When Khomari and I moved into our apartment last year we decided to put all of our spare change into a “piggybank” my 
good friend Javana bought me for Christmas. Our original goal was to cash the coins in and treat ourselves to a spa day at one of our favorite spa’s. We actually ended up learning to give each others massages (well I bought a massage tool from Target because it always makes my hands hurt) but we realized we needed things for the apartment since we never had a housewarming.
We’ve made due with the basics, but we were running low on drinking and wine glasses and wanted replace a few items that weren’t quite making the year. Since we are both on tight budgets we decided to use our piggybank money to buy a few nice things for our house.
Here’s a tip for those of you moving into a new place. Give yourself time to buy things you need. Don’t feel the pressure to buy everything at once. Buy necessities and build on it slowly and surely. This keeps you from buying things you don’t need as well as helps you remain in your budget.
We headed to a local check cashing spot to convert our coins into cash. Converting coins and purchasing money orders are the only reasons I would ever use a check cashing place. If you are using check cashing facilities to get your money, shoot me a message via the contact form and we can discuss getting you properly banked. These institutions make millions exploiting individuals often offering them subpar yet expensive services.
We almost had $100 but due to the hefty 9% fee, we walked away with a cool $90 to fund our haul !
Because I operate on a budget I only purchase my home goods from three stores and Marshalls is at the top of that list. Marshalls is my mothers favorite store, I practically grew up there… No really, my mom was such a regular at Marshalls that she knew their delivery schedule and store drama. Aside from it being a familiar place, Marshalls is a wonderful place to find high quality products for less.
With our shopping list in hand we set out to Marshall’s. I always use a shopping lists because 1) I am forgetful, and 2) with a shopping list in hand it keeps me focused on getting the items I need vs sauntering through the isles and picking up impulse purchases. If you are not using lists, you should.
We ended up finding just about everything we wanted. Our drinking glasses combined were $21. We purchased a heavy duty frying pan for $24.99 and shower curtain hangers that are wayyyy more attractive than the current $0.99 ones we’ve been “styling” with over the past year. We couldn’t find a shower curtain that we liked so we held off and added Target to the mix. Our cost for wine glasses, drinking glasses, a frying pan, and shower curtain rods came up to $57.66 after taxes.
We were able to find the other items we were seeking out at Target. We also snuck a toy in there for Zorie since his toys have been affected by our budget and his favorite toy is hanging on to dear life via duck tape.
In Target we ended up spending $27.18 for new shower curtain, two washcloths (we’ve been having a lot of guest lately) and Zories toy (not pictured because it is currently serving its purpose). I know I could have gotten the shower curtain from a cheap store, but I love Target’s hotel quality curtains. My bathroom is very small and I appreciate budget friendly luxuries when I can get them.
Our total for the day was $84.84. We wanted a shower mat but I want to stick true to my budget and am going to head to a local liquidator store where I can score one with the remaining $6.
It was nice spending our piggy bank money on things we could use for the house and I am so happy with #myfabfinds . While those massages would have been nice, I will enjoy looking sipping wine out of those glasses, after cooking a tasty meal in those pans followed by a show in my “budgurious” bathroom. Having cash in hand and watching it disappear so quickly reminded me of how expensive furnishing a home can get.
We have decided to make it our piggybank busting a yearly ritual. I wonder what we will buy next year?
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