Archive for DIY (Do It Yourself)
Summer Salad
Here’s a salad you can make without going shopping for the ingredients- although you might need to take a walk. As always, be careful and be sure of your plant identification: Lettuce- grow this in an ice-cream bucket of compost or potting soil. Sprinkle with lettuce seeds, sprinkle with dirt, keep damp and set in [...]
Ten Frugal Practices I Wish We’d Done from the Beginning
This list is off the top of my head. If you ask me again tomorrow, it will probably look slightly different, and the week after that I might remember something else I think is even more important. There is probably something more important that we do that I learned at my mother’s knee so I [...]
Composting
Alright, you city folk, apartment dwellers, thinking that this whole composting thing doesn’t apply to you because you live in a small place and don’t garden… I think there could still be something for you in this post. You don’t have to have a big, involved composting system like ours to benefit from compost. This [...]
Punch and Cake Reception For About $100
Here in the South, receptions and showers often feature a simple menu of punch and cake. While this may not be socially acceptable in some parts of the country, count yourself lucky if it is! I helped a friend host such a reception for 100+ people. Here’s how the budget worked out, in real numbers: 3 Costco sheet cakes for $51, with 48 [...]
Frugal Ice-Packs and Learning to Plan Ahead
I assume we all know the emergency tip about using a frozen bag of peas or corn on a nasty bruise. But what about when it’s not exactly an emergency? This past week our daughter Pip had her wisdom teeth out- three cut out and one extraction, and she needed to apply ice packs every [...]
Do It Yourself repairs: you can do it!
We’re a consumer nation. When something breaks, our first instinct is often to toss it in the trash. But sometimes it pays to stop and ask youself, “Can I fix this?” Books and tutorials abound, but many fixes require little more than common sense. When I was young, my dad taught me to repair the [...]
Humorous hacks
We’ve all done it: come up with a cheap solution that everyone laughs about. It seemed like a good idea – and maybe it was – but the story still gets a good laugh. Some are perfectly sensible and others will copy you; maybe you’re even related to somebody who used the same idea. Some [...]
In My Hands… Picture Frames
I have several framed pictures with glass from thrift shops- it’s one of my many weaknesses. I cannot resist framed pictures with the glass in them if it’s a really rock bottom price (I’m talking a buck or two at most for frames with glass- more if I actually like the picture). They’ve been piling [...]
Bread Crumbs
A friend wrote to ask if she could make bread crumbs even though she didn’t have a food processor. Yes!! I put dry bread in the blender. I have also put very dry bread (dried out in the oven if I need to) in a plastic bag and rolled it into crumbs with a rolling [...]
Assorted Trifles
A favorite birthday present for two of my girls when they entered their teens is their own email account. I set it up with restrictions and guidelines to match our family’s rules, and then surprise them with the new email account. They were thrilled, and this is free. Other frugal birthday ideas here. For those [...]
Your repair kit: what’s in it?
Don’t forget to enter the drawing for the new Frugal Forum: be among the first 50 members to post 25 times or more, and you’ll be entered in a drawing for $100 cash! Post about the drawing on your blog to be entered in a separate drawing for $25 cash. Details are here. I emptied [...]
Earth Box: is it worth the investment?
I want to have a garden. I don’t especially look forward to the work – in fact, I have to admit that I really kinda hate gardening. But I love, love, love garden fresh produce and it’s worth the work. I think we as a family would learn a lot, and I suspect that my [...]
DIY: Make Your Own Children’s Toys
When Meredith wrote earlier this week about steeling herself , she mentioned perhaps starting to make her own toys for her children. I am no expert on such a thing, but thought I would share a DIY toy that my brother and I made together last summer for my son. My son, then 15 months [...]
Frugal DIY Holiday Decorating Ideas
Are you in the holiday decorating spirit yet? If you need some ideas and inspiration, here are some frugal DIY ideas for decorating your home this season. Bead Your Own Ornaments Fur Wreath Tutorial Red Table – I love what a little paint and some ornaments can do to simply and frugally add some seasonal [...]
DIY Holiday Ideas
It’s that time of year again. Time to start getting ready for the holidays. This time of year can feel overwhelming and get expensive if we let it. There are a lot of ways to get creative, and put together frugal and beautiful things for the holidays as gifts or just for around your home. [...]
