This Weeks Favorite Links from Friends

Foods:

Gluten Free Goddess- Fried Zuchinni with Mint Cream Sauce

Coconut and Lime- Hot Pepper Pickled Asparagus

101 Cookbooks- Summer Corn Salad

Home and Garden:

Curbly- Old Books = New Lamp

Curbly- How to Turn 2 Pallets into 1 Table

In Case You Live Under a Rock

Everyone needs to save some money and even the frugal fanny needs to have a few guilty pleasures in life to keep sane. Luckily the "Daily Deal" market has taken off in the last years and you never should pay full prices for leisure. Just don't forget to leave a tip for the regular price!

Check out:

www.livingsocial.com

www.groupon.com

www.kgb.com

www.moneysavingexpert.com

Do you have any other saving-sites to share? Please leave them in the comments as I will include a list on a perm link.

Just be sure to not get carried away: http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/tv/extreme-couponing

Beg, Borrow and RePurpose

After four months of being dragged along on May 12th we received the keys to our new home, our first home. Despite being in our mid twenties the big T and I have been renters since moving out of our parents homes. In our peer group only three friends join us in the home-owners club. You can argue various reasons for this, after all my parents had already owned one by now, but I personally like to blame student loans, city market prices and this lovely financial crisis we are in. Here is our beauty:

Despite the odds we did it and got the keys to our first home which came with and front and rear garden, one bathroom, living room, dining room/kitchen and three bedrooms. However we owned no furniture and due to my lay off and Tony's student income our bank account couldn't even take an ikea trip without needing to survive on beans and toast. So we had to get creative...

Beg- or just ask. You can ask your friends, family, your families friends or total strangers for any pieces they may have and are looking to replace or get rid of. Online you can find forums that are exactly for this:

www.craigslist.org

www.freecycle.org

www.gumtree.com

What we got: full size bed, three piece leather sofa suite, TV, desk chars, leather ottoman, wardrobe, three large cabinets, patio dining set and extra chairs, coffee table

Borrow- In England space is at a premium and storage is too costly. We are borrowing another full size bed from a friend who moved into a furnished flat and now we have a bed for guests.

RePurpose- So taking donations and dumpster diving doesn't always work in the style department. However a can of paint and some sweat can go a long way. Being as I have been traveling lately many of these projects have not been completed but be sure I will to be sharing them along the way.

What did we spend on? We did decide to splash out on two items- our bed and our dining room table. The first we decided was worth the investment for a good nights sleep and honestly the dining room table we fell in love with:

In total we spent under $2000 and have a completely furnished functioning house for now. It may not be perfect, but for a young newly wed couple it is our dream house !