Have you considered...

...washing your clothing less often? As in, "I only wore these jeans for a few hours, they don't smell, they aren't visibly dirty....I'll just hang them back up"?

I see this as a frugal practice for two reasons:

1) Less wear & tear on the clothing. For example, I wash each piece of my son's clothing practically every time he wears it. (It is usually dirty as he is a messy eater! Also, he is in the crawling stage, so his clothing has been all over the floor.) But his clothing just LOOKS WORN very fast. I attribute that to the fact that I wash it quite often. I don't want my clothes to wear out that fast! Kids grow quickly; they need new clothes often.

2) Less water, laundry detergent, and energy costs.

Plus, it saves time! Enough said! Hang up your not visibly dirty clothes and don't feel guilty about it!

Use the Library

Why buy books? Instead, keep a list of what you want to read, and go to your local library's online site. Request the books. Wait a week or two (sometimes more). They'll email you when they come in. Go pick them up. Read them. Return them within 3 weeks or renew them. Completely FREE!

Why buy magazines? My library allows magazines to be borrowed! Not every issue is available, but there's a pretty good selection. The back issues are always available. When I was working, I liked to go to the library during lunch and just read the magazines without borrowing them. It was relaxing.

We never buy/rent DVD's...we just request what we want from the library.

You can even make purchasing suggestions for a library if they don't have the book/DVD you want within the library system!

Guess who funds libraries. Taxpayers! May as well get your money's worth from your library!

The Quest for the Very Best Mac and Cheese

I may have found it. It is spicy! Better than bland! It uses no butter!

This kind is also good for those who don't like spicy. It also uses no butter. It does call for nonfat dry milk, which you mix up in the white sauce with milk. I think that makes it creamier.

Things I Just Don't Buy Anymore...

1. Garbage pail liners
-save your grocery bags from the store to use

2. Jewelry
-I like making my own

3. Scarves
-again, easy and fun to make!

4. Swiffer cloths
-I bought some fleece from the fabric store and cut it to fit the bottom of the Swiffer broom. $4/yard

5. Single-serving yogurt
-we have small plastic containers in to which we partition plain yogurt from a large tub. $2.50 for 8 servings as opposed to $0.50-0.60/single serving

6. Rubber bands
-save the ones that hold together your fresh broccoli.

7. Windex
-I use white vinegar and a spray bottle.

8. Sponges
-I hear they hold tons of bacteria. I use rags instead and launder them.

Have any other ideas?

Finishing the Unfinishable Project 4--Striped Bag

This wasn't so hard to finish. What happened is that I made it last year (using this tutorial) right before we had our little boy...and I tried to buy plastic handles for it. Well, they were too small and I couldn't attach them the way I had envisioned.

Also, plastic handles can't be slung over one's shoulder while juggling a baby/toddler, diaper bag, and possibly one of the baby's shoes. So I got some scraps and sewed a ribbon down the middle of each one (to keep the handles from stretching), sewed up the handles, turned them, and installed them! Easy. I like how it turned out!

I'm glad I saved $5-6 by not buying handles from the store!