Frugal Friday

Recycling an ordinary item

I got excited when I found this bundle at the thrift store recently:

I carefully broke off the clip ends of each one:

And they became these:

Just wanted to share in case you hadn't thought of this one yourself.

I forgot . . .

. . . to share a picture of the pillowcases I made for Noble for Christmas. (I didn't want to spoil her surprise.) I found the embroidered, but unfinished, pillowcases at the thrift store and loved the kitties. I took them home, put on a border with a little fancy stitch and sent them on their way to Korea. She loved them!!

Cold Weather, Hot Food

The frigid winter is still very much with us here in Iowa. We got teased with a few warms days, but then the arctic blast returned along with another dusting of snow.


How about a chili recipe that warms the whole body?

Slow-cooker Black Bean Chili:

1/2 - 1 lb. pork or chicken, cut into bitesize cubes (I use whatever pork is on sale, buttefly chops, or country style ribs; I use chicken breasts.)

16 oz. jar of thick chunky salsa

3 15 oz. cans black beans (or equivalent from dry) drained and rinsed

bell peppers - the original recipe calls for 1 medium red; I use whatever I have on hand and make it more colorful with red, orange, yellow and green peppers.

1 medium onion, chopped

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker, cover and cook on low for 4 - 6 hours, until meat is done (shorter for chicken, longer for pork).

Serve with cornbread muffins. You can also garnish with a dollop of sour cream, and or grated cheese. I like it sprinkled with Parmesan. It is also delicious served over brown rice.

This is a delicious alternative to the ground beef, red bean chili, in fact, I prefer it!!

Orphan Socks

How I Solved the Mystery of the Missing Socks

I do laundry differently than just about everyone I've talked to or read about. Everyone in our family has enough underwear, including socks, to last up to ten days. Once a week I wash clothes by people--in other words, I do all of my laundry together on one day, my husband's laundry another day, our children's laundry a third day. I don't gather up all the whites every day and do a load, that involves to much time consuming sorting at the end. I know that when I pull laundry out of the dryer I can take it all into the bedroom of the owner, fold it and put it away quickly. I combine children's laundry as necessary; and when Noble lived at home I did mine and hers together. I do laundry only three or four days each week, two to five loads a day depending on whose I'm doing. I combine some things when I need to, for instance I have only one pair of jeans which I wash when I'm doing my husband's jeans.

Years ago, when I had four little boys at home, I set out to discover why there seemed to be missing socks in every load. I refused to believe that the washer or dryer "ate" them. To solve the mystery I gathered up the boys laundry and mated the socks BEFORE they went into the washer. If any didn't have a mate, I searched until I found it. They hid under beds, under or behind dressers and nightstands, between the sheets of the bed, in closets, and toys boxes. (You know how messy children can be!) After a few months of this I reasoned that no socks were ever lost in the washer or dryer. After I went through that exercise I stopped mating the socks before and set up a small basket near the dryer; when sorting and folding dry laundry I put any orphans in the basket until there are a bunch at which time I mate them up and put them away. Problem solved.

Another thing that helps is that I buy the boys different brands of socks so that I know whose is whose. (Is that grammatically correct? Or just colloquially correct?)

Kitchen Frugality

The picture below is the left side of my sink; hiding in plain sight are four of my frugal practices, Can you spot them?

PFCMom's Kitchen 

 So here are the four frugal things:

#1 - I wash out and reuse glass jars - this one held salsa.

#2 - I buy milk in the thicker, white jugs, which I then wash out and fill with water for "flush" water storage. It takes two of these to flush a toilet in an emergency. 

#3 - We have a little swinging towel holder that I use for drying plastic bags. Works great!

#4 - TopDad installed a shelf above the sink where we keep plastic drinking glasses labeled with our names (in Cranberry nail polish) so we can get a drink of water without using tons of glasses each day. I wash the glasses about once a week. (No one has ever gotten sick from those glasses.)

Four simple tricks (or in contemporary parlance hacks) to save money by reusing something. I've been doing these for so long that I forget that not everyone does the same. 

Water!