I challenged my daughter and her friend to see how much they could buy with $20.00 at our local thrift store. My daughter is naturally frugal, so I knew she would do well, but I was still surprised with all that she was able to purchase. My daughter came home with 2 pairs of pants,Read More
Using Vinegar On Mildewed Towels
It is summer and in our house that means mildew. Somebody forgets a wet towel in a hot car or bunches it up in a pile in the laundry room or leaves it wadded up in the beach bag, etc… the possibilities for creating mildewed towels are limitless for my creative family. But I haveRead More
My Husband Willingly Bought Me…
Painting tape! Some girls ask for pearls, I ask for painting tape. I asked my husband to buy me 2 inch blue paint tape the last time he went to Home Depot. I was waiting for the usual questions: What was I painting this time? Was it going to be a crazy color like taupe?Read More
Road Food Waste
Most of my food waste for this week comes from not planning well for outings. I ended up buying food that we do not normally consume, so it went uneaten. Bring a sandwich because eating your friends is awkward We think of the the local shop that sells t-shirts with the above saying printed onRead More
Frugal Mascara Tip
Disclaimer: If you have looked at my profile picture you know that I should not be giving beauty tips (but if you want to leave some comment love saying that I don’t look old enough to be the mother of a 3rd year college student, feel free! :-). I wear very little makeup, but sinceRead More
Protecting Chairs from My Toddler
There is a 14-year gap between my second youngest and my youngest child. During that gap we bought grown-up furniture, not knowing that we would be blessed with a bonus baby. I would be lying if I denied thinking about the fate of my furniture while expecting Rew. We now have a delightfully messy two-year-oldRead More
Using Paraffin to Quiet a Sliding Door
Our sliding glass door was not closing smoothly and was making quiet a bit of noise as it moved. I used a trick I learned from my father-in-law to make the doors glide smoothly again: Paraffin! Now, a quiet whoosh is the only sound the doors make as they glide by! It is easy andRead More
My Little Tagger
We forgot to explain that sidewalk chalk is to be used only on the sidewalk! I walked out on to the porch and was greeted with letters on the soap box where I keep my gardening tools. Side view of soap box. Can you find the word cat on the loveseat? Have you figured outRead More
Using an Oil Dispenser to Save Dish Soap
Ten years ago, I walked into my friend’s kitchen and noticed that she was using an oil dispenser to hold her dish soap. I don’t remember where she got the idea, but I remember that she did it for aesthetic reasons. She wanted to be able to leave her dish soap out, but thought thatRead More
Hooked On DVD Binders
I am always looking for ways to organize and make the most of our limited storage space. We have accumulated quite a few DVD’s, though the pace has slowed down considerably since we joined netflix. The DVD’s were kept in a linen closet, along with games and art supplies, so there wasn’t much room forRead More
Reusing Tissue Boxes and Grocery Bags
Sometimes I forget to bring my reusable grocery bags to the store which leaves me with left over plastic bags. And although we use cloth handkerchiefs, I do keep tissue for our guests, which leaves me with leftover tissue boxes. So I combine two leftover items and create a new use for them: I realizeRead More
Now That I Am Harvesting So Much From The Garden…
It does not even occur to me to look in the veggie bin anymore, I just go straight to the garden with a colander to pick what I want for dinner. If only I had looked I could have chopped the onion and broccoli up and put them in the freezer for future use. TheRead More
Homemade Paint With Water Coloring Pages
I have spent way too much time this week talking on the phone with companies. During these calls I need Rew to be happily occupied for a couple of minutes so that I can focus, remember to ask the right questions, and write notes. I remembered my older kids enjoying paint with water books.Read More
It Is Better to Have Tried and Failed…
My food waste for this week is semi-homemade hummus. At Whole Foods Market they sell hummus mix in bulk for less than $3.00 a pound. I had been buying small packages (8 oz. container – I think) of premade hummus at Trader Joe’s for $2.99. I thought this was a good opportunity to save moneyRead More
The Great Flower Compromise
As my husband was leaving work to pick me up on one of our first dates a colleague asked, “aren’t you going to bring her flowers?” It was too late for my husband to purchase any before picking me up, so when he arrived he greeted me by apologizing for not bringing flowers. Being myRead More
The "Uniform"
A couple of months ago Gwenyth Paltrow received a lot of negative attention for her new blog GOOP. I decided to check it out and could not figure out what the big deal was all about. I personally believe that if you have an open mind you can learn from almost anybody. I am notRead More
Guidelines to Eliminate Food Waste
We wasted food again this week. Well, actually my husband wasted food because nobody else would have opened this can of olives to begin with and if they did they would have transferred the contents to a glass bowl with a lid per mom’s food saving guidelines! Unfortunately, my husband is the only one whoRead More
Making More Room in Your Freezer
I buy food in bulk when it is on sale. The limiting factor when it comes to stocking up on meat is my freezer space. I wish that I had a large capacity freezer, but until a great bargain comes along I will continue to cram as much food as possible into the little freezerRead More
Mistress of the Obvious!
Stop the presses! This news just in: Refrigerating Fruit Keeps it Fresh Longer! I realize that this probably seems very obvious to some, maybe even most of you, but I just realized this last month. Until last month, I kept my fruit in baskets on the counter. My theory was that if my children hadRead More
Cost Per Serving Calculator
On Wednesdays I go through all of the grocery store ads and make my shopping list. Most of the time it is obvious which sale price on meat is the best bargain: whole chickens $0.67 a lb., boneless pork loin $0.99 a lb., etc. However, there are times when the decision is not so simple.Read More
