THRIFTY - Careful management especially of money
TIDBIT - A choice morsel
Tidbit #1
I don't know if you're like me but come the New Year (and the 4th is my birthday too) I start refreshing my thinking and my objectives for the next year. This website hopefully will help
me you get off on the right foot........
Becoming Minimalist
The title says it all and if you tend toward being a
pack rat saver then this is the blog for
me you! Good information, good attitude and finally one written by a guy who's "married with children" lest you think he's a bachelor which many times emulates a minimalist lifestyle. Here's an Excerpt.....
" Welcome to Becoming Minimalist. If you are new, welcome! We are
honored to have hundreds of thousands of regular readers, and brand new
readers every day. If that’s you, welcome. I’d love to make your
experience here as comfortable as possible.
Most importantly, Becoming Minimalist is designed to inspire
others to pursue their greatest passions by owning fewer possessions."
Tidbit #2
Awhile back, I was browsing Lucy's blog over at
Attic 24. Now, if you're familiar with Lucy, you will know she is all about crochet and color but this time she veered off course and went into beading! She calls them Hama beads and after seeing it I remembered my children did this in school many moons ago. Here's Lucy's version of
Hama Beading. At first I wasn't excited but after scrolling down and seeing what she made from them I found myself "googling" the darn things and found a grand selection of supplies on Amazon. There are Pinterest boards about them too. Look at this holiday pattern.....a far cry from the little hearts my children brought home to me.
and look at these cute little ear rings...........
I didn't order any and went about my day but when I was at Wal-Mart a few days later I ran across these......
I had to pick them up and satisfy my curiosity. Unfortunately, in order to follow some cross stitch patterns like Cath Kidson ones that I have, I would need a bigger bead board to work on but I will see what I can come up with. At least they would make cute coasters, I think. Lucy seems to really enjoy making them. I'll give it a whirl so "stay tuned for further developments".
Tidbit #3
Rag edged placemats....who knew? I remember when they came out with the quilts that were "ragged" on the edges but it still looked like a lot of work...all that snipping but placemats? Now we're talking! Us knitters and crocheters have to give it a break once in awhile and
Susan B. Anderson's blog did just that!
These are so cute....and to hear her tell it she used another placemat she had as a template, didn't measure anything and just quilted freehand.....how simple is that and they turned out so cute she was using them for Christmas and giving them as gifts and each one is unique with a different pattern on the other side so no "matchy-matchy". Now that's what I call stress-free Christmas creating/gifting!
Visit Susan's post about it
here and there are even special scissors you can purchase at Amazon (she has a link in her post) that are specially made for the "snipping" and make it easier on your hands.
What a great way to use up bit and pieces of fabric and create something so practical at the same time. And now with the Christmas fabric going on sale you could even start making for next year right this very minute! LOL! Okay, now what should I do...bead or minimalize or sew? Hmmm.....not sure but other than the little bead kit which was about $10.00; I have everything I need to work on some fun things over "my Christmas vacation".
What plans do you have for the New Year? HappyTrails!
1. First I slice up the soap with a knife..........
2. I place the slices in my blender.........
3. I put it in a Lock n' Lock container (water tight and spill proof)..........
4. Then I add 2 cups of Washing Soda, 2 cups of Borax and 1 cup of Baking Soda. 
5. I also add 8-10 drops of natural oil; this one is lemon grass (sorry for the blurry picture)......
6. I put the lid on and shake it like crazy! LOL!
7. I also use hydrogen peroxide as my bleach (my version of oxi-clean and so much cheaper) and white vinegar as my softner.
8. I use some old plastic containers, labeled, to hold my supplies and I always have a back up supply of each one so I never run out. 
9. When I need to fill the container with the "back-up" then I put it on my white board list on my frig. I got the little magnetic whiteboard at the dollar store. Since some of my supplies are only available at the store 20 minutes from here I am pretty good about never running out with my "backup" system of necessary supplies.
I hope this is of use to some of you. If you want to save money this saves LOTS. Now, I must admit, I do not get filthy dirty (except during gardening season) and I started using the hydrogen peroxide when I noticed my clothes getting a little "dingy" but it took care of it. I started making this 6 years ago and I haven't looked back!
