Katie's Closet~Weekend Wardrobe

I post a lot of my work outfits from the weekdays, but I don't post many of my weekend outfits. The weekends are my days to play catch up. I usually run errands and spend time at home, so I like to be comfortable and casual, but still look cute. So here is my grocery store, errand running, causal Saturday look.

Striped Shirt- Old Navy

Skinny Jeans- Old Navy

Sweater- Target

Belt- Old Navy

Shoes- Toms- Nordstrom

Causal and comfortable, does not have to mean frumpy. How do you dress on the weekends?

Celebrity Looks- Cameron Diaz

In our culture, celebrities are the trend setters.  They live in the public eye and are always being photographed.  Everyone always looks to see what celebrities are wearing.  I know that I am always looking to see what celebrities are wearing for inspiration.  I can't copy their looks exactly.  They can afford all the expensive designers that I can't.  What I can do is use their looks as a guide line.

My first featured celebrity for this post is... Cameron Diaz.  I have always been a fan of her movies and her style.  She has a fun wild side, but also a casual laid back look.  She's girly...yet has a tom boy look at times as well.  People have always told me that I look like her.  I think that's a reason why I have always gravitated towards her for inspiration. 

Here are a few of her looks that I recreated...

My first look was really simple. Cameron wore a black 3/4 sleeve sweater, white cropped pants, black pumps with a fun bracelet to accessorize. 

What I found in my closets...

Black sweater- Express

White pants- Target

Black pumps- BCBG's- Marshall's  

Silver chain bracelet- H&M

I love this casual look. Cameron wore a slouchy sweater, jeans, brown flat boots and a big over size bag. 

My closet...

Slouchy sweater- Express

Jeans- Old Navy

Brown Boots- DSW 

 

For this look Cameron wore peachy pink jeans with a simple white top, beige blazer, strappy heals and a black over size bag. Here is what I found in my closet.

Grey Blazer- LC Lauren Conrad Kohls

Red jeans (I don't have any lighter colored jeans)-Kohls

White T-Shirt- Target

Black purse- Chinese Laundry- Nordstroms

Bronze peep toe heals- Jessica Simpson- Marshall's

Celebrities can offer some great inspiration when it comes to putting together outfits. I can't wait to share more of my favorites! 

Shopping Finds

When it comes to saving money, shopping for clothes is my biggest weakness. My husband tells me every month "no spending"! I know what he means by this... Don't buy anything that you don't need. Well... I need clothes. I've gone about 2 months with out buying anything new. Okay... well maybe I bought one or two things here or there, but it wasn't much. I bought a sweater at Target that was on clearance for $5 and a pair of boots at Target that were purchased with a gift card from Christmas, so really it has been a while. 

I've been feeling like it was time to spend just a little bit of money on a few new items to add to my closet. So the other day I stopped at Kohls where they had a ton of clearance sales. I wasn't really looking for anything in particular, but I had an idea of some items I've been wanting, one being some bright colored pants. I lucked out, because sitting on the end of the rack were a pair of red cropped jeans in my size for $5. I knew I had to try them on. I've been wanting a new pair of colored pants for a while now, but I wasn't willing to spend a lot of money on them. I knew I couldn't pass up $5.

Along with my pants I also bought a grey LC Lauren Conrad blazer. The blazer wasn't as exciting of a deal as the pants. It was $14. Still, $14 is not bad at all, especially when it's originally $70. I love blazers, so I feel I can never go wrong with a new one.

I also bought a pearl necklace for $4. I really wanted a chunky pearl necklace, but the one I found was $10. Even though $10 may not seem like a lot, it can add up, so I decided to get the peals that were only $4.

In the end, I walked out of the store with 3 items all for the price of $24.38. My receipt said TOTAL SAVED: $117.00. This is why I never pay full price for anything! Why pay more when you can get the same thing for less? 

Hair Care on a Budget

Having nice hair is important to me. If I'm having a bad hair day, then most likely I'm going to have an over all bad day. The problem is... hair can be expensive to keep up with. I know that you can easily drop around $200 on one trip to the salon. I can't afford to do that every couple months. Luckily, I have a great, affordable stylist. I still can't afford to go as often as most people. I try to spread out my visits as long as I can. I was going every 3 months, now in effort to save money, I'm down to just about every 6 months. My goal is to find inexpensive ways to keep my hair feeling healthy and stylish without having to make too many trips to the salon.

Here are some tips and ideas that I have found in my search to save money on my hair. 

Keep it Natural- Weather your a blond, brunette or a red head, nothings better then your own natural hair color. I'm a blonde, and I've never attempted another color with my hair. Dying your hair can coast a lot of money. You're always having to keep up with your roots and buying special shampoo and products to hold the color can start to add up quickly. Not to mention it can really dry out your hair and make it feel brittle. The most I color my hair is with high lights to lighten the color. I try to keep it as natural as possible. I try to avoid those annoying long dark roots the best I can. It does happen and my roots do start to grow out after 6 months with out any touch ups. All I can say about that is... good thing the ombre look is in :)

Grow it long!- People tend to associate long hair as high maintenance. What you may not realize is that long hair can be a cheaper way to keep your hair. Long hair means less hair cuts. You can do so much more with longer hair. I love trying new styles with my hair.

Biotin vitamins- This is just one easy cheap way to keep your hair healthy and strong. Ever since I've been taking these biotin vitamins, I can really see a difference in my hair and nails. I went for the Target brand because they were a few dollars cheaper than main brand. 

Heat protection- I know that everyone says not to use heat on your hair, but I'm sorry, I have to. I can't go to work with wet hair. I do try to air dry my hair as long as I can, before I blow dry it, but I just can't avoid the heat. This is why I always make sure to use some heat protection spray. I've been using Aussie Hair Insurance Heat Protection spray. It was under $3 when I bought it and it lasted a few months. I truly believe that you don't need to spend a lot of money when it comes to hair products.

Homemade Hair Treatments- There are so many home remedies for hair treatments. Weather it involves egg whites to help oily hair, lemons and oil for itchy scalps or avocados for frizzy hair, you can make your own hair treatment at home with food products. There are so many different recipes out there. All you have to do is search.

You never know how much money you can save by cutting back on a few things here and there. Let hair care be a start for you! 

My Closet~What I Wore This Week

It's Friday and we all made it through the work week. As you can probably tell, I've kind of given up on the "What I Wore Wednesday" post. My work weeks have been crazy busy, so Wednesdays are not the greatest days for me to sit and write a post. Instead I'll post my favorite outfits I wore during the week from my closet...Katie's Closet. 

Here are my top 2 picks from this week. 

Black button down shirt- Old Navy (Salvation Army find for $4.)

Pants- TJMaxx

Sweater- Target

Shoes- DSW

Necklace-Kohls

Dress- Old Navy

Sweater- Old Navy 

Leggings- Charlotte Ruse 

Boats- Target 

I'm trying to use the clothes I already have to make as many new outfits as I can. 

Crock Pot Freezer Meals

I love to cook! I always have enjoyed making a home cooked meal for my husband and I.  My only problem is that Monday through Friday I am so busy, cooking is the last thing on my mind. 

On Pinterest, I'm always finding these great crock pot meal ideas that you can prep and keep in your freezer, then when you're ready, you pop it in your crock pot and a few hours later you have a homemade meal.  Back in January, I decided to finally give this idea a try.  I prepped about 5 or 6 meals and it ended up working out really well.  It was perfect with my busy schedule.  My husband would put the meal in while I was at work so when I got home everything was all ready to go.  All I had to do was make the side dish and we had a delicious homemade meal on a week night. 

Last time I made my freezer meals it was more of an experiment to see how they would turn out.  This time around, I felt like I had it down.  Before I picked out my recipes, I went through my pantry and refrigerator to see what kind of ingredients I had on hand.  I wanted to make these meals last a month or so, but I also didn't want to spend more then I would on a normal weekend grocery shopping trip.  I ended up still having to buy a few ingredients, but it wasn't bad.I pretty much had all of the ingredients I needed at home.  I just had to buy a few items like salsa, taco seasoning, pineapples and an onion.

Meat is always the most expensive part of making dinner.  Before I left for the store I looked on my Kroger app to see what kinds of meat they had on sale.  Lucky for me, chicken was on sale for 1.99 per lb.  The pork and beef were also on special.  I ended up getting all this meat for under $20.  That's not bad at all!  The chicken recipes I used called for 2 lbs of chicken breast.  I am only feeding two people, so I like to split the chicken up and only use about a pound for each recipe.  Instead of 3 chicken recipes, I was able to get 5 chicken recipes out of the 6 lbs of chicken I bought. Anything to stretch my dollar.

So here are my crock pot freezer meals that I made...

Dijon Chicken

1-2 lbs chicken

1 cup chicken broth

1 onion

2 Tbs Dijon mustard

3 cloves garlic

1 tsp thyme

Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Serve with mash potatoes or rice. 

Chicken Tacos
1-2 lbs chicken

1 jar salsa

1 package of taco seasoning

Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Serve on your choice of tortilla shell with your choice of taco toppings.

Beef Tacos

1 lb Beef

1 jar salsa

1 package of taco seasoning

Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Serve the same as chicken tacos. 

Greek Chicken

1-2 lbs Chicken

2 Tbs garlic

2 tsp Italian seasoning

6-7 tsp of lemon juice

3 Tbs olive oil

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Serve on pita bread with homemade taziki sauce, chopped onion and tomatoes. 

Honey Pineapple Chicken

1-2 lbs chicken

1 cup pineapple juice

1 cup pineapple

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup soy sauce

2 Tbs honey

Cook on low 5 hours. Serve with brown rice. 

Marinated Pork

1 lb pork chops

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

4 tsp lemon

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup ketchup

Cook on low for 5 hours. Serve with mash potatoes or brown rice. 

Buffalo Chicken

 1 lb chicken

1 cup buffalo wing sauce

1 package of ranch seasoning

Cook on low for 5 hours. Serve on whole wheat tortilla with lettuce, tomatoes, red onion and shredded cheese. 

I have a good feeling about these meals. I can't wait to try them!