The Cheapskate Redecorates

In the hopes that I can make spring come along faster, I decided to redecorate my bedroom. The former color scheme: brown on brown. Don't ask me why. The new color scheme: black, white, and lemon yellow.

To create this, I cashed in a Christmas gift certificate to fabric.com and bought some really lovely Michael Miller damask cotton. Two and a half yards sewn together created a quick and easy coverlet that drapes over my old, kind-of-white down comforter. The matching throw pillows are made from the scraps of a former project, also made of Michael Miller fabric. All that remained to be purchased were some new sheets for a total of $30.00. Not too shabby. And the dog loves it, too.

Now, I won't lie. I did drop some cash on the fabric that will become the new bedroom curtains. However, the great thing about curtains is that, should I move or decide to redecorate again, I can always reuse that fabric in other projects; it's basically a big, hemmed rectangle.

Total time spent: 2hrs.
Total cash spent: $30.00 before curtains, $70.00 after.
Design on a dime indeed!

A Cheapskate's Wedding

Now, I got married before I made this commitment to being cheap. But, I have to say, this wedding was one of the cheapest on record.
The total:
Ceremony: $100.00 to reserve the Rose Garden at Birmingham Botanical Gardens
Reception: An undisclosed amount, because I called in some favors, had the reception at my workplace, and appealed to everyone's sense of charity.
Invitations:$75.00 and a few hours spent tying bows with my sister
Dress: $225.00 from J.Crew. And it fit like a dream
Shoes: $25.00
Hair and Makeup: I have a wonderful neighbor. Totally free.
Cake: $250.00 from a local chain of grocery stores. And it was delicious.
All of this adds up to just under $2000.00. And it was awesome.

The First Step in Recovery is Admitting You Have a Problem

I inventoried my closet a few days ago. Here are the results:
39 Dresses. This includes my wedding dress and a dress of my mother's from the 'seventies, but they still count.
19 Sweaters.(Keep in mind, I live in Alabama. We have one cold month out of the year.)
8 Little Sweaters (cardigans, shrugs, etc.)
23 Skirts.
9 pairs of pants.
18 Blouses.
12 Dressy t-shirts.
4 Jackets
23 Pairs of Shoes.

Holy crap. Looking over the tally, I thought about the clothes that I had recently cut up into squares for a quilt, about the others that went to the Jimmy Hale Mission, about the money I make in a month and the fact that I am an avid NPR listener and keep up with economic news and am terrified that I will soon be reduced to eating grass from the side of the road.

And yet, I own 39 dresses.

In President Obama's Inaugural Address, he spoke of our need, as a people, to return to a way of life in which we live within our means rather than on credit cards and a prayer. This is the kind of thinking that makes my grandmother a wealthy woman, though she was a schoolteacher for twenty-two years. She saved, and now she can afford to hide a twenty dollar bill in my purse every time I go for a visit.

So, this blog is a public declaration. That I will, in response to the tough times that we are all facing, live responsibly. That I will become a cheapskate.

To help me through all of this, I have a crafts table, a sewing machine I resurrected from my childhood home, and a flair for making things work. I also have a lovely husband who supports my cheapness and is much, much cheaper himself.