Frugal Accompilshments

This past week went pretty well, frugally speaking.  There were a few surprises that really helped us to stretch the grocery budget until the end of the month, which is always nice.  We did travel to see family, which costs more (about $40 in gas plus road trip snacks).  But we tried to compensate for this in other ways, like staying with family.

So, without further ado, here's how we saved this past week:

• All meals were cooked at home.  This included leftover salad, Asian chicken, and we did easy pasta and sauce one night.  I was also blessed with some leftover portions from dinner with Mom and from our parenting class.  Breakfasts were smoothies, cereal trail mix, banana bars, and oatmeal.
• Enjoyed shared meals with friends and family three times, including parenting class and Thanksgiving.  
• We continued to use what we have to make snacks for our trip including banana bars, popcorn, and nuts.
• Continued to compost and use cloth diapers to save resources.
• We graciously accepted some things from the food pantry:  fresh fruit, green beans, asparagus, mushrooms, yogurt, milk, ricotta cheese, bread, and (huge surprise!) a whole turkey that was smoked at a local BBQ restaurant.  The pantry ended up with extra turkeys, so the restaurant generously said they'd smoke them to ease the burden on pantry volunteers.  We love smoked turkey, so immediately said yes when Mom said one was available for us.
• Saved smoked turkey carcass for making stock.  It makes a great chili or wild rice soup.  We will use the meat for enchiladas, quesadillas, sandwiches, and to top salads.  
• Went to Costco with family and stocked up on produce, yogurt, frozen broccoli, frozen salmon, frozen blueberries, honey, and other staples.  (Even though I'm not doing sugars, the rest of my family still enjoys honey in tea or on a slice of bread.) I also found some low sugar, grain free granola that I'm super excited about.  It tastes great by itself or with plain yogurt and berries.  We also found fire extinguishers that we'd been looking for for only $15 each.
• Continued to plan to purchase land, looked for house plans online.  We will try to broker the deal for the land ourselves to save on the realtor cost.  We will use a realtor to sell our current home, when we get to that point.
• Accepted some hand-me-downs from my cousin for the boys, mostly baby.  
• Put together at least two bags of stuff for Goodwill.  Will continue to try to put together at least 2-3 bags each week for Goodwill, Craigslist, or eBay sales to try to clean out.  
• Pulled out an old wool coat to use this winter.  My black leather one is very shabby and got paint on it from a kid project, so the wool one will work and is still warm and in relatively good condition.
• My grandmother fixed my open-fingered gloves that were coming unraveled on one thumb.  It took her no time with the right tools, which I didn't have.  I now have a repaired glove, and I know how to fix it the next time, should it happen again.
• My mom had some homemade lemon nut cookie dough (a slice and bake recipe) in the freezer.  We thawed that and the boys decorated those for Thanksgiving dinner for them, in addition to the traditional pies.  It was fun for the boys, and helped clean out her freezer a bit.
• Were thankful for an early Christmas gift from Mom.  She paid to have our windows washed, which is something we don't do since we've essentially got a three story home on the side of a mountain.  The windows look wonderful, and it's so nice to have clean screens too!
• Began decorating for Christmas using existing supplies.  We use an artificial tree,wreath, and garland.  We save ornaments from year to year, and this really helps cut down on the cost.  We have window candles, but won't use those until our toddler is done with pulling things out of windows!  My mom bought a live wreath, which we'll use existing decorations, for us to decorate and hang on our porch railing.

How did you live and save green this week, especially amidst the holiday consumerism push?  I'd love to hear from you!

Frugal Accomplishments

We're trying really hard to think creatively about our budget, our needs vs. wants, and how to accomplish the most with what we have.  Our big success this week was finalizing the car sale, including bartering for the exterior painting we need done, and we transferred the title of the new-to-us car from my in-laws to us.  We also are skipping the grocery store this week, primarily because my in-laws brought things for us from Costco and Mom brought us two boxes of things gleaned from the food pantry.

Here's the breakdown for this week.  I'll be back later this week with our March menu plan.

• Cooked all meals at home.  This included crock pot lasagna soup, Asian chicken (yes, this has been a new favorite), steamed lemon pepper tilapia with roasted veggies, lentil and sweet potato stew (see comments for adaptations), breakfast egg casserole, and banana chocolate chip muffins.  The in-laws did treat us to pizza out one night, and lunch one day.
• Gleaned three bunches of bananas, strawberries, two cartons of mushrooms, a bag of oranges, three loaves of bread, six small cartons of yogurt, half gallon of milk, and a pint of whipping cream.
• Enjoyed a shared meal with Mom.
• Continued with our regular composting and recycling.
• Washed all laundry in cold water except towels, sheets, and diapers.  Line dried everything except sheets and towels.
• We did go by the grocery store for a deal on diapers and I got 4 packs for $20.  This will last us several months since we only use disposables for night time.
• Carpooled to work three days, saving on gas
• My inlaws graciously brought some things from Costco, including blueberries, frozen broccoli, cheese, and rice.
• Ordered a bulk order of black beans, steel cut oats, and grits.
• Enjoyed seeing my chives and garlic coming up in the garden (though this is unseasonably early)  Plan to use them in meals this coming week.
• Benny and I decided on direct deposit amounts to contribute to his retirement, the boys' 529 accounts, and our savings.  He is going tomorrow to set these up.
• Weeded out some clothing and toys to send to Goodwill.
• Called the library to renew books, rather than stopping by.
• Planned a double date with friends.  Mom will keep little man, saving us on babysitting.  We will go to the restaurant early to miss crowds and will use a coupon we have.  Will get water to drink to save money.  Will enjoy dessert and a movie at home.
• Tried making homemade Hershey's syrup, and it worked!  We now have two bottles of it in the fridge for use in coffee drinks, desserts, etc.
• Worked out with You Tube videos at home
• Had to laugh a little when little man reminded me to turn out a light when I left a room.  Glad he's already getting it!
• Enjoyed reading books at home to the boys and watching baby boy pull up on everything in sight!

What did you do to live and save green this past week?  I'd love to hear from you!

Gleaning to Keep the Budget on Track

We've always enjoyed gleaning and foraging for food.  I suppose it comes from liking the outdoors and enjoying the time outside in the sunshine.  It's only become more fun now that we have a little one to share this with (though sometimes he eats more of the harvest than we come home with!).

A few of the things we consistently forage or glean are blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, apples, and sometimes peppers or zucchini from a friend's garden.  We can consistently count on gleaning blackberries from the roadside in our neighborhood.  We seem to be the only ones who pick them, aside from the wildlife, so we can generally harvest several gallons over the growing season.  We also glean blueberries from my aunt's property (they no longer live here full time), and raspberries from friends who are overrun with them.  We put these in the freezer or use them to make jam for gifting and for winter enjoyment.

We gather apples from friends' trees for apple pie filling, apple crisp, and applesauce.  We generally freeze the applesauce, though you can also can it in mason jars.  There are also many local apple trees along public sidewalks, so gleaning would be an option there as well.  This year, we put several gallons of applesauce in the freezer to use for winter fruit and for baking.

Sometimes, we have friends who ask us to "garden sit" for them while they're gone on vacation over the summer.  This leads to all sorts of wonderful bounty, mostly squash, zucchini, and peppers.  We've also "chicken sat" for friends, which means that we collect several dozen eggs over the course of a week or so (they have 14 hens).

Recently, I've begun expanding the idea of gleaning to other areas.  I realized that we're always the ones to ask for the turkey carcass after holiday meals, which yields a lot of yummy stock and enough meat for a batch or two of soup.  Last year, we were gifted with four turkey carcasses after the Thanksgiving pot luck at church, which was a wonderful gift when we were just getting used to a much stricter budget.

When we have Sunday dinners at Mom's house, I will often save veggie scraps and bring them home to make veggie stock.  She will sometimes splurge on mushrooms or other veggies that are typically more expensive and out of our budget, so it's nice to use the trimmings for a savory stock.  I'll also save the broccoli and cauliflower stems from her house to add to our freezer bag for soup.  Broccoli and cheese soup is just as tasty with the "trunks", and broccoli isn't always a cheap veggie, so it's not something we make often, though we love it.

At school, kids often throw away unopened milk cartons.  They're required to take the milk as a part of a "healthy, balanced meal," but it amazes me how many of them eat very little of what is actually on their tray.  I volunteer to take any unopened milk to use at the house, or if I have an abundance, I will take it by the food pantry at church.

The same gleaning principle can be applied to bread.  I have a freezer bag I keep in the freezer with the ends of loaves of bread, cracker crumbs, etc.  When the bag is full, I buzz the whole contents through the food processor to make bread crumbs for a variety of meals (pecan crusted chicken is probably our favorite, but you could top any casserole).  By keeping it in the freezer, it means the bread won't go stale or moldy while I'm waiting to collect enough to do something with.

It always pains me to see people just throw away these remnants, since they can yield such tasty meals.  I know it's from ages gone by, but saving these things isn't a skill that we should lose just because it's convenient to pick up something at the store.  Often, gleaned produce is more nutritious (because it's fresher) and/or organic, which makes me feel better about feeding it to my family.

Gleaning can also go beyond food into the realm of clothing.  I've learned to just ask friends for hand-me-downs for the little guy.  Often, they're more than willing to clean out their closets and unload the "junk" on us.  I've also used this strategy for maternity clothes in the past, which are often worn only a few times.  I have a few friends whom I love their style, both for themselves and their kids, and just being willing to ask means that I have cute clothes for myself and little man.  I don't mind trading some baked goodies or homemade applesauce for clothes, and often this is for a busy mom who really appreciates something homemade and wholesome for her family.

These basic principles really allow us to stretch our food and clothing budgets.  I know there are others in other parts of the country who can glean other foods (I saw on The Prudent Homemaker how she had recently gleaned olives).  Do you ever go gleaning?  If not for yourself, maybe for Second Harvest?  I'd love to hear from you!

Gardening: A Frugal and Green Hobby

This spring and summer we've been working on refining our gardens a bit.  Over the years, I've planted lots of "pass alongs" from friends and coworkers, some of whom have moved on to other parts of life or the world, who've brought me starts and splits from their perennial gardens.  After several years of doing this, we finally have some flower and herb beds that are starting to look lush and established.

Of course, as with anything around the house, there's room for improvement and we're always wanting to tweak something.  I have a few plants that I want to move, namely some forsythia that's gotten too big for it's spot and splitting some herbs.  We were gifted two hydrangea plants from a family funeral that I'll plant in the shaded garden behind the house.  I seem to need to split the hostas about every two years, so it's time to do that again.  And we need to add some more mulch to the beds along the edge of the driveway.

We're almost there with our hardscaping, which is so nice.  Those "bones" help a lot and it's something we wish we'd paid to have someone do up front, rather than doing it piecemeal as we have.  Oh well, hindsight... We've got a few more stepping stones to add out back and we need to get a new load of gravel for the driveway.  We're hoping to save some cash on that by having it done by the same guy who will bring it in for our gravel road and combining the jobs.  The patio under the front deck will be finished after we finally finish the basement apartment, starting with gravel and then we'll add the stepping stones.

We've saved some cash already this season by hiring a friend to bring in a load of leaf mulch from the landfill.  It's been a great way to revive our flower garden and was so much cheaper than buying the mulch and paying someone to spread it.  (Now that we have a little one, we're finding that it's more of a time vs. money issue than it used to be for us.)  We might get another load spread in the fall for the other beds, maybe of hardwood mulch that will compost over the winter.  Many local areas do municipal composting like this, and it's a great free gardening resource.

Continuing to compost has really helped us out too.  Not only does it cut down on stinky trash, but we estimate that it saves us about $75 a year because we're not having to purchase bagged compost for veggie beds or container plantings.

Once we get the gutters cleaned out, we'll compost that leaf litter and install our rain barrel.  This will help us water the flower beds with captured rain water, rather than using precious ground water from our well.  We may need to wait until after the patio and driveway have their gravel in to do this, but it will be nice to finally use this.  And it was gifted to us by a gardening friend, so it was free!

We're really enjoying using our fresh herbs this year.  We made an herb butter for the turkey we roasted last week and regularly use the lemon balm and mint in tea and baking.  The sage and oregano are wonderful additions to rice, and along with a handful of green peas and chopped pecans make a fabulous pilaf from plain jane white rice.

How are you using your garden lately?  Has it become a frugal hobby for you, saving you cash on your herbs and veggies?  Do you love your fresh cut flowers or watching those gifted plants from friends bloom each year?  I'd love to hear from you!

Frugal Accomplishments this week, and a recipe

This week, I feel like we've done really well with living frugally.  Here's how it's played out:

Grocery shopping on Sunday was only sale, coupon, and need items.  (Well, ok, I did splurge on a $1.99 box of clearance junk cereal for me.  I'd been craving some for about two months.)  We stocked up on cabbage, which is on sale around St. Paddy's Day, and keeps in the fridge for several weeks.  I also found some bell peppers on the discount produce rack at 3/$2.50, which is really good for grocery store prices around here.  It's hard to find them for less than $1.00/pepper.

We were also given some eggs and cheese by my mom, which was a nice treat.  Now I probably won't have to buy either until the end of the month.  When I got to school on Monday, I found the conference table covered with leftover concessions items, including a whole box of bananas.  The items were available to anyone for a donation of their choice, so I took a whole bag of bananas and a few other snack/breakfast items for the week for a small donation that fit our budget.  The bananas were mostly frozen for later use in bread and muffins.  Of course we used our reusable shopping bags, which we got a five cent credit for at one store.

Made a crockpot of cabbage, tomato, and ground beef soup.  I usually make this with ground sausage, but all we had was the beef.  It was a great way to stretch a half pound of meat, and we love cabbage in soup.  We supplement the protein by adding beans, this time pintos.  But usually, I prefer red kidney beans.  (I'm listing the "recipe" below.)  This lasted us for lunches all week, and dinner on Tuesday night.  By cooking it in the crockpot, it means we used a fraction of the energy of the stove top.

Made enchiladas with more pintos, turkey from the freezer, half of a sale pepper, onion, and cheese and flour tortillas.  (Most of these were bought on sale or with a coupon.)  I used store bought enchilada sauce.  This made enough for dinners and lunches to fill out the week.

Benny made a loaf of whole wheat bread in the bread machine.  This was great with soup and for toast for breakfasts.  We also made muffins early in the week using raspberries we had in the freezer from the summer, which we picked for free from a friend.

We were a one car family this week, since the Jetta was in the shop again, and found it really worked for us, especially since I carpool to work  We're slowly thinking that perhaps we could do this full time.  We'll continue to evaluate and see.

We didn't eat out, buy anything extra, or splurge (aside from my cereal) this week.  We went ahead and scheduled all our bills for the rest of the month, so they're all set to be paid.

Made a birthday card instead of buying one.  Made a loaf of banana bread as a gift for a friend.  Found a coupon code for a photo book for a birthday gift, so it's much less expensive than we originally thought, but still a very thoughtful gift.

Found the code for our tablet and realized that we still have a week before the warranty runs out.  This is great since the touch screen junked out earlier this week.  Benny's taking care of the details; we're hoping to get a replacement.

We sold about $70 worth of stuff on eBay, so we're that much closer to cleaning out and having our CSA money. Yay!

What about you?  What were your frugal accomplishments this week?  How are you living and saving green?

Cabbage, Sausage, and Tomato Soup:

1/2 head cabbage, chopped into about 1 inch pieces
1/2 lb ground sausage or beef, browned
1 small onion, chopped
1 24 oz can diced tomatoes
1 15 oz can kidney beans or 2 c homemade
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic salt or minced garlic
generous tsp of ground pepper
fennel seeds if not using sausage

Combine all ingredients except beans in crockpot.  Cook on low for 8 hours.  Add beans about 4 hours into cooking time.  Serve with homemade bread or saltine crackers.

A New Washer on a Shoestring Budget

So for the longest time we've had a hand-me-down washer from Benny's sister from her college days. It was totally serviceable, but we knew with the baby coming and using cloth diapers, we would want something that had a higher capacity and was more energy efficient. (We had planned to sell our old washer to a friend, but ended up donating it to the ReStore instead, so we'll get a tax credit.) Since we hang dry most of our laundry, the dryer we had was totally worth keeping and we didn't feel the need to upgrade.

Of course, Benny broke out his Mr. Consumer Reports mode and we narrowed down our choices to this lovely model by Samsung. We chose this one for a variety of reasons, but primarily because it was a top loader (something that was necessary for the configuration of our laundry area) and because it had excellent energy and water efficiency. Even with this being the washer we wanted, we knew the original purchase price was out of our budget, so we were hoping to find a sale.

We went to Lowe's to purchase our washer because we had been able to cash in some credit card points for Lowe's gift card money, about $500. We also had some birthday and anniversary gift cards stashed away that we put towards the purchase, as well as a Lowe's coupon we found online. We figured these combined with a sale would allow us to purchase the washer for maybe $100 out of pocket. The day we went to Lowe's to check out the washer and talk with the sales clerk was the week before Labor Day, when we knew some sales would be going on. When we talked with the sales guy and explained what model we were looking at and asked if he'd had any experience with them, he said the same thing we'd read online, "They're great machines. A few people think they don't use enough water, but generally this means they aren't loading the machine according to the manufacturer's instructions." Then, he said, "Hold on a sec..." as he walked over to the scratch and dent section. At that moment, there was a gleam in both of our eyes; we knew we were on to something!

And boy, were we ever! It turned out that they had two of the exact model we wanted in the returns section for the exact reason he had mentioned. The prices were incredibly reduced, even from the Labor Day sale price, and the previous customers had only had the machines a week before returning them. So, when the sales guy said we could have the washer for $700, we took him up on it. This meant that we were able to use our gift cards (but not our coupon, which we saved for another purchase) and credit card rewards to get our washer for free!

Having had our washer for a few months now, we can say with all confidence that we love it! It has a much higher capacity than our old one and allows us to do fewer loads of laundry during the week, and the spin cycle on it is incredible. Our laundry now dries in about half the time it used to when we hang it. The bonus: it has a glass lid so you can watch the whole thing while it runs, and it sings to you at the end of the cycle! We were like little kids watching cartoons the first time we ran a load of clothes through.

So, that's how we got our washer for free. Have you found any major deals in the scratch and dent section, or scored an appliance for free? We'd love to hear about it!

Saving on Maternity and Baby Clothes

I resisted maternity clothes for as long as I comfortably could. Why? They're so darn expensive! (Also, I think I was in denial for a while that I might gain 25+ pounds with this pregnancy.) Fortunately, I found a few ways to get around the maternity clothing market prices.

First, I decided early on that I could make do with a few of my regular draw string skirts and cardigans, if I only had camisoles or t-shirts to wear under them. This has been a great strategy so far and wearing layers means I can stay comfortable throughout the day at work or at home on the weekends.

I bought a few things on the clearance racks at the Gap Outlet that were just one size larger than I might normally buy, or were cut so that they could work as early maternity wear. I purchased these with gift card money, so they were not out of pocket expenses. Then, I found the local semi-annual children's consignment sale where they also sell maternity clothes. Here I picked up a few items that I thought could be staples throughout the year: brown pants (that of course needed to be hemmed), a grey dress shirt that doesn't need ironing, and a white collared sleeveless shirt I can wear alone or under a jacket/cardigan. I made it my mantra to try to purchase the fewest items possible and have them be the most versatile.

Then, my cousin and college roommate came through big time. My cousin sent me a few nursing camisoles that have been great for early maternity wear and worked well under cardigans, etc. for school. My college roommate brought me three bags full of maternity clothes, some from her sister who is just about my size. Her sister is an optometrist, so there were lots of nice professional clothes in those bags that worked well for teaching and are really comfortable. There were also several nicer t-shirts that I could wear under my regular cardigans and jackets (if I wear them open, of course), so these rounded out my wardrobe.

Occasionally, I'll have a friend bring me some random thing they found, which has also been nice. For instance, I have a wonderful friend who works at the local women's shelter and she brought me some maternity clothes that were donated to them (they don't take clothing donations; it's just too much for them to have to weed through, so they always take them to GoodWill anyway). In that bag was a wonderful blue cardigan I can wear, and a super cute plum colored dress that has become Benny's favorite "hot mama" dress when I wear it with boots.

Do I still look longingly at some of my favorite outfits I can no longer wear right now (like my absolute favorite camel colored cable knit sweater)? Of course. Is it fun to pull out something new from those bags or hangers and feel good about how I look for the day? Absolutely. Do I love that I've spent less than $20 on maternity clothes? Totally, because it means that it frees up our budget to do more for the baby.

But we haven't had to spend anything on baby clothes, thanks to the generosity of several friends. My college roommate also brought me tons of clothes from her son (they don't plan to have more kids, and it seems her sister just keeps having girls) and has promised more to come when we're ready. Another fabulous friend has two boys who are four and two. She's brought me tubs and tubs full of clothes. These have been really fun to go through because I remember her boys wearing many of the outfits. Because her boys were born in November and May, we've got most of the seasons and sizes covered, so it looks like we'll be able to survive on hand-me-down clothes for this little one for quite a while. Which, of course, allows us to both live green and save green.

I'm sure that people won't be able to resist some cute little thing they see in a store for this boy to wear. But we really hope that by introducing him to the idea of second hand clothing from birth, and knowing that we do the same, he won't feel out of place as he gets older and will recognize that we're able to do more for others when we spend less on clothes.

How have you saved on maternity or baby clothes? Or have you pinched other areas of your wallet in order to buy what you love? Here's to living green and saving green on the family wardrobe!

Updates and Apologies

Wow, so it's been ridiculously too long since my last post... six months?! Crazy! Not that it's an excuse, but we've had a lot going on here. So, a few quick updates:

1. We're expecting a baby boy! So, I'm just now feeling up to doing all my normal stuff now that I'm over the makes-you-feel-gross-all-day nausea (but nothing much worse than that) and the few weeks accompanied by hormone induced migraines. Now, I'm just exhausted after every day at work.

2. We hosted a wonderful Duke Divinity School intern over the summer who has become a fabulous addition to our family. He loved Lavender from the start, even if she didn't feel the same way, and he was such a blessing to us and our church family. He shared our love of cooking and good food, which was a huge plus, and helped cook meals whenever he was free. We had the pleasure of hosting his family from Washington state last week and discovered, not surprisingly, that they are just as wonderful as he is.

3. Mom's been busy with building her house and making all the decisions that go along with that, and now she's in the home stretch. So, we've been trying to be good sounding boards without putting in too much of our opinion. And of course, Benny has been the resident paint expert in that process.

So, the next several posts you read will probably have more to do with getting things ready for this wonderful baby boy and knocking things off our to-do list before he arrives on the scene. We've already tackled several projects, which I'll probably highlight in later posts, but here's the list of things we've already managed to accomplish:

1. Purchase a new washing machine with a budget goal of $800 (We managed to do it for free with gift cards--more on that in a later post)
2. Purchase and install a new storm door on the side door with a budget goal of $200 (We did this for about $70 after gift cards and coupons)
3. Purchase a new rug for the kitchen/living room to help ground the dining area a bit more with a budget goal of $80 (We bought this at the Capel sale for $99, and ended up moving the living room rug to the dining area)
4. Mosaic the dresser top of the ReStore dresser we applied the paintable wallpaper to earlier in the year for the nursery
5. Price out the cost of built-ins for the upstairs landing and have those built and installed or DIY (we opted to hire a contractor and he's in the process of doing those now)
6 Purchase and install under the cabinet lighting in the kitchen (we purchased the lights from Daily Steals, a deal website that Benny subscribes to, for much less than we saw them at Lowe's for and have been really happy with them)

Here's the list of things left to accomplish:
1. Paint kitchen chairs
2. Paint bed frames for nursery
3. Finish the stone patio we started this summer and got side tracked on
4. Purchase and install blinds on the other window in the nursery
5. Purchase and install programmable thermostats for the house (we'll probably purchase these during Energy Star weekend or from Costco)
6. Paint the upstairs closet doors that still have the factory primer on them
7. Rewire and paint wall lamps for the nursery (this should happen this week if the repair kits we ordered come in time)
8. Sell the desk that's currently in the nursery to help pay for the updates to the nursery (hopefully we can do this through word of mouth or maybe a Craigslist ad) and make room for the crib
9. Make some wall art for the nursery and figure out where to hang the art that is currently in the room (it's street art from my trip to Italy in college, so we want to keep them up somewhere)
10. Make a duvet cover that's jungle themed for the comforter that's currently on the twin bed in the nursery
11. Would be nice if the budget allows to reupholster the barrel-backed chair that we got from my grandmother's for the nursery. It will make a great nursing chair, though it's not a rocker.

Of course there's all the little stuff to do like the deep cleaning I'd like to accomplish (mopping, cleaning trim and windows, cleaning the appliances, etc.) but we'll get to that hopefully. We have some friends who have offered to help out with that over the holiday break or to come after the baby arrives to help with those projects, so at some point these will be done.

So, what about you? Are you in fall baking mode or enjoying the cooler weather to get some things done outside? I'd love to hear from you!

New Life for a Little Old Lady

So, Monday was a snow day for us (a rarity this winter) and we made the most of it. Benny was off too, so we decided to tackle two of our projects that have been in the basement for waaay too long.

The mission: give new life to two old dressers desperately in need of some love. See Exhibit A.

The players: Benny, myself, and a ReStore dresser we moved into the basement when we built the house and a little dresser that was my great, great aunt's (it's got her signature on the back) and was mine as a kid.

The first is the little lady that was mine as a kid. It's solid construction, though the runners of the drawers needed a little paraffin (we had none so resorted to bar soap) to help them slide better. Originally, it had painted wooden knobs that had a few coats of paint that had seen better days, so I knew these would go. It also needed some serious sanding since the backs of the drawer fronts had been painted and had adhered to the dresser front after years of storage in my mom's attic. And, of course, it needed to be primed and painted. It's got this cute little apron front detail and is a nice small scale, perfect for additional linen storage in our kitchen. (It seems you can never have enough storage in the kitchen.)

I should mention here that I'd been drooling over this cool paintable textured wall paper that they now carry at Boone Paint and Interiors where Benny works. Since we're not the wallpaper on our walls type of people (too many horrible experiences removing the stuff after people didn't prep the walls properly), I kept trying to come up with a way to use the stuff. These projects ended up being the perfect fit, since they were pretty plain pieces without any ornate detailing on the drawer fronts or anything. (Plus, the ReStore dresser had a horrible finish that had been poorly scraped off leaving the sides very distressed, and not in a pretty-I-meant-to-make-it-look-like-that way.) So, Benny brought home the book and I chose a modern circle pattern that was the right scale for the pieces.

So, on Monday, we took these babies up two flights of stairs to the office to paint them, after they'd been prepped and primed earlier in the basement. They both got wallpaper pasted to the sides, which we measured and carefully cut with a razor blade. The wallpaper paste ended up being free from a painter Benny knows (it's great to have him work in this business sometimes). The painter recommended that we thin down the paste with some water and mix it with a kitchen whisk, which was perfect. (We did spend all of 94 cents for a new whisk so that we didn't risk mucking up our good one for baking.) We rolled it on with a disposable foam roller, so that made it really easy. Then we carefully smoothed down the paper and pressed out any air bubbles. This part was a little tricky with the textured paper to see all the bubbles, but once we got the hang of it, it was pretty quick work.

After pasting the paper and letting it set for a while (we went downstairs for a lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches... yummy, one of my favs that Benny makes), we painted each one with paint we had leftover from other projects. The little one got white Aura (this is Benjamin Moore's low VOC stuff and it covers great... one coat!) trim paint and the taller ReStore one got some paint we'd color matched to go with the aged white paint on the furniture in the guest room. This way, if we ever need another dresser in the guest room, it will be the same color and we won't have to paint it again. The drawer fronts on the little lady for the kitchen got painted out in leftover blue Aura paint from our living room to help tie the two spaces together a bit more. We applied the paint using the red feather mini rollers left over from another project, and since we didn't have any roller tray liners, we used plastic grocery sacks (which somehow inexplicably make their way into our kitchen, even though we use reusable totes whenever possible--even to the extent that if we forget them and leave them in the car, we'll go out of the grocery store with an armload of produce and cereal and the cashiers think we're nuts).

Once we finished with all the painting, we came downstairs and ordered the hardware for the dressers from . We searched out an online coupon code for the site and found one that would work for our order and gave us 5% off. (There were better ones, but we didn't have a big enough order.) One trick with this site is to order all your hardware from one manufacturer to save on shipping, otherwise it's an additional cost per manufacturer. We ended up paying about $60 for the hardware (10 knobs, 4-3" handles/pulls, 3-5" handles/pulls), which was above my $50 goal for the hardware for both, but still pretty good when you compare to retail prices. The hardware should arrive tomorrow and I'm so stinking excited! I can't wait to put the jewelry on my little lady in the kitchen! (I'll put a new pic up when I get the hardware on.)

Last night, I lined the drawers of the new kitchen linen chest (little lady sounds so much sweeter) with some wallpaper we found at my grandmother's house that was what used to be in her kitchen. I think it's so neat that this piece has so much family history and is getting used again after a lot time in storage. It's such a nice addition to our kitchen and really helps to clear out some of the areas that were just too full. I love that I can now store all our cloth napkins right in the kitchen, along with our dish towels, place mats, and table runners. (These used to take up a good portion of the bottom shelf in our bedroom closet... we so did not plan enough storage in this house.)

The ReStore dresser is now kind of in limbo in the office waiting for us to finish up some more cleaning out and finish some other projects before there's space for it. It's going to look great in the office and will provide some much needed storage in there for our winter items (scarves seem to multiply around here with me, and hats) and office supplies.

So, here's the estimated total, for those of you wanting to know:

"little lady" kitchen cabinet: free (gratis as Benny would say)

ReStore diamond in the rough: $10-15 (I can't quite remember, I bought it like 4 years ago)

textured paintable wall paper: $15 per roll (we only needed one)

primer/paint: free (leftover from other projects)

wallpaper paste: free (gifted by painter)

whisk to mix wallpaper paste: 94 cents

sponge rollers: $2.50

cabinet hardware: $60 (including shipping)

Total: $93.44 for two dressers

So, what do you think? Have you been up to any painting projects lately? How have you saved a buck (or saved something from the landfill) and still added storage to your home? I'd love to hear from you!

** I'll be back with pics later. I just couldn't wait to post this! :)

Foraging for Food

According to Dictionary.com, foraging is the acquisition of food by hunting, fishing, or the gathering of plant matter. I've continued to come across this as a method of food sourcing in many sustainable living guides, including some of my favorites such as Organic Gardening magazine and The Backyard Homestead. But honestly, it seemed like too much work... I mean, really, with a full time job, who has time to go out and hunt this stuff up?

Until I realized that I already do this in some ways. Picking summer blackberries along our road is technically foraging; I am acquiring food by gathering it from a wild source, in this case an overabundance of blackberry canes. I gather apples from our school yard and plan to go with a friend who knows most of the apple trees along public sidewalks in our area (she propogates apple trees by taking cuttings, so she makes it her business to know where they are in town). I use these apples for applesauce, canning pie filling, and making apple butter. When we hike, I love looking for wild berry patches (I am always careful to take my field guide so I know what I'm eating is what I think I'm eating).

Some foraging guides mention common weeds as edibles, such as dandelion greens (which I love for their spicy flavor in salads) and even our dreaded pokeweed for cooking greens (though I hear it stinks to high heaven when cooked, which has kept me from trying it thus far). Lamb's quarters are also edible greens, and the wild daylilies apparently make fabulous little fried fritters when battered like squash blossoms. I know that wild mushrooms and morels are another source of foraging fodder, but am a little too hesitant to try them on my own. I'd love to find someone local who knows what to look for who could show me how to ID these things.

We're also considering having a neighbor or friend get a deer for us this fall so that we have this source of low fat, high protein meat this winter and next spring. We live in an area where processing fees are minimal, making this meat only about $1 per pound, well below supermarket and farmer's market prices. In other areas of the country, it's easy to acquire wild protein sources through fishing or hunting other game.

One of the best things about foraging is that it's a free source of organically grown food (which helps us stick to our food budget and our ever increasing commitment to eat locally and organically). For me, it's also a great time to enjoy nature and spend some quiet time alone, or pleasurable time with friends or family. It also allows us to enjoy the flavors of fresh produce in the off season. By freezing wild blackberries, strawberries(these are the tiny ones that most people rip out of their yards--I try to transplant them when I dig them up and have managed to make my own little strawberry patch for free!), and grapes, we can have them on our cereal in the morning or in smoothies or desserts (they're fabulous over homemade icecream!). Another added benefit is that if I have an excess, I can these items (jams, jellies, preserves, sauces, etc.) and donate them to our local food pantry. Some food pantries will take fresh donations, so you might check your location to see what they prefer.

If you're interested in foraging, Organic Gardening magazine (Feb/March 2011 issue) has a great article and source list on the subject.

What about you? Do you forage for things in your area? What's your favorite "wild" food? Maybe it's salmon berries in Alaska or clams in Maine (mmm, clams... wish we were closer to the coast so I could do some seafood foraging!) I'd love to hear from you!

Unexpected projects and blessings

Summer is a time for outdoor projects, at least around our house. We're still very much in the settling in phase with regards to landscaping. Our budget only allows for one major project a year, and hardscaping (patios, retaining walls,etc.) must be done before my favorite part of installing plants can begin. This means that I've had about three years to dream and plan for some spaces, while watching the natural vegetation (i.e. weeds) take over certain spots.

Last summer, the major project was buildng two retaining walls out front to make a more usable terraced space for gardening and perhaps a fire pit/chimena. This summer's project was a large patio under the deck out front, using concrete pavers and gravel inbetween to blend with the gravel driveway that it will intersect with. Then, we were unexpectedly blessed with some gifted flagstone, but not enough to do the entire patio area. We were considering purchasing more to fill in the entire area, but then along came a few storms...

We lost several shingles in these storms, called a roofer recommended by a trusted friend, and ended up being told we needed to replace the roof as we would lose more shingles in the next big storm. Consequently, this has put the patio project on hold, since we haven't heard back from our insurance company about what they see as reasonable. So, we're in a holding pattern, and now debating whether we go with a metal roof or asphalt shingles again. (Metal would be more environmentally friendly and more wind-resistant and cheaper in the long run, but the asphalt shingles would be cheaper now.) Since we'll have to have the roof redone, we're also considering getting estimates on covering the front deck in the process. We use the deck much less than we'd like in the summer because our house is southern facing (a huge plus in the winter with snow melt, but bakes in the summer). All this is totally unexpected, but we think we have enough in the house budget to make it happen. If we end up renting a room upstairs in the fall, then that additional income would help to make this project more affordable.

So, that blessing of gifted flagstone? We're planning to construct a smaller patio now behind the kitchen. We'll use the same materials, but it'll cost significantly less since we'll need much smaller amounts of gravel and sand. It will be a dry-laid patio, to allow for drainage, and I'll plant camomille and creeping jenny begween the stones to help the patio blend more with the surrounding gardens. Maybe next summer's project will be the patio under the deck.

In the meantime, we'll do what we can to reduce our expenses and "put our heads down" to make the roofing thing happen. I'd love to see the front deck covered, but we'll just have to see about the cost there. Do you have thoughts on a metal roof, or experience with one?

What about you? What summer projects do you have planned? Has an unexpected expense become a blessing in disguise for you? I'd love to hear from you! (And I promise to post more frequently this summer!)

Pass-along plants and perennials

By now, you know that I don't like to spend money on something I can get for free, or close to it. This is one of the reasons I have so many "pass-along" plants in my garden. I also love finding deals on the clearance rack at Lowe's and Southern States, especially when they're perennials.

Since this week is my spring break, I've been spending some much overdue time in the flower gardens... weeding, planning, dreaming, planting, and moving things around to fit my vision for this year. I acquired some pass-along plants from a few co-workers who know my passion for gardening (I also teach a gardening exploratory course to my middle school students, so we're constantly acquiring new plants people donate.) and through some donations of plants we couldn't use at school (we have mostly sun at school, so shade loving plants don't do well... so I bring them home to live behind the house). I've added some varigated Solomon's seal, more pulmonaria, helliobores, and will add some more hosta tomorrow. I'm working on splitting some of our larger hosta to fill in some areas along the steep bank behind the house (hostas are a love of mine in the landscape... they're so easy to grow and propogate and they'll grow in almost any situation). My phlox and lady's mantle began to self-sew last year, so there are baby plants popping up all over the garden, which is a nice surprise and a great way to fill in the blank spaces. Now that some of our gardens have been in existance for three years, it means that I now have the joy of sharing some pass-along plants with friends, so they'll benefit from some phlox, pachysandra, lemon balm, and lady's mantle.

Of course, with all this spring gardening, this required the obligatory visit to Lowe's. I went with the plan of scoring some Easter lilies on sale after Easter (they'll come back year after year, so don't toss it after the blooms fade if someone gave you one... plant it!). But, alas, there were no Easter lilies to be found... but there were a TON of spring perennials on the clearance rack for, wait for it, 50 cents a piece! They weren't dinky little guys either, one and two-gallon plants. All they needed was a little water, some deadheading, and they were perfect for my gardens. I grabbed five bachelor's button plants and some other things I don't remember the name of, but for under five dollars, I walked out of the garden center with eight perennials that will add color and texture to my gardens year after year. It doesn't take much to make this girl happy... a trip to Lowe's and five dollars well spent!

How's your garden growing this year? Have you had the joy of sharing plants with others, or started your garden with pass-along plants friends gave you? Any good deals you've found at local garden centers? I'd love to hear how you're living and saving green this spring!

Couponing Deals at HT and a dent in the freezer

This past week, we had some fabulous grocery shopping deals at Harris Teeter, thanks to Super Doubles (where they double coupons up to $1.98 value, meaning that your $1.50 coupon now gets you $3 off). We ended up going twice, since the HT coupon policy states that you can only double 20 coupons per day (24 hour period).

Some of the deals we scored were $0.13 cartons of yogurt, $0.80 for a dozen eggs, free refrigerated cinnamon rolls, and $1.14 bags of Craisin trail mix. We were also able to stock up on some free rice and cheap name brand flour for the baking season ahead. All in all, I think this week's grocery savings were about 65% off the retail price... not too shabby!

Later this week, I found a $4 coupon for Wholly Guacamole, which meant that it was free. So, we made a run to HT today while we were doing our other errands (which included a free drink and sandwich at Chick-Fil-A, thanks to coupons) to pick that up. Benny found a peelie coupon on one of the Wholly products, but the store didn't have the free item on the coupon in stock, so we just got the guacamole. It will be tasty with the black beans, cheese, and sour cream we already have to load into a tortilla.

This week, we also managed to whittle down some of the freezer stash. We cooked some chicken in the crock pot for quick casseroles and stock, and then made some turkey soup with leftover turkey pieces we had saved in the freezer. It came together quickly with the free rice we had, the seasoning package from the rice, and some chopped celery, onion, and carrot. Tonight, we're going to make some homemade mac and cheese with broccoli stirred in, so that will free up a little more freezer space.

Recently, I found this post on The Frugal Find about couponing. It's a very well done video tutorial and has challenged me to tackle the drug store couponing game once again. I hope you find it helpful as well.

Did anyone else have a fabulous run with HT super doubles? I'd love to hear about it!

Decorating Mini-Project

We've been slowly working on getting our master bathroom just the way we want it. There's this large shelf/deck around the garden tub that has been a bear to figure out what to do with, especially since we're realizing that the tub has become a large built-in hamper, rather than a tub. (We realized that we designed the bathroom for resale, not for us... we're not bath people. Dumb decision in retrospect since we see ourselves being here for the long haul.)

When we were cleaning out my grandmother's house, we found two cool white woven looking ceramic planters. So, we brought them home, cleaned them up, and they've found a nice home there behind the tub on the deck/shelf thing. They suit our taste and fill the space nicely, but there was still something missing... they needed some height and movement. Enter road trip...

On our recent trip to Charlotte to visit friends, we managed to squeeze in a visit to Ikea (our first ever... amazing). We were scoping out several things, but we stumbled upon these super cool twiggy things that suit our needs perfectly. And for $5 for a bundle, we picked up two bunches and wiggled them into the Jetta for the road trip home.

This weekend, we went to Michael's here (yes, there's one in the High Country now!), where I used a gift card to purchase some floral oasis/foam to stuff in the bottom of the planters to anchor the twigs. Putting all this together will be one of the projects this week.

But now, the wall is behind these cool things is looking a bit bland... so I hopped over to one of my favorite blogs, YHL, to find this inspiring feature. We love the collage of empty frames over the master bed and think this will be a cinch for us with some Goodwill frames (and those we've found in our basement cleanout) and some white spray paint. I think it's just the kind of textural interest we need, without detracting from our other art that's going to go in the space.

So, what're your new decorating projects? Do you have any tips for laying out the collage thing on the wall (because it seems a bit daunting to me... though I think some large newsprint and outlining the frames might be the answer)? I'd love to hear from you!

Cool Faucet Giveaway

Over at the DIY Showoff, a Delta faucet is being given away! Check out the link here for more info, or the link in the blog roll. So, whether you're remodeling, adding an addition, or building totally from scratch, check out the Delta website and the giveaway.

Fabulous Freebies

Here are a few freebie tips and sites I found this week that you might be interested in. Some are events while others are products.

1. Free Museum Day has fabulous offerings all over the country on September 25. In Charlotte, there's the Mint Museum and the History Museum, both of which sound cool to me.

2. The North Carolina Science Festival is happening September 11-26 and has some amazing events all over the state. Click on the date on the calendar you're interested in to find out what's available in your area. In the high country, there are several stargazing/lunar events at the university observatory. Some events have a cost, which is minimal, and others are free.

3. A free issue of Fresh Home, which looks like a fabulous decorating magazine.

4. Walmart.com always has free samples and they change almost weekly. We've found this is a great way to sample new products, as well as to get products to donate to the local food pantry (they also take toiletry items, so toothpaste and other samples are appreciated there) if we're not going to use the item. We have a "dummy" email account, so we don't find our inbox junked up.

5. If you're into gardening the way I am, the Home Depot Garden Club is a great way to find coupons and tips. Their emails are useful and I even find ideas that I can use with my students. The coupons are printables, and you can usually print more than one, so you can stock up on fall bulbs or mums now. (This is probably one you want to see in your regular email.)

I'd love to hear from you if you've found more fabulous freebies this week! Don't forget to check the blog roll, because several of those offer weekly give-aways too.