Real Life with Jenny

I have left a huge absence in my blog lately, but I am back, at least for today. So I have made a commitment to myself to be especially frugal with my household shopping the next month. I’ll probably do the same after the month, but it’s always best for me to set short, attainable goals.

Some of my “rules”:

1. I can never go over the food/household/cat budget.

2. My goal is to come under budget. By how much is dependent on sales and weekly needs.

3. Find inexpensive, easy-to-make snacks and drinks at home to cut down on costs.

4. Every week, buy another new household cleaning product that is all-natural and non-toxic in order to replace the current toxic kind I have on hand.

Alright, so the last one isn’t really to help me be more frugal, but I have been planning on doing this for a long time. I started last week with laundry detergent, and, this week, it was dishwasher detergent. It’s been totally attainable, even with my frugal budget.

So, here’s my menu this week. Enjoy!

Dinners:
*Seared chicken and veggies, tossed with fresh chopped parsley and a Thai black pepper sauce
*Teriyaki Chicken bowls
*Eric’s manly meal– Sweet bell pepper and onion sausage, in small blackened pieces, pan fried potato pieces and a dark irish stout
*Gnocchi in a gorgonzola sauce, leftover blackened sausage pieces, and caramelized leeks (all together in a bowl)
*Asian salad w/ mandarin oranges and wontons
*Shredded chicken tossed with spinach and an olive tapenade - all wrapped in an olive oil wrap
*Leftover (or find whatever’s in the pantry) night

Snacks:
*Cake mix cookies (made with 1 box yellow cake mix, 1 egg, 1/2 c. soy butter)
*Horchata (see this recipe)–It tastes amazing, and it’s so easy!
*Celery and peanut butter, topped with just a dash of sugar

~Also, I have recently discovered my own lactose intolerance, so I’m kinda new to this. If any of you have any good tips on dairy free menus, that would be so helpful. Thanks!~

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is Everyday Minerals! I had recently realized that all of my makeup was expiring or recently expired. So, I decided to start looking around for new makeup. Actually, I hadn’t been wearing hardly any makeup for awhile, but it’s a great thing to look and feel like a girl. Anyhow, I started checking out mineral makeups as they are more pure and natural and often organic!

I know a lot of makeups have minerals in them, but the key to getting a good makeup is that it is free of chemicals, preservatives, parabens, fragrance, talc (it stretches and clogs pores), cornstarch, and bismuth oxychloride. Another great thing would be for the brand to be a signer of the campaign for safe cosmetics. Check out cosmeticdatabase.com to find out what is in your makeup and whether or they are a signer!

Well, I found my new favorite! It’s everyday minerals. I have to say that my skin actually has never felt this good, ever. I have always had ridiculously dry skin, but after only a few days of wearing this, it feels smooth and silky soft. Oh, and the samples are free, plus shipping. If you want a sample kit, pay $3.95 shipping for 3 foundations, 1 concealer and 1 blush sample. The samples are good for a little over a week. I bought an “I Can’t Believe It” Kit about a week ago, and it arrived yesterday. Now I have all sorts of fun things to play with. Check out their makeup. It’s amazingly wonderful. Here’s what I got:

2 foundations in the Original Glo formula
-Multi-Tasking Neutral (cool)
-Sandy Beige

Concealer
-Intensive Fair concealer

Finishing Powder
-Natural Reflections Fair

3 Blushes
-Tea Time
-Apple
-Natural

4 Eyeshadows
-Samba Lessons
-Rare Silk
-Pink Pajamas
-Shopping Spree

2 Brushes
-Long Handled Kabuki
-Eye Shadow brush

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