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Category: Thrifty Ideas

Old Made New: Refinished Recliner

Posted in Thrifty Ideas

Last night we picked up an old recliner (free). It was completely functional, but it looked yucky. It had holes in the arms; the fabric was torn and very dirty with many different stains. It was completely smell-free though, so we knew we could work with it. We temporarily covered it with a blanket. I had some material in my fabric box, so I decided to refinish it today. I had limited material, so I had to “fudge” a few things, but I think it turned out well overall. I forgot to take a before picture — duh! But, here…

Mommy & Me Aprons

Posted in Family, and Thrifty Ideas

After being inspired by all the great aprons that I have been seeing on other blogs, I decided to try my hands at matching aprons for my daughter and I. I didn’t want to spend much money (or time), so I thought about different options that I had. I decided that I’d head over to the thrift store and see what jumpers they had. I found a very cute strawberry print jumper, and it was less than $1. I knew that with some work, I could create a jumper for both my daughter and I out of this. Yes! At…

DIY Storage Containers from Recycled Materials

Posted in Homemaking, and Thrifty Ideas

My daughter decided that she needed some containers to store her things in. I didn’t want to spend any money, so I went to see what I had around the house. I found several oatmeal containers. While I knew that she’d be ok with plain storage containers, I thought it would be fun to create something a little fancier and fun. After locating some recycled wrapping paper, I cut circles out of the wrapping paper for the lids and rectangle strips to wrap the containers. I used double-sided tape to secure the wrapping paper around the storage container and to…

Frugal Friday — Curtains

Posted in Thrifty Ideas

Over at Biblical Womanhood, they have a fun thing called Frugal Fridays. I love all the links to the different blogs with all of the creative ways to be frugal. This week the theme is curtains, so I thought I’d participate for the first time. Here’s a picture of the curtains that I made for our “classroom”. My daughter wanted a safari type them, so I went all out. The curtains are very simple to make. There are just 4 panel curtains — just do a simple hem on the bottom and sides (if necessary, I just left the salvaged…

Frozen Assets — Husband’s Lunch

Posted in Thrifty Ideas

What are frozen assets? Frozen assets are meals, baked goods, or other things that you prepare ahead of time and put in the freezer. Today, I’ll tell you some of the things that I do for my husband’s lunch. I’m going to be honest and say that I’m not getting up when he gets up, but I still want to prepare good lunches for him to take to work with him. So, I tried to think of different things that I could send for lunch. Originally, I started making extra of whatever I was preparing for supper (spaghetti, lasagna, mac…