New Years has been going alright so far for us. We were treated to some wonderful fireworks being set off in our area last night (we live about a block from a lake and are outside city limits, so neighbors tend to have fun). Both natural and man made displays as the Northern lights were out as well. I tried to take a picture, but my camera just doesn't have the filters that I need to take actual night pictures, so all I got was a lot of pictures of black nothing and a really nice shot of my gutter *laugh*.
Saving money actually worked out decently well this week.
1. I made some new throw pillows for our couch in the den. I made them tan on one side and navy blue on the other so they could go with multiple design schemes just by flipping the pillows over. The tan fabric was actually unbleached muslin that I took off of a bolt I have and the navy blue was from a strip of leftover fabric I had from making my son a quilt a couple of years ago. The tan side is seen above. I used stuffing from some old pillows that were past their prime, well washed of course before I unstuffed them, to stuff the new pillows along with some fiber fill I had to help make the stuffing non-lumpy.
I also made a tablecloth out of the unbleached muslin for the trunk in the den. It's wrinkled in the photo because I was more concerned with getting it on the table then smoothing it (oops).
2. We pretty much stayed home this week. Any shopping that needed to be done, and the bare minimum of shopping at that, I had my husband pick up on his way home from work. It saved gas doing it that way and it saved potential money in that it kept me away from clearance sales at the stores.
3. When my birthday cake failed the first time, instead of running out and buying more ingredients, I dealt with what I had and made it work anyway.
4. I baked bread, banana bread and my birthday cake.
5. I got the last of the renewal paperwork for my son's insurance sent off, so that's done for another year and hopefully the renewal will go through quickly.
6. I went and spent some time on Recyclebank where I watched videos, took quizzes, etc. In about an hour I had enough points to redeem for three free magazine subscriptions (two for my husband, one for me). I love getting free magazines, so I was happy to get those.
7. I mended a couple pairs of my jeans that had developed holes in the knees.
8. My husband fixed a dresser we'd gotten for free. The bottom needed to be rebuilt, so he ripped the bottom all apart, replaced two of the feet (using some very old and weathered looking 2x4 pieces he'd found and cut down) and glued some trim together that had split. Once he'd glued it all back together and repaired it correctly you'd never know that there is weathered 2x4 pieces making up part of the structural integrity of the dresser. I then cleaned it up and oiled it and now I have a dresser for the bedroom again! No more Rubbermaid containers! And the repairs cost us nothing as my husband used materials we had around the house to make it all work.
9. When I moved the new full sized dresser into place in the bedroom, it freed up the bottom of my old antique dresser. My husband found that the desk top to the antique dresser was built more as a travel desk than an actual desk top, so keeping it up on the dresser bottom was actually hurting the desk top. So, I didn't want to put the desk back together. I wasn't quite sure what to do with the desk bottom and moved it out into the den, where I got an idea. I finally put it next to my old dresser in the den and am using it to hold some future projects and some cloth. It will come in handy as between it and my other dresser, I should be able to free up my hallway closet to use only as a linen cabinet, which will definitely be a welcome change.
10. Here's another "saved money by not spending money" story. Land's End sent me a 10.00 credit on my "anniversary" (a year since I signed up for their newsletter I'm betting). I went onto the site and did find some things that were under 10.00 (not much), but once shipping was included they just weren't worth spending the money. To get free shipping I would have had to spend 50.00 and I knew that I didn't have that type of money, so I just walked away. It was the smart thing to do.
And there you are folks. Some ways I saved money this week. How did you do?
Love the picture that features the quilt you made for your husband as well as the throw pillows and table cloth you made. Everything looks great together, Erika!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you've had a great start to your New Year so far. I'm impressed you were able to sew with the kids still at home. Not an easy task, that's for sure! I'm so looking forward to all your blog post this year. Have a great day.
When it came to sewing, I just made sure to bring the son and the I-Pad downstairs with me and just worked quick. I stuffed them and sewed up the final hole upstairs in my living room while watching my son. He plucked while I stuffed *laugh*. It worked :). Have a great day right back at you!
DeleteYou had a good week! I still love the blanket you made for your husband! I finally have finished most all the remodel stuff that I had planned to do myself, and hope to do a sewing project soon. But it's back to work next week, and we are expecting an awful weather week next week, so I doubt I will be able to start soon. The forecast includes three days of snow. If I never, ever saw snow in person again for the rest of my life, I would love it. We live in the higher elevations of Arizona, and even a little bit of snow makes living here a nightmare because of the steepness of our driveway and the road out to the main road. It's fine if we don't need to go anywhere, I work from home which is good. But we still have to deal with getting our still at home daughter to and from school and my husband to and from work. Frugal and fun for me this week was getting to shop with some Kohl's cash and Old Navy rewards so I got stuff for $0 out of pocket! Well, I spent $.27 cents at Old Navy. :). It was a fun shopping day with my college daughter. Hope this week is good!
ReplyDeleteWe got rain a couple of days ago and it turned all the side roads into ice skating rinks (literally. There are you tube videos of people ice skating through Anchorage). I'm really hoping that they have it all cleared up before school starts Monday or driving the kids back and forth to school could get rather interesting.
DeleteYou know, my sister-in-law loves Kohl's and always talks about Kohl's cash and stuff. I don't think I've even stepped through the door to that store *laugh*. Awesome finds, though. Paying teensy bits out of pocket is always such a thrill :).
Your couch repairs prompted me to make a covered seat cushion to bolster up a 'bad' recliner. Now it's one of the nicest seats in the house! Love your new look for your room.
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