You don’t need to invest a lot. If you haven’t started yet, I think this is the time to start learning even if you don’t have any experience.

I’ll write some more with the detail.

If its about cars, I can careless. I have a different perspective about cars. A car is not a good investment because of its depreciating value. I don’t want to invest my money in cars. I don’t really care about the image like most of our society does.

For more than 3 years, I am still driving my old “year 99 black Chevrolet Cavalier”. I remember 3 years ago, when my husband got a new job ( a sophisticated job, i would say) he desperately needed a new car.
other people in his office were driving “better/good car”. I told him that his car was fine, the engine was still
really good, the AC and heater were still powerful. There’s nothing wrong with that car except a little old dull appearance from driving it for a few years and of course less maintenance. My husband spilled coffee in his car almost everyday ( sorry husband I exaggerate it a little bit).

There’s bunch of coffee stain here and there which had been very difficult to remove.
The car smell dump because of mildew from the coffee spilled. Exterior, body dents also got corrosion for not having them fixed immediately.

Since our finances were tight and I didn’t have a job, our first plan was to trade the car and buy a new one for my husband. But we’re a little bit shocked when the car dealer valued it at $500. That’s an insult. What can you get for that money?

I told my husband to just keep the car for me and buy a new one for him. Since I’m a new driver, I don’t mind driving a ugly car. I came from another country and I didn’t drive before I came to the US. Back in my country, I used to go to work and go everywhere by bus. So, having a car, even a second hand one is a huge blessing to me. Oh yeaa, I named my car “Marty”

One summer day, when I was driving to Target, someone hit my car really bad. The car body was beat up. That’s his fault by the way. After all the drama with insurance company, I finally got $1400 reimbursement check from the insurance.

Since the damages were really bad, my husband told me no point to fix it. We would keep the money and plan to buy another new car for me. But life came to us so fast. A few weeks after the accident, I got a new job. With a little kitty cat shy I drove up my beat up Marty for about 4 months. The reason why we waited for so long because we were still unsure we would buy a new car for me . We just bought a new car for my husband and we have car finance for about 3 years. We don’t want to have debt.

Here are a few consideration I had in mind :

• The car engines were still really good
• Heater, AC were working properly
• The millage is not that bad. It’s about 100,000
• If we trade or sell, we would probably get no more than $1500.( If we are lucky enough)
• New car will cost 12,000-15,000 (those price are for economy cars)
• Insurance would go up higher if we buy another new car
• We would have car payment for about 1-3 years. It depends on how long we can pay it off.

Based on those considerations, I finally decided to fix Marty. The cost for the repair, detail engine checked up, new tires, and etc were about $2000. If I could drive Marty for a few years, I could save a lot of money. It will also help us to avoid having car debt.

It has been a year and a half since I fixed Marty; he still takes me to work and round and round faithfully.
Marty has been good to me and I can’t be happier. I take care of Marty really good. I clean and wax him up regularly. The interior smells good. My love for Marty is getting stronger and stronger each day. With a little prayer, I hope Marty still strong for a few years to come. Keep up good work Marty!

A few ” Must Do” if you have a old car

• Change the oil regularly
• Rotate the tire regularly
• Check the break, and the engines regularly
• Clean up your car regularly
• Make sure your car are safe and drive safely

Take a look at this new ad we saw as we drove by Chin Chin Restaurant with our nearly empty gas tank. Isn’t this a smart idea?

Last Saturday, my husband and I went out for dinner. With a little gas left in the tank, we decided to eat at a nearby restaurant to save gas. If lucky we would try get gas after dinner. My husband thought the later the better. On the way to the restaurant, we passed our favorite BP gas station and found out it was open (3 days earlier it had been barricaded tightly with tires and yellow tape surrounding the gas pumps. It looked almost like a war zone).

Even though there was a fair line, it was not too long. I suggested we get gas before going to dinner or we wouldn’t get a chance at all. My husband didn’t like the idea. He didn’t want to think about spending our wonderful Saturday night waiting in line at the gas station. Far from romantic. But what choice did we have?

After my short sermon (I asked him to choose between a long sermon or short one and he chose the short one); he finally agreed to do it. We lined up behind the long train of vehicles. While cars moved slowly toward gas station, we passed the Chin Chin Restaurant. There’s a slogan on top of the building that we always laugh about when we read it. It’s “Chin Chin Restaurant, The best Chinese Restaurant in Town.” But we’ve rarely seen many cars there. It’s probably 4-5 max. 3 of them are probably the waiters’ and chefs’ It seems the slogan needs adjusting huh?

But the folks at Chin Chin never give up hope. I know they’re really a determined bunch. In order to market their restaurant, one of their tricks is slipping the menu into the doors of prospective customers’ homes. I don’t really like that marketing strategy.

It’s true, sometimes people see things as pain, but others see it as opportunity. There’s always Cin and Cang (Upsss!! sorry!) I mean yin and yang in Life. I really admire Chin Chin. They never give up hope. That’s the way to do business if you want to successful.

I am wondering how many people ordered their food while waiting for gas. So far I saw one. I saw a waiter run speedily toward a car with a delivery order a big grin.

I’m going to write again soon with more frugal tips and stories. Please bare with me okay!!

Suzana-

Even though I have tons of lipsticks, it seems that it’s never enough. I want to have a complete color collection that matches all of my outfits. Or maybe it’s just my addictions. Several times en I bought a new color which I thought was a new cool color for me, I got home and found out I already had one of a similar color. Then I ended up having so many lipsticks in similar color or slightly different. That’s really bad bad bad bad ( like my 2 years old niece said) ….and a waste of money too–quite the opposite of my frugal nature ( I know that!!..I try to forgive myself for this

As you all know that we can’t keep cosmetics for too long. Let say for 10 years. There’s a limit on how long we can keep cosmetics for our safety reasons. The best sign on when to throw your make up away is when the color changes or an odor develops. Get rid off them. Most of cosmetic use preservatives to fight bacteria. The reason of color changes or odor develops is because the preservatives may no longer be able to fight bacteria.

Here’s a few simple guideline for how long you can keep your make up in

• Mascara: 3 months ( for this one is a MUST)
• Liquid eyeliner: 3-6 months (for this one is a MUST)
• Oil Free Foundation: 1 year
• Nail Color: 1 year
• Concealer: 1-1.5 year
• Lip gloss: 1.5-2 years
• Powder: 2 years
• Blush and Bronzer: 2 years
• Eye shadow: 2 years
• Eyeliner: 2 years
• Lipstick: 2 years
• Lip liner: 2 years

BUT…….In my opinion, basically, there’s no hard and fast rule on when to throw cosmetics out. I believe we can keep make up indefinitely as long as it looks and smells all right and the consistency doesn’t change. But there are some products that really sensitive and the rule it’s not working.

This season is about natural fresh looking color. Emphasize the assets that you already have Nude or natural lip color for lipstick is in now. I used to get really tempted to buy lipstick which is in season. But now since I have so many lipsticks I want to be more frugal and find creative ideas to use what I already have to create a new color to suit me.

So I came up with this idea…. If you have a lot of lipsticks in bold colors that are too bold to wear everyday, here’s the trick: buy a nude lipstick. First apply lip balm or moisturizer on your lips, then if you like to use lip liner, frame your lips thinly ( I don’t like to use this because if you are are not careful you can make your outer lips darker) then with a lipstick brush, fill the lips with bold lipstick color first. Make it even. Then apply the nude color on top of it, and you are done. Believe me you can have tons of new colors that you create by yourself. And you don’t need to buy a new lipstick that’s matchy matchy with your outfit. Simple but frugal.

Do you have some new tricks with your cosmetics? Anything related to cosmetic stuff. Please share yours. I’d like to hear them.