coupons and hair cut

i LOVE a deal. it's a family thing. in some families it's valued to be ambitious about money, make a bunch of it, and then show it off. in my family, thrift is the name of the game. one dear uncle will occasionally awe me with his most recent side-of-the-road findings. and he finds some good stuff. all i ever see is single shoes.

this summer i 've really enjoyed garage sailing. (no it's not sale-ing. for me it's sailing.) i've scored some great treasures, even with two little boys in tow. maybe i'll chronicle them here sometime, but not tonight.

our whole house is furnished almost completely with second hand furniture, mostly free. (that has more to do with generous family and friends, good timing, and God's small blessings, than my own thriftiness.)

so in seek of more cheap thrills and because garage sailing season is winding down, i have become intrigued with the idea of couponing. i don't know that i can completely get into it, but enjoy the ease and possibilities that this site offers: http://www.moneysavingmom.com/. today i went to target in pursuit of some free thrills and did okay.

for these four items, i paid $2.20 with tax. the bread alone would have been $2.49. not that i would have bought it for that much, but it is a fun treat-blueberry strudel (or strussel?). according to the receipt i saved $4.50. yikes. groceries can be so expensive. i often think i'd rather eat beans and rice and spend my grocery money on fun things instead. oh what a dark day that would be for my dear husband who 1.)doesn't like beans and 2.) doesn't like rice.

so we'll see how couponing goes. i might just have to use craigslist in place of garage sailing, although part of what i love about garage sales (it's not sails, of course) is the walking and the summer weather. we'll see.

in other news, i cut my own hair last night. which means, i went and had my awesome stylist fix my hair tonight. i say stylist because she does too great of a job to be called my hair gal. the idea of me having a stylist is quite hilarious though. because, since i love a deal, before going to said hair cutter, i had rarely paid more than $7 for a haircut in the last five years. but she is worth it and i love knowing that all my money goes directly to her instead of to a corporation or to pay a rental for a booth. and her little boy is soooo cute. it's quite the entertainment i get in addition to my cut.

i don't have a before pic. it looked like i had grown puppy dog ears in the form of hair. it was not a good look and in a rather annoyed mood last night, i decided i could fix it. then realized i couldn't. it really wasn't that bad. and if i had enlisted tim's help, it just might have worked. but we weren't friends last night and i was more than happy to have a good reason to go have my hair cut.

this is the after.

that's what happens when i try to take my own pic.

tim said i try too hard. i say, i don't generally like pictures of myself. so at least if it's weird, it's obvious. instead of it trying to look nice and turning out weird. (it's also a family thing. i have pictures of many generations making odd faces.) plus he didn't give me many chances. he was busy.