Thrifty Wife Happy Life

Helping women love what they wear on a budget

5 Favorite Inexpensive Pinterest Recipes

by Katie Haller


I joined Pinterest in the spring of 2012.  Since then, I have pinned hundreds of recipes.  I’ve also tried the majority of the recipes that I’ve pinned.  I’ve pinned so many recipes that I’ve had to create more and more recipe boards just to keep up.  Pinterest has been a wonderful resource for me when it comes to cooking and baking.  This is a great thing, and it’s definitely saved me money by finding me some low coast recipes to make at home.

I like to keep it simple when I pin recipes.  I try to stick with easy recipes that have simple ingredients.  I also try to look for healthy recipes, at least somewhat healthy.  (Sometimes pictures can look so delicious, I just have to try them!)  And of course, I’m always keeping in mind price. 
I wanted to share with everyone 5 of my favorite Pinterest recipes! 

1.) 15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta– This is by far one of my favorite recipes.  It’s so easy to make and delicious. It’s perfect for a weeknight meal!  I’ve adjusted the recipe a bit, leaving out the fresh basil and lemon zest, but you really could make it however you like.  I top mine with Parmesan cheese.
2.) Spaghetti with Tomatoes, Black Olives, Garlic and Feta Cheese– This is another favorite pasta recipe of mine.  I tend to make a lot of pasta dishes because of the price of pasta.  It’s so cheap to by a box of whole wheat pasta.  Plus, pasta is so easy to make.  This pasta dish has a great Mediterranean taste to it with the black olives and feta.  It’s another great weeknight meal. 
3.)  Lemon and Dill Chicken– I forgot how good this meal was until I made it the other night.  It’s super low in calories and delicious.  I like to make it with mash potatoes and steamed green beans (I buy the frozen bag from Trader Joes for $1.99 and they last me a long time).
4.) Balsamic Roast Beef- This is a great crock pot meal.  I love using my crock pot!  Especially when it comes to cooking meat.  This is a delicious recipe if you are looking for some new flavoring for your roast beef. 
5.) Crock Pot Chicken Tacos- This recipe changed the way I make tacos.  It’s so easy and I love the way the meat turns out!  If you only try one recipe from this list, try this one for sure!

 Those are just a few great recipes I’ve discover. If you’re looking for more ideas, feel free to follow my recipe boards on Pinterest.

Recreating Your Wardrobe

by Katie Haller

With it being the beginning of a new season, it’s the perfect time to head out to the stores and stock up on some new spring looks.  Well, if you’re trying to save money, you might want to rethink that idea.  For me, I’ve definitely been feeling the urge to go shopping lately.  I have a new job and the weather keeps getting warmer and warmer.  I’d love to go drop a bunch of money on a new wardrobe, but I can’t do that on my budget.  One thing that I have always found helpful to keep me out of the stores when I get that itch to go shopping, is to reinventing my wardrobe.  It’s time for me to get creative and take a deeper look at my clothes to find new ways to wear them. 

 One way I’ve been recreating my wardrobe lately is by taking a second look at older pairs of jeans.   I have too many pairs of jeans to count, yet I always feel like I need a new pair.  This is probably because I don’t wear all of them.  I still have jeans that I wore in college sitting in my closet.  Instead of buying new jeans, I’ve been trying to wear my old ones, but just style them a little differently by rolling them. 
Here are a couple examples. 
I’ve had these American Eagle jeans for a while.  I bought them at TJ Maxx for a really great price about 6 years ago.  They have escaped my clothes donation bag a few times, mostly because they’re my only pair of ripped jeans.  I’m not really feeling the flared jean look as much anymore, so instead of getting rid of them and shopping for a new pair of ripped jeans, I decided to style them a little differently by rolling them and making them look more tapered.  Now I have a cute casual pair of jeans to wear. 
Give your jeans a new look by rolling the bottom
These jeans are from Express.  I bought them on clearance a few years ago.  I really haven’t gotten a whole lot of use out of them until now.  They are cute straight-legged jeans, but they’re a little long on me.  So I’ve been just rolling them a bit.  They have been a great pair of jeans to wear during the week to work.

Another way that I have been reinventing my wardrobe, is by mixing my winter clothes with my summer clothes.  I really like the look of mixing my winter tops with shorts and dresses.

Here are a few examples. 

Navy blazer with shorts
I wore my navy blazer (Target) with a striped navy tank top (Target), light khaki shorts (Old Navy) and white sandals (Target). 
Black sundress with red boyfriend cardigan and leopard scarf
For this look, I wore a black sundress (Target) with a red boyfriend cardigan (Target).  I accessorized with a lightweight leopard scarf (Charming Charlie) and leopard flip flops (Express). 
LC Lauren Conrad black blouse with shorts and wedge sandals
This look is great for a warm summer night.  I wore a black LC Lauren Conrad blouse (Kohl’s) with my khaki shorts (Old Navy) and my wedged sandals (Kohl’s)
If you’re bored with your clothes, the best advice I can give to you is to accessorize them up!  Accessorizing can take a simple outfit you wear all the time and turn it into something brand new.
 
Accessorizing a simple black sundress
Here is a great example of what accessories can do for an outfit.  This is one of my favorite black sun dresses.  I bought it at Express when I was in college, so it’s been in my closet for awhile.  I usually wear it in the summer with a simple necklace and some flip flops.  I decided to try it out with my coral necklace and wedged sandals.  Now I have a great new look perfect for a summer night or even a tropical vacation. 
Striped dress
I bought this dress last spring at Target.  It’s super cute on its own, but when I accessorize it with my green bead necklace, silver belt, black cardigan and wedge shoes, I have a new outfit!  It’s perfect for work, church or even a shower luncheon. 

It really doesn’t take much to make your old clothes feel like new again.  You just have to get creative.  Before you do your spring shopping this year, look in your closet first and try something new.  You never know what you will find!

My Closet~ Weekend Wardrobe

by Katie Haller

Here are a few of my outfits from the past 2 weekends! 
Last Sunday
Denim Jacket- Jessica Simpson (similar)
Red Jeans- Kohls (similar)
Black Lace Top- Express (similar)
Shoes- Target (exact)
Saturday
White Pants- Target (similar)
Striped Tank Top- Old Navy (similar)
Sweater- Old Navy (similar)
Leopard Flats- Old Navy (similar)
Sunday
Maxi Dress- Target (similar)
Sweater- Old Navy (same as above)
Belt- Target (This belt is from a dress I bought for $2.06, you can read about it here)

Shopping Finds- Searching for a Bathing Suit on a Budget

by Katie Haller

It may not feel like it for most of the country, but summer is right around the corner.  With this in mind, I’ve been searching for the perfect bathing suit.  I’ve been in desperate need of a new bathing suit for a while now.  Since I don’t have a body like a Victoria Secret model, bathing suit shopping has never been fun for me.  Yet I still love a great swimsuit.  If you can find something that flatters your body, you’ll feel great! 
Now that I’m 30, not 21, I wanted to find a 2 piece that would be flattering and age-appropriate.  I also wanted to find something affordable.  Usually, I’d wait until late summer when bathing suits get marked down, but with 80-degree weather in the forecast for next week, I couldn’t hold off that long. 
Before I buy anything, I always go right to Pinterest to get an idea of what I want.  Here are a few of my favorite bathing suit pins.
Top Left: Victoria Secret Top Right: Victoria Secret Bottom Left: Revolve Bottom Right: Anthropologie

As you can see, I love a black bathing suit.  Black is classic and flattering, plus it goes with everything.  I like that I can mix and match my black tops and bottoms with other bathing suit tops and bottoms that I have in my drawers.  This way I don’t only get 1 new bathing suit, I get 3 new bathing suits.  I also wanted a bottom that would cover my backside and acute top that also had decent coverage.

If money was no object, I’d probably buy all 4 of these bathing suits above, but since I can’t really afford to buy even one of them, I had to look around for a suit in my price range.  I always try to stick to a $30 budget for all my clothes, including my bathing suits.

I ended up finding a cute bathing suit last weekend at Target.  They had a buy one get one 50% off sale going on.  Target bathing suits usually run between $12.99-$24.99 per piece.  Because of the sale, I was able to stick to my $30 budget.

Push-up Halter Bikini Top (Here) Keyhole Side Tie Bikini Bottoms (Here)

This bathing suit is the perfect suit for the summer.  I’ll be able to keep my eyes open for some cute clearance tops and bottoms to mix it up and also some cute beach cover-ups.  Target is still having their BOGO bathing suit sale, so I’d definitely check it out!  They have a great selection and I’ve always had good luck with Target bathing suits.  Happy Shopping and don’t forget, summer will be here before you know it!

Settling into a New Life

by Katie Haller


It’s been a while since my last post.  I don’t like going that long in between posts, but I’m sure you all understand that my life has been a little busy this past month.  So here’s a catch-up!

Kevin and I are settling very nicely into our new life here in Nevada.  When I last posted, I was living out of my suitcase, stuck in the rainy northwest, waiting for my new life to start.  A lot has changed since then!  

I was fortunate enough to get a new job right away.  This was the first job I applied to, the first and only one I interviewed for, and luckily it was my first choice.  I’m back in a classroom teaching preschool.  I couldn’t be happier about that!  It was a bit stressful at first starting my new job because I started working only a few days after we returned from Washington, leaving us very little time to get our lives together here.  We needed to find 2 cars and a place to live and we only had a week to do it.  We learned that Vegas is different than Michigan, and we were going to have to re-evaluate the way we live our lives on a budget.  In Michigan, we had it down. We lived in an older apartment with cheap rent, in a nice safe community.  We drove older used cars with no car payments and cheap car insurance.  Once we started our search here in Las Vegas, we quickly learned that we would have to change our ways in order to save money in the long run.  The apartments were not what we were looking for and were overpriced.  The used cars were junk and Craigslist took us to some pretty shady parts of town. 

After 2 days of being extremely let down with our findings, we had to seriously re-think our plan, or at least Kevin did, I just supported him.  We ended up getting pretty lucky.  After a fire alarm at the, oh so lovely airport hotel we were staying at, (I could not wait to get out of that place) woke us up at 3 in the morning, Kevin did some major searching online for places to live.  He ended up finding the perfect condo for us, in a great area, right in our price range.  We ended up getting the place and moving in only a few days later.  (The landlord was extremely impressed with Kevin’s great credit.) As for our cars, we ended up doing something we never thought we would do.  We went to the Ford dealership and leased 2 of the cheapest, most practical cars they had.  Now we have monthly car payments, but after our horrible car repairs back in Michigan, (we were way to close of friends with our local mechanic) it’s worth it to have the peace of mind of a full factory warranty on our vehicles.  

In no way is moving cheap.  It’s the most money that we have ever spent all at once, besides paying off my student loans.  The thing is that we wouldn’t have been able to do this entire move without our saving these past few years.  We lived small, spent small and saved big.  Now we are finally getting to feel the benefits of our savings. I’m grateful to be married to an over-planner.  

I have to say that our move has had it’s ups and downs, but in the end it’s been a great experience.  It definitely has brought Kevin and I closer together and made us a stronger couple. 



Kevin and I on Valentine’s Day at Red Rock Canyon


As for Thrifty Wife, Happy Life, I’m searching everyday for new ways to save money in my new life.  My wardrobe post will be changing a bit, due to the weather and the casual dress code at my new job, but I still plan to make the weekly post…. once I adjust to my new job of course.  I’ve been really into cooking in my new kitchen, so look for some recipes soon.  Of course, I’ll be shopping soon and looking for some fabulous deals (once I recover a little from the expensive of my move).  There are 3 thrift stores down the road that I can’t wait to check out and  I have all my favorite stores close by, including Target!  I can’t wait to do some shopping  at new stores like Ross and Nordstrom Rack, which I didn’t have back home.  I should have plenty of things to blog about. I can’t wait to share!   

What I Wore~ A Week in Washington

by Katie Haller

 This past week, I tagged along with my husband to Bellingham, Washington.  He had to fly out of the airport up here and since we still don’t have a place of our own in Las Vegas, I had no other choice but to come along.  Let me tell you, it’s been a long week.

  Washington is a beautiful state!  The snow cap mountains and views of the bay are great, but it’s been raining for 10 days straight, so I only got to see a hint of this state’s beautiful scenery.  The rain has definitely put a damper on the week, but I guess that’s what I’ve always imagined the Northwest to be like.  I’d love to revisit the area again when the sun is out!
When Kevin wasn’t working this week, we went on a few scenic drives. They were definitely not as scenic as they could have been with low visibility, but you could still see the beauty behind the clouds.  We also tested out some local breweries, one of our favorite activities.  Besides that, it’s been a pretty uneventful week.
A beautiful lookout on the Chuckanut drives on a very rainy day.

Some local craft beer served on a wooden Washington shaped tray.
Putting myself together in the morning helps me feel normal during this crazy, transitional time.  Here are some of my outfits from this week…
 Top- LC Lauren Conrad (exact)
Jeans- Jessica Simpson (similar)
Sweater- Old Navy (similar)
Boots- Target (similar)

Denim Jacket- Jessica Simpson (similar)
Top- Kohls (similar)
Leggings- Charlotte Russe (exact)
Boots- Target (similar)
Leg warmers- Five Below (exact)
Scarf- Five Below (similar)
Purse- Coach (similar)
 Top- Old Navy (similar)
Sweater- Express-Salvation Army (similar)
Jeans- Jessica Simpson (similar)
Shoes- Toms (exact)
Belt- Old Navy (exact)
Purse- Coach (similar)
 Top- Jessica Simpson (similar)
Sweater- Target (exact)
Jeans- Jessica Simpson (similar)
Belt- Old Navy (exact)
Shoes- Target (similar)
Necklace- Meijer (similar)
It’s been a long week.  All I know is that I’m ready to go home.  Where home is?  I’m not sure.  But what I do know, is that it won’t be long until we are settled into our new life.  When we get back to Vegas, we have plans for some apartment hunting and car shopping.  Plus, I start a new job next week and I can’t wait!  Normal life is just around the corner! 

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