Use What You Have Zipper Pouches

I had this rather large piece of vintage-y quilted fabric in my stash. It came in a bargain bag of scraps from a yard sale a few years ago. 

Anyways, I've been trying to make use of what I have instead of buying more. Partly to save money but mostly because it means less to move around when my sewing room becomes a nursery. 

This fabric was already sewn into something and taken apart so this is not it's first party. Ha! It's a little worn in spots but perfect for these zipper pouches. 

I often need some pouches for storing items when traveling. I made one large enough to carry my hair straightener and then the second one ended up a little smaller because of the size of the fabric. 

I had some red gingham ruffle in my scrap bucket pile. I think it was given to me in a box of fabric?? 

Anyways, I liked it with the sweet strawberry fabric so I sewed some ruffles on the pouches. 

Even the zippers were repurposed from some old lingerie bags!!! 

So yay for a quick evening project that cost nothing to make but is cute and super useful! 

 I still have some small pieces of this fabric left--will have to see what I can make with them!

Frugal Five

Remember when I did regular Frugal Five posts?

Well, I've still been frugal but just not posting about it. I'd like for that to change!

I enjoy reading about how other homemakers are practicing frugality and resourcefully stretching their dollars. Those posts are always inspiring and encouraging to me--that is how I hope these Frugal Five posts come across to you as well.

In my last post, I told how my husband and I are embarking on the journey of domestic adoption. (Thank you for all your well wishes and prayers! We appreciate each one!) Adoption is quite expensive so we are all about saving as much as we can right now! Every penny saved goes to our adoption fund.

Some recent ways we have saved money:

1. Our medical coverage doesn't cover prescriptions. I have a prescription that cost $75 per 30 day supply at CVS and that was for the generic brand. (My doctor gave me samples of another that would've been $200 per month so I considered this the better option!) However, $75!!! Ouch! I decided to check at Sam's Club that is right by our house. They offer the very same item for $11.87. I was shocked! I was expecting maybe a $20 savings. So obviously, we are getting prescriptions filled at Sam's now. I have another prescription that I only use as needed so one box lasts about 6 months. This one was only around $17 so not too expensive but Sam's offers it for $4. So we are saving a lot of money right there!
2. We don't eat out often but we've been using coupons when we do. 2 meals for the price of one?Yes, please!
3. Speaking of eating out, I've been buying the $5.99 fresh pizzas from Aldi to have on hand when I know we will have a super busy day and it would be tempting to go to a restaurant. These freeze really nice and are very good.
4. Made beef broth using some bones I had in the freezer. 
5. Rock got out of the fenced backyard twice last week. One time he showed up in the driveway on the other side of the gate and waited to be let back in. LOL We finally discovered a hole in the fence by the woods. We "rednecked" it back together by attaching a random piece of fencing that was left here by the previous owner. He won't be getting out through that hole anytime soon!

How are you saving money and practicing frugality in your home?

 

We Have A Secret To Share

I have a secret to share with you all today. Something near and dear to my heart and an announcement I have wanted to make for a long time.

We are in the adoption process to adopt a newborn baby. We've chosen an agency, have completed the formal application, pre-study documents, attended adoption training and are waiting for the next step of completing the home study.

We have started a blog to share updates on the process. It will be a central location for friends and family to check in and see what the latest info is. It is still private at this time but I will share the link here as soon as we have it ready for the public. :-)

Adoption has been on our hearts for many years. We have wanted to pursue it several times over the course of our marriage but always felt like it was not the time. Last summer as we continued to pray, we began to hear from the Lord that now was the time to take that leap of faith and start the process.

For several months we prayed, researched the different types of adoption, agencies, talked with adoptive families whose stories are all very different, getting as much information as we could.

In January of this year, we began the process with a Christian agency. It is exciting and somewhat terrifying all at the same time.

We have no idea of what all lies ahead but we know Who already has the plans laid out. We ask for your prayers as we continue on this journey.

And as most everyone is aware, adoption is a costly process. We will be doing a lot of fundraising and will make our friends and family aware of financial needs as they arise and how contributions can be made. We will be doing this via our adoption blog as well as on this blog sometimes.

God has provided abundantly already so early in the process and we look forward to all He has in store.

"Use What You Have" Spring Wreath

I've been wanting to make a wreath for our kitchen door. Something springy!

We had a yard sale last weekend and a couple straw wreaths were left. (They were donated by a friend.) So instead of donating them at the end of the sale, I decided to make some simple wreaths for our home. 

This one is my first attempt and I like it. It's different and used up some fabric from my scrap basket. 

My plan was to make a wreath with strips of fabric like this one. Then I saw these leftover yellow ruffles. They used to be on some giant square pillow shams that I thrifted and cut up for another project. I saved the ruffles because I love the color and print and well, I can't bear to throw something away that could be used for something else! 

That something else turned out to be this wreath. 

I gathered my supplies-- straw wreath, pile of ruffle pieces and a short piece of white ruffle left from a vintage pillowcase. I used some small pins and also some thumbtacks for securing everything. 

1. Iron all fabric pieces. 

2. Start wrapping the ruffle pieces on the wreath, using pin or tack to secure ends. 

3. Continue wrapping, taking care to overlap pieces slightly to cover raw edges of ruffle.

4. Wrap until wreath is covered. You can see I ran out of ruffles and there is a bare spot. No worries-- I have a plan for that!

5. That little extra piece of ruffle comes in handy here. I scrunched it up to look like a flower then pinned it to the wreath.

6. Next, I glued a few buttons on

to finish off the center of the flower. 

7. Last I added an aqua ribbon hanger. The ribbon coordinates with a light blue/aqua in the center of the flowers.

8. Done!

This was super easy-- took longer to post about the wreath than to actually make it. ;-)

I have this hanging in a sunny location outside so, yes, it will fade with time. The great thing is that by removing the pins, it'll be super simple to update with something else. 

Happy Spring! 

Drying Apples and Tonight's Supper

While supper was baking tonight, I took the time to get a bag of apples ready to dry.

We love dried apples for a little snack, especially for travel. They're like candy--so sweet--but with no added sugar. Just one ingredient: apples! 

I just peel, slice and core the apples and place them on the dehydrator trays to dry. Usually takes about 8-10 hours or overnight. 

So easy and much cheaper than buying a little bag of dried apples from the store. 

For supper tonight, I made a Ham and Cheese Puff Pancake that I had pinned on my Breakfast board. 

It. was. delicious. So so so good! I had to exercise great self-control to save some for tomorrow's breakfast and not gobble it all up tonight. I served the puff pancake with veggies & dip and clementines. 

Seriously, if you like cheesy hammy food, you must try it! 

At Home This Week

It's March Madness time! 

Last year was my first time filling out a bracket. I had no idea what I was doing but it was so much fun, I did another one this year! 

It will be interesting to see how it turns out. Andy and I picked the same champion of the whole tournament but different ways of getting there! ;-)

Last week went well. I accomplished most things on my list. Just not the deep cleaning. In fact, due to a pretty hectic schedule the next few weeks, I'm putting that on hold. I am still decluttering and putting things aside for our yard sale though. 

On tap for this week:

Gather tax info

Tax appointment

Dehydrate bag of apples

Take dinner to friends one night

Small grocery trip

Trash to dump--done!

Pick up dry cleaning    

Sew 4 kitchen towels--done! Actually made 6 yesterday. 

Cut out and sew 4 aprons. 

This list is in addition to my work outside the home and basic housekeeping (meals, laundry, cleaning, etc.). 

What's going on in your home this week?

How Many Pennies?

So... in case you were wondering how many pennies were in our penny jar...

The answer is $30.82!

Both guesses were close. Wendi guessed $30.50 which was scary close! Good job to both of my guessers!

We are big fans of saving change. We always have a jar going. Now that this jar has been filled and emptied into savings account, we'll simply start filling it with pennies again!

Thrifty Goodness

Do you like seeing pictures of thrifty treasures?

I do, so I thought I'd share today's finds with you! 

I had a number of errands to run today but we left the house a little earlier so we could hit two thrift stores instead of one. 

Nothing earth-shattering was found today but I did score some useful things on my list. 

Store #1:

4 quart jars for 25 cents each.

2 sheets: $3.50 for the king size was a bit steep, I thought, but it is much less than buying the same amount of fabric at the fabric store and I actually needed a sheet for sewing projects. The twin sheet was $1.

This particular store is very inconsistent in pricing...You just never know!

Store #2: 

2 summer tops: about $5 for both.

4 pint jars: 25 cents each.

Thomas Kinkade note cards: 95 cents.

Dallas Holm CD: $1. 

Pile of greeting cards: 50 cents each. (This particular store has a nice card display; most are 50 cents each. I pay the same for cards at Dollar Tree. But purchasing cards at the thrift store means supporting a thriving local ministry. I needed some cards anyways so a win-win!)

Have you done any thrifting lately?

The Penny Jar

 2012

Several years ago, I mentioned our penny jar in this post.

We started it back in 2007 and it finally was full! After numerous shakings to be sure there really was no more room left. ;-)

 2015

We started out counting and rolling the pennies ourselves, using up all the penny rolls we had. We are weird and actually enjoy counting our money. LOL

We now know that our bank has a coin machine and will count them for free, as long as coins are sorted. So we took the jar with the remaining contents to the bank and let the machine do the work!

We put the money in our bank account designated for a special savings fund.

And now the question is, "How much money was in the jar?"  And just how many pennies does a half gallon jug hold?

I could tell you...

But I think it'd be fun to have you guess!

And then I'll tell you tomorrow! (Or after at least a few guesses, depending which comes first.)

Homemaking This Week

I am back to part-time hours at work. Yay! I am so happy to be home more again. A lot of things have needed my attention. :-)

This is my 3rd week working part-time. I'm starting to get a good morning routine going again. Last week, I did a lot of subbing. I am on call as an extra if needed. I don't mind some additional hours if  I don't have another obligation or something pressing to accomplish at home. 

We are also on week 3 of the Whole 30 which is a 30 day nutritional reset/cleanse. Today is day 23, I think. :-) After a while, the days run together. We did a Whole 30 last winter as well. It gives our digestive systems a break from carbs and processed foods and helps to get us back on track with balanced healthy eating. We always feel much better when we're done. Bring on the meats, veggies, fruits and healthy fats! 

Our daffodils popped up over the weekend so I picked a couple bouquets to bring inside. So springy! 

I'm preparing for our annual yard sale in a few weeks. My plans are to clean and declutter one room/area each week in preparation. I set out a box in the kitchen so I have a handy place to deposit things I find to sell.

I've been collecting things all year but there may still be a few things left we can declutter. This won't be a huge yard sale; maybe it will be more manageable.  ;-)

I've decided to get rid of my coupon binder! I still coupon but not to the extent I once did. My coupons now easily fit in an envelope in my wallet. 

This week I hope to do some deep cleaning tasks in the kitchen. The plan is to finish 1 or 2 each day. It may take me 1 week. Or longer.... We'll see!

I shipped an Etsy order out this morning. Yay! Also cut out one apron to sew. 

My Etsy goals for this week are to list a couple children's aprons already made and some vintage patterns I have. Also to cut out and sew 2-3 more aprons.

Other things on this week's to-do list:

• Change all the clocks.
• Hand wash skirt.
• Look at drugstore deals and make a plan.
• Get started on a gift for a friend. 

One of my new routines is to designate a morning for errands. This also includes stopping at a thrift store or two while I'm out. It's something fun to do and also a good way for me to look for good deals on things we are needing. I keep a running list so I know what I'm looking for!

Thrifting may not happen every week--it didn't last week because of the extra hours I worked--but it is a goal to try to hit most weeks if possible. 

This week's errands are:

• Library--return book.
• Dollar Tree--some household items.
• Get glasses adjusted.
• Drop off dry cleaning.
• Thrift store.

Already shaping up to be a busy week! What are your plans?

Verses the Lord brought to my mind this morning, which I wrote out and put in my kitchen window where I can meditate on them through the week are Philippians 4:6-7 which say,

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." 

I pray that you will find great peace no matter what your situation is this week!

Little Gift For Valentine's Day

I thought I'd show you this little gift I put together for my co-teacher for Valentine's Day. 

Ummm, I was at the store earlier today but totally forgot about getting her a little something! So tonight, I looked through my  gift stash to see if I had anything that she would enjoy. We are celebrating Valentine's Day at work tomorrow.

So I found a pink set of homemade hand warmers, some strawberry gum in my pantry (it's fresh!) and a couple candy canes I hot glued together to make a heart.

She loves pink, her hands are often cold and she likes peppermint and chewing gum. 

How's that for gift giving rationale? Ha! 

I dressed up a plain tiny gift bag with some trim and a thrifted crocheted flower (like I used here). Hot glue gun to the rescue! 

A small gift but something cute that says, "I'm thinking of you!" 

Lasagna Gardening, Take 1

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for working in our garden!

I've been interested in lasagna gardening for several years. Lasagna gardening is a no dig, no till method of gardening. Instead of digging and tilling dirt, one makes layers of peat moss and other soil enriching components. Basically, you can take a hard piece of ground, put newspapers down to kill the existing grass/weeds, then layer the other stuff on top--within months you will have a lovely rich soil to plant in.

Andy gave me the book Lasagna Gardening for my birthday last year. So I've been itching to get started!

We started with our existing garden plot which has wonderful soil but lots of aggressive weeds.

First step is to soak newspapers and then put thick pads of them all over the soil. I had Andy's parents save newspapers for me and also got a big box of them from a lady via Freecycle.

 The second step was to pour a layer of peat moss down. I sectioned the garden into quarters and used cardboard to mark off a path.  Looks like a cross, doesn't it? I had to make another trip to Farmer's Exchange to pick up an additional bale of peat moss. By the time this is done, we'll be on first name basis. ;-)

Next, I made layers of compost, grass clippings and a sprinkling of bonemeal--all stuff we had already. No picture of these layers, because....ewww! Not all my compost is fully decomposed. I covered this with a thick layer of straw. I only used about 1/2 a bale so straw is a cost effective addition to the lasagna garden at only $5 a bale.

The garden is smelling lovely at this point...

 I started putting mulch that we already had on hand over the path area to make it look nicer. Apparently, I didn't get a picture of that...

Done for today with layering. Last step is to cover everything with black plastic and secure it. Not only will covering it help the layers to "cook" and decompose, it will also help to deter a very nosy dog who finds compost and bonemeal to be quite delightful.;-)

I'll be adding more layers in the coming weeks--more peat moss, compost, straw, etc.

Stay tuned for more adventures in Lasagna gardening!

This is our first time using this method so if you have experience with this, please share!

And my sincere apologies to my readers who are covered in snow...;-)

I'm Still Here

For the past six months, I've been working full time hours at work. The first 3-4 weeks were substituting for a coworker who was out for surgery. The rest of the time has been in the 3 year old room filling in for the assistant teacher until a replacement has been found.

I was offered the job and for a short time felt God wanted me to take the position but through the interview process and continuing to pray, it was clear I was not to take the job. However, I am filling in until the position is filled. It has taken longer than planned.

They had an assistant hired to start December 1st but that person did not end up starting due to various circumstances. They now have another teacher hired and slated to start Feb. 16. Praying that all goes well! I really want to go back to my part-time hours.

The main reason this has taken so long is that this is a government job. :-) The time frame from posting the position on the web site to interviewing to hiring is about a 6-8 week process. It is a very time-consuming process. Add to that the fact that we were closed for 2 weeks around Christmas and New Year's.

This has not been the easiest assignment ever and I am exhausted beyond words most evenings. But God has been faithful through it!

In case you wonder why blogging has been so sporadic, that is why. :-)

No picture today. Hopefully more blogging to come before too long. I need to finish my vacation posts plus I have lots of other posts waiting in the wings.

Love you all and will talk more soon!

Small Gifts To Save On Shipping

We live a good distance from any of our family members with the closest being a 5 1/2 hour drive away. 

So every Christmas, we ship at least one box of gifts to someone! This year we are sending two: one to my sister's family in Texas and one to my parents in Oregon. 

I don't mind shipping boxes and always love packing them up-- so much fun! But when the cost of shipping is about the same or more than what the gifts cost? No thank you! 

So this year, I focused on gifts that were compact and easy to ship. By doing this, I was able to pack each family's gifts in a small flat rate box! 

This saved us a lot of money this year! 

**Note: We keep our gifts to family members pretty low-cost; usually in the $5-$10 range per person. We also try to do useful or clutter-free gifts as much as we can. I will share some of the specifics of our gift-giving after Christmas so as not to spoil the surprise for our family members that read here!**

Finishing Fall Stuff & Cranberry Apple Preserves

I felt like I needed to finish up fall before I could decorate the house for Christmas!

We got our apples for applesauce late this year so I had to push it to get them done by Thanksgiving. But I made it-- around 42 quarts. Whew! 

I'd also purchased a bushel of apples for a friend who is learning to make and can applesauce this year. She wasn't able to get together until last week. So those apples are done now too--around 15 quart for her. 

I saved 3 apples from all our applesauce, jelly and dried apple making to make Cranberry Apple Preserves. I had some cranberries in the freezer and a coworker offered me a couple oranges she wasn't going to eat. I had just seen the recipe in the canning book and put an orange on my shopping list--I had all the other ingredients on hand. So the oranges came in perfect timing! 

This smelled wonderful while cooking. Everything cooked down nicely and made a lovely red color.

I got 6 jars of preserves. I will use some of these for Christmas gifts. 

Cranberry Apple Preserves                                                         Printable Recipe
 Recipe from The Ball Book of Canning
 Yield: about 9 half-pints

2 pounds cranberries
3 green apples, cored, peeled and chopped
1 orange, seeded and chopped 
3 cups sugar
2 cups water
1/2 cup honey

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring slowly to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil gently almost to gelling point. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle hot preserves into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. process in boiling water canner 15 minutes.

Our fall pumpkins needed to be cooked. I like decor that can do double duty--pretty to look at and yummy to eat later! 

I used this method again for cooking whole pumpkins. It's so easy! Just wash your pumpkins, poke them several times all over with a knife and bake for about 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees. Let cool a little before handling.

Ended up with a huge bowl of pumpkin puree to freeze. I froze it in freezer bags in 2 cup portions. Yield was 16 cups--equivalent to 8 cans of pumpkin.  

Now that those things are checked off, I'm ready to move on to Christmas!

Mending A Tablecloth The Scrappy Way

Last Christmas, a candle burned a hole in my festive tablecloth.

Oops! 

The hole is right in the middle of the tablecloth. Instead of tossing it or making it into something else, I opted to give it a little scrappy makeover by just patching it over. 

I used a few Christmas scraps to cover the hole and make a cute little patchwork thing in the middle. 

I finished the patch off with a scrappy Christmas tree featuring red polka dots and some candy cane stripe-- a combo that never fails to make me happy to look at! 

While not perfect, we love the look this embellishment adds!

One tablecloth saved from uselessness!

After Thanksgiving

This is what Rock looks like after his party weekend at puppy camp. 

In fact, I kind of feel that way myself after Thanksgiving! 

My mother-in-law graciously sent the HUGE turkey carcass (with lots of dark meat still on, which we love) home with me. So I'll be making broth and soup this week. I'm scouring my soup cookbooks for a good and maybe more unusual turkey soup recipe. If you have a good method or recipe, I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

I made this Turkey Dinner Soup a couple of years ago which we enjoyed a lot. 

These are setting on my counter after a jelly making session right before we left for Thanksgiving. This apple jelly was made with apple peelings and cores from some dried apples I made earlier. Waste not, want not!

I got the idea from Wendi's blog and then followed the directions for apple jelly included in my box of pectin--I used Certo.

Have a great week and enjoy the first week of December! 

My Idea of Black Friday Shopping

We're visiting Andy's parents for Thanksgiving weekend.

My idea of Black Friday shopping is not staying up all night hitting the mall. I waited until mid-morning, then went out to snag deals at CVS and Rite Aid. 

No crowds there! 

Most of the items bought were free or nearly free after Extra Care Bucks at CVS or UP Rewards at Rite Aid. 

I stuck to buying items that I know we will use and buy regularly anyways. That made it easy to decide what to buy!

We are stocked up on paper towels, laundry detergent and lotion for a while! My husband uses the Vaseline lotion and it is expensive when purchased at regular price. 

This is what I got at CVS. I spent $13.80 and got $12.97 back in Extra Care Bucks to use like cash on future purchases. 

Important to note that I used a $5/$15 coupon I had received in my email earlier this week. I opted to load it onto my card and $5 was taken off my order automatically. 

This is what I got at Rite Aid. I spent $63.82 out of pocket and got $42.01 back in UP Rewards to use as cash on future purchases.

I don't know if I have ever spent this much at one time on drugstore deals! The downside to Rite Aid's rewards program is that you can't use the rewards until the next day. So no rolling them over into another transaction immediately. I did not want to go out again tomorrow so I bought everything in one transaction.

The advantage to Rite Aid is that a store is located close to my house and work so I can stop in there very easily when I'm out and about.   

 I'll use the bulk of these rewards to buy some higher priced household products such as toilet paper, Rid-X and dishwasher soap. 

These sales are good through Saturday, November 29 if you want to grab up any of these items. Money Saving Mom has lists of the deals available at these drug stores. I looked at the store ads on their websites too before shopping.

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all! 

We Made It!

Every year, we make it into a game to see if we can wait until November to turn the heat on in the house. It is just a fun game of frugality for us. We love squeezing out one more month with a low gas bill.

Many years we end up caving in during a cold snap in October.

But this year... we made it! There were a few cool mornings this past week but we soldiered on, wearing extra layers, using the oven and moving around which all helped to keep us warmer.

This morning was around 40 degrees but felt much cooler. It was 64 degrees in the house which is chilly for me. So, on November 1st, we switched the heat on and it feels so nice and cozy!

Have you turned the heat on in your house yet?

Our Trip to Williamsburg: Day 2

Our first stop on our 2nd day of vacation was to the Colonial Williamsburg visitor's center.

First on our agenda was to buy our passes to see the sights. On our honeymoon, we had no extra money so we just did the free things. But this time we wanted to be able to take in some of the ticketed attractions so we had budgeted accordingly ahead of time.

We purchased 7 day passes for the Historic Triangle--Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown. The passes are certainly not cheap but divided over 6 days (we were only there for 6 days but our passes were for 7), the cost is very reasonable and much less expensive than purchasing tickets to see individual attractions.

We walked out of the visitor's center and headed down the path to Colonial Williamsburg.

 The walk was longer than we remembered from our previous visit. The rest of the week we took advantage of the shuttle that made a loop around the city, beginning and ending at the visitor's center. We could get on and off wherever we wanted and the longest wait at any one stop was maybe 10 minutes. We still got plenty of walking in but the shuttle rides saved a lot of time and energy! The shuttle service was free with our passes so we were tickled to make use of it!

Anyways, on our walk to the Revolutionary City, as they call it, we toured a Colonial Farmstead. I have no pictures of this which I am surprised by!

Upon entering Colonial Williamsburg, we toured the grounds at the Governor's Palace. We toured the inside of the palace later in the week.

We also took our daily selfie here.

After the tour of the gardens and grounds at the Governor's Palace, we continued walking, stopping to look in a few of the shops and touring the George Wythe house.

A note about the tours--I'm one of those people that can only take so many guided tours. But the tours we did here were very entertaining. Most were told more as a story which helped to keep my attention! Most were only 30 minutes long too.

By this time, we were hungry for lunch so we stopped at Chowning's Tavern for lunch. (I believe I have a picture of the actual building that was taken later in the week that hasn't been edited yet so I'll post it later!)

This restaurant was in Colonial Williamsburg and runs much like it would've in Colonial times. It was a fun experience to eat there.

After lunch, we walked to the nearest bus stop and took the shuttle back to the visitor's center. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking for some Washington Redskins paraphernalia at local stores and then relaxing at the hotel. We ate supper in our hotel room/suite which included a full kitchen so we could do some of our own cooking. I had brought a few freezer meals along to make cooking really easy! Our hotel also had a free hot breakfast bar every morning so most days we only ate out one time.

And thus concluded our 2nd day of vacation.

To be continued...