Thrifty is a way of life

Okay, so as I sit day in and day out and contemplate what I am going to talk about on this blog I am constantly reminded daily of all the little things that I do to be more thrifty. I have said countless times to myself, "Self, you need to quit spending money." Well Self has not listened too well, but the amount of money that I do spend goes a lot further than the amount of money I could spend...

Poor Minded: Okay I operate off of a poor mind. For those of you who do not know what this means here are a few ways I like to describe it: There is too much month at the end of my paycheck, I am uncomfortable without at least $200 in the checking account (but then again this is where a wonderful husband comes in handy), sorry single gals, and finally can I do it myself? Okay being poor minded is a choice first of all. As my wonderful husband likes to remind me, Spendarella just because it's there doesn't mean you have to spend it. Obviously, but where is the fun in that? I enjoy crafting things...making something out of nothing, or just using what we have to make things work. I also enjoy giving gifts to people, typically things I make (not bake) because I like to invest in people and however I choose to invest in others depends greatly on my relationship with them.

I recently got married to my wonderful husband and we had a pretty large wedding, wedding party, reception...which auto-freakin-matically made it expensive up front. However it was strategic choices throughout the entire process that made it all together a lot less than what it could have been.

Wedding Party Gifts: We each had 10 attendants, a flower girl and a ring bearer...that is a grand total of 22 people. Shut the front door. I know right? But it was wonderful and everyone was fantastic and I loved it...but those 22 people invested their money, time and utter patience into being part of our wonderful day and I felt it to be very important that they receive a gift that was personal and a representation of my gratitude to them. But that is 22 people...ha! So here is what I did.

Girls: Tote Bag, favorite wine, pack of playing cards, nail file, champagne flute, travel pack of kleenex, pack of gum, Smart water...okay that sounds plain, and it was until I did a little magic on it...with a lot of help from my outstanding wedding planner. And everyone also had a personal note from me.
-Tote Bag: Monogrammed with their initials (Bought at Market in Atlanta, each on with monogram was $10)
-Favorite Wine: didn't do anything special to it. (Total Wine on Sunday, which made it cheaper)
-Playing cards: printed stickers with their initials on it and stuck it on the top of the box they came in; thus making it personal. (Michaels)
-Kleenex: I printed labels that said "Just in case"
Smart Water: Printed labels again with quote on it.
Gum: obvious reasons
Nail File: Giraffe style
Champagne Flute: Painted their first intial. Well I did not, my fabulous wedding planner did! (Ikea)

These gifts could have cost me a lot more money but they did not because instead of making it easy and just ordering things already made, I made them myself...

Boys: The husband and myself chose our wedding colors based off of the bow ties we got for the groomsmen...which were purchased one year before the wedding. This helped us save a cost by buying them early instead of leaving that to the last minute. So the boys were given their bow ties, their favorite six pack of beer, hand made cufflinks and the wedding favors.
The cufflinks were very special to me because they were personal to the guys and something that they can keep...if they want to wear them again that is fine, but if not then they were not that expensive to make! I ordered the cufflink backs off eBay I had 10 sets which cost $7.00 and no shipping, the legos were just picked randomly (the cheapest I could find them). I hot glued them to the cufflink back and put them in a teal box (Michaels) and inside was a label I printed that said, "thanks for being a connecting piece in our life together."

There were so many other elements to our wedding that were cost effective other than the wedding party gifts, but here is another thing that we did...it is on my good friends blog because she was so wonderful that she actually made these for me because I was on the verge of killing people if I had to make them myself...so go check it out and follow this blog as well! http://cpandb.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/give-em-the-bout/ 

I will explain other ways that my wedding was thrifty over time, but I thought I would leave you with this seeing as it is almost time to go back to school and maybe you wanted to give a teacher something nice, or maybe you are getting married...I don't know the details of your life; I only try to explain the details of mine!