Showing posts with label thrifty tip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thrifty tip. Show all posts

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Thrifty Tip Thursday: Make your own Kite!

Want to make your own kite nearly free? Read below the pictures!
The picture below is of one of three kites I made last night for my sitter's house today. I made one for each of the three that stay with her during the day. I used a toy magazine to make them rather than tossing the magazine. (Green) The rest of the magazine will go to work with me for collage purposes for my students.

The picture below is of all three. I did not use tissue tubes on these because I didn't have enough. I just chopped up a dryer sheet box and punched a hole to tie the string on and wrapped it around the rectangle cardboard.

I love Thursdays!

That is right...Make your Own Kite out of simple "around the house" materials:

*String (yarn, whatever you have)
*Regular sheet of paper
*Bamboo Skewer Stick
*Crayons (for decoration, etc...I am thinking for kids)
*Masking Tape
*Tissue Tube (I use this to hold the string by hole punching one end and tieing the string to it and wrap around the tube. Easy for kids to hold and let the string out.)
*Hole Punchers...nice but not necessary...just jab a hole with the skewer works also.

I know...this isn't complete instructions...that is why I have THIS LINK that tells you step by step on how to fold the kite and attach the stick. I could type all of that out, but in blog world...we love new sites and clicking on stuff.

By the way: I have made these kites with my Kindergartners and some older children as well over the past 5-6 years. Trust me...they FLY as good as any store bought one. Maybe not as cute, but the kids get to say they made it and can decorate them. They are always amazed by how well they fly! Adults are amazed too. :-) You don't even need a lot of wind to make them fly. Cool little kites! Kids love 'em, and so do adults...very little if any cash out of pocket. I make about 100+ a year and it costs me only a few dollars for tape and sticks. I usually have everything else.



Thursday, March 6, 2008

Thrifty Tip Thursday: Low Maintenance Hairstyle!

One way we save money in our household is Low Maintenance Hairstyles for everyone! "Wash and Go" styling! Thank goodness, pretty much, that is the going fashion or at least one that never seems to disappear. I wear my hair below my shoulders with no bangs "hippie like" if you will. You can see me in the picture to left of my blog here. Now that isn't the best hair day. The great thing about just regular, no style-style hair is if you want to "dress it up," you can! Take a curling iron to it, add clips, etc.... Many ways to dress it up for "dressy" occasions! There are, of course, many ways to get expensive with my plain hairstyle...like foil highlights (which I do want this summer for our trip...waiting for a coupon), etc... During the school-year....I just don't worry about it..."Wash and Go" and "Dress up" when needed!

Now my husband (being a dude, not wanting long hair), gets his hair cut like every 3 weeks or so. He goes to Great Clips and most of the time...even has a coupon. For my husband, Great Clips is just fine.

For my son, (2 1/2)...my husband trims his hair when needed and does a decent job, as we don't even have any kind of trendy hairstyle for our son either. I like him better with the baby look anywho. I am sure when he has a say-so in the matter of his hair, he will want something else. But for now...a $9.00 pair of hair cutting scissors from Wal-Mart is just fine for him! (Nothing more to spend) :-)

The GREEN Effect: we do NOT use a hair blow dryer on any of our hair!!!! "Once in a blue moon" I might blow dry my hair for church or some event that is early in the day! That is RARE! Church, many times, my hair is dry before we go, if we get up early like we normally do!

Happy Hairstyling and Thrifty Tip Thursday!

What is your Thrifty Tip? Drop it in the "Comment Jar!"

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Thrifty Tip Thursday! Coupon sites!

I wanted to find some interesting Coupon sites to direct you all to that I found to be interesting. I found two I had not seen before. One is a "mom" type of site that has an area in the top left devoted to tons and tons of coupons (of all kinds, stores, online, and not!):
This one is called Moms View

And then I found another for strictly online shopping but the entire site is loaded with coupons for nearly any store or item you can imagine! This site is called Only Coupons!

2/21/08: I would like to add another coupon site that is quite impressive from one of our visitors here to Thrifty and Creative:
Rather Be Shopping

Check them out...let me know if you know of another coupon site that I should let others know about!

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Monday, December 3, 2007

Thrifty Celebrations!

I have two "Thrifty Celebrations" to share with you all!

#1) I am excited to share that my new sitter for my son (he started today) went very very well! I am so excited he is staying with this new sitter. She is awesome! My son took right to her and the other two kids and when I picked him up, he wasn't yet ready to go! That is a fantastic sign! He loved the Child Care Center too; however, was always ready to go when I got there! This is a "Thrifty Celebration" because as I mentioned in an earlier post, it is pay by the day, not the week and it is less expensive even if I had to pay for the entire week. It is a huge blessing!
You can read my original post here about this: Thrifty Hooray

#2) Not as big as the first; however, still a celebration "Thrifty Style!" I received my first "FREE SAMPLE" from walmart.com. I also had blogged earlier about the coupons you can find on Walmart.com under "In Stores Now!"
Read this post again at: Thrifty Tip Thursday: Free Samples!

Have a wonderful rest of your Monday!

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Storm Door: Great addition for heating and cooling savings!

This is my newest suggestion on saving money on your electric bill (however, can not speak from personal experience but from a neighbors!)

This is something I really want and wanted before talking to the neighbors; however, didn't realize the great effect it can have on heating and cooling!

*Get Storm Door for your doors. (We do not have one on the front of the house and you can feel a tiny draft in the bottom corner)...our back door has one already but not the front when we bought this house a little over a year ago. Our friends/neighbors down the street didn't have one either but just bought a storm door recently (nice thick pretty glass one on the front) and said that their house felt like it was getting 80 degrees due to having the storm door...simply put...no heat escaping and no tiny little drafts coming through a crack around the door anywhere!

Summer time..these doors also insulate (keep them closed off with your other door as you don't want a "green house" effect in the summer..yikes). On the flip side in the winter: you could during peak sun hours (brightest and hottest) leave the other door open using only your all thick glassed storm door allowing the "green house" effect to take place and then shut off when the sun is no longer shining through.

The storm door is in addition to all the other items you can do to winterize your home. There are many other suggestions (that we personally do or know someone that does) throughout this blog! Take time to surf here!

Have a Happy Holidays!

Monday, November 19, 2007

Monday Mommy Tip: Winter Heating Tip!

While surfing for ways to save money on our heating (electric) bill, I found a very cool site/pdf document online with 100 ways to save energy!

My Monday Mommy Tip that I took from this site/pdf that I will be using is about using a humidifier in order to "trick" the body into thinking it is a degree or so warmer. The reason this works (according to the site) is the fact that in the Winter there is no humidity and that is a "disadvantage" to the body as your body needs more heat which causes us to turn up the thermostat. With this tip in mind, we will be using a humidfier at night, and we can all breath better as well!

What will you take away from this site/pdf document?

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Thrifty Tip Thursday: Thrifty Thinking!

A bunch of "T's" in this Title!

Thursday's Thrifty Tip:

Take care of what you have. Don't be quick to replace things, as this can become costly and wasteful. Example: Instead of tossing out an old table in a hurry to replace...repaint it and use it outside or in a kid's room, bonus room, garage, craft room, etc... (Different sized tables for different type rooms or uses of course.) I am not talking just about tables here...think of nearly anything that you want to "replace" because you want something new. Think...is it necessary for me to replace at this time? Is there a bill that needs to be paid, or activity I want to do that I could use the money for instead of purchasing something I already have? Just some thrifty thinking for you all.

I experienced this when I first got married years ago to my husband. He wanted to "throw away" a "TRASH" container! I was like...why? He didn't like the color (white) he wanted a fancy silver one. I said...well...I would rather buy something we don't already have (At the time that was a LOT of things...newly married and all and he from Romania). Guess what? We still have that same white trash container and he loves all the things we have bought in between and now thinks like I do. Sometimes he out-thrifty thinks me. :-) He likes to make, repair and build things. This is money saver for sure. DIYing! (DIY-Do It Yourself) We save a lot DIYing, thanks to my husband being a go-getter when it comes to wanting to learn how to do things. He has installed irrigation, built raised garden beds, sandbox, working on a swing for my son (still buying piece by piece), and he has even added an extra outlet box (In our old house) out to a pond he built. Friends and Family are always blown away by what he has done and continues to do. Hard worker...he says he can't sit still...geez, I believe it. He has painted nearly every room in our new house, installed knobs on the kitchen cabinets...I could keep going. My point, other than my husband is awesome, DIYing can also save you some money. There have been instances where it didn't but for the most part it does because you can spread out your spending. A piece of wood here, mulch there, plants, etc...one at a time, when you are done...whamoo...

Challenge yourself not to toss out items before needed and try to DIY here and there! Happy Thursday! Tomorrow FRIDAY! Yippie!!!

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Thrifty Tip Thursday: Email Forward w/$$ Saving Tips!

Sorry for blogging a forward I got in an email; however I felt it was so appropriate to this blog! I couldn't just pick one or two of these, I thought they were all interesting and something you all may want to give it a try!
P.S. Not sure where it originated...checked the email throughly and couldn't find an annotation.

1. Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set
heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No
soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really
works.

2. Easy Deviled Eggs
Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal , mash till they are all
broken up. Add remainder of ingredients , reseal , keep mashing it up
mixing thoroughly , cut the tip of the baggy , squeeze into egg.

3. Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store , whip it with
your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to
frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar
and calories per serving.

4. Reheating refrigerated bread
To warm biscuits , pancakes , or muffins that were refrigerated, place
them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will
keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

5. Newspaper weeds away
Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet
newspapers put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with
mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening
plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

6. Broken Glass
Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you
can't see easily.

7. No More Mosquitoes
Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

8. Keep Squirrels away
To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with
cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the
squirrels won't come near it.

9. Flexible vacuum
To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty
paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent
or flattened to get in narrow openings.

10. Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a
clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when
wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ta da! -- static is
gone.

11. Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot
water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your
ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right
out.

12. Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove
box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works
better than a cloth!

13. Reopening envelope
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something
inside , just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or
two. Viola! It unseals easily.

14. Conditioner
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than
shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way
to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it
in your hair...

15. Goodbye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies , take a small glass fill it 1/2' with
Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid , mix well. You
will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

16. Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it
'home', can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so,
especially if it rains , but it works & you don't have the worry about
pets or small children being harmed!

17. INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS
The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things
around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and
he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean.
(I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He
told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to
the sink, ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh
material - I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like.
WELL...the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through
it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh
that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film , but
it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft
and static free - that nice fragrance too, you know how they can feel
waxy when you take them out of the box, well this stuff builds up on
your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer
units to catch fire & potentially burn your house down with it! He said
the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (& to keep
your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot
soapy water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six
months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long!
How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know
dryer sheets would do that. So , I thought I'd share! Note: I went to
my dryer & tested my screen by running water on it. The water ran
through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh
screen. I washed it with warm soapy water & a nylon brush & I had it
done in 30 seconds.
Then when I rinsed it the water ran right Thru the screen! There wasn't
any puddling at all! That repairman knew what he was talking about!

Once again, this is information that came to my "inbox" as a forward sent around at work, I found it interesting; however, can not verify any of it; however, if you can; drop a comment in the "Comment Jar!"

Have a Thrifty Day!

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Cool Blog on Being Thrifty! 5 Gold Stars!

Simply Thrifty

I found this blog to be very interesting and full of great information! Try it out!

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Thrifty Tip Thursday!

Hello one and all, and Welcome to Thrifty Tip Thursday; where Thursday is your Thrifty Tipping Day! Every day here is Thrifty, but this is a wonderful day to share with everyone your Thrifty Saving Ways! Also, I chose Thursdays, because it starts with "T" and is closer to the weekend! Made sense to me! :-) (Okay, in a silly mood!)

My Thrifty Tip for this Thursday is:
Don't throw out your child's old board books or picture books, or any books for that matter, even if pages are ripped out, etc... I, personally, love to use those with my students for Art Projects (more specifically Collages). The kids are excited because it is wierd for them to use a book versus a Magazine all the time to collage with. The can cut out words, and some pictures. Or, HEY, ALTER That book!!! Leave it intact and simply "gesso" the pages and have your child (OR YOU) get crafty and creative and do some paintings, collages, etc...on those pages! How neat would that be? Just an idea!

Monday, September 24, 2007

Monday Mommy Tip!

Monday Mommy Tip with Mommy Community:

My Tip for this week involves on great ways to Recycle Your GIFT BAGS!!!

Don't toss them, even if the handles are broken and it is getting worn out! Besides, reusing or using them to carry things in, you can cut out the nice pictures from the bags and paste/glue them into collage works, scrapbooking, decoupage, whatever; however you see fit for these beautiful bags that is a shame to toss!

I can't take total credit for this, I heard and got this idea from a parent at my school! I was like, man, why didn't I think of that? I always have used my bags over and over as lunch bags, etc...But never thought about how to use the beautiful pictures!