Sewing a Dress

My experience of sewing thus far has been full of extremes-- there are the picnic blankets that I've been making, a very large-scale sort of project, and then there are little projects, things like these coffee cozies, or these country angels. So I am happy to report that I am undertaking a nice middle-of-the road sort of project: a dress for myself using a cute vintage pattern I picked up at the thrift store. I'm still hunting for some fabric-- I am checking back at the thrift store for something that is colorful and makes me think of spring, and if that isn't successful, I might just splurge and go to the fabric store. But I'm getting excited about the possibility of making my own clothes... talk about saving some money.

Frugal Friday: Growing Your Own Ornamental Plants

I have a horribly un-green thumb (my houseplants, may they rest in peace, would agree) but I do like to keep some pretty annuals in our windowboxes and planters-- and generally, they stay alive with a minimum of effort. Nothing fancy, just some petunias and sweet potato vine in the spring and summer, and pansies and vinca vine in the wintertime. Well, after many seasonal trips to the garden center, I have decided to try my hand at propagating my own plants from cuttings. I first heard of this from a farmer who was selling beautiful hanging baskets of mixed flowers in the Berkshires. We asked how he grows such beautiful flowers, and he told us, straight up, that he uses some root hormone on cuttings. That's how everyone does it, he told us. It's fast and easy-- you should try it. Well, two years later, I'm finally giving it a try. It should save a good bit of money (a bottle of root hormone is around 5 bucks, which is close to what I would pay for a single plant).

Here's how it's done.

Take some cuttings from your favorite ornamental plants (you shouldn't do this in edible plants). Just snip right below a leaf, and then take off any leaves close to the bottom:



Dip in a cup of water followed by the root hormone:



Place in a container with potting soil (I just planted my pansies, so I still had these handy 6-pack planters on hand) and water lightly:



Place the whole thing in an unzipped ziplock bag:



Now, you're supposed to leave the plants out of direct sunlight for a week or two (until they give you some resistance when you tug, meaning that the roots have developed), and then place them on a windowsill that gets some good light (we don't have a great candidate, so I think we're going to try to find a fluorescent light on craigslist). Come springtime, I'm hoping that we have an array of plants ready for planting-- and for a total cost of just 5 bucks! I have a bunch of petunias, some sweet potato vine, and impatiens growing so far.

If you give this a try, let me know how it goes. If you've done it before, do you have any tips? I need all the help I can get.

Frugal Friday: No Spend Month Confessions and Wrap-Up

We're coming to the end of our No-Spend Month, our family's challenge to live off of $350 for the month. Our hope for the month was to become more mindful about our spending habits, not to live in a drastic or ascetic way-- we have two little kiddos in the house, so we wanted to keep things healthy and normal.

We bought in bulk at the beginning of the month, meaning our first week was a bit heavy, coming in at $222.93

Our second week we reigned in the spending, coming in at $64.43

And this week we continued our trend of tight spending with..... (drum roll, please!)..... $64.69

Bringing our grand total to: $352.05, just a few bucks over our goal. If I were a perfectionist, I would probably be upset, but I'm quite happy with the whole thing. It was a great month of examining our spending habits, making do without, and living intentionally. I really feel it has impacted our lifestyle for the better, and I feel that we'll continue to live in a much more intentional way. One lesson I learned was that even if I really wanted something in the moment, I rarely regretted not buying it in retrospect. And, for our family, a great way of sticking to a meal budget is finding simple meals that everyone likes (burritos, pizza, stir-fry, roasted chicken) and making them regularly.

But, I do have a slight confession, and I just wouldn't feel right keeping this from you. One impact of No-Spend Month has been that we have become much more industrious-- imagining ways to make do, thinking of ways to bring in more income. And, along those lines, we started cleaning out some of the junk in our basement through selling it on craigslist. We started posting things we never used (Ben's old speakers), and things we never imagined anyone would actually pay for (an old backpack), and surprisingly started selling them, which created a little "slush fund" of extra money. We started setting the money aside for little projects around the house that remain unfinished-- specifically, an unfinished built-in bookcase that I hope to be blogging about (in its completion) on Monday.

Well, we dipped into the money a little early. I wish I could say that we spent it in something amazingly sexy and extravagant, but here's where it went: A box of Ben and jerry's ice cream, and some mouse traps. And some frozen custard on our way to our Mini-Vacation. Apparently our (ahem... my) weakness lies in the ice cream.

It just wouldn't be a good month without a little drama, don't you think?

And, I'm happy to report, that all our savings allowed us to pay down $500 of credit card debt we're still carrying around from finishing our basement this winter. Not bad.


To all the no-spenders out there: how has your month ended up?

Frugal Friday: Our No Spend Month Week Two Roundup

Alright guys, things are looking tight, but pretty good with our no spend month. Last week I gave you the update on the first week (well, actually first week and a half) of no spend month. Here's how we're doing this week.

As of last week, we had spent: $222.93
leaving: $127.07

Here's this week:

Groceries: $42.64
Gas: $20.00 (there's Ben again, getting gas in whole dollars)

Wow. Can that be it? Yes, I think that is it. And my thrifty husband even remembered a pasta bake that I had prepared during my birth preparation frenzy that was sitting in the back of the freezer, which means that we have one leftover dinner from this week going into next week.

And we have: $64.43 remaining for the next week and a half.

I feel like I'm coming to the realization that absolutely no discretionary spending is hard after the initial honeymoon period of a couple of weeks. Whew! It's hard not to splurge here and there (a cup of coffee out with friends, a treat for the toddler at the grocery store). But you know what? There hasn't been a single item that I have refrained from buying that I have later regretted not buying. It's all water under the bridge.

But, I must admit, I have a secret list of things I am looking forward to buying once this month is over. Is that cheating?

Frugal Friday: Our No Spend Month Week One Roundup

We are eleven days into No Spend Month, our attempt at living off of $350 bucks for the whole month. You can read about some of the things that we've been trying to cut down on costs here, as well as our rational behind embarking on this endeavor. And, I'm quite happy to report, so far so good-- although we definitely have our work cut out for us these next couple of weeks.

Here's what our tally is looking like so far:

Costco run for the whole month: $127.85
Gas: $20.00 (I am learning that Ben is one of those people who fills to the dollar, not the tank. How cute!)
Groceries for week one: $53.10
Paper Goods: $21.98

That brings our running total to..... (drum roll, please).....$222.93

Which means that for the next three weeks we have $127.07.

This is going to be close, guys! But I think we can do it... especially if, as I'm hoping, all we have to buy is groceries for those three weeks. Can it be done? Are we stubborn enough to make it happen? I think so, but only time will tell.

Frugal Friday: Tips From A Cheapskate

I'm always on the hunt for finding ways to live more cheaply. It has come in handy-- especially as a one-income family living in several expensive cities over the years. I have previously posted my top ten ways to live cheaply, but I'm always living and learning, so here are a few of the newest tricks we've found-- tricks that I hope will help make our No Spend Month successful.

* Make stuff at home. I have made bread and granola at home for a while, but have recently expanded to some items that I never dreamed I would be making at home. We have started making tortillas at home-- which are pricey at the store, but super easy to make and gratifying at home. We have also started making our own popcorn (I never even KNEW you could just pop it in a pot with a lid! Just as easy as the microwave, but over half as cheap). And then there's our recent experiment of making our own bread starter (more on this soon), which will hopefully eliminate the cost of yeast from our budget.

* Find ways to have a treat on a budget. Sometimes it's nice to spice things up on the weekend and do something different or special. We often will have picnics in the yard or on a nearby field with a simple homemade dish. Or, another special treat is taking some fast food-style burgers (cheap as possible!) and doctoring them up at home. If you take a plain burger and add arugula, your favorite cheese, and red onion, it transforms the burger experience. And with this tip our whole family can eat dinner for under 5 bucks.

* Troll websites for items that you are going to have to buy anyway. I bought this adorable wooden toy (along with a set of dozens of wooden zoo animals, cars, and 'people' off of craigslist for a few bucks). But, as with all things, do this in moderation. For this month, I am disallowed from looking for stuff on craigslist because sometimes it just feels like a deal is too good to pass up... which is dangerous.

* Eat vegetarian several times a week. I was a vegetarian for years, which comes in handy, because we're used to cooking/eating without meat. This makes a huge impact on the cost of week's groceries. And when we do eat meat, we choose economic options.

* Don't use recipes, or use recipes that are flexible. I love Cook's Illustrated, but I only cook from one of their recipes once in a blue moon because they require some little ingredient I am missing, which they guilt me into buying (like arrowroot? Who's heard of arrowroot?). Instead, I do simple meals that only use a few ingredients from my head, or recipes that have lots of flex room (which is why I live by More With Less and Simply in Season, both of which use simple recipes that can be switched up in dozens of ways).


Those are our most recent "tips" for cheap living. What are your tricks? How do you live on the cheap? Please do tell!