Recently, we have put ourselves on a budget of sorts. We situated all 7 of our bank accounts to make sure we are saving properly but at the same time having fun. Now, when it came to each of our budgets for the month, things got tricky.

Trying to explain why I might need to be outside my budget some months was found to be quite hard. Men just do not understand that yes, we actually have to spend money on a lot. Don't blame us. Blame society.

//Makeup
First, there's primer. Then you have to contour. After there is blush and a translucent powder. Don't forget there is eyelid primer, followed by multiple eyeshadow colors. If you're really into makeup you can also have an eyelash primer. Mascara and then you can never forget the eyebrows. And let a woman loose in Sephora and you're in trouble.

//Hair

Just getting highlights can start you off at an easy $100. Add a full head of color on there and a cut, that can bring you to about $200. It's not cheap to achieve the perfect hair color.

//Clothes
Unlike men, we like to change our clothes every season. What might have been popular last season just does not cut it the next season. Case in point: flares. I need a pair.

//Cute Bras & Undies
All I really need to say is Victoria's Secret.

//Skincare
There's adult acne, no fun. yet, you are getting wrinkles. And sometimes the cheap stuff no longer cuts it as you are past your college years. It's the expensive stuff in the hopes it will rid you of reminders of your younger years.

//Nails
Whether you are a DIY girl at home or go to get your nails done, it costs money. You have to either buy all the supplies or pay someone to do them every few weeks. I can say, the past few months actually getting my nails done has put a little extra pep in my step.

//Accessories
Rings, purses, necklaces, shoes, oh my! Theses are all of the things we need to pull an outfit together. Have you ever seen a woman that does not have the right pair of shoes to match her outfit? My husband has and it's not pretty.

Looking at all of these, yes, they are technically more wants. Yes, I could not dye my hair but when you've been doing it since you were 15...kind of have to. I know I don't need a new whole wardrobe every season, just a couple of pieces will do. See, I am slightly reasonable, but it's still hard and expensive to be a girl.

Make sure to share this list with your husband or boyfriend when they want to tak about your "budget" or "spending" to let them truly understand.

What do you like to have in your budget?

5 Free Valentine's Day Date Ideas

With Valentine's just a week away, it's time to start planning the most.romantic.night.of.your.life. Might be over exaggerating just a little bit but regardless of your feelings of the day, it's a great time to really snuggle your sweetie a little harder.

Since we are currently on a spending freeze for the month of February our Valentine's Day will be free, free, free. No flowers, extravagant gifts or dates. With all the hype of a spending holiday, it can seem a little crazy to think you can actually have a free Valentine's Day but still celebrate and make it special. Let these 5 Free Valentine's Day Ideas be your guide and starting point.

Go on an Adventure.

Since Valentine's Day is on Saturday this year, it's the perfect time to plan a whole day adventure. It can start with breakfast in bed followed by heading out with no particular destination in mind. Find the best spots to stop and take pictures of the view and of each other.

Just sitting on a park bench.

Cook Dinner Together

Find a new recipe you have wanted to try and plan it into your meal plan. Spending time in the kitchen together has it's benefits. It's fun, intimate and allows you to work together. Light a few candles, open a bottle of wine you have been saving for a special occasion and sit down for a romantic meal. Dessert is always fun to have after, too. If you can make heart shaped brownies together, bonus points.

Take advantage of reward points

If you have a credit card with rewards, it would be a great time to look into using those points. A romantic weekend away, just the two of you for Valentine's Day. This also applies to Swagbucks, Shopkick, Viggle. These all have gift card options that include Netflix, Resturant.com, Visa Gift Cards and many other options. Since you earned these points, it's still a free option.

Game Night

Have a game night in with your significant other. Board games, video games, any other kind of games. Up the stakes for the winner. Naughty or nice ;)

Get Creative with the Gift

Sentimental gifts always mean the most. Handmade goes a long way. Think back to the days of a mix tape. If you are fresh out of ideas, visit Pinterest for a little inspiration. Some are very simple, all you need is paper, and the rest of the supplies you already have. If you need some ideas, The Dating Divas has some great free printables for Valentine's Day. My favorite?

If you are really talented, you can do all 5 of these on your Valentine's Day. I might just have to give myself that challenge.

What are your plans for Valentine's Day?

Our No Spend February

Every since we got married, we have been trying to get our budget just right and control our spending. We have done a pretty good job with saving money for our future but there is always room for improvement.

I mentioned the idea of a spending freeze in February to my husband about a month ago and even though he wasn't entirely sure, he was on board with it. Especially since we will be getting a new car very, very soon, it's a great time to get our spending in check. That will be a hefty chunk out of our savings that we will need to bulk back up.

What does this "freeze" mean? For us, it's about getting our spending under control and helping us realize how much we spend on things we don't really need to. It's the ordering in or going out to eat. It's the multiple trips to the grocery store to buy "one" item that actually turns into 5 other things we don't need. It's the online shopping. Amazon Prime sucks me in.

Our spending freeze plans:

Planning out events. We have Chinese New Year, a baby shower and a birthday in February. The gifts have already been bought and the money put aside to spend for these. Outside of those events, we do not plan on doing anything. Yes, we are aware it's Valentine's Day. But it doesn't have to be an all out celebration. There are many ways to enjoy a Valentine's Day for free or barely any money. I have a couple of ideas up my sleeve for this one.

Planning meals. Our grocery store trip will be just what we need for all our meals for the week. Nothing more, nothing less. I will also go through our cabinets to see what I can make with what we already have. I tend to overbuy sometimes and there's a good chance there's more than a few meals in there. Avoiding multiple trips will help avoid buying things just that I see that are on sale. I have also signed up AHEAD OF TIME for a healthy meal service. It takes care of at least 10 of our dinners for the month. I have already subtracted that from our weekly allowance for meals.

Unsubscribing from emails. It's all those "GET 50% TODAY ONLY!" and "HERE'S YOUR $10 COUPON" emails. I click on them more times than I want to and I would be lying if I said I didn't fall for it once in awhile. If I can get rid of all of those email, I would be oblivious in a good way, what sales are going on and what I am missing out on. They all do their job making me feel like I NEED those fleece leggings. Which the email tells me at least every other day I need because they are on sale.

Wearing out of my closet. Like every other woman on the planet, I spend money on some sort of clothing, shoe, jewelry every month. This month I am going to live out of my closet. Unless I end up having to go to a ball, where I do not own a ballgown so I would have to buy one, I do not NEED any new clothes this month. Sure, there are many wants but no, no, no.

I am not sure how this month will go. I am confident we can make some changes in our spending and make ourselves realize just how much we spend on wants rather than actual needs. Wish us luck!

Have you ever done a spending freeze? What are your tips?

How to Set a Budget in 5 Steps

Budgeting. Not a very fun thing. We were bad adults and didn't really set a budget until a few months ago. It was more of a, How in the heck do we set a budget? rather than simply just not wanting to.

In the end it actually wasn't as hard as I thought. It took a little legwork of about an hour, but I did get to play with highlighters! This is what I did to finally tackle the dreaded budget.

Gather Supplies
...Bank statement, credit card bills. I even went deep and took all the Target receipts and assessed the amount of fun, groceries, etc.

 ...Highlighters. Choose as many colors as you need, depending on how you want to break up categories.

Here is how I used each color of my highlighters

Orange-Student loans
Purple-Bills/Utilities
Green-Groceries/Food
Blue-Fun

...Monthly Budget Planner.

Calculate

...Monthly income. Any income that comes in the form of a check to your household.

...The categories. Time to really dig deep and see the number form in each category. The fun and groceries were our biggest "ouch." We knew it wasn't going to be pretty once we arrived at the final number.

Subtract

...From your monthly income, subtract anything that is a set expense. These are the student loans, monthly credit card bills, some utilities. The amount you are left with after this....This is now your NEW MONTHLY INCOME.

Why? This is the amount you have left to work with every month and is a realistic look at how you really need to be budgeting for non essential items. It will help cut down on some of the larger spent categories from step 2.

...From your NEW MONTHLY INCOME; subtract the rest of your expenses from the previous month. get ready, this might hurt. Similar to ripping off a band-aid. It came as a shock to us how little we had left to go into our savings and made a lot of sense why we were struggling with that.

Evaluate

...Where is the category out of control. Shocker, it will most often be your fun category. This is eating out, going out, picking up movies, shopping at Target (ouch). It will have the most wiggle room for you to cut back on.

...Where can you cut down your spending Groceries came in a close second for us after "fun." Coupons might be an option or starting up a meal plan so you aren't digging into that fun category too. Really look at what fits within your lifestyle to cut back on. We even looked into how we might be able to get rid of our cable. Still working on that one but I'm trying to cut that back.

Set goals

Now that you have seen how much you spent last month in the Fun category, set a goal for how much less you want to have in that category by the end of this month. Do this for every category that is not set.

...make an action plan for each of these. To cut down on fun and groceries, we made the plan to utilize coupons when we are able to and to plan out our meals to cut down on groceries and eating take out.

Congratulations, you now have a budget!!! Take a deep breath. You can do it. You will do it and save yourself a lot of moola.

Spring Wardrobe Updates on a Budget

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Dollar Shopper

If you are one of the many people that have increased their shopping at Dollar Stores in the pas few years then this article is of interest to you. javascript:mox();

It tells you what exactly to buy and if it really is a steal or a way to get you to spend more. I am of the masses that has switched to the Dollar Store for some weekly purchases. I must say I have been quite happy with what I get and the amount I spend.

The bologna I would buy at the supermarket would probably be about $1.89 but I get it for a dollar, same brand. Same goes for hot dogs and butter. And the expiration dates are reasonable. The simple snacks such as popcorn and small candies are also useful for me.

Some things I don't buy there unless absolutely necessary: napkins- they don't really have much value and I end up going through them quicker than with a name brand so it just evens out in price, eggs-sorry but just the idea of that doesn't sit right with me and any kind of medicine.

This article does have some good tips to remind you, they are a retailer so they still want to stupe us, the consumer. But I will still be loyal to my Dollar Store.