Today my little man turned 8 years old! Where does the time go? It seems like yesterday he was just a little baby. Sometimes I wish I could stop time or at least slow it down. He is just growing up so fast. We had his party on Saturday with just friends and family. He wanted a Wall-E cake from the bakery and it was delicious. I also brought a Mardi Gras king cake to his school with some drinks for his class. He had a great day, and he even made Honor Roll on his report card.

Today’s thrifty tip is use clear mascara to keep your eyebrows in place. I learned this neat beauty tip when I was a teenager in high school.

Another alternative is to use a little hairspray on either a toothbrush or those little brushes. I actually have that little eyebrow brush that cost me a couple of bucks. Sometimes I can just brush my eyebrows right before spraying my hair, and I purposely make sure that a fine mist will hit my eyebrows.

I find any of these work very well, but I like the last one the best so they don’t feel so stiff.

What do you use to keep your eyebrows in place?

This may not be very frugal unless you buy the tools on sale like I do. Some people are lucky enough to find people selling their tools at yard sales or in the paper. Buying used out the paper isn’t always cheaper than buying new ones on sale. We purchased a nice set of air tools for $200 that came with a hard case to keep everything inside neatly. We received a brad nailer, framing nail gun, angle nailer, and a staple gun. We used the staple gun to put up our screens on the porch. We were quoted $350 for the same job that we did ourselves. That was just for labor and didn’t include materials. We saved $150, and now have a great set of tools that will last us for many years. We have several projects planned for this year using our new tools.

Today’s thrifty living tip is use use recipes from old cookbooks. I prefer to use the ones from the 70’s and before. My favorite one to use is Better Homes and Garden that is dated from the 1960’s. I like it since there are great tips that many people don’t use anymore and I’m not bombarded with name brands. Of course we no longer have to sift our flour, but I find many of the recipes are easy to make and are timeless. Another reason I like them better is they are usually obtained either free from a relative or very cheaply at a yard sale or thrift store. I bought the one I use often for a buck, and it’s still in wonderful condition. I also like that it was made in a binder style so the book stays open and it’s easy for me to read it while cooking. I have also found some really great recipes on the internet. I recently made pizza dough from scratch that was very delicious. My husband and son loved it. My next projects is to experiment with making bread from scratch.

No matter how bad the economy gets, people will still have babies and get married. You don’t have to spend thousands to have that wedding of your dreams. The first step is to figure out a realistic budget. You don’t want to start out your new life still paying on your wedding years later. We saved a lot of money by doing many things ourselves. We had a buffet style lunch, which is actually very common in this area, and we were able to buy the items at a good discount through a food distributor. You can save money on alcohol by getting kegs of beer and boxed wine or skip it completely. I know some people have saved money by having a cash bar.

There are many great sites that have quality wedding invitations at a fraction of the cost. Many of these sites also have wedding favors like napkins and such. You can buy your dress on clearance or it might be cheaper to have it made. Of course this would be cheaper if you know someone that might offer a discount, and if you want a simpler design. We also saved money by skipping the limo since the hall was so close to the church. You can also save money by doing the bouquets yourself or someone you know. You might be surprised at how many people have a talent that can help you. Many people will offer a nice discount or do it for free as a wedding present. I got our wedding cake this way. My mom had a cousin that owned a small bakery, and we asked her to do my cake. She offered to do it for free as a present to us. All we had to pay for was the topper which cost us $25 at her cost. I also saved money by using a tuxedo shop that offered us a great special. If we rented 10 tuxes, then my husband got his free. That wasn’t a problem since we had 8 groomsmen, and both the dads also wanted to rent a tuxedo. We did pick simpler tux but it still saved us $80. There are many great ways to save money and still have a wedding you will never forget.