Ready For Summer

I am loving the hint of summer that we are having today! Warm enough for me to wear a cute outfit. When I go out later to the park I will throw a denim jacket on. I am wearing an outfit that I got the last time that I went to my favorite consignment shop. $1.00 for the top and $1.00 for the cropped pants. The Cute White Sandals I actually got off of ebay.They were about $10.00, But, I had gotten some money put in my paypal account for a review I had done. So they were pretty much free!

Homemade Yoga Skirt

I love yoga skirts and cannot get enough of them. I had this short "dress" that I had wrote about a while ago of me wearing it with leggings. Well, I was grabbing it out of the dryer yesterday and when I was holding it up to fold it , I noticed that IF I was to cut it under the armpits , it would be a perfect length yoga skirt. So , I got out the scissors, and cut it across just under the armpits. Now I have a perfect yoga skirt that has a cute print to it.

         No need to do any sewing or anything. Just cut it across. Let it bunch down on its own.

I really like the skirt a lot better than when it was a long "dress" top. More comfortable and I can wear it with a lot more things.

Shrink Your Grocery Bill

If you don't live under a rock , then you have probably noticed how expensive the groceries are getting. Things I usually buy are sky rocketing. It is 2 times and sometimes 3 times more each week for my grocery budget. That is just for the basics that I buy. Using my food storage as a base , I still have a sky high bill.

These tips can help shrink your grocery bill. Every little bit helps.

Use a list and stick to it. I have gotten really good at planning out my meals for the week and sticking to a list. This has saved a lot.

NEVER shop for groceries on an empty stomach. Shopping hungry makes for a lot of impulse buying. Which adds a lot to the bill.

Leave everyone home when you go to the grocery store. You will be able to focus more on finding bargains and using coupons etc.

When you see something on sale that your family uses a lot of , buy as much as you can. Adds to your food storage and saves money in the long run. You will have it on hand and not have to buy it when the price goes back up to the higher price.

Buy store brand as often as possible. This has saved our family a lot.

Check the store ads each week and use your store savings card. You can save a lot doing this. Also use coupons as much as possible. I don';t rely on them because they are usually for items that are higher priced even with the coupon, but sometimes I have coupons for free items that save money for us.

30% Off Must-Haves!

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Deal: Up to 30% Off Sale
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End: Saturday 2/27 at 9 am EST
Landing Page: http://www.modcloth.com/shop/sale

Yoga Skirts - Comfy Style

Not sure why, but lately , I have become obsessed with yoga skirts. They are so comfortable. I already had one black one that I wear all of the time. I went to a thrift store the other day and found 3 more - I used my $10.00 bonus card so all 3 of them cost me about $2.00! I found a Free Sewing Pattern so that I can make some more whenever I find some t-shirt knit fabric. I have some dark purple that I plan on using now. These will be great for this summer when it gets hot!

                                          (disclaimer - I have never or plan on ever doing yoga!)

A stack of thrifty awesomeness!

Had a chance to go to my favorite thrift store that has their clothes $1.00 each! I spent 19.00 and got new shoes, jeans, capris, tops, and more.

Great thrifting trip!

DIY Legwarmers & Hat

Do you have a sweater that you love , but just don't wear anymore? Either too small or whatever. Take it and make some quick legwarmers. No-Sew! Really easy and then if you sew , take it and use another stocking cap as a pattern to make a matching cap. Keep warm and not cost any money!!

                     Lay the sweater out flat and cut the arms off straight across from the armpit.

                                                           Wear them to keep warm!

Take another stocking cap and lay it on the sweater towards the bottom to make your self a cap. This one I left a lot of the bottom so that I could fold it up.

                    Easy winter items and they cost me nothing , but about 10 minutes of time!!

Flannel Sheet To Pajama Pants DIY

What do you do when your Puggle chews a hole in one of your most warm and favorite flannel sheets? You make warm and comfortable pajama pants out of it!! Great way to save some money. You can get a couple of pair out of the full sheets.

It is super easy to do.

Take the clean flannel sheet and lay it out. I always use the edge as the bottom of the pants so that I do not have to hem. Makes these even quicker to make.

Take your favorite pair of pajama pants that you already have and lay them down on the part that you already have folded in half. Those are your pattern. Cut two out. Do it to where the sewing down the pants leg is on the inside.

 Sew both "legs" and then put one leg, turned right side out, inside the other one - sew down the middle (crotch) .

 Pull the leg out of the other one and turn down about an inch at the top for the waistband. Sew around and leave an open place for the elastic to go in. Sew it all together and finish off the opening.

YOU NOW HAVE A PAIR OF WARM AND COMFY PAJAMA PANTS!

Get Warm!

It is very cold here now. Single digits. So if you are cold check out the thrift stores and flea markets for some very cool vintage coats. Some really cool ones that are very stylish and low cost. Loving the 1940's style ones that I have seen. Most of them are wool and very warm!!! Will last forever if you take care of them and keep the moths off of them.

Giving Up On My Hair? Maybe , Maybe Not!

I am old enough and I like to think secure enough to realize when something is not working and not going right. My hair has given me problems for a few years now. I have been sick and it has gotten my hormones all messed up so my hair just will not grow. I am tired of it so I am giving up the worry I am putting into it and I ordered one of these neat ( and low cost) Clip On Ponytails.I ordered one of them last week and haven't gotten it yet, but I want to order another one that is kind of shorter and curlier. An easy way to have some style while I wait on my hair to decide to grow. Cost a lot less than going to hair stylist or doctor every week.

Leggings!

I have a few pair of leggings in different colors and even denim ones. I am so happy when I find something to wear with them because they are so comfortable. I found this on $1.00 rack at consignment shop. I think it has an 1980's look to it. Looks awesome with leggings. A pair of black boots finishes off the look.

Purses?

Look around you when you are thrifting. There might be some crazy things that are meant for one thing ,but could be used for something else. Like, baskets for purses. Camera cases and thermos cases are a great way to get a vintage style purse. When I was a teen, hmmm a long time ago, I had taken an Army "butt" pack and put a shoulder strap on it. It was my favorite purse. Not sure what happened to it. Moved too many times. I would still be using it, if I had it.


Look around and be creative!

Knick Knack Patty Wacks...

Sorry about the title, but when I was wanting to write this that was going thru my head. LOL

Wishing I have a bigger house now with nothing but shelves in it for all of the knick knacks that I seen at thrift store the other day! Really cool way to decorate a house on a frugal budget. Vintage knick knacks and pottery. You can find some really neat items for very little money. Your home can be as stylish as your wardrobe and thrifty!

Decorate Your Walls

You can find so many different unique ways to decorate the walls in your home at flea markets, thrift stores, and yard sales.

I like the idea of using vintage game boards as decor. They are very unique and look very interesting. You can usually get them for next to nothing also.

                             You can also find some great vintage art work. Like these kitties!

This art work was so neat. It is an actual window that they painted and added a piece of art behind. Really neat. Probably would not be hard to make yourself one of these if you didn't want to buy one.

Last Minute Gift Idea

Are you still needing to get someone a gift? Wait until the last minute, like me, to get something for someone and you could be in a panic. Run to a flea market and check out the jewelry! You can find any type and most of it is very low priced. Great way to get something unique for them. Might be something to check out. If you can get to a flea market they have a lot of things that you could get for someone.

Vintage Sewing Patterns

The best way to get sewing patterns is at thrift stores, yard sales, and flea markets. They are usually VERY cheap. Most of the time they arr vintage and already cut, but if you get a pattern that you will use a lot , it is a good thing it is already cut. Especially if it is your size that you need. That is the part that I hate about sewing - cutting out the pattern! You can even find fabric for low cost. Even Walmart usually has marked down fabric for sometimes $1.00 a yard!

If you don't know how to sew - LEARN! You can save a lot of money this way. I taught myself how to sew just so that I could make the cloth diapers that my son wore. I even made some money selling some online. Got us thru my husband lay-off.

You can find a lot of FREE sewing patterns online - I have a lot of my favorite free sewing patterns listed on my Sewing Ideas Pinterest Board.

 

DIY Privacy Screen

This is the neatest thing that I saw at the flea market ...They took old doors and made "walls" for their booth! I want some to make a privacy screen. Would be good in a house or for what I want it for on my patio. I would have to make a stand for them out there or somehow put them in the ground. But, it would be neat looking. Frugal also. A lot cheaper than $100.00 + dollars for actual privacy fence panels. I see old doors all the time at yard sales and such for $10.00 to $20.00. Pretty easy also. They had big hinges on them.

Reuse/Recycle/Alter/Redo DIY

This tray out of a big toolbox was leaning up against the wall at a flea market and the first thought thru my head was "wow, what an awesome spice rack!". My daughter wanted it for all of her makeup and nail polish. Neat how different things can be use for many different uses. I bet you could even come up with something else that this could be used for.

COMMENT BELOW ON YOUR IDEAS OF WHAT THIS COULD BE USED FOR...

DIY Christmas Decoration

This is such a cute idea. They took an old book and folded it in such a way to then decorate it as a Christmas tree. I love it. They were selling them at the local flea market, but they don't look too hard to make yourself.

I found on Youtube several videos on how to do this and it is not too hard.

• How to make a holiday tree using a paperback book
• Book Christmas tree - reuse/recycle books DIY
• How to make a folded book tree for Christmas

Do a search and there are others decorations that you can make from folding books. Even wreaths.

A very frugal way to decorate. Everyone has old paperbacks laying around, why not use them.

Take Care

excuse the mess, a puggle helped me make the bed!

When you have very little room and hardly any closet space, but have a large amount of clothing, you have to find ways to hang them and take care of them. I found this clothes hanger at the dollar store for $10.00! It holds a lot of clothes and they hang perfect so they are wrinkle free. Just because your clothing came from a thrift store, doesn't mean that you can't take care of it. This has helped me a lot to have this.

 I am planning on getting a couple more. My wardrobe will be growing , won't it??