Today’s tips come again from the quirky little 4 Ingredients book that we have highlighted before in our Shuga’ Momma’s column. The below tips are a bit random, but fun, thrifty and worth giving a try. I have used vaseline to remove my eye make-up for years, but now I am definitely going to give the baby oil a go; and I’m also especially curious how the bleach in the fresh flowers turns out?! Enjoy! -M.C.
This fabulous article lists 6 great tips for surviving marriage while in graduate school.
We loved the introduction:
“As a couple, you’re ecstatic. One of you slogged through exam preparation, endless essays, formidable forms and now there’s finally an acceptance letter in the mail. But what should you anticipate when one of you is starting graduate school? Beginning work on a new degree can have a significant impact on your marriage.”
“Obviously, the seismic impact of graduate school depends somewhat on the nature of your spouse’s program, and some factors are unique to different situations. However, here are six areas to pay close attention to while your husband or wife is earning their advanced degree.”
The six areas covered in the article were:
1. Time Management and Dealing with Stress
2. Relationship Drainers
3. Dealing with Finances
4. Sleep Deprivation and Sex
5. Dealing with New “Friends”
6. Tips for the Long Haul
Definitely worth the read!
-Mandy and MC
Today’s tip was submitted by a reader last week and I was so excited to share it. You might remember this cute chick from our ‘25 ways to wear a scarf‘ post back in the fall. She is super easy to follow in this little intro video on ‘how to make a bun’ and she can’t help but make you smile. I personally love the bun look (it makes me feel graceful and poised) :) and I posted some great shots below of what your hair could look like…with only a sock as your secret weapon! :) Cheap and lovely. Grad wives, enjoy. (p.s. just a warning, your hubs might seriously make fun of you for hiding socks in your hair). -M.C.
I don’t know about you, but I am always looking for ways to save money on our graduate budget.
Recently, some of my Stateside graduate wife friends have started making their own laundry detergent to trim a few dollars from their budget. At first I thought it was a bit old school Little House on the Prairie, but after one of my graduate wife friends said she was only spending about $10.00 every few months to make her detergent, I actually started to listen.
So I asked her for the recipe, and thought it would be fun to share. Wouldn’t it be nice to make your own detergent, knowing exactly what went into it? (Editor’s note: I haven’t actually done this myself, as I’m not out of laundry detergent. It’s currently sitting at number 5 on my to-do list. And there are a bajillion recipes online for making your own detergent, so if my friend’s recipe isn’t your flavour, then find one, make it, and please share it with us)!
LAUNDRY DETERGENT
1 bar of soap (shaved)
1 cup of borax
1 cup of washing soda
Mix together thoroughly….and literally, that’s it.
It should fit into a small container, and make enough for 32 loads, depending on the amount you use to do your wash.
I’m sure you’ll make Laura Ingalls proud.
Have you ever made your own laundry detergent? How did it turn out?
-Mandy
Today’s tips come from the quirky little 4 Ingredients book that we have highlighted before in our Shuga Momma’s column. Below are some random tips I found in there, but they are fun, thrifty and worth giving a try. I haven’t tried any myself, but I’m warming up some hot water right right now to see if it helps with my clumpy mascara. Here goes! Enjoy! -M.C.
So I haven’t gotten into the coupon craze that I know many people swear by…however after I read this interesting little tip, I can’t help but want to learn more.
Our tip comes from the amazing blog called The Money Saving Mom. She has an extensive site full of budget tips that will blow you away and you need to read it in doses or you might get totally overwhelmed. She even began her thrifty ways when she was a grad wife herself several years back!
Today’s tip focuses on saving/earning lots of cash back from major drug stores in the US. Sounds too good to be true! She outlines how to do it here. Looks like it might take a bit of time at first, but in the end totally worth it. I don’t know if there is a UK equivalent to this coupon scheme here, but I sure hope to find one. Have fun with those extra care bucks!
-M.C.
“In fact, in about three weeks, we’d gotten around $800 worth of groceries, household products and health and beauty products — and spent less than $20 out of pocket! It was a bit insane!”
I couldn’t help but share a fun tip for all the Oxford readers out there. I don’t know if you have ever been to Barefoot Books (the new children’s bookstore in Summertown), but you should, and you should make today the day to visit! We go for the story time there from time to time and to be honest I have never actually bought a book, due to the somewhat high prices. Hard to pay £10 on a paperback when I know I get them at the library book sale for .20p each. Anyways, when we went in today I was asked to fill out a ten minute survey and along with that I could choose any book for FREE! I completed it in 5 minutes and picked up the jungle boogie book that my daughter loves, along with the music dvd included in the flap, for nothing! So, head over to Barefoot Books and ask for the survey and free book. Even if you don’t have kids, pick one up for a friend and enjoy a delicious latte in their storyteller’s cafe while you are there.
Other readers not in Oxford, do you have any tips you could share about local deals in your neck of the woods?! We’d love to start sharing them on our Wednesday Weekly Tips!
-M.C.
Remember that episode of Friends where Monica wouldn’t let Joey and Chandler look in the hall closet, because it would reveal a hidden, messy side of her organized self?
Yep, that’s me.
I am über organized with most things, but after spending nearly two days cleaning up what can only be described as beauty product chaos, I was amazed I ever found anything I was looking for among the tangled necklaces, hoards of make-up, earrings, and array of scarves!
A former graduate wife saw this article on the Today show, and sent it our way (Hi, Jill)! I hope some of the tips help add a little organization to your life….like it did mine!
-Mandy
We’re thrilled to introduce our GW readers to our friends, Nitzan and Elinor, founders of http://www.flat-club.com. We asked Elinor (since she is a graduate wife) to tell the story of how a simple conversation in their kitchen launched a business that is a direct benefit to graduate students and alumni worldwide. Be sure to check out their website and sign up! We can’t wait to use their website the next time we travel! – Mandy & MC
Like many of us, I was made the same promise – we’ll move abroad, spend all our savings on a top business school, find a dream job, and live happily ever after. But something always changes. Right?
In our case, it all started with an innocent conversation we had in the kitchen of our lovely London flat. It was a month before Christmas, and we were planning to travel home for the holidays for 3 weeks, and my dear MBA-husband came up with an idea – Christmas and New Years Eve is peak tourism season in London, we could rent out our place and earn £1,000. I replied, well, we already owe that top business school £50,000, how would £1,000 make a difference?
Then he said, well, if we manage it, we’ll spend half the money on a weekend in Bruges. Hmm….That made it interesting. My next question was, but who would we rent it out to? I didn’t want just anyone off the street staying in our place!
We started to think together about who we trust (but can still charge), and how we could make it work.
We ended up renting our flat to a family of alumni from a top business school. We didn’t know the family and we didn’t know the alumni, but because we knew someone in the middle it was enough for us. We knew they wouldn’t ruin the place or steal the TV. It turned out to be an amazing experience. We left them groceries for breakfast and chocolate on the pillows, and they left the house tidy and well organized and also a personal gift they made themselves. Oh, yeah, and we went to Bruges!!
In the following year, we set about finding a solution to help others find the people they trust to arrange short term renting. We ended up with Flat-Club: an exclusive network for alumni & students looking for short term accommodation. Everyone can post their place when they go away and select who will see their flat – instead of posting to everyone, you post only to the people you trust.
It took 9 months to bring Flat-Club to life, and in these same 9 months we had our first baby as well! Our baby (and Flat-Club) recently celebrated a year, in which Flat-Club grew from 5 flats in London to 2,000 flats worldwide, and we received outstanding feedback from hosts and guests, and traveled to Spain, Italy, Hungary, Austria, Germany, and Thailand – by renting from and to people we trust.
I never realized that this is what the MBA in London would bring, but I’m so happy with how it’s all turned out! Seeing an idea developing into a company, and the ability to help others travel, enjoy, and of course earn money on the way :), is just the best experience.
Where will you travel next? I’ve got my eye on Menorca…
So, here it is: we slowly started gathering loads of helpful tips for the ‘graduate wife journey’ from readers or from other great sources online. We started thinking …. what should we do with all this helpful stuff? It seemed like a lot to cram into a few postings here and there, so we opted for a weekly (or close to it) tips post.
Tada!
Wednesday’s Weekly Tip is debuting. If you have any good tips for anything from living on a budget, sharing the graduate journey with your spouse, to great sites to buy/DIY kids toys or even something as random as how to get out a hard stain, please share! We have gathered quite a few already and would love to feature something from you. So here goes. Happy Tip Day!
You will remember our amazing friend and former graduate wife, Katherine, from her post here on TGW a while back. Please join us as we take a visit to her blog for our first installation of Wednesday’s Weekly Tip for a fabulous little bit on: How to Travel on a Budget. (yahoo!)
the graduate wife 