24/Savvy Home and Money

Surrounding yourself with beautiful art is just so....savvy.  Art inspires you, makes you feel good, and best of all, you don't have to spend a fortune at a fancy auction to snazz up your space. Book stores, thrift stores, garage sales, museum shops, fabric shops, and even wallpaper shops are just a few places you can pick up budget-friendly materials to make inspired creations to adorn your home.  We've used art book clips in our bathroom, decorative wrapping/scrapbooking papers in our bedroom, cut-up calendars in our hallways, and notecard sets in our office to make swoon-worthy art collections for a song, because the beauty is, items don't even have to be new, expensive, or fancy to be beautiful.

Money may or may not make the world go round, but it definitely doesn't have to stand in your way when you want to have a gay 'ol time, savvy friends.  When you're on a budget, you can sure feel like you have to say "no" to a lot of indulgences, but some of the best things in life are still (almost) free, giving you the chance to discover new interests, uncover fave old hobbies and have a fabulous time, no matter what you've got in your bank account.  The next time you're itching for a good time, consult this list when you don't feel like you've got the money to have fun. You don't need it.  You just need a little creativity and a taste for adventure.

My memory is failing me, but some famous writer used to love saying that simply walking around the block in New York City costs about $20.00.  The same is true in summer, no?  Ice cream, summer blockbusters, vacations—money just falls through our fingers like a sieve.  If you're looking to save up, not sieve out, there are many, easy ways to do it before summer ends.  In fact, we're willing to bet with our trade-off tips, you can sock away at least $100 by the end of the season.

(Photo via iheartluxe.com)

There came a point at Savvy Central where Mr. Savvy and I were afraid to open the mailbox.  Turning the key to our little aluminum box and finding stacks of catalogues and mystery envelopes got to be about as enjoyable as a deep gum scrape at the dental office.  Even if no bills were inside, seeing that pile of junk mail just depressed us (the paper waste! the unwittingly increased carbon footprint! the cheesy catalogs that in no way represent our savvtastic selves!), so much so that we got on a hard core 'Stop The Junk Forever Campaign' (STJFC) and well...we managed to stop the junk forever.

If you too would like to start a STJFC, follow four easy steps and your box will be [almost] junk-free forever [or until the next piece slips through the cracks at which time you'll know EXACTLY what to do.]

In this day and age of identity theft, destroying documents is important for personal protection. Introducing a crazy cool coffee-table/paper shredder, designed to delight: The Papervore. Its’ diet consists of junk mail, old utility bills, magazines and any other incriminating evidence you might have.  While taking care of coffee-table clutter, your cable bill becomes a work of art!  A mahogany crank let’s you go cordless, so the only trip you’ll be taking is to the recycling bin once it’s full.

The papervore comes in custom colors and is sold at Pigeontail Design and Voos Furniture in NYC.

With all the vibrant buds in full bloom, it's hard to walk past a flower shop without dropping a bundle on a bouquet.  If you like to stretch your dollar (anyone here who doesn't?) and prolong the life of your beautiful blossoms, we've got a few simple tips from NYC-based floral designer Jessica Leatherman to get the most out of your money.

Because flowers already have so many chemicals, Jessica doesn't recommend adding any more.  "Changing the water daily is the best thing for flowers. Flowers start to die when bacteria sets into the stems--bacteria which comes from old, foggy, murky, water and leaves or greenery in the water."

If you're the savvy girl who finds water too bland for your refined tastes, chugging down the recommended 8 glasses a day can be a bitter bev to swallow.  First question: Do we really need those 8 glasses?  The Mayo Clinic says yes. 

Water makes up 60% of your body weight and every system in your body depends on it to flush, cleanse and act as a superhighway to get healthy stuff from one place to another.  The clinic's recommendation is to replace what you sweat, breathe or urinate out (love those refreshing terms!) which amounts to about 2 liters a day, but can vary due to your activity level.

Good news for you savvies who love to cook and have a sunny spare windowsill in your home.  These inexpensive, ultra-versatile herbs will flourish in the sunniest of spots providing you with an ongoing supply of fresh herbs, since we all know the ones we grow ourselves taste oh-so-much-better than store bought, no? Plus, it's cheaper to snip off what you need as you need it than blowing a wad on a giant bunch that'll go bad three days later. So, start growing and enjoy the fruits of your pain-free labor.

YES! I am doing it! Accepting the challenge and going Meatless in May…  And after reading all of the material I have come across, I might just hang on longer than that…maybe for good. 

Reasons that I am going MEATLESS:

• I am a MASSIVE animal lover.

Friends, I  don't know about you, but party season has arrived at 24/Savvy Headquarters and is about to head into full swing.  We've got weddings, showers (baby and bridal), bar mitzvahs, and birthday parties (kids and adults) up the wazoo and not a whole lot of scheckles to spend planning them.  The good news is, savvy girls know that you don't have to spend a ton of money to create a memorable event and have a wonderful time--and really, that is the point.