The Teddy Jar

There is currently a jar that used to house peanutbutter on my desk.  It's in the shape of a teddy bear, and just too adorable to throw away.  I had it packed away in my "apartment box" for years, and had forgotten all about it until I unpacked it when I moved back into my own place. 

Of course, there was the issue of what to do with it, given it's adorable-ness, and, well, impossibility of getting all the (fill in food which could be placed in it) out of the jar given it's shape. 

Of course, within a few days of being in the apartment, I discovered that I had a lot of pocket change.  I usually threw this into an old tea tin at work to be used for coffee money.  However, since I won't be doing coffee on a daily basis, there was no need for it at work. 

So the Teddy jar has become my spending jar.  When I need bus fare, parking meter money, or a coffee fix, I grab out of the jar.

However, I've also decided to use this jar to help control my spending.  You see, I've got a new rule:  I'm only allowed to venture through the aisles of Value Village (or any other second hand store) with Teddy jar money.  Basically, when I get $10 free bucks in the jar, I can get $10 worth of "stuff".


Currently the jar has $10.97 in it.  Theoretically, this would allow me to hit up the aforementioned clothing bananzas.  However, there is a catch.

There has to be $10 FREE bucks in the jar.  That means the $3.50 I need for laundry, and the $3.00 I need for coffee this week has to be subtracted from the total before I can go shopping.  That leaves me with only $4.47 left in free money.

Alas, it will be a while before I can get my shopping fix in. 

A Stitch in Time Saves Money

For some reason, I have had this overwhelming urge to get some skinny jeans. Now, I've tried on skinny jeans a few times, and it just didn't work for me.

Of course, with that urge came the urge to shop in general. And of course, the priorities for my money this month are:
- textbooks
- tuition
- food
- rent
- fan / air conditioning

and about 25 points later, clothing.

As a result, when I arrived back at my parents' place, I grabbed a couple articles of clothing heading towards the self-help pile, and altered them.

Example 1 was pretty easy - just shortening this "vintage" Ricki's sweater dress I had picked up at Value Village a few weeks ago before realizing it made me look about 6 inches tall. I ended up cutting off about 4-5 inches. It's completely acrylic, and not going to last through too many washes, but it will be a great addition to my fall wardrobe.

Example 2 was a little more complicated. I took a flared pair of pants and made them into skinny jeans. I had read about it on the Academichic website, and studied the linked video. I still want to play around with some bias tape to fold them up to be worn with flats.

I did a bit of other mending and the like, but I figure all together, I saved myself $25 on the jeans, probably $10 on the tailoring of the dress, and got to spend the evening with my mother!