Frugal Living Swap (SIGNUP CLOSED; MAIL BY 2/6/2010)

[MareMare]

hehe! There is actually somewhere on your inbox/profile where you can set it to always save your sent mail, I'm so glad because I would forget to check the box half the time

Thanks for posting those recipes flower! I'm totally going to try the scouring powder. I buy baking soda in like 10 lb bags at Costco to make bath bombs, so gonna go for it! Last time the cashier at Costco made fun of me....um, they carry the product, like I'm the only one to ever buy it??

[cjclark]

Wow, I wandered off for the day and y'all wrote a ton. :-P

I think one important thing to consider (or at least we do at our house) is to price out homemade stuff vs. store-bought. We buy bread making ingredients in bulk so making bread at home is cheaper than store-bought. I have wanted to make soap for quite awhile, but neither my husband or I have any allergies or sensitivities to anything. I would have to make a lot of soap and buy in major bulk to actually save money there. And, that's not exactly practical as we go through maybe one bar of soap per month. Now, I recently invested in some luna pads (my most favorite cloth menstrual pads). It was simple to figure out how many pads I go through in a month in disposables and then see how many months it would take me to save money. I have a short cycle, so it will take me about 18 months to begin actually saving. The upside for me is environmental, and health. Obviously cloth diapers pay for themselves pretty quickly, as do things like cloth napkins.
Anyway, I'll step off my soapbox. :-P I've seen a TON of great ideas on this thread and can't wait to get my partner and make some plans. :-) I think, depending on where I am mailing too, I may include some samples if I put in a recipe. That will be fun.

I just figured out how to make some slippers over the weekend too. The method is not perfected yet, but it was pretty cool. I'm up for making a blanket for someone (though, that's definitely bigger than a medium I think - time wise at least) or reusable kitchen stuff. I'm also reclaiming some wool sweater yarn which may be used to make wool dryer balls. I have lots of ideas - I've been making a list!

I would love to have a good pantry organization system, though I'm afraid I'll have to figure that one out myself in order for it to work properly. Our pantry is rather... involved. :-P We cook a LOT.

[Tanza]

http://www.instructables.com/id/Reusing-Lightbulbs-as-planters-or-mini-terrariums/

what an awesome idea......I have some sphagnum moss that I bought for my elkhorns, I opened it yesterday and it was growing happily in the bag so I am thinking, hmm jars moss.....and then I saw this what a wicked way to use those old bulbs ( if you still use then that is, I use the new energy efficient ones)

[Tanza]

can someone explain wool dryer balls to me?

are they made from roving, and what do they do in the dryer??

curious

[dharma_rebel]

can someone explain wool dryer balls to me?

are they made from roving, and what do they do in the dryer??

curious

I've never made any myself, but I don't think they'd be too hard. I think you could use roving, you'd want to felt it into a nice tight ball, about tennis ball size. The ones I have are like nice tight yarn balls. I throw a couple in the dryer and they speed up the drying time, and remove some (not all) of the static. I only have 2 but I think if you throw, like 6 in the dryer, you will reduce drying time even more.

[guacaMolly]

I would love to have some dryer balls!

One thing that I have come to love is keeping a roller bottle with lavender oil (and a carrier oil, usually jojoba) in it around. I use it on hives, inflammation, bug bites, burns, cuts and for headache relief. Lavender oil will take the burn, sting and redness out, and makes healing go a lot faster!

[edie22]

I just joined and holy cow that's a lot of pages to read through!!! But so many ideas!! I love a lot of them, but I live in a condo in Florida and a lot of them don't apply - we dont' have to worry about blankets to keep warm or anything, and no gardening and that sort of thing.  And there are just two of us so homemade laundry soap and that sort of thing seems like a bit much... plus the storage! no storage for me.

I did want to say that my husband SWEARS by the Dr. Bonners' soap.  he uses it to wash his hair and everything. 

I just got a sewing machine and am completely reorganizing my craft area from one side of the living room to the other and i keep finding things that I thought I had but have apparenlty bought 6 of (like rulers) and had to go buy one because I couldn't find the other, so crafty organizing things would be awesome.  Someway to organize spools of thread would be good too, I keep buying to match the fabric I buy and it is stuff I already have too.

[Avabrowneyes]

Sometimes my Achilles' heel (other than craft supplies) is my nesting instincts. I love making my space pretty or just plain liveable. We all know how expensive that can get. Last year I got an old camera cast off from my dad's work. I started taking a lot of pictures while overseas. A really fun, frugal gift (or decorating alternative) is taking pictures with a theme or someone in mind. There are tons of resources on the net on how to improve picture-taking skills. I chose a really simple theme for each family member. Part of their Christmas gifts were wall art made by me. I got a printer that produces fantastic photos for pennies. I just decorated my mom's bathroom with pictures and frames that were $1 each at Rose's. She loves it .

I'm not sure how well actual pictures would do in this swap, but what about including tips on repurposing or reusing household items for something else?

[Ariethine]

I think it would be cool to make a little booklet or something full of recycled crafts... you could fill them with your own, or get them off the internet, or both. Just look around your house for items that you just throw away. My grandmother used to use old milk jugs, and filled them with hot water and we had to lug them out to the horses. O.o  Man it sucked!! But now she has heated bowls. But she bought a whole bunch of water jugs for that purpose, and we could have just been saving a lot of them and had to buy... none...  You could use milk jugs with the bottoms cut off for bird feeding filters, or even just funnels for every day use. What I'm planning on doing for myself...
Does anyone know about the pillsbury cinnamon rolls in a can with little containers of frosting inside?? I plan on making myself a pincushion out of one of the containers I saved. I also like to keep the metal pieces off the top and bottoms of them.

Okay, I know my post is getting pretty out of hand... (I'm still thinking of joining...) What, IYO, is the best kind of sewn pad?? Like, is there a really good tutorial for them? I've read a lot about how to stuff them, and layers and all that, but is there anyone here who knows and has experienced the best way to do them?? I'm also curious if the pad layers, at least on the outside, should be organic... >> Cause I have a really hard time getting to the store, much less finding organic cloth... Help please?

[irish_chicky]

cloth diapers is also a must!! I need these as well for a newborn-3months. Even if it was just a pattern would be appreciated!

They save sooo much money. I love the look and everything about Apple Cheeks, the ones with inserts, not all in ones, http://applecheeks.com/site/en/What_Envelope_Cover.html but holy cow expensive. For the amount I would need it would be about 600$+ for the covers and the inserts