SparkDad

Once again a hiatus. I have not posted since October 25th. During October I was organizing a Cub Scout camp for 300 kids. The last 30 days of that planning was taxing to say the least.  After the camp I did not want to do much of anything including blogging.

I took two months off and got my head back together. Now I am ready with a new plan getting ready for the new year, a renewed sense of urgency in my work and a lack of wardrobe!

We are getting ready for our annual Holiday trips and as I was looking at my clothes today to pack I realized that I was in bad shape on some things. I have a lot of old clothes. So I logged on to Macys.com to take a look around. Of course if you will notice in the above screen clip there is a category missing! We live in the Houston area where the temperatures support shorts most of the year. No shorts on the menu above!

I did find some shirts on the site that were a good value and are a good fit for my casual wardrobe.

The shirts I found can be found here.

I picked out some colors that work with my jeans. Yes, as a stay at home dad I wear jeans or shorts 99% of the time! These shirts look great with button down collars, meaning no collar stays, and they are wash and wear. I hate to iron : )

Also I found this Macy’s promo code at Savings.com! This site seemed to be a good place to get coupons. Mama and I always search for coupons before buying online and we use Savings.com often. Feel free to use it!

So like a good man, I did not dilly dally at the store, albeit a virtual one. I went, I bought and now I am doing something else.

My wife would have been at the site for an hour, but that is another post!

Merry Christmas to all! I will let you know if there are up to snuff in 5-7 days when they arrive!

- Spark Dad

Most of you have seen my picture. The first thing that  you notice is my shining bald head. Well getting that smooth ball of perfect skin takes a lot of work!

I started shaving when my hair really thinned on top. I know that some of you might say that there is Rogaine and other products for thinning hair, but there is nothing for frontal baldness.

So about three years ago, at the request of Mama, I shaved my head. The comment that I mad above about a lot of work is true. The hair that I do have grows very fast. So in one day I will have a considerable amount of stubble. Shaving is rough on your head. Constantly shaving dries my skin out and dry skin cuts more easily.

I have tried all sorts of razors, electric razors and disposable razors. I have ended up using the mega-expensive Mach 3 razor for years now. But at $20 per 6 blades that is very costly. When I worked it was no big deal, but now that I am a Stay At Home Dad it is has become a very large expense. I have cut back the number of days that I shave my head, but I fell grubby when I do this.

My solution is going to be to buy a classic safety razor, such as the one pictured. I will report on the results of the purchase and calculate the cost savings once I get it in and start using it.

In addition I have tried all sorts of shaving creams. To combat the dry skin I used lots of lotions. The problem with lotions is that they make my head incredibly oily. This results in a blinding shine on my head, which is not one of my goals.

I also tried rubbing baby oil on my head first and then the shaving cream. This works well but is a pain and requires a lot of work. This is when my Comadre saved the day!

She introduced me to the Skin So Soft Shaving Gel from Avon. This stuff is great. It is about the same cost as buying Edge gel from the store and actually lasts longer. I use less of it to shave my entire head and face.

I hope this helps any of you bald guys out there!

C YA

Spark Dad

I have been following this blog for a year or so now. Do not get me wrong I screw up money on a daily basis, but this post is fantastic.

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2009/07/08/learning-to-budget-with-the-jars-system/

Let me know what you think about his blog!

I am going to a funeral : ( I will post about that later.

C YA

Spark Dad

Since “retirement” I am always looking for ways to save money. Here is a quick money saving tip!

At meals switch to using cloth napkins. We have changed to a stain resistant nylon napkin. They are not as absorbent as a paper towel but they do the job at the dinner table.

In addition the microwave food cover prevents us from using paper towels to cover food in the microwave. This accomplishes two things. First of all it saves money and trees and secondly it prevents me from cleaning the microwave every week and that is a good thing!

Also you save a considerable amount of money, consider this:

If you buy only 8 rolls of paper towels per month at $14.99 for an average brand such as Bounty then you save almost $100 per year.

The 12 cloth / nylon napkins cost us $24.00 and the microwave cover cost $5.99 So in the first year you save about $60.00 and the savings will accumulate from there!

Now don’t get me wrong we still use some paper towels but our consumption is down from 12 rolls per month to about 2. What a deal!

Just a little savings, but in this economy every little bit means a lot!