Frugal Friday and Unfinished Projects - #3 and #4



Catherine Pulsifer ~

"Being frugal does not mean being cheap! It means being economical and avoiding waste."

Lately, I've been working hard on avoiding waste.  Nothing frustrates me more than having to throw away food because it spoiled.  Most times that happens because I get lazy and we end up ordering in or eating out.  So I've been working at making meals and cutting our spending in that way.

I've also been trying to make do with what I have.  Rather than run to the store every time I don't have an ingredient, I've been working around that.  That's how I ended up with the wacky lemon cake I pictured on the blog yesterday.  I was out of eggs so I altered my wacky chocolate cake recipe to make the lemon one.

For Christmas, Nathan bought us a Kuerig coffee maker.  While I appreciate his heart, I'm not a big fan of them.  The main reason is the cost of the little k-cups are outrageous and secondly, they fill up the landfills.  However, someone told me that they make a reusable k-cup for the Keurig.  I found one for less than $5.  You just add the coffee you want, brew and wash it out.  Far less expense and waste.

One of the reasons I'm doing all those unfinished sewing projects is because in the past I wouldn't finish them and then the fabric ended up going to waste.  It would sit for years and eventually fade and I would end up tossing it.

I've been purging my house of things I never use.  There is a thrift store near here that uses the money they earn to help those in need.  So I've been going through and filling up boxes and bags and taking the items there.  Why keep something I haven't used?  We have a small house and it's just taking up space.

I love not having waste and while I've basically always been that way, it's easy to let bad habits creep back in.  So I'm refocusing and getting back on track.

Now the two unfinished projects I completed this week.

One of the items I made this year for Christmas were Santa Sacks.  They are basically reusable gift bags.  Each came with an attached ribbon so you don't lose it and a complimentary gift card.  I was hoping they would sell and while I did sell a few, it wasn't quite the success story I hoped. 

I had a few cut out and sitting on my sewing table that were never finished so I completed these few.  I've had this fabric for about 5 years so it was nice to find use for it this year.


I also had three stockings cut out that I never completed, 2 with Dr. Who fabric and one Christmasy.  I finished those up yesterday.



That is the last of my Christmas sewing from this year.  I'm so glad that's done.  It's been really hard to muster the desire to sew Christmas items with the holiday behind me.  Now it's time to move on to different projects and there are many of them!

Comments

  1. Your sewing is always lovely Terri.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Pretty sewing!
    You can use the Keurig to just get instant hot water too, for hot tea or cocoa too.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love your comments and encouragement! I can't always respond back but do read each comment.