Top 5 Favorite Kitchen Items

In light of recently packing up my entire kitchen, here are my Top 5 Favorite Kitchen Items. I am all about saving money and not purchasing items I don't need, but these are all items that I LOVE and that save a significant amount of time in the kitchen.

1. Kitchenaid Scissors
2. Food Processor
3. Mini Food Processor
4. Garlic Press
5. Crock pot

What are your favorite kitchen items???

5 Purchases I don't regret

Regardless of how frugal you are or how much you try to save money, there are definitely some things that are absolutely worth spending money on. Here are my top five.

1. Bailey. I love, love, love our dog. She didn't really cost a lot of money ($75 from the shelter) but all of the things that come along with owning a dog certainly add up. We've actually been pretty fortunate in that she's a pretty low maintainence and so far (knock on wood) we haven't had any emergency vet visits.


2. Our tv. I watch a decent amount of tv. I really enjoy it and it helps me unwind. Plus sports are awesome in hi-def.


3. My netbook. I was kind of going back and forth on getting one, but I'm really, really glad I did. I'm definitely getting my money out of it.


4. Our apartment. We could definitely live in a smaller place or different area and pay less in rent. It's all relative, as what we pay now is equivalent to what I paid in Philadelphia and we easily have twice the space plus a few extra nice amenities (private outdoor space, use of the pool, tennis courts, W/D in apt, dishwasher). (Even though this will all be changing soon!)


5. Our car. We didn't exactly do the smart thing with our first joint car purchase....we leased it. But our lease has ended and we purchased it outright. In the longterm we've paid more on the car than it's worth, but we learned our lesson and we really enjoy not having a car payment.

5 Things We Don't Mind Going Without

I got this idea from Meagan over at Frugal Fun & Fortune. I enjoyed reading her post here, so I decided to think of 5 things that we don't mind going without. I wish I could say a bigscreen tv, like Meagan, but that is one purchase I'm glad we made!


1) A second car. We are lucky right now (and since we've been married) that we can get by with only one car. Our jobs are literally right across the street from each other and Tom's schedule is so flexible that he can work around my more "set" work hours.

2) A house. Sure, we're now in our 30's (oy) and would love to own a house. But I am not about to buy one without AT LEAST a 20% down payment, enough to cover closing costs, enough to buy some "new" furniture, and enough leftover in the bank for a 4-6 month emergency fund. Renting just makes sense for us right now. We know exactly how much our rent will be every month (and thankfully have management that is so unorganized we haven't had a rent increase since we've moved in....shhhhhh!). At any rate, we will likely buy a house as soon as we end up in a city that we're going to be in at least 5 years. Hopefully by then we will have enough saved up to meet my rules listed above :)

3) Eating out. Okay, so this isn't something we completely go without, but honestly, we rarely go out to eat. Maybe once every 4-5 months we'll treat ourselves to a dinner, but it's usually Mexican or Pizza Hut, not totalling more than $30. The only other times we go out to eat is for special events with friends or if we have a giftcard.

4) GPS. This is nothing major, I'm sure you can get a decent GPS unit for under $100 easy these days, but it's just not something we need. We know our way around here pretty well and we print directions from mapquest or get a regular map ahead of time if we're going out of town.

5) Smartphones. Ok, so I admit it. I guess I wouldn't mind having an iphone or some verizon equivalent, but I'm not sold on spending the extra money for the "data package," just to be able to get on the internet anytime, anywhere. I mean, I've lived 30 years without one and I've been surviving just fine :)