I’ve been meaning for awhile to share a really simple way to make fire-starters for those of you who have a wood stove or fireplace. FRUGAL FIRE-STARTERS Materials: Egg cartons, the grey recycled-cardboard kind, NOT the foamy plastic kind Dryer lint, enough to fill the number of egg cartons you are using An old...
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The other day I had fun making a bunch of small bright bags using scrap fabric. As it gets closer to Christmas, I’ll be watching for good prices on remnants of Christmas fabric, but this time around I used fabric that I already had. I’ve made these bags before using drawstrings, but decided to...
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I have a small lamp on my bedside table. One day it fell on the floor, causing the lamp shade to rip away from the ring at the top edge where it was attached to the lamp. I thought about buying a new shade. But the other day when buying Modge Podge and pretty...
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Since some of you were curious, here are the colors I picked for my kids’ bathroom paint. The paint brand is Dutch Boy. My shower curtain, which I got at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, was the inspiration for the dots I did on the wall. Here’s how I did them. I rummaged in my...
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Finally I have pictures of the new paint in the bathroom for you!   I’ve discovered it is ridiculously hard to take pictures in a bathroom.  I’ve included a couple ‘before’ pictures.  The paint was just white, original to the house, which was built in 1993.   I guess we got our money’s worth out of...
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I spent 10 hours today painting my bathroom (actually: removing wallpaper, washing walls, removing rods, taping edges, and THEN painting) and have not one coherent thought left, but hopefully I’ll have pictures of the new look to show you tomorrow. Fun!
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Half way through the month– hooray!  I did end up going to the store today, and got most of the odds and ends I mentioned yesterday.  I spent $14, so that brings my total for the month to $202. Am feeling more optimistic about making it to the end of the month under budget...
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I’m not about to claim that I am READY for school to start, but I did at least get a start on pre-school organizing. All last year, the laundry room counter was the dumping grounds for kids’ books at the end of each school day.  Books were supposed to be stacked neatly, but of...
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I’ve got all sorts of interesting posts planned in next week or so including: a giveaway that will seriously knock your socks off that post I promised you about why we homeschool ideas for saving money at the store a review of a new book that was hugely encouraging to me a review of...
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We leave for Korea on Tuesday. That means I have exactly four days to pull everything together. Major tasks: –Packing, obviously. I have a large heap of stuff in the corner of my bedroom that I think would be easier to transport if I managed to get it into suitcases. Preferably zipped. Big job...
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