Okay, so I’m sure that any regular readers of this blog have been wondering what’s the deal with the paid posting? I know that a lot of people think that it effects the integrity of a blog. Personally, I agree to an extent. It’s frustrating to go a site only to see paid post after paid post, with no real content actually being posted. It’s time for me to level with you all. Things have been very rough for me financially for the past several months. I’m working as much as I can, but you all know how fast basic household expenses and bills can add up. Combine those with my personal bills and, well, I’ve been lucky if I am barely breaking even each month. The paid posting is something that I am doing to try and help alleviate the financial stress that I am under right now.

As I’m sure you have also noticed, the regular posts on this blog are still the same as before. Fashion, healthy, recipes… It’s all still here! Just spaced out a bit more. The bright side of this is that I am posting and sharing even more than I was before. I’ve had so many things marked as topics to post about or recipes to post for months. This is forcing me to get in gear about posting them. I just made a long post in my LiveJournal about this. All my plans on ways to help better my financial situation. I’m through feeling sorry for myself and am determined to be pro-active about getting this situation sorted out. I thought that I would share some of my decisions here as well.

+ Made the decision to stop eating out at all. We do this extremely rarely anyways, but even those rare times need to stop unless it’s a special occasion.
+ Also decided on no more Starbuck’s bought while I’m at work. No matter how tired I am and no matter if it’s just a plain coffee. I’ll bring a water bottle, extra B vitamins, and fruit instead.
+ Saving glass jars from other products so that I can use them to freeze soups and other leftovers in. Instead of throwing away vegetables that are too close to being bad or that there aren’t enough of to make something out of, it’ll go to some use.
+ Eat more tofu instead of chicken. It’s 99 cents for a block of Tofu at Trader Joe’s. How much cheaper can it get?
+ Go to Whole Foods and buy the bulk items needed to make my own bread. My mom gave me a bread machine and I plan on using it! Besides, the average cost of a loaf of bread without any dairy is $3. Considering I eat toast for breakfast pretty much every day, that really adds up.
+ Order more free samples of products that I actually want to use. I’ve gotten shampoo, conditioner, laundry soap… They are super small quantities, but it’s something.
+ Switch to store brands on beauty products whenever possible. Sauve is now back in my shower.
+ Being strict about unplugging the electronic devices that I don’t use. It adds up.
+ Reduce my time in the shower and shave my legs using a sink full of water. We pay for our water and, again, it adds up.
+ No more clothing unless it’s a necessary item. Of course, I won’t refuse gifts.