It's The Little Things

I firmly believe that even while on a budget, some little indulgences should be allowed. It is kind of like being on a diet, if you restrict everything you really enjoy, odds are one stressed out day you are going to eat all the Ben and Jerry's Chubby Hubby you can lay your hands on and undo those 24 hours of hardcore dieting. Not that this has ever happened to me.
To that end, I am going back to real, name brand Q-Tips. While at my local grocery store yesterday, I picked up a couple boxes of off brand "cotton swabs" for CHEAP. I felt so virtuous and budget conscious! I used them this morning to remove eye make-up and they hurt! Like a mother! "Cotton swabs" do not have nearly as much "cotton swabbing" as one would think--the little plastic stick part almost poked my eye out and the harsh cotton left my sensitive eye area all red and irritated. Lesson learned.


Check It Out
http://www.e-rewards.com/home.do
Hey, many of us waste time online, why not do it while earning some e-rewards? The surveys are fast and easy, and maybe you earn a magazine subscription or 500 Delta miles. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick (or a cotton swab) as my father used to say!

A Little Something I Learned From My Mother...
Butter is expensive. If you use it often, buy it on sale and freeze it. Nothing funky happens to it and once it thaws, you would never know it had been frozen. I have been doing this for years, just as my mother did. The added benefit is I always have butter on hand and never run out. If you read my first post, you know how I feel about running out of something.
You can freeze cheese also but the consistency does change a bit, making it alright for cooking but not for serving with crackers.

You Decide!
A loyal follower of my Blog, one of 4 thank you very much, was wondering about cloth napkins versus paper napkins.
Here is what I found on www.care2.com
"If you are hugely careless in your treatment of cloth napkins and dishtowels (like running a load of hot-water wash for a few barely-soiled napkins), paper can be the more eco-friendly option. But if you approach your cloth towels and napkins conscientiously, cloth is the greener option. Some say that washing cloth must be more energy-intensive than using paper, but electric dryers are actually twice as energy efficient as the manufacture of paper towels. When you factor in all of the components of making a paper towel or napkins (harvesting the material, processing and bleaching it, packaging it, shipping it, stocking it at a supermarket, transportation to and from the store to purchase it, etc). all for a single use, you find that the paper towels and napkins are about twice as energy-intensive and create more greenhouse gases overall. A cloth napkin or dishtowel may go through similar processes to get to your kitchen drawer, but it will stay there for many, many years, rather than being sent directly to the landfill."
That is for you Lisa!