Lately I’ve had the time to practice more self-care in my routine. I was so busy this year saving and taking every dog sitting job possible to finally get enough money for a down payment on a home that I rarely had the time to do relaxing activities. Then I remembered I had made a self-care box when I first went into recovery. The box had things like crystals and candles and lists of things to do to relax.

So I decided to take a very long bath. I used one of the taper candles and tea light candles I found in the self-care box, and I grabbed a pink skull candle holder to put the tea light candle into. I also had picked up a 3 wick candle from Bath and Body works for 12.99. It was the Champagne Toast scent and I had matching bar soap and lotion and spray. Bath and Body works usually isn’t in my budget, but I definitely take advantage of their sales and their app because I have gotten a lot of free stuff that way. If you shop there during the semi-annual sales it can cost less than bath stuff at Walmart. The boys in my home love the men’s line too.

I decided to film the setup for my bath because I was really feeling the vibe and I wanted to show people that you can have an aesthetic and a relaxing bath experience even if you live in a tiny apartment like I do.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP88x8UYP

My husband and I decided to splurge a little this Halloween and get dressed up for the Ghoulish Gala and the Salisbury House in Des Moines, Iowa. It was a formal event, in a very old house decorated to be spooky for the Halloween season. There was plenty of really good food and libations. I wish I had taken more photos, but it was truly a blast. My friend Mary and Jake also attended. We ate, drank, and overall had a good time while getting to dress up as the goth kids we were when we were younger. Dave and I talked about our past Halloween parties consisting of wild benders in my basement, so we’ve definitely come a long way from that!

My husband and I are finally buying a home. We wanted to in 2019, but we didn’t have a lot of money and everyone insisted the bubble would pop at any moment and I would be stuck in an overpriced home. I was young, and now I want to smack those people because the cost of homes have DOUBLED since 2019 due to COVID 19. I will never see homes back at that price again.

Oh well, we are doing it now I guess. We applied 18 months ago and we were approved, but our loan amount was pretty puny. There were homes we could have bought in less ideal neighborhoods and they would have been shoebox homes, but I decided to put off home buying until we were in a good financial situation.

We were then approved last month for twice the amount from 18 months ago. We had paid off 10k in credit card debt, so our credit scores increased, my student loans were forgiven, my husband got a repayment plan for his student loans, my husband started getting serious about applying for jobs that match his skills after I had a talk with him. He is an educated man and a damn hard worker and he was applying for jobs at Walmart. He grew up in abject poverty and had basically nothing as a kid. He was abandoned as a teen and had to fend for himself in rural poverty. His self-esteem took a hit and he basically didn’t realize that he had achieved things nobody else in his family ever had, so he doesn’t have to do the same things they did for work. I taught him how to negotiate pay and how to carry himself in a way that shows that he is worth a higher wage. Four years ago he was working for 11 an hour, now he gets multiple job offers for around triple that amount. We aren’t wealthy, but we now know life above the poverty line, and naturally we are ready to buy a home worth staying in for the rest of our lives.

We are currently considering this home. We are waiting on a few things, but in a month if this home is still for sale, we might go for it. It is 5 bed/2 bath, fully finished basement , 1600 sq ft home, attached garage , .3 acre yard with lots of trees. The outside looks like it might need a little work, but it’s a really good price. We still are pretty solidly lower middle class, so finding something that fits our preferences and is in our budget is difficult.

October 12

I was invited to a chill sleepover by my friend Mary. I wanted to bring gifts because I knew she would have her newer friend Valerie there. I’m all about making a good impression and spoiling people, so I went ahead and made the cake and charcuterie board in the pictures above. I also had scrap fabric and decided to make the two throw pillows for them.

Additionally, I bought two candles using my rewards for Bath and Body Works. They always have good sales and I stock up on stuff during their sales so I have bath products to last the whole years. As a result, I had a ton of rewards stocked up and I used them to buy the candles.

The cake was also budget friendly. I buy several lbs of butter whenever it is on sale and freeze it for later. I made two batches of buttercream and had gel food coloring on hand. The sprinkles were 3 dollars at Walmart and I decorated with spider rings I bought for 2 dollars. For the black frosting, I used piping bags I bought with a set of tips for cheap on Amazon, but thrift stores are always selling piping tips. If you don’t have piping bags, you can use Ziploc bags in a pinch. I will share the recipe soon.

The pillows were simple. I spent nothing on them as I used scraps from projects in the past. I used 1 bag of stuffing to stuff them and you can get those at any craft store or at Walmart. Joann’s is pricier, but if you use a 50 percent of coupon on a bag of stuffing, it can come out to be really cheap. I will also post tutorials for those soon.

The charcuterie board was a little pricier, but you can always make one similar to mine for cheaper. I will post the tutorial and ingredients soon, and I will also give suggestions for cheaper alternatives. I used a Halloween platter I had on hand and decorated with spider rings I had left over from the cake.

Overall it was a fun night. They were impressed with my food and presents, but I probably talked to much. Oh well, social skills is something I’m working on.