5 Tips to Wardrobe Shopping

Written by Barbara Myers


Shopping can be a pleasure or a chore. However you look at it, use these five tips to be an effective and organized shopper.

1. Dress well. In order to spend less and buy wisely, dress up in comfortable clothes. It'srepparttar same concept as going torepparttar 131067 grocery store on a full stomach.

2. Shop with a plan. Know exactly what you need and how much you can spend. Write it down. Create a budget.

3. Keep an ongoing list of needs in your closet. As you dress each morning, make notes of specific items you need to complete outfits such as a wider, brown belt or a white tee with a v-neck.

Exterior Decorating on a Budget

Written by Kathleen Wilson


Exterior Decorating on a Budget By Kathleen Wilson

Many times we are so busy decoratingrepparttar interior of our home , we forget aboutrepparttar 131064 view most people see first…the outside! Perhaps we all believe improvements torepparttar 131065 exterior ofrepparttar 131066 home must be expensive. Not true! What a better place to showcase your clever creativity than where every passerby can see!

Your best friend here is a building site. Find out where they are building new homes in your area, and go talk torepparttar 131067 contractor in charge ofrepparttar 131068 site. Most of these sites have scrap piles where they discard huge amounts of materials they can’t use, either because they aren’trepparttar 131069 right size, a mistake was made, or a myriad of other reasons. Askrepparttar 131070 contractor if you can help yourself to their scrap pile, most are more than willing to let you.

Here you can find large pieces of ½ inch siding, scrap wood, broken tiles, vinyl flooring remnants, and possibly even leftover paint or countertop material. Look at everything withrepparttar 131071 eye ofrepparttar 131072 budget decorator, you can make something out of all these things!

Userepparttar 131073 siding and scrap wood to make garden furniture, decorative shutters for your windows, or as architectural elements on your existing features. For instance, we have several large 6x6 columns on our porch, very plain lumber. We are using scrap 1x4 and 1x2 to add wrap around moldings on these columns, and painting them to contrast. It looks like a custom porch column! You could add simple shapes as appliqués to doors, gable areas, or empty walls.

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