to start setting aside money for my expenses. I'd like to purchase all of my gifts from artisans on Etsy, local small businesses and my favorite weekend haunt because I feel that I give enough of my money to big-box retailers for the rest of the year. My budget for gift purchases is $200 which I will take out of my paychecks for the month of November. I don't normally start buying gifts until late November/early December anyway. I will put half of my saved amount on a Visa giftcard for any online purchases I make and use cash for the other half. Now that I have a spending plan, I'll start looking around for inspiration for gifts.

Swapping books and other goods with my neighbors

There are many reasons why I love my neighborhood here in DC. One of them is the informal book swapping that I do among my neighbors. On weekends that we have nice weather, I find that my neighbors leave boxes of books they no longer want on their doorsteps for anyone to take. Recently I discovered some pretty good books this way such as Fast Food Nation, a few romance novels, and some national bestsellers by authors I've never heard of but that look very promising. I love to read, but I've forced myself to go the library when I want a book to read or occasionally when a book isn't available at the library, I buy books used on Amazon.com. So free books are even better, than inexpensive used books or library books because they cost no money and I don't have to remember to return them before they are due or risk fees.

I've even found small pieces of furniture in perfect condition on weekend walks around my neighborhood. I've brought items home such as: a barely used small bookshelf, a wooden chair and a nice large basket. I've even seen larger furniture items like bed frames that I simply didn't need, but were in great condition. I always clean and disinfect everything I bring in the house, but I have absolutely no problem with taking people's stuff they no longer want off their hands! The stuff I've seen people throw away is usually not junk and I'm sure they know when they leave it on the sidewalk that someone will take it before the trash people come to take the unwanted items away. It's also environmentally friendly to encourage reuse of books and furniture items.

On Sunday morning, I decided to leave my own box of books I know I'll never read again (mostly mysteries and romance novels), and they were all taken by the end of the day. It's my small way of returning the favor and encouraging my neighbors to keep the goodwill of book and furniture swapping going.