Curl Up With A Good Book…

For many of us, myself absolutely included, being able to give to our loved ones is a large part of living a Champagne Life. And giving on a Beer Budget is easier than you might think.

First, remember the bath products from the launch of this blog? These are as inexpensive to make for your friends as they are to make for yourself. And why not refresh your own supply while you’re mixing?

Another option is to go old school and bake. Cookies, fudge, candies…there are so many recipes out there and available, many of them easy enough that kids of any age can even help. One of my favorites is my mother’s spiced tea recipe, which doesn’t require any more skill than being able to mix powders. Hello? It doesn’t get any easier than that! If you’re really pushed for time, instead of stressing, give dry mixes. Layer the ingredients for cookies, brownies, even soups. Just don’t forget to attach the recipe.

Still too expensive? Find three other friends who are interested in living a Champagne Life on a Beer Budget. Each of you buy the ingredients for one or two goodies, get together and bake, mix and layer. Somebody can even splurge on a bottle of wine and make an evening of it, if you want. Once everything has cooled or set, swap out. A dozen chocolate chip cookies is only so interesting. A tray of four different sweets will make anyone happy. And your gift recipients never need know you didn’t make them all!

Now you’ve got your bath stuff and goodies for your friends (with extra for yourself, of course). The right packaging take a bunch of scented salt and makes it an elegant, Champagne Life present. While plastic tubs are perfectly acceptable, a special tin turns a treat into a gift. Dollar stores, craft stores, even drugstores, have trays and containers and tins galore, in just about every shape and size. If you’re lucky enough to live near a Christmas Tree Shop, you’re near a goldmine.

Clear or ceramic canisters are perfect for dry mixes. Add a label with baking or soaking instructions and sick a bow on it. If you’d be more comfortable, put the mix in a plastic baggie and put the baggie in the canister.  Tins and trays are made for baked goods. A favorite of mine is a large, pre-decorated gift box. I’ve fit two dozen cupcakes in one of those before.

For a surprisingly beautiful look, fill a small, pretty glass bowl with spiced tea or caramelized nuts. Cover the top with plastic wrap and tie it on with a gold ribbon. Both finished recipes have a golden hue to them anyway. When enhanced by the glass and the ribbon, the whole thing nearly sparkles.

Gift giving doesn’t have to break you. It doesn’t have to stress you. It can ~ and should ~ be a part of every Champagne Life. Please accept my mother’s spiced tea recipe as my gift to you, whatever you are celebrating this season. As always, be smart about it and don’t drink it if you’re allergic. Leave a comment or drop me an email, and I’ll send you the caramelized nuts recipe, too! Because yummy treats for yourself and for giving? That’s a Champagne Life on a Beer Budget!

Enjoy ~

~ Pauline

Susan’s Spiced Tea

• 2 cups Tang
• 2 scoops instant lemonade
• 1 cup instant, unsweetened tea (caffeinated or decaf, optional)
• 1 teaspoon ground clove
• 1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Add three heaping teaspoons to a mug. Fill mug with boiling water and stir (with cinnamon stick for an added kick).

Last time, we looked at where to shop. The answer was consignment and anywhere with a good sale. Great. Now what? Well, now is what to shop for and how to shop. While this may seem easy enough – what to shop for is whatever we need and how to shop is by going to a store – let me explain. On the one hand, it is that easy. On the other hand, shopping like that is, for me anyway, a guaranteed way to blow both my champagne life and my beer budget. Here’s what I mean…

It’s easy to buy something simply because it fits and it’s functional. But how much was in your donation bag that fit and was functional and yet you still avoided wearing it? We’ve just gotten rid of everything we didn’t love wearing. It makes no sense to go replace it with clothing that is nothing more than well-fitting and functional. How many pairs of jeans and pull-overs (or hoodies or sweatshirts or sweater sets) do you really need anyway? Set yourself a higher standard than “fits and is functional.” After all, living a champagne life is more than about saving money; it’s a commitment to yourself and treating yourself well.

Yes, look for clothes that fit, but also for clothes you love and will feel good wearing. For clothes that match the style you have or the one you want to have. If you have a favorite summer outfit, try to find its winter equivalent. For example, when I gave this piece of advice to my mother regarding her favorite summer outfit – culottes and a flowy tank top – she found thick palazzo pants and lovely long-sleeved t-shirts to wear during winter. The same outfit? No. A seasonally appropriate choice that makes her feel as good as her summer outfit? Absolutely! Because as we have said so often, when you feel confident and beautiful, you look confident and beautiful. And that’s a Champagne Life on a Beer Budget!

Enjoy ~

~ Pauline

Wow. We’ve been standing in front of a cleared out closet for a long time now. Too long. Sorry about that. I think it’s time to restock, don’t you? And you know what that means…Shopping!  However, since we’re talking about shopping, it also means smart, champagne life on a beer budget shopping. Even better. This week, let’s discuss where to shop. After that, we can discuss what to shop for and how to shop. But for now, where!

For many of us, this may be a no-brainer. We have our favorite places; we have our budget; we have our style. For other of us, it’s not that easy, as much as we wish it was.

Perhaps the one good thing about the months (holy cow, months!) between clearing out the closet and now is the holidays are here. With the holidays come the holiday sales. BOGOs, coupons, special hours, special days – you name it, it’s out there. Take advantage. Who cares that it’s for your closet and not someone’s present? It’s still a gift – just to you in instead of someone else! And don’t be embarrassed to use a coupon, inquire about free shipping or ask about the timing on the next sale.

No need to disregard department stores and mall stores but do also pay close attention to places like Target and Kohls, places that have good quality and reasonable prices year-round. Any of their holiday sales can save you big bucks.  While you’re looking around, remember places like Goodwill (http://www.goodwill.org/), Savers (http://www.savers.com/) and thrift shops. The best part of these places is you get new-to-you clothing, reuse resources and help people, all at the same time. Plus, remember all those clothes you just (months ago, good grief!) cleared out of your closet? Many of these places will give you store credit in exchange for your donations. New outfits for nothing more than your old outfits? I do love a champagne life.

My one warning to you – remember the difference between inexpensive and cheap. Inexpensive is great. We’re all about inexpensive here. Cheap, not so much. Remember, it’s better to pay $10 for a sweater and be able to wear it all winter than $5 for one and have it disintigrate after one washing. Stylish and smart. That’s a Champagne Life on a Beer Budget.

Enjoy ~

~ Pauline

Pauline Trent is taking a hiatus from her online sites to focus on her family. She hopes to be back soon.  Thank you.

Kate Duffy, one of, if not the, premiere editor of romance novels died today. The industry will never be the same ~ and I will miss her and her wisdom.

Rest easy, Kate.

Next post, I promise we will pick up where we left off last post. After all, we are staring into a closet with a whole lot of space in it. I don’t know about you, but wearing the same outfits three days in a row or being arrested for public indecency don’t exactly fit into my idea of a Champagne Life on any kind of budget. That being said, based on some emails and feedback I’ve been getting, I feel I need to address something.

I know you’re stressed. I know you’re being pulled in seventeen different ways. We have work and children and spouses and houses and parents and siblings and bills and, and, and…And it’s crazy out there. Three things I want you to remember:

1. These are suggestions. Take the ones you like. Discard the ones you don’t. Create the things I’ve missed but that matter to you. This is your Champagne Life on a Beer Budget. No one else’s.  I remember once I was raving about a recipe to a woman I knew at an office. The main ingredients were peanut butter and chocolate. She asked for the recipe and said she would try it over the weekend. Monday, I asked her if she had tried it and if she had liked it. Her response was yes, she had tried it and no, she hadn’t liked it. Then she went on to say “But I really can’t stand chocolate and peanut butter combined.” Hm. Well, no. Given that you don’t like the main combination of ingredients, it makes sense you wouldn’t like the recipe. I didn’t say that, of course, but I certainly thought it. These are like chocolate and peanut butter. If you know you don’t like them, don’t take time out of your crazy, busy schedule to try them. Take time out of your crazy busy schedule to try something you do like, or at least you think you might like. And then write me or leave a comment and tell me what it is. I’m always looking for new things to incorporate into my Champagne Life.

2. You don’t have to find time for everything all at once. You don’t have to give yourself a manicure/pedicure every single Thursday and take a hot bath every night and go through your closet immediately and rid yourself of plastic grocery bags and read a new or favorite author all before the month is out. Again, if you can afford that kind of time and commitment, odds are good the Beer Budget doesn’t really apply anyway (and more power to you!). Start slow. Get one thing absorbed comfortably into your routine before you try to add something else.

3.You have to be willing to carve out the time for yourself. We find the time for the things that really matter to us. Let yourself really matter to you. Maybe it’s one small thing. Maybe it’s several small things (because that’s the whole point of this ~ they are all small things). Whichever it is, you have to make the time, just as you make the time for your other comittments. Remember, one of the very first posts here was the power bath. That mindset can see you through more suggestions than just bathing. When I was in college in Boston, one afternoon, my mother and I went to high tea at the Ritz (talk about a Champagne Life!). We saw a woman there obviously doing business. She had her folders and files and was working. Until the waiter brought her tea service to her. At that point, she stopped working, put everything aside and pulled out a book. She read and had tea and didn’t work. Her tea probably lasted all of twenty minutes. Then she packed everything up and headed back out again, most probably back to the office. But she had found herself those twenty minutes for high tea, just for herself. Make yourself as important as everything else. You’re worth it.

And that more than anything else is a Champagne Life on a Beer Budget.

Enjoy ~

~ Pauline

If making sure our “unmentionables” are nice makes us feel better, imagine what knowing our outer layers will do for us!  Which means it’s time to tackle the closet.  Many people have many suggestions around this.  To be honest, I’m lazier and less organized than most of these suggestions require.  My personal champagne life is pretty low-maintenance.  I’m not going to take pictures of each outfit to ensure it looks good.  I’m not going to hang compete outfits on the same hanger.  In fact, I’m lucky if my clothes get put away and not just stacked in a pile mentally labelled “clean.”  Still, maybe that’s just me.  If you are more ambitious than that, absolutely take pictures.  Hang outfits together.  And more power to you and your personal champagne life.  Either way, start here:

Make sure every piece in your closet works for you.  Does it still fit? Is it missing buttons or zippers?  Will you ever really replace the button or mend the zipper (and be honest with yourself here, regardless of how hard it is or how good your intentions)?

Some people have a one year rule  If you haven’t worn it in a year, throw it out.  But what if it was a mild winter?  Or a rainy summer?  I extend it to three years because, well, things sometimes happen.  My other rule? Don’t keep it if you don’t absolutely love it.  So what if it fits?  So what if it’s practically new?  Odds are good that if you don’t love it, it shows when you wear it.  If you don’t love it, why own it?  The opposite of this is true as well ~ if you love it (and it fits and all that), keep it.  Who cares if it’s out of style or you only have few occasions to wear it?  If you really love something, it shows when you wear it.  You feel better, more confident, more attractive, more you. And it’s your champagne life so keep it!  Just be honest about the fit and condition.

This doesn’t need to be a long, painful process.  Simply put your hands on each item of clothing once.  If it’s a keeper, move on.  If it’s not, throw it on the floor and move on.  And there.  You’re done. Probably with a large pile of clothing to get rid of and a little (a lot?) of space in your closet.  Which is full of clothes you love, you feel good in, and that make you happy to wear.  You know what that is, right?  It’s a Champagne Life on a Beer Budget!

Enjoy ~
~ Pauline

Everyone knows how we feel about how we look, how we’re dressed, how we’re put together, has an impact on us.  That’s why makeover shows are so popular.  When we feel as if we look good, we have more confidence in ourselves ~ which makes us look good.  It’s a lovely little circle.  We don’t, however, have to only care about what other people see.

In spite of the title of this posting, I’m going to tell you a secret rather than keeping it: I care about my underwear.  Even before I met my husband, when I was single and there was no one to see what I had on under my clothes but me, I took care with my lingerie.  As a result, I have fun underwear; I have silky underwear; I have sexy underwear.  And it’s my little secret.  After all, if I’m going to wear fun, silky, sexy things for someone else, why shouldn’t I wear them just for me?

The nice thing is nice things don’t have to cost a fortune.  Sure, if you want to, go ahead and drop $20, $25 or more on a single pair of panties.  And more power to you, if you can afford it.  For me, the whole champagne life on a beer budget thing means I need to be a little more frugal than that.  Luckily, that’s not impossible!  First, go through your drawer.  If it’s got rips or holes, please throw it out.  If it’s too big or too small, please throw it out.  If your bras aren’t the right size, please get fitted. An absurd number of women wear the wrong size bra and trust me, as a full-figured woman, nothing makes you feel better than when you finally put on the right sized one and the girls look that good.  Once you’ve been fitted, if the bras are the wrong size, throw them out.

But now what? Now it’s time to replace.  Something I’ve learned about underwear: someone is always having a sale somewhere. My favorite bras were on sale 50% off at two different stores last week.  I don’t remember the last time I spent more than $3.99 on a pair of panties.   Even our favorite secret keeper, Victoria, regularly has panties on sale for 4 for $20.  Sure, that’s more than $3.99 but if shopping there is part of your champagne life, it’s still a bargain.

Are your underclothes hugely important?  Nope.  If we’re honest, not really.  But why shouldn’t we be as good to ourselves when it’s just us, as we are to whomever is lucky enough to see what’s underneath the clothes?  It’s one of those little touches that can bring a little ~ albeit secret ~ smile and that make it a champagne life even on a beer budget!

Enjoy ~

~ Pauline

Have you noticed I’ve been posting less regularly recently?  That’s because I am considering making some changes with the website and was looking at options.  Now that I have basically decided what I want to do, I feel it’s time to fill you in on the plan.

First, I will continue to post Champagne Life on a Beer Budget tips here on the blog.  It’s too much fun to give up.  However, I will now be posting every other Monday rather than even pretending to post every week.  Life is just getting in the way of that particular plan.

Second, I’m going to have an announcement and news page.  For those of you who have written saying you want to know more about the books and my writing, you’ve been heard.  I don’t have a schedule for that particular page.  As there are announcements and news to share, I will share!

Third, I’m hoping to run more contests come autumn so be sure to check back regularly!

There you have it ~ the few changes I wanted to tell you about.  Thanks for hanging in during a busy season.  Hopefully your summer has been as delightfully interesting as mine has been and you have lived a champagne life on a beer budget.

~ Pauline

This week, instead of posting here, I’m guest blogging over at Lucy Monroe’s place.    Talk about an honor.

Enjoy!

~ Pauline