Aug
20
2008
When you recycle things, you are being frugal and eco friendly. How many free trial cd’s do you get in the mail each year? I bet a lot. I know I get them AOL Cd’s, dial up offers and many more. Plus you will have a time where your favorite Cd’s no longer work because they are scratched and old. So what can you do with these things?
Teens Room
How many of you have teen girls, who love shiny things? If you can collect enough of these, maybe by saving yours, asking friends and family to help out, you can decorate your teen’s room. Once you have them all collected, get your favorite polish out and polish the shiny sides. Using your favorite method for hanging things, rather it be glue, sticky putty or something else. Start hanging the Cd’s on the wall at the top as you would a border. Have the edge touch the ceiling and the corner for your first one. The second one should touch the ceiling and then touch the first cd you hung. When the sun hits these, you won’t believe the colors it will pull off. Your teen will love it.
Coasters
If you’re having a fun party this year, then these are perfect. You can go to your local supply store and buy cheap piece of felt or cork boards. If you use cork boards, make sure you use the paper thin ones. Glue them to the back, where the label is. Shiny side is where the drink would normally sit. You can get the backing for really cheap, so you wouldn’t be paying much at all for party coasters.
Aug
04
2008
Making your own wrapping paper and be very frugal. I know some people are thinking the old style comic strips that people used to make their own wrapping paper. You can use this, or you can get even more creative, while saving money for your budget. You can make the wrapping paper for any type of holidays. All you need is some items from around the house and a little creativity.
The next time you go grocery shopping, ask them to place some of your items in a brown bag, instead of plastic bags. Brown paper bags can become very useful around your house, specially when making your own wrapping paper. Simply cut the bag open and start decorating. Use your imagination here. You can color in a theme, paint, stamps, use things around the house that you don’t need. Maybe you are giving someone a birthday present who enjoys sewing? Take some of your spare buttons, because we all have them laying around and glue them onto the paper for decoration. Use the buttons to make birthday balloons with some spare thread you have laying around the house. Let your mind create something beautiful and see if you can do all this, without buying anything special. Use only items around your home.
Do you have kids? Maybe they are heading to a birthday party this year? Or maybe they just want to wrap their own present for a family member. I can tell all you dad’s out there, there isn’t one mother alive that would not love home made wrapping paper done by their children. So here is what we do. Get a big sheet of paper, one that is long enough and wide enough to wrap the present up. Then I give my children some safety scissors and glue along with a pile of magazines that we always have around the house. Maybe some colored pencils as well. Let the kids create sort of a college on the paper. They can cut out all of their favorite things, or maybe create a theme. My daughter did this for her grandmother once. Her Grandma was obsessed with outside. So we created an entire outside scene. We cut out flowers, grass, trees, birds, sun, clouds and then she also drew a few things. I honestly think her grandma loved this more then the present inside.
These were just a few examples. If you let your creative side go, you can think of so many more great ideas. Making things at home, out of things around the house, is a great way to be frugal.
