Tag Archives: ballin on a budget

Nov7

Monday Update: NAIL HELP!!!

Posted on by
Standard
Monday Update: NAIL HELP!!!

Hey everyone and happy Monday! I hope all of you had a fab weekend. So as you guys know, I was beyond obsessed with my stiletto style claws back when I was wearing acrylic nails. But, because I am ballin on a budget as a college kid, I decided to cut back on my favorite way to pamper myself besides from dying my hair. I haven’t been wearing acrylics for about a year but in the past four months I have been attempting to grow my nails out because I’ve been missing them badly.

So far, my nails have been doing pretty good. I began a regimen of taking Biotin and Calcium vitamins and I really think that they have been helping. I have also started soaking them in olive and coconut oil as a moisturizing treat. My nails are now quite strong as opposed to the brittle, flimsy mess that they were before. I am a little less than halfway to the length that I would like them to be at but then…the unspeakable happened. The nail on my thumb broke clean off yesterday. 😦

I am genuinely at a loss of what to do. There was no salvaging the nail and now I have nine long and beautiful nails and a mere stump on my right hand thumb. What do you guys do in a situation like this? Do you cut the rest of your nails and let everything start fresh? Or do you just wait it out and let the broken nail grow again? I suppose it’s a matter of preference but I have no clue what to do and I feel like I would benefit greatly from hearing what all of the amazing beauty gurus out here have to say.

As a reminder, this is where I last left my nails in acrylic land and I am a little less than halfway to that length now. Ironically enough, I’m wearing those exact same colors right now! All I need are my middle finger crosses and I’ll be all set! #thosewerethedays

nails

I am in desperate need of advice and also some comfort because I am so upset about this nail breaking. The worst thing, though? About an hour before the nail broke I literally told my mom “wow, it sure would suck if one of my nails broke now”. FML!!!

As of now, I’m leaning towards letting my little thumb stump grow out because it is not as noticeable as say, if the break happened on a pointer or middle finger. However, this is subject to change! So what do you do when a beloved nail breaks? Let it grow or hack off (so violent!) the rest? I want to hear from all of you, so PLEASE leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

^^^ Acrylic nail jams! 😉

Aug13

Urban Outfitters Haul

Posted on by
Standard
Urban Outfitters Haul

Hey everyone and happy weekend! If there’s one store that I love but can’t afford, it’s Urban Outfitters. I think that I actually admire UO from afar more than ModCloth and that’s really saying something but their clothes are just so me. I love that their clothes are grungy chic and edgy which is definitely more my style as opposed to the girly and sweet ModCloth. I only have a select few pieces from Urban and I had to be head over heels, can’t live without it in love with them to even consider making the purchase. But, thanks to an amazing thirty percent off the sale section sale that Urban was having on the Fourth of July, I was able to snag some amazing pieces at a fraction of the price. Take a look:

I’m honestly not sure what made me check out Urban Outfitters on that fateful day that I was able to get two amazing jackets and the coolest pants ever for a cool one hundred but I am so glad that I did! I think I was just in the mood to online shop that day, AKA fill a shopping cart with stuff and then exit out of the page. However, knowing that all of the on sale items were an additional thirty percent off made me bite the bullet and order my cart full of goodies because I knew that I would never get them for any cheaper.

I am so obsessed with all of my purchases and have been making great use out of all of them. My new black skinnies have been my go to-s since I received them in the mail. I think that they are just the coolest and I love that they’re an actual denim material as opposed to the stretchy jegging fabric that my skinny jean collection is filled with. I think that this keeps the color looking pitch black and perfect for much longer and I am so happy that the color hasn’t faded even a little since I got them.

I have also been enjoying the days that I can break out my new slouchy blazer when I’m at my internship or other job. I have been looking for a blazer for months now but all of the ones that I have encountered have just seemed so blah. I love that this one is more of a menswear style and fit because it adds a little extra something to it while still looking uber professional. I like this blazer because it’s great for wearing to work, running errands, or a night on the town.

It has not been cool enough in my neck of the woods to break out my knee length camouflage jacket but rest assured that I love that, too. A camo jacket or pants has been something that I have been on the hunt for recently, as well, but I have never been able to find anything that I liked enough to buy it. The trick is, is that I like dark camouflage as opposed to the classic shades of green that I usually come across. That’s why I just had to buy this UO jacket when I saw it because it’s literally the camo color combination that I’ve been looking for. I love that the deep green and grey color choices are nontraditional and that it is still a camo print without screaming “look at me, I’m wearing camouflage”. Although, if it was effective camo, no one would be able to see you anyways! 😉

I am so pleased with all of my new clothes from Urban Outfitters and can’t wait to wear everything more when the weather finally cools down. Thanks to an amazing sale, I was able to buy some pieces that I would never have gotten for myself otherwise and I am so happy for that. This haul makes me even more dedicated to my ballin on a budget lifestyle and I plan on continuing to scour Urban Outfitter’s website for more sales in the future!

So there you have it, my Urban Outfitters Haul! What store do you dream about purchasing from? What store have you gotten the best deals from? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. –Sarah

Aug12

Amazon Freebie

Posted on by
Standard
Amazon Freebie

Hi everyone and TGIF! I am finally getting up to date on all of my summer purchases posts and this one pertains to my new favorite sweatshirt that I got on Amazon for FREE! Thanks to completing surveys on IPoll, I received a twenty-five dollar Amazon gift card in April or so. Since then, the card has been burning a hole in my pocket but after watching Animal House with my parents last month, I knew just what to spend it on. Take a look:

Animal House is one of my favorite movies because it’s basically the original Old School – which happens to be another one of my favorites! In Animal House, the “COLLEGE” sweatshirt that Bluto sports while downing a bottle of Jack always cracks me up. The shirt is just so ridiculous and as soon as I saw it while watching the movie last month, I knew that I wanted one of my own.

After the movie was finished, I turned to Amazon and hoped that they would have one for a reasonable price. I was in luck because they had a great selection and all of the sweatshirts seemed to be in my gift card budget and had excellent reviews. I was able to snag my Animal House style sweatshirt for twenty-seven bucks but thanks to my gift card and the points that I accumulated from my Amazon credit card, I got it FO FREE! Now that’s what I call ballin on a budget!

So there you have it, my Animal House Amazon Freebie! What is your favorite crazy college kids movie? What is your favorite quote from Animal House? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. –Sarah

Aug10

ModCloth Haul

Posted on by
Standard
ModCloth Haul

Hey everyone and happy Hump Day! I recently just received the sweetest ModCloth Haul of all time – a box that went up to my shoulders filled with shoes for me! That’s right, I got FOUR pairs of ModCloth shoes for SEVENTY DOLLARS thanks to their end of summer sale. I stocked up on cute boots and killer wedges for a fraction of their original cost. I could not be happier with my purchases so take a look and let’s discuss:

^^^ PRETTY!!!!

My relationship with ModCloth is for the most part, nonexistent. Their prices just do not fit into my Lil Red Lifestyle of ballin on a budget so I just admire all of their gorgeous clothes and accessories from afar. I constantly lust over all of the prettiness that ModCloth has to offer and when the end of summer and winter come around, I religiously check the site to see when their amazing end of season sales take place. Usually around these times, the out of season items are marked down and an additional percentage is taken off, too. So, needless to say, when I learned that ModCloth’s sale items were an extra FORTY PERCENT OFF, homegirl just had to jump on the opportunity.

Jump on the opportunity? Psh, more like a pounce on said opportunity. I scoured the sale items and clicked on anything that tickled my fancy. After all, the prices were right! I ended up with two funky pairs of wedges, a penny loafer wedge, and my beautiful, beloved, gorgeous star studded booties. Said booties are actually what I would like to discuss today because there’s kind of a funny story behind them considering this was the third time that I ordered them. Let me explain…

I’ve been hungrily staring at these amazing booties on my laptop screen for the better part of two months. As soon as they got marked down, my mom generously offered to pay for them as an extra birthday present. As soon as “extra birthday present” traveled from my mom’s mouth and into my ears, I was on the computer and ordering the boots as quickly as my little fingers could. The boots arrived. They were perfect. End of story? Eh, not quite.

Literally three days after my order was placed, the boots were marked down further. *Sigh* So I had to do the old rebuy and return trick to get the better price. The boots arrived, again. They were still perfect. And the more expensive pair got returned. End of story?! Still no.

While browsing the sale pages, there they were. My star studded boots were marked down even further. *You’ve got to be freaking kidding me* Thankfully, I was still within the thirty day time period for a refund and was able to buy the boots one more time and return my current pair. The boots arrived, yet again. You already know that they were perfect. And that is the end of the story. The moral being: That I will do anything to save some extra moolah, even if that means buying the same pair of shoes three times to get the right price. #SMH

I have worn all of my new shoes except for my star booties which is funny considering the trouble I went through to get them. Reason being: It’s too damn hot in the AK-Rowdy to be marching around in skinny jeans and boots. So for the time being, I’ll march around in skinny jeans and wedges instead.

So there you have it, my latest ModCloth Haul! What is your favorite site to online shop on? What is your favorite ModCloth purchase? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. –Sarah

May27

If The Shoe Fits – Jennifer Lopez Edition

Posted on by
Standard
If The Shoe Fits – Jennifer Lopez Edition

Hi everyone and TGIF! Last weekend my mom and I had to go to Kohl’s to make some returns. We were going there strictly to make said returns and then leave. But, of course, that never really happens, does it? While my mom was making the returns, I decided to go look at the shoes. I wasn’t interested in any new clothes since I’m pretty well set for the summer and I figured that the shoe department was a safe place to spend five minutes until we had to go…WRONG.

It turns out that Kohl’s was having their last ditch 80% off sale to get rid of all of the out of season shoes to help ring in the warm weather. As soon as I saw this, I crumbled under the concept of such amazing deals and began to scour the aisles for my size. There were so many pairs that were cute but not necessarily cute for me. However, there were two pairs of ankle booties that totally reminded me of my mom so I set them aside for her to try on when she arrived in the shoe department.

As always, I was right and my mom loved the booties. When we decided that those were the pairs we would leave with, we began to head out of the shoe department and to the registers. But that was until we saw that there were shelves of shoes set up in the middle of the main aisles that were marked “Under $10”. We ended up taking a look (shocker) and found a pair of boots for FOUR DOLLARS for my sister. We also saw my latest addition to my shoe collection – a pair of beautiful Jennifer Lopez wedge boots. Take a look:

^^^ ❤ ❤ ❤

I had my eye on these boots ever since they came out in the winter. Unfortunately, they were priced at a cool one hundred and were never marked down enough to make the purchase worth it. So when I saw that these boots were priced at just ten dollars, I knew that I had to try them on. They were as perfect as I had hoped and looked so cool with my black skinnies because the opening of the boot was so big. It created a super edgy contrast and I was smitten.

As if the ten dollar deal wasn’t already amazing, my mom and I had a thirty percent off coupon which brought these originally one hundred dollar pair of boots to SEVEN DOLLARS!!!! My mom and I ended up walking away with four pairs of shoes for forty dollars. I couldn’t believe our luck with all of the shoes we found because I feel like we snagged the best of the pairs that were left. And, of course, nothing is sweeter than a great steal!

So there you have it, the latest issue of If The Shoe Fits – Jennifer Lopez Edition! Has anyone scored any good off season deals recently? What store do you go to that has the best clothes for the right price? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Apr2

Beauty Bloggers: HELP! Again.

Posted on by
Standard
Beauty Bloggers: HELP! Again.

Howdy everyone and happy weekend! Once again, I am calling upon all of the fabulous Beauty Bloggers of WordPress for some HELP! I’ve been using The Body Shop’s Vitamin C Skin Boost for as long as I can remember. Although I’ve always found their price of twenty-seven dollars per bottle a little steep, I still shell out the cash when there’s a good sale. However, the price for the Boost is now almost thirty dollars and that doesn’t mesh well with my lifestyle of ballin on a budget.

I’ve been wanting to wean myself off of TBS products for some time now because I truly feel like I can find similar products for a better price elsewhere. Now that one of my favorite items in my daily beauty routine has hiked up in price, I feel like there’s no better time to start browsing the market for a new serum style product. Does anyone who’s familiar with TBS’s Vitamin C Skin Boost have any suggestions on a similar item? I have normal skin and am willing to try anything within reason. Thank you so much! -Sarah

tbs2.jpg

^^^ Old faithful.

Dec8

All Done Christmas Shopping!

Posted on by
Standard
All Done Christmas Shopping!

Hey everyone and happy Tuesday! This past weekend I was SO happy to finally finish my Christmas shopping! I got a vast majority of my shopping done at Kohl’s, TJMaxx, and some local shops in downtown Kent. But this weekend, I broke out the big guns and let Amazon take care of the rest. I ended up saving a lot of precious time and moolah this year thanks to smart shopping and all I can say is…I’m glad it’s over. Let’s discuss:

I was really pleased with all of the items that I bought in person and because I had lots of great coupons and gift cards, I was able to save a lot of money, too! But after spreading the wealth in stores, I knew that there were things that would just be simply easier to buy online. That’s when Amazon and a beautiful gift card that my mom got from work came in.

I affectionately call myself the “Queen of the Amazon” because I really am. Give me an hour on that site and I’ll have a shopping cart full of the perfect gifts for everyone on my list. I spent some time writing out ideas of what to get everyone who I still needed to shop for and then I logged on to Amazon to browse what might work for each of them.

When I’m doing a big online shopping haul, I have a tried and true technique that I return to year after year:

  • Step 1) Make a handwritten list of gift ideas.
  • Step 2) Browse the ideas on Amazon and bookmark anything that might work.
  • Step 3) Mull it over.
  • Step 4) Return to the site a few days later to make your final decisions.

I bookmarked so many items on Amazon that I lost count and ended up forgetting a lot of the things that I had saved. But that’s the beauty of expanding your options far and wide. Because I picked out so many possibilities, there were only a chosen few items that I really remembered and those were the ones that I ended up going with each time. I’m all about picking items that are memorable, useful, and relevant to the person that I’m shopping for.

After I had time to think of each gift, I returned to Amazon one last time to make my final decisions. This is when I start the nitpicking. I look for the best price on the product, an item that will ship for free, and the one with the best reviews and ratings. My rating rule of thumb is that if it has less than four stars overall, then I don’t even consider it.

Once I’m 150% sure that I have the perfect gift for the best price, I add the item to the cart and repeat the process for the next product. Thanks to this ballin on a budget method, I ended up spending under one hundred dollars for SEVEN items and still had cash to spare on the gift card! Nice!

Thanks to smart shopping, coupons, gift cards, and having a keen eye for the best deal, I ended up spending a grand total of…Eighty dollars of my own money for multiple gifts for seven people! Not bad, not bad at all!

snuggle.gif

I can’t say what I got for everyone because you never know who’s tuning in to lifewithlilred! BUT, I know for a fact that my dad doesn’t read my blog so I can say that I’m pretty excited for what I got him! My dad loves to travel and plans fantastic vacations so one of the gifts that I got him will definitely come in handy…A brand new atlas for 2016, which will be a vast improvement of his torn and used 2005 atlas that has never been updated. I think that after eleven years an upgrade was much needed! 🙂

I’m All Done Christmas Shopping and I couldn’t be happier! Now it’s time to sit back and relax until it’s time to start wrapping all of the presents up! Who is all done with their holiday shopping? Where do you usually do all of your shopping at? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Dec1

Ballin On A Budget

Posted on by
Standard
Ballin On A Budget

Heyyy everyone and happy Tuesday! As a college kid, I’m always looking for ways to save a buck in everything from beauty and clothes to eating out and buying textbooks. In the past few weeks I’ve demonstrated some frugal efforts at its finest in my beauty routines and now I’m here to share them with you! Let’s discuss:

1) Dye your hair at home!!!! – Back in the day, I would get my hair dyed and cut monthly. I was obsessed with keeping my hair as fabulously red as possible (I still am) and would eagerly shell out about seventy bucks per month at the salon to satisfy my needs. Once I started school, I knew that my hair dying habit had to die. I began to search Target and drug stores for the box color that would match the color I would get done at the salon the closest. Lucky for me, I found a perfect if not better match in Vidal Sassoon’s London Luxe collection. Their Runway Red box color is literally the best thing that’s ever happened to me because now I pay a whopping eight dollars per month for salon quality color!

runway1.jpg

I went from spending over eight hundred dollars yearly to about ninety dollars thanks to using box color on my luscious locks. Every month I now look forward to my pampering time when I throw on a robe, apply my hair color, and watch the water turn red as I wash it out. There’s nothing better! And the sweet smell of savings and freshly dyed and washed hair ain’t too bad either!

Have makeup free days: In the past month, I’ve spent at least twelve days makeup free. These are the days when I’m working on school work from home, when I’m having girl time with my best friend, or hangouts with my boyfriend (because if he can handle my bad breath in the morning he can handle seeing me makeup free, damnit!). I used to do my makeup every day no matter what but then I realized that it’s kind of silly to do that when no one but your family is going to see you in it. Now I only apply my makeup on days that I know for a cold hard fact I’ll be going out and about running errands, to school, or date nights with my beau.

By not using my makeup every single day, I’ve been stretching out how long the product lasts. My black eyeliner, for example, usually needs replacing after one month but as November comes to a close, I still have a little less than half of it left. This has dwindled down my spending at Target significantly because I no longer have to go to the store to do my monthly stock ups. Yes, I’ll be buying the products eventually but if I decrease the amount of eyeliner I buy per year by three, that’s saving close to twenty dollars! And that doesn’t even include mascara, eye shadows, blushes, and whatever other products you might use! My makeup free days have been stretching my dollar for this month which means more moolah to spend on holiday shopping!

ryan

^^^ Thanks, Ryan. ❤

So there you have it, just a few of the ways that Lil Red is Ballin On A Budget! What are some of your money saving secrets? What box color do you swear by? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Nov27

The Body Shop Black Friday Disappointment

Posted on by
Standard
The Body Shop Black Friday Disappointment

Helloooo everyone and happy Black Friday! I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving doing whatever it is that you do. As I mentioned in a previous post, my mom and I love hitting up The Body Shop on Black Friday but unfortunately due to a raise in their prices, we’ll be staying home today. Let’s discuss:

For forever and always, The Body Shop has run their “3 for 30” deal but this year the price got jacked up to “3 for 36”. Not only did the promotion increase in price but so did the gift that you can purchase if you participate in the 3 for 36 deal. Instead of the usual $25 gift bag filled with product that you can buy, it is now $35. This increase in prices equals sixteen extra dollars that you will be spending at TBS if you decide to shop their sales.

Now, “sixteen extra dollars? That isn’t bad,” you might think and I guess maybe it isn’t. BUT STILL! For years and years I’ve looked forward to shopping the 3 for 30 deal so this raise in prices seems cruel and unusual. Have they not heard of the motto “if it isn’t broken then don’t fix it”? The 3 for 30 promo always seemed too good to be true and now it is just a figment of my imagination. Shameful.

In all reality, the deal is okay if you’re buying more expensive items BUT I’M STILL BITTER!! Their Black Friday promotion for 2015 is definitely not worth venturing out to the mall for. In my opinion, I’ll be better off shopping their deals online when they are running one of their beautiful “50% off site wide” promotions. I plan on waiting until the holiday season is over for a promo like that to happen so I can stock up on all of my necessities as opposed to doing so today.

shame

^^^ This basically sums up my feelings about the Black Friday promotion price increase. I’m boycotting!!

Please tell me that I’m not the only one who feels pissy about The Body Shop’s new Black Friday deal. PLEASE?! Who is going out shopping today? What store has the best deals? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Nov23

Monday Update: Early Christmas Shopping Edition

Posted on by
Standard
Monday Update: Early Christmas Shopping Edition

Hellooo everyone and happy Monday! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! The holidays are approaching quickly and because I’m a big fan of planning ahead, I’ve been doing a lot of my holiday shopping nice and early. I made my list of what to by and who to by for, checked it twice, and crossed off three people on my list already this past week! Let’s discuss:

Last year I did all of my shopping on Amazon and I plan on doing a vast majority of it on there again this year. However, thanks to some wonderful coupons and gift cards from Kohl’s and TJMaxx, I was able to knock out gifts for my sister and best friend. I can’t post what I got for them in case they read it, of course, but I can say that for both of them I purchased a gorgeous cloth decorative basket to fill with some of their favorite things. I’m excited to give my gifts to them because this year I went with items that I knew for a fact that both of them would love so there’s absolutely no way that they’re going to dislike anything and deem me a horrible gift giver!

It’s always fun to shop around and try something new that you think someone might like but it just causes so much anxiety! This year, I’m going for gifts that I’m 100% sure are going to be used and enjoyed by the people who I’m buying for. Believe me, the last thing that I want to do when Christmas rolls around is retreat back to the stores to return or exchange gifts that I went out on a limb to purchase with a hope that the receiver just might like it. This rings especially true for my sister, who is literally the hardest person ever to shop for! It’s not that she’s picky, she just knows what she likes and what she doesn’t so it was especially important to go with tried and true favorites for her!

I mentioned above that I did some shopping at Kohl’s and TJMaxx but I also did some purchasing at a few small businesses in Kent, as well. I think that it’s so very important to shop local when you can during the holiday season and in general so I was really pleased that I was able to find some nice presents from some fantastic little boutiques that are relatively close to me. Thanks to the fun downtown shopping area in Kent, which is close to where I coach figure skating for the Special Olympics, I was able to buy an add on to my sister’s gift basket and an amazing gift for my boyfriend. I wish that I could tell you what I got him so badly because it’s seriously the best gift ever and I got it for the best deal ever, as well – which you know is something that I always look out for! #ballinonabudget

I’m really glad that I knocked out some shopping last week because now I only have four people left to shop for and to me, that is so relieving! For these last few gifts I’ll probably stick with Amazon and other online shopping sites because I already have items from there in mind. Another big relief is that I won’t have to venture out into the craziness that is the mall or other shopping centers during the next few weeks because it’s much too overwhelming for me. When I went to Kohl’s and TJs they were both fairly crowded already but the local shops that I hit up were nice and vacant for the most part which made shopping so much more enjoyable…another benefit of shopping local!

As far as any hardcore Black Friday shopping goes this week, it’s strictly out of the question…sort of, anyways. The past two years my mom and I have went to the mall probably an hour or so before they close up for the day, and each year it’s been quite empty – so fingers crossed that it’s like that again this year for a threepeat! We go to the mall with one store to go to and one store only…The Body Shop! Each year TBS runs their three for thirty sale as well as an awesome gift for a great price that you can purchase, which is typically a cute tote filled with one hundred or more dollars worth of product. During the three for thirty sale we stock up on our more expensive necessities and end up saving a small fortune! It’s seriously the best, but if we don’t make it out to the mall this Friday then it’s okay because the deal runs throughout the entire holiday season. Our yearly tradition is fun though, so I hope that it will happen again this Black Friday!

black-friday-meme

^^^ Lololololol, so true!

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: Early Christmas Shopping Edition! Who has gotten some holiday shopping done already? Who plans on going Black Friday shopping this week? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah