My Thrifty Girl

My dd has always wore dresses. Well- when you have one girl and five boys- you just HAVE to do that! ;)

But summer's here and she wants to work in the garden and so her and her daddy decided it was time to get something with leggings for work-n-play. 

She wanted to by her own get-up with money she earned on ebay. (Told ya she was thrifty!) 

So- where's a frugal mom to take a thrifty girl?

Exactly- the Goodwill! :)

She found the soft and comfy cotton top for .99, the hat for 1.49, and the overalls for $7 that don't appear to have ever been worn before.

Cute

thrifty

and sassy- all in one sweet package!

Homemade Toothpaste...

Easy toothpaste, from kitchen ingredients. I've dressed it up some, but you can use what you have on hand and certainly keep it more frugal!

2 T coconut oil

3 T baking soda

1/4 t (or to taste) peppermint extract or essential oil

Opt*1 to 2 drops tea tree oil (taste is a factor with this)

2 pks of stevia, xylitol, or other non-sugar sweetener

1t glycerin *opt (for texture)

Blend well.

Store in baby food jar or other lidded container.

Happy Easter!

What frugal plans are you making for your Easter?


Friday night we got a big treat and watched The Voyage of the Dawn Treader! It was super good.
(This will be on Netflix in another month or so...or you can use your Coke Rewards to buy a free rental ;-)




We will be doing this Bible study... from this site on Saturday....rather than our usual homework on Saturday. :-)

On Sunday we will have a small turkey dinner, an Easter Cake with homemade ice cream,  and watch:


This is a movie that we've had for years.
We also have an Easter Storybook that we read.

I have been making some homemade fabric 'baskets' and we have our old plastic eggs and a secret stash of candy. I made my baskets  like these at Brandy's.... but rather than measure them out, I made a silly 'pattern' of sorts out of the end of a pop box...yeah, crzy, I know!   But we always use the eggs and the signs of spring to remind us of "new life" and the "power of the resurrection". (Anyone heard CRI's latest commercial? They talk about a "resurrection plant" and a "resurrection fern". They dry up and will crumble if you touch them but at the first sprinklings of spring rain, they come alive again! Neat!)

******************************************

If you have Turner Classics:
"King of Kings (1961)" is playing on TCM on Sun, April 24, 2011 01:30 PM est.....
and  "The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)" is playing on TCM on Sun, April 24, 2011 04:30 PM est.
(We don't have this but I may try to find them online or Netflix.)

Happy Easter and may the Lord help us to make holidays Holy Days, for our families!

What the Good Lord Gave Me.....

My neighbors are moving....that makes me sad. I have almost felt like they were family.

But being the kind and generous folks they are, they called me today and asked if I wanted some canning jars from their outbuilding. Why Of Course I Do! ! ! ! ! !

There were 43 jars in three plastic flats- which they gave me too!

WOW!

And as I pulled them from the dishwasher, all nice and clean and sparkling, I said under my breath; "Okay Lord, what are you going to give me to put in them?"

Well, five minutes later, or less, I walked out to the my little garden. It produces enough for fresh veggies several days a week, but not enough extra to can.

(Well, don't forget what I just asked the Lord.)
Another of my neighbors walked up and asked if I would like some unripe, 'drops' pears.

Why Of Course I Do! ! ! ! ! !

So tomorrow, they will bring me pears- a day or two with some brown paper and they'll be sweet!

I am so thankful for what the good Lord gave me!

These same neighbors gave me enough horse apples last year to make numerous jars of apple jelly.

And these jars- you should see them! Some of them are old and square, one just has "Mason" written on it and nothing else, and there is one that just has "Kerr" on it and nothing more.

Pretty neat, huh?

Visit Laura's for more about Gratituesday!

Waiting in line, when its worth it! ..another tale from Walmart

SUBTITLE: TOMS AND HENS

Turkeys were on sale, according to a sign, at Walmart. This wonderful little sign simply said "Tom Turkey .49 lb".

Well now- you know I can't pass up a deal like that! Right?!?!?

Well, I get my 2 turkeys to the check-out, along with a few other items, one being a bag of turnips which of course happened to not have the price sticker on them. So, cashier has to call produce- twice- and finally I send ds back to get another bag. You know he brought back the only other bag there without a sticker- right? Yep, so back he went. In the meantime she scans the turkeys and we discover that one is a "hen" not a "tom". So back ds goes to get the "tom" and return the "hen".

In the meantime we discover that the scanned tom turkey rang up on sale at .98 lb. Well, I tried to explain the sign and she discovers that the tag says .88 lb. Neither are right!

DS gets back with second tom while cashier has called the manager who calls the frozen meat department- twice. (Neither of those departments ever returned the calls!) So the manager then calls for another employee to come to the desk and she sends him after a price check-(guess my word isn't good enough-- just kidding-- I wasn't offended in the least). So the cashier and I then take turns telling people that I have the line tied up on a price check. :-) ...She really was a nice lady with great patience.

Well, employee returns and says that "hens" are $1.69! To which I reply that I don't have "hens", these are "toms". So he searches the whole entire turkey for one word: "tom"! And it is not to be found so manager comes back and gives me the price based on my testimony and the cashier's testimony, that this is indeed a "tom"! And employee of course chimes in that the "toms" are .49lb. And being the smart gal I am, I try to tell them that the "hens" are small- these are huge, which means they are "toms"! -sigh-

Do I get my price?
Yes! In the end I did and it was worth the whole fifteen minute standoff!
I got a $19+ turkey for $9+! And the other $22+ turkey for $11+!!! Yah!
Savings= over $20!

A Great non-food Find at Kroger!

I've been wanting more of these for quite a while!

With a house full of peeps, just one wasn't cutting it anymore.

I have a real dark pan and a glass one besides my other ONE like these but they can be moody to cook in to say the least.

Well, I ran to Kroger the other night and to my surprise, these 3 babies were on clearance-- for .89 cents each! Yippeeeee!

I can hardly wait to use them!

*My tip is, look everywhere you go for bargains and have patience!

Good things really can come to those who wait!

For more Kitchen tips, visit Tammy's Recipes!

My Latest Thrifty Find

This rack was $5 and goes to the baseboard and holds all my cans!

It's been a great blessing, as I had been stacking the cans in cardboard flats-- an eyesore to say the least!

For more Thrifty Tales visit:http://minimalistmommy.blogspot.com/2008/04/oh-i-squeeled-in-delight-at-next-one.html

THRIFTY THURSDAY

THIS WAS BOUGHT FOR 29 BUCKAROOS!

I know that sounds like a bunch but-

THEY ARE NORMALLY OVER 100!

It made for a great b-day surprise!

It is as tall as she is and has drawers in the bottom. There was one spot that I had to touch up with paint, but other than that it was new! DH found it and said when he got it there were about 3 other people swooning over it! Glad he was able to snatch it up!

BTW, the dress she has on was bought at a thrift too. It is OshKosh and was bought for $2 and was new, heavy denim.

For more thrifty tales, visit: http://minimalistmommy.blogspot.com/2008/04/thrift-store-thursday.html

HOMEMADE DISHWASHER DETERGENT

PLEASE SEE THE FOLLWING LINK IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN MAKING YOUR OWN DISHWASHER POWDER.

FRIENDS FROM MY OWN AREA, LET ME KNOW IF YOU FIND THE WASHING SODA SOMEWHERE LOCALLY! OTHERWISE I THINK I WILL ORDER IT FROM AMAZON.COM SINCE YOU CAN MAKE THIS AND LAUNDRY DETERGENT OUT OF IT FOR A FRACTION OF THE COST OF STORE BOUGHT!

HERE'S THE LINK TO MINIMALIST MOMMY: http://minimalistmommy.blogspot.com/2008/03/homemade-scrubbing-bubbles.html

THANKS MIN-MOM FOR A GREAT FRUGAL IDEA!

THRIFTY ADVENTURES

DH found this treasure for $8 at a Thrift/Consignment Store this week! You can't help but stare at it and be reminded to be thankful for daily bread!

PLEASE VISIT THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE THRIFTY TALES!

http://minimalistmommy.blogspot.com/