If you do stuff, stuff gets done.......

If you do stuff, stuff gets done.......

Friday, February 7, 2014

Frugal February -day 7- Pretty up the trash cans

The trash cans have been bugging me. We had several plain white plastic ones that we keep lined with white trash bags, but they just looked messy the way the bag hangs around the top and plain white plastic is just blah....


After - 4 pretty trash cans that don't make me frown when I look at them.
So, I got out  the Mod Podge, recycled brown shipping paper and some decorative quilt print paper. 

That trash can below, under the sink, is how they all started out.

The quilt paper is from a bargain thrift store purchase years ago, it had lots of paper in it and I've used it for several projects and to wrap gifts.


After I decopaged them all. I sewed big garters to camouflage and hold the trash bags in place.
These 2 are in the breakfast room. One is for ordinary trash, the other is for recycles. 
The birds were cut with a Cricut.
This one is the play room.  I actually decopaged this can a few years ago but it never looked quite as pretty as I wanted it too.  It really needed the garter at the top.
The crazy quilt one is for the master bathroom,


The garters are just long strips of fabric, about 2.5 times as long as the top circumference of each can. I sewed them right sides together and left both ends of the tube open to turn it right side out. Then I sewed a 1 inch casing down the center and added the elastic to fit the can. Then just secure the elastic and finish sewing the end seam. 

The small cans ruffles are 3 inches wide finished, 4 inches for the bigger cans. 

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Frugal February -day 6 - do stuff yourself

Just like in so many parts of the USA, it is very cold and snowy. No grands here today so I got started on laundry and kitchen chores first thing. Then I worked on this quilt, hoping to finish it today. It just needs all the tying finished and the binding sewn down by machine.
 I 
I did about 1/3 of the tying, then I thought I would go outside and sweep the sidewalks and clean off the driveway. Like I said, it is really cold, 12 degrees which is really cold for Oklahoma but I was bundled up. The fresh air felt good as I got the job done.
Then, I was getting a different broom from the garage and noticed my vehicle had a little water under it even though it has not been driven in days. I park right in front of the hot water heater and I knew right away that if the hot water heater is leaking, it is usually ruined from a rusted out bottom.
So I texted my husband and then tried to turn off the gas and water supply. 
The gas was easy but I could not find the water shut off. So, I did an internet search and found out. The shut off is way on top, in the very back. 
So I trudged out to our little storage building and got the big ladder.
But even with the ladder, I could barely reach the shutoff and could not get it to turn. 
Thankfully our tall neighbor came home for lunch just then and he came over and turned the valve. 

In the meantime. My husband and handyman extrodinaire son had been texting. They asked me for photos of the heater and they will both be taking off work this afternoon to come home and replace that 14 year old hot water heater. 
It should be a piece of cake for them, as they just changed out another one for our daughter. 

My husband and son both say changing a hot water heater is easy.  We are all pretty willing to try to make or fix or do most anything around the house. We are usually successful and I know it is has saved us lots of money.  

In the meantime, while I am waiting for my 2 handymen, I brought that tall ladder in the house and cleaned the living room ceiling fan. I use an old pillow case, a trick I also learned on the Internet and it is a great one. Just open up the pillow case and slip it over each blade and gently rub the case over the blade,  all the dust and dirt will come off and be contained in the pillowcase. 



I hope I can finish up my quilt while they work on that heater. 
 
 
 
 
I love these little guys but I am really glad neither of them were here today so I could discover that water leak before serious damage was done. 
9 month old JJ
 
 
18 month old Braeden

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Frugal February day 4- how we watch TV

Linking to FOF @ renaissance

We cut the cable tv cord just about the same time we ditched our traditional contact cell phones.
I think it was the summer of 2009 and cancelling both of them meant we had $160 less bills on contract to pay every month.  We do not regret it at all.

First for TV,  we live in flat Oklahoma and my husband put an old timey looking antenna on our roof.  When the TV broadcast switched over to digital just about that same time,  it meant we could pick up lots of channels with our antenna.  They have a great picture too.
We got all the networks from Oklahoma City and some of the networks from Tulsa.
Most of the networks broadcast on more than one feed. Like our PBS station broadcasts 4 feeds and they are 13.1, 13.2, 13.3 and 13.4.  One of them is childrens programing 24 hours a day.  My favorite is called Create.tv- it is great PBS hobby shows on cooking, art, travel, carpentry.

Beside the antenna,  we have Amazon Prime and can watch quite a few things through it.  Right now,  it is $79 and also gives us free shipping on most anything we order from Amazon.

The last way we get our shows is through Roku boxes and especially with an add on called  PlayOn 
Playon runs through a computer and then through your Roku.  I am not sure exactly how it all works,  my husband set it up,  but is says on the Playon site that it is very easy to set.  It is also quite affordable.  We got a lifetime membership for $49 5 years ago and have certainly got our money's worth on it.

With Playon,  there are so many shows to watch- from new current episodes to old classics, to sports reruns to foreign shows.  We like to watch Top Chef and Project Runway.  My husband and sons just laugh and cackle when they watch Food Networks CutThroat Kitchen.
My favorite things to watch is BBC episodes like all 4 seasons of The Great British BakeOff,  The Great British Sewing Bee and Kirstie Alsop's Handmade Home.

There are very few shows that we have not been able to find on Playon.


About sports,  most of the sports we like are broadcast on regular networks like our local CBS and FOX.
But if someone in your home is an ESPN junkie,  cutting the cord probably won't keep them happy.  There are quite a few ESPN shows and past sporting events on demand on Playon and Roku but watching reruns of sports is just weird, if you ask me.

You can see here where I posted about Roku- it is my most viewed post ever.  

When you first start a show on Playon or Roku, it does take a few seconds for it to download. The speed is determined by how fast your own internet runs.
This is a scene for the British Bakeoff. The picture quality is great. 

About internet, you will need good internet to play shows likes this. 2 of our Roku boxes are hard wired to our modem, 1 works on wifi,  both methods work fine. 

I think cutting the cord is great way to  save money and simplify your life. If you have questions, I will try to answer in the comments. 
Yes, it does cost money to get a Roku, Playon subscription and maybe an antenna, but they are one-time expenses. Unlike a cable or satellite bill that comes every month.  

Monday, February 3, 2014

Frugal February Day 3- thread spider

Update- my mom and Debbie both commented that they use this method and learned it quite a while ago. It is called Enders and Leaders.  They sent the names of websites that feature it with some especially good tutorials. Both of these are excellent quilt sites too!  Thank you Mom and Debbie
Quiltville
Lollyquiltz

This tip will save sewing thread. It also means the bobbin has to be filled less often, the seam ends are neater and there will be fewer threads to snip off when the the project is finished.

I think I learned this tip from an episode of Fons and Porter quilting show on PBS. I looked on their website to see if their was a tutorial and to link back to them but I could not find it on their site. 

Chain sewing is a great way to accomplish the same result but every project is not a candidate for chain sewing,  so here is how to sew with a thread spider. 

You just need a small scrap of fabric, folded to make a double layer.
When you start a new seam, first sew over the scrap of fabric, then put your fabric pieces right up to the scrap and just sew as usual. Clip off the scrap before you get to the end of your seam and then sew right back onto the scrap at the end of the seam,  you will still need to back stitch your project if your project requires it.
After the same scrap has been used for a few seam start and stops, it kind of looks a spider with all the lines of sewing on it.
Below are 2 doll legs, 
The one on the right is sewn the traditional way - see the long threads that will need to be clipped and how when you start sewing a narrow seam, sometimes it bunches up a bit.
With a thread spider, that bunching did not ever happen for me.
The leg on the left was started and stopped with the thread spider and I think the seams look neater the little bit of scrap thread  ended up on the spider. 

On my sewing machine, I must pull out a pretty long amount of top and bottom thread when I start a new seam or else when the machine starts, the top thread pulls out and I have to re thread the machine. Using the thread spider means I can spend more time sewing and less time threading my sewing machine too. 

This tip is new to me and I've been sewing, golly, 45 years or so! 
Do the rest of you seamstresses know this tip already? or is it kind of new?

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Frugal February day 2

My first kitchen action this morning was to use some more of that bargain cream from Aldi and I made a batch of freezer biscuits multiplied by 5. I used my old Tupperware fix and mix bowl and 5 recipes was just about the right fill for that bowl. 

Cooking breakfast at home is not difficult, especially if you have some freezer biscuits to bake.
Breakfast at home is much thriftier than eating out.m
That's our breakfast. I like my egg on top of a biscuit half.  My husband had 2 biscuits.
We are not hard working farmers and this is all the breakfast we need. 
It was delicious!
I use this recipe for freezer biscuits. I do it just like the recipe but I bake them after they are frozen and I don't brush them with additional butter before baking. 

I've blogged a number of times about my deals at CVS and this week was another good one.
I spent last weeks ECBs and $6.75 for all this.  I am very thankful to have a good store like CVS near my home where I can get such good deals on things we use.
Oh, and I earned a $10 ECB for next week.
I've noticed similar good deals at other stores on online deal sites.  My advice is to pick a store close to you that you like to shop at, read up on their deals at a site like MoneysavingMom.com and focus your coupon shopping there. 

Update on our furnace - the repairman came Saturday evening, he cleaned off the temperature probe and it has been working ever since. He said the cleaning could make the probe last 5 more years or we could replace it to be sure it would keep working. We asked him to get a new one and he will come back next week and replace that probe. 
So,  I will be happy to pay for the new part and service calls. I don't think it will be a jaw-dropping amount though. 

We are very thankful to have heat. Our forecast is downright cold!