Happy New Year! cough cough

I lasted until New Year's Eve before succumbing to a horrible cold? virus? respiratory infection? What ever it is it put me down in bed for a couple of days. I'm still sick, but recovering. And as long as I keep warm I do okay, but getting cold brings on the coughs. Oh well. Opposition in all things.

TopDad and I talked about resolutions today. I'm not making any. I'm setting one goal. The goal is to get rid of the piles in our home. Piles of excess everything. I feel like my house is too small, but the truth is I have too much stuff! Hence the goal to get rid of it. I can use it up, trash it, sell it, or donate it, but it must be gotten rid of. No more piles, boxes, bags, overstuffed cupboards and closets, no more useful articles languishing unused and hidden away.

I'm praying for emotional strength, because I'm a keeper, not a tosser, and it will take divine help to overcome my weaknesses.

As soon as I get well, that is. I'm too physically weak to begin just yet. But watch out stuff, I'm getting my game plan together and you won't be safe around me.

Hope you all had lovely holidays. See you real soon.

Frugal Friday

Recycling an ordinary item

I got excited when I found this bundle at the thrift store recently:

I carefully broke off the clip ends of each one:

And they became these:

Just wanted to share in case you hadn't thought of this one yourself.

Kitchen Frugality

The picture below is the left side of my sink; hiding in plain sight are four of my frugal practices, Can you spot them?

PFCMom's Kitchen 

 So here are the four frugal things:

#1 - I wash out and reuse glass jars - this one held salsa.

#2 - I buy milk in the thicker, white jugs, which I then wash out and fill with water for "flush" water storage. It takes two of these to flush a toilet in an emergency. 

#3 - We have a little swinging towel holder that I use for drying plastic bags. Works great!

#4 - TopDad installed a shelf above the sink where we keep plastic drinking glasses labeled with our names (in Cranberry nail polish) so we can get a drink of water without using tons of glasses each day. I wash the glasses about once a week. (No one has ever gotten sick from those glasses.)

Four simple tricks (or in contemporary parlance hacks) to save money by reusing something. I've been doing these for so long that I forget that not everyone does the same. 

Water!

Frugal Friday - Odds and Ends

Progress Report on floor: The old carpet must have been carpet and pad integrated and the pad must have been adhesive because it left a horrible residue on the beautiful wood floor. I used a paint scraper to get it up and in some places had to use an orbital sander to remove it. (Perhaps a chemical would have done the job, but I'm trying to be frugal here!) Now we are left with the decision "to refinish, or not". Even where the pad came up easily it left a slightly hazy residue on the floor. My feeling is that as long as the room is empty, let's refinish and then we can enjoy moving in to a room with fresh paint and a fresh floor.

Yucky residue.

Yucky residue scraped off.

Area where I used the orbital sander to remove the yucky residue.

 Now on to more fun things:

Bad photo of Tim with a piece of popcorn clinging to his side.

Calico napping in Dr. Hair's laundry hamper.

JET (purple shirt), Dr. Hair (white shirt), and two of JET's roommates
Occasion: JET's birthday on Sunday

JET, the birthday boy & PFCMom, the birthday dinner planner and provider

What's a young thing like you doing with a face like this? Where did my youth go?

Okay, now for some frugality:
What do you do when you find at the store a bag of bananas for a buck?

They aren't bad, just a little spotted on the outside. First we eat a few on cereal for breakfast, a few more in smoothies and then the rest . . .

These bananas are actually a few days after I bought them and yes they are really ripe.

are smashed up, measured and put in freezer containers with lemon juice for banana bread. 

Containers of 2 cups of mashed bananas and 2 teaspoons of lemon juice.

When I want to make some bread I take the container out of the freezer and thaw it overnight on the counter (or in the fridge, but it takes longer), then I can make bread in the morning and the house smells good all day.

Here's another little frugal practice of mine.
See that brown thing that looks like a trash can next to the night stand in my bedroom?

PFCMom's Bedroom

That brown thing is actually two paper grocery bags, one slipped inside the other with the top folded down, which I use as my trash receptacle. This one has lasted two years (see the autumn scene?). I didn't have money to buy one, couldn't find one I liked anyway, so I made one.

Repurposed paper grocery bags

A friend of mine repurposes tin cans for all sorts of things, sells them at craft fairs and gives them as gifts. These are two I use as "pencil" holders. She got the idea from a craft magazine that showed painting on terra cotta pots. She didn't want to spend money on pots and looked for an alternative. I think the cans are terrific. (When I get my Christmas stuff out I'll show you the one she made me that I think is absolutely darling.)

Repurposed painted tin can pencil holders

 And last on our tour today, a way to corral those water bottles:

Basket for bottles

I searched thrift stores for a basket deep enough to hold the tall bottles; I had tried short baskets but the bottles would topple and scatter. This one keeps them nicely corralled on top of the fridge. 

Neat and tidy bottles

Just a note on searching for things at thrift stores--Be patient and go often. Those are the keys to scoring treasures at tightwad prices. The other rule is to buy when you see it, she who hesitates is out of luck. The item won't be there next time. I have never regretted buying anything because if it doesn't work out I can always re-donate it. But I have truly regretted NOT buying items, thinking I'd go back for them later. Wrong.

Have a great weekend!

Frugal Friday - Wear it Out

Today on Frugal Friday we'll explore the concept of wearing it out. We've become such a "throw away" people that it's time we look at how we can use things in alternative ways rather than simply tossing them.

First up is a large glass jar given to me by a friend, almost twenty years ago, who had too many of them. She bought peanut butter in these huge jars and then couldn't bear to throw them away, so she washed them and put them to other uses. She gave me three of them. I use this one as a cookie jar sitting on the built in side board of our dining room.  (The other two are used for storing brown rice, and bay leaves.)

Last of the Girl Scout Cookies

Wonderful Built-in Side Board and Cupboards

What do you use for cleaning or dusting cloths? In our house we use an assortment of old cloths, such as old dish cloths or wash cloths for scrubbing things; faded and worn cloth napkins for glass, windows and mirrors (perfect because they are lintless); cut up flannel nighties for dusting and polishing (so soft and absorbent); old, stained or worn dishtowels, hand towels or diapers for general cleaning and small mop ups; worn out bath towels for larger jobs like overflowing toilets (which happened this morning), car washing, drying off wet pets, and such.

Clockwise from center: Dust cloths, large towels, smalls towels & diapers, cloth napkins, wash cloths

I keep all these useful articles in these plastic drawers in my kitchen.

Only when the rag is finally worn out completely, do I toss it, guilt free, knowing that it has served us well for many years.

These two examples are just the tip of the iceberg. On future Frugal Fridays I'll share some other ways PFC Mom wears things out.