Finding financial aid to pay for college

Your student is preparing to go off to college in the Fall, has the school picked out and acceptance in hand.  Now the questions looms, how to pay for it??

The first thing you need to do is complete the Free application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at www.fafsa.ed.gov The application for the 2015-2016 year became available starting January 1st.  The application is the Department of Education's site and has a nifty tool to pull your IRS tax information into the application.  You need to have already filed your taxes for it to work, but you can use estimates based on last year and once you file your taxes go back onto the site and update.  

The next thing you need to do it find out what additional steps need to be completed at the school your student is going to.  Check with the aid office, they typically have a website dedicated to spelling out the steps or you can always call.

Once you know what additional forms need to be completed, DO IT.  Don't wait on submitting, you could miss out on some opportunities if your student isn't "complete".  

Check with your local librarian, guidance counselor or State website (I suggest all 3) to find private scholarship sources to apply for.  If your student writes a really strong essay, they can use it again and again to apply for scholarships if it fits what they are asking for.

Check a search engine for scholarships like www.fastweb.com cast your net wide to find obscure little scholarships that your student would be eligible for.  I received in my undergraduate program a scholarship for Brown Eyed girls ~ legitimate scholarship that provided $500 a year that added up to a whole lot of books by the end of my degree!

Make sure that your student applied for any scholarship available through the school of choice and look over all paperwork that comes in for deadlines.

Once you have your award offer in hand, remember ~ it's not a bill, it's an award and not all awards are equal. 

If your student is applying to more than 1 school and you are deciding which school offered the "best" $$ you have to look at total cost for the year and then scholarship offered.  What looks like a huge scholarship may only cover 10% while a small offer and a low cost school could be covering 75%.  You also have to take into consideration Fit.  If the school is not right for your student and is not going to offer the degree they want, services they need or climate they are used too (climate can be cultural, size of school and Temperature) then sending them off because they offered more scholarship funds is spending good money after bad.  You want your students’ college experience to be a positive one.  If you pay out of pocket even $500 a semester to find out after a year it's not a good fit and your student is going to transfer you have just wasted your money. 

All things to keep in mind when navigating the financial aid waters ~  

Smooth Sailing, TRESemme Keratin Smooth review

Hello My beautiful friends:

I've recently picked up the Tresemme 7 day Keratin smooth shampoo, conditioner and serum to see if it would help with my frizzy hair.  This is the third day in and I am loving it!! The first day, I didn't follow the directions so well and hated the results.  My hair felt like I had way to much product in it and was frizzy by the end of the day.  I realized that night my mistakes, I didn't use enough of the serum product and you are supposed to completely dry your hair before straightening. (oops)  Day 2, I followed the directions and my hair looked really good, like I had just come from a salon good!

Day 3: This morning all I had to do was wash and dry and my hair and it is still silky smooth with no frizz at all! Because I didn't have to do much to it, I was able to play around with the part and such and my hair looks even better than yesterday.  

I just snapped this picture and its been a long day already and my hair is smooth, untangled and not frizzy (ignore the wrinkled shirt) which by now on a normal day I would have thrown it up into a ponytail. 

I did find a great Youtube video of Zoella using the products and she liked them as well.

So, if interested in using these products I strongly suggest finding a coupon to reduce the out of pocket expense and read the directions before beginning.  Do you  have a product that you use to keep the frizz at bay? ~ comment in the comment section. 

Have a wonderful day my beautiful friends!  

Easy Hair, Don't care work up-do

Hello My Beautiful Friends:

I have been trying new things with my hair lately as the layers grow out and have been using YouTube for inspiration.  My most recent do was copied from this Video.  It was really easy to follow along and I got my hair up and out the door in record time this morning.  My assumption is that the more I do this particular style it will be easier and come out nicer.  That being said I just got to work and have already received a compliment on how it looks by every female in the office so far, so that's good Right?

Some other great hair style ideas I've tried have come from Luxy Hair like a messy bun Or Zoella Messy Bun tutorials.  I cannot believe what you can learn how to do on YouTube!  Have you found a favorite YouTuber you follow, please comment and share below.

She's So Crafty, Scarf Hanging DIY Organization

If you are a scarf girl like me, you may have found yourself drowning in baskets of scarfs.  Every day, pouring through the baskets looking for one to go with your outfit or the perfect pashmina to go with your evening dress.  I was given a scarf organizer from my sister in-law from IKEA but because of how many scarfs I have, it wasn't cutting the mustard.   I used (2) command hooks and a pressure rod that I already had on hand and measured out on my wall where I wanted the scarfs to hang.

As you can see I then organized the scarfs by color and have them draped over the rod.  This is only about 1/3 of my scarfs but they are the ones I use most often.  Also, this doesn't work as well with Infinity scarf's and regular scarfs mixed in because they end at different lengths.  That being said, you can hang 2 rods up one above the other on your wall if you have the room.  

What do you do to keep yourself organized? 

She's So Crafty DIY Wine Glass Project

This past week I was on a Stay-cation and did many silly things to keep me occupied.  One awesome project was hand painting wine glasses.  The glasses were $1.00 each as the Dollar store and the Paint I picked up at Michael's with a gift card I had.

You need to look for the wine glass on the label - see above.  These bottles cost about $1.50 to $2.00 each.

Use a surface you don't mind getting paint on ~ I used a Pizza box ( I seem to have alot of those in my house..don't judge).

Paint as desired and wait for the color's to dry before moving on to a new color on the glass unless you want to encourage "bleeding" from color to color.  

Once you have painted your glasses put them on a shallow cookie sheet and place in a Cold Oven, set the temp for 350 degrees and timer for 30 minutes.  The color will lighten a bit.

Once the 30 minutes are up, take them out of the oven and let them cool completely before handling.  You can add additional color and "re-cook" for layers but try to keep the paint thinner so it doesn't just chunk off.

I love my new glasses and have been using them for everything under the sun like Juice for breakfast, soda and water etc.  Do you have any crafts that you would like to share? please comment or link below.

#Ipsy April 2014 Glam Bag

Wow was I excited to receive my glam bag for April smack dab in the middle of my stay-cation.  And of course I wasn't able to blog about it until now because I was too busy enjoying my down time with me new Glam goodies.

This months bag was full of yummy new things for me to try like the St. Tropez cream that not only had a pigment to slowly "tan" my white as a ghost face but also had anti aging properties.  I tried it and I liked it alot!.  The eye liner was the perfect color and the lip stain was also really good but a bit to bright against my pale skin..alas after using the St. Tropez lotion ... it soon began to work for me.  The cream eye shadow works great as a highlight and I used it to also highlight my cheek bones as well as brows.  I pretty much loved all the products but the eyelashes.  I have thick lashes already and have never used false eye lashes before so am not prepared to try them out just yet.  I am keeping them in my stash of yummy to save for an event.

The bag itself is smaller but works really well for just the basics for a day look to stash in your purse.  Do you subscribe to Ipsy?  If so, let me know how you liked this months bag.  Don't subscribe but want too?  http://www.ipsy.com/r/6rdb

Unfortunate incident at Wal-Mart, Never shopping there again!

Over this past weekend we celebrated my Husbands 40th Birthday! At the last minute I had to scoot out to the store to pick up some things. Because my son is learning to drive, he came along for practice along with his girlfriend.  I picked up several items including some glassware, Ice Cream emergency birthday card, soda etc.  Included with the purchases  I picked up a six pack of Angry Orchard Cider.  In the checkout line with several other customers behind me, the cashier asked me how old my children were.  I answered and she stated "then I'm going to have take this" and took the six pack off the conveyer belt and set it aside.  She then went on to explain that because the Policy clearly states she has the right to refuse purchases "because you are buying this for them".  In front of several customers and my son and girlfriend she stated very plainly that she felt I was going to provide alcohol to minors and she would not allow me to make the purchase. 


I was so horrified and embarrassed I didn't do anything but pay my bill and run out of the store.  I am now making a vow to NEVER purchase a single item from ANY Wal-Mart anywhere. I've sent a letter to the store where the "incident occurred" as well as copied the corporate office.  I provided them a copy of the receipt as well as a copy of my monthly checking account statement that clearly shows how much money I spend at that store so they get the full impact of what that misuse of power has done.  I want to clearly state that at no time was I planning on, intending to, or any other scenario this cashier came up with in her head to provide Alcohol to my son or his girlfriend.  I also want to again state, a six-pack of Angry Orchard? Really??? 


The cashier motioned to a policy that was posted about purchase of alcohol and in the posting it did not include any language that stated adults with children were not allowed to purchase alcohol.  I wonder, If they were 6 years old would she have done the same thing?  and if I was purchasing for them, why then all the birthday stuff along with groceries totaling over $80.00??  If I was purchasing for them, wouldn't I have left them in the Car?  Stating in front of other customers, that I was clearly purchasing for them ~ isn't that slander? ...now some of you may come to the defense of the cashier about her doing her job etc, she was making a judgment call based on my appearance perhaps?  Well, I was dresses in typical Mom gear and would have been considered "business casual".  My hair was done, makeup on and presentable to any person I may have run into that day including my husbands family I was hosting.  I am a reputable member of my community of which this cashier is also a member and we have seen each other in the store and about town ~  I am not a stranger to her.  I do not have any type of reputation of being a "party house", I have never been arrested for providing alcohol to minors, my child does not run the streets, gets good grades, athlete


I am offended! but more than that, I am angry at myself for allowing this women to shame me in front of my child and strangers as if I was doing something wrong.  The whole experience left me upset for the remainder of the day and I am still clearly rattled by it.  I wish I had asked to talk with the manager, refused to purchase any of the other items I picked out, left without any items etc.  Many scenarios that always include being dignified and true to my nature while pointing out the inappropriate use of power by the cashier.  Her judgment of me based on something other than her actual knowledge of my nature clearly has left me feeling I need to "prove" myself?  Frustrating!  How would you have handled the situation?  I would love some constructive advice on ways to improve my ability to stick up for myself in the moment.


Love you all my beautiful friends!