Boys + Jeans = Holes Quick

Boys will be boys! Mine is no exception he plays dirty and crawls around on his knees.

Blue jeans are his choice most days. So after about a month this is what I'm seeing when I do laundry..... Holes in his knees!

Here's a quick fix that helps prolong their life...
Iron the patches on to the inside of the jeans and make sure you put a piece of paper or wax paper between the legs.



Then iron them on and viola the jeans can go maybe another month.

Blue Jeans to buy and not to buy:

These brands seem to last longer without holes (in my experience)

• Gymboree
• Gap
• Levi's
• Crazy 8 (a Gymboree company)

These brands have never lasted me more than a month..... maybe even 2 weeks:

• Target in store brand
• Wal-mart in store brand
• Khol's in store brand
• Carters

The top brand will run you more money upfront but if they last for at least 3 months then you save money because if you bought the cheaper thinner one's you would have bought 3 pairs.

Gymboree and Gap run great sales. At the end of season I usually stock up on a size up for the next season.

To make the jeans last even longer... iron on the patch to the inside of the jeans when you first purchase them.

Repurposed Cabinet Door

One of my many finds in Canton was this unfinished cabinet door. (I've got 2 more for other projects)

I've wanted a chalk board at the end of my cabinet for a while. I just needed to find the right shape.

I found one that had the same arch as our kitchen cabinets. I scored this for $5!I sprayed the whole thing with chalk board paint. Then I did some distressing and applied a natural color stain to the edge and trim. I left the middle un-coated so I could use it as a chalk board.

With some little wooden accent pieces I was done! I plan to use this as our menu board. The kids are always asking what's for dinner.

Discount Dress Ups

My Little Miss is completely in love with dress up. Anytime we are at home she is wearing some type of dress up.

We are doing some closet cleaning and found a dress Katelyn now 12 wore as a flower girl. Madeline is in dress up heaven.... We've also got a Texas cheerleader uniform.

Madeline modeling her friend Bella's most amazing princess dress.

We are even having dress up play dates. Thanks for hosting Jenny! I borrowed Ashlee's photos from her blog:)

Which brings me to my frugal tip. Spring cleaning is around the corner. Think about all the outgrown dance costumes, flower girl dresses, Easter dresses.

Garage sale season will start soon and be on the lookout for great dress ups. If you have older girls and are getting rid of these things think about any friends with smaller girls you could pass them down to.

Tuesdays Tip - Old Earrings?

I absolutely love free decorating ideas! I get giddy when I see an idea and immediately go home and do it myself.

This weekend we ate dinner with some friends at their incredibly decorated and cozy home.

She accessorized a candle with old earrings and charms. What a great idea!

So I came home and found these old earrings I NEVER wear. Put them on a candle and viola it gave it a little "pow". Here is the candle before just a plain ole Dollar Tree Candle

Take a look at the pair! This is on the wall in my kitchen. I found this floral arrangement in Canton. I got it for my birthday 3 years ago, doesn't it just scream I live in Texas? Thanks mom!
I am on the hunt for big gaudy earrings at garage sales now!
Watch out all my candles will be accessorized!

Tuesdays Tip- Coffee Filters

Who knew coffee filters could be the new paper towel? Not me... well until I got a forwarded email from my mom. I take no credit for this great idea! Let me share the good news. For $1 at the Dollar Tree you can purchase 1,000!!!

So how can you use them?

1.Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. Coffee filters make excellent covers.

2. Clean windows and mirrors. Coffee filters are lint-free so they'll leave windows sparkling.

3. Protect China Separate your good dishes by putting a coffee filter between each dish.

4. Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.

5. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.

6. Apply shoe polish. Ball up a lint-free coffee filter.

7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.

8. Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.

9. Hold tacos.. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.

10. Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.

11. Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter.

12. Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows? Use strips of coffee filters..

13. Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken fingers, etc on them.Soaks out all the grease.

14. Keep in the bathroom. They make great "razor nick fixers."

I don't know about you but I am heading to the Dollar Tree to try this out!

Tuesdays Tip - Ugly Frames?

Lately at garage sales I've found lots of great wooden frames. I am really into painting and distressing things right now. What better way to practice then on frames. One day I dream of painting my cabinets and distressing (like Kelly's) .... but until then I will practice on frames.

Here is my finished product, a nice antiqued frame featuring me and my hubby.

Before a plain brown wooden frame.

How did I do it? Let me share:

1. Wiped clean
2. Primed with primer spray paint
3. Spray painted cream
4. Wiped on stain and then rubbed it off.
5. Done!

Check your closets you might have some frames you could paint too!

Tuesdays Tip- Hair Net?

Hair net's are not only for your hair. They make excellent pie covers! Pick them up super cheap at the dollar store. Even better, pick them up when you stay at hotels and have a special stash of them for free!

This post is making me think of warm apple pie with ice cream on top!

What is your favorite kind of pie?

Wasteless Wednesday

Better late than never right? I am a little behind today on my blogging.

Yesterday as I reading my daily blogs and drinking my Diet Coke. I saw this post on Reinvented. It made me think about how much I disliked my arrangement of stuff above my kitchen cabinets. So I did a little rearranging and closet shopping and viola I like it now! I spent $0!

Let me take you on my little journey... Here is the final product!

I removed everything and started with a clean palate. I also painted over my little quote (I was so tired of it)

This is the before photo, it just didn't work for me. It had too much fake greenery and I didn't like it. Now scroll back up and see the after again, I love it!

Tuesdays Tip - Dryer Sheets?

I have a new cleaning obsession... Snuggle Creme Fabric Softener. It smells fabulous and makes me almost want to do the laundry. Almost....

With my new laundry indulgence I have lost the need for fabric softener sheets. So what do I do with them now? Let me tell you:
Did you know you can do all these things with fabric sheets?

1. Eliminate static on your TV (old tube TV not Flat Screens)
2. Place a sheet inside your suitcase as your travel, make your clothes smell like home.
3. Rub on clothing and furniture to remove pet hair.
4. Clean blinds with them.
5. Deodorize smelly shoes, leave a sheet in your shoes overnight.
6. My favorite is placing a sheet under your seat in the car. Smells up the whole car.

Wasteless Wednesday- Garage Sale Finds

Remember this photo of a garage sale find ($5 for all 3 shelves) that started this?
So I didn't put them in the living room I found a great empty space in the dining room.
The shelves turned this blank wall....

Into this great wall!

A little can of spray paint did the trick! Plus a $20 trip to wally world (wal-mart) for frames.

Garage sale season is upon us so be on the look out for good home accent pieces.

Remember anything can be painted and transformed!

Tuesdays Tip - Pillowcase Dress #2

The pillowcase dress was a hit last week! So here we go round two! One of my readers who is also a friend of mine from high school made her own dress. Take a look, way to go Hollie @ The Drama Mama! (I took the photo from her blog, she even wrote about her creation yesterday). I love hearing my tips put into practice so I had to share with all of you!!

My friend Adrien came over today and look what she brought Madeline.... a pillowcase dress... 2 to be exact. She made a special one for Madeline's 2nd birthday party so that one is a secret for now.

Madeline loved her new pink and zebra dress (Adrien knows my style :) she twirled around danced to show off. I even put her down for a nap in it and came up to see why she wasn't sleeping, well Little Miss decided to take off her dress she untied the ribbon. Too cute!

Thrifty Thursday

This week is flying by so fast, I can't believe it is Thursday already!
One of my FABULOUS readers Elizabeth emailed me about a mixed up link for a freebie. I sent her the correct link for her free popcorn. Which brings me to the rest of my wonderful readers. Here is your link for free AMC movie theatre popcorn

Yesterday was a dreary rainy day so I decided to pull out my sewing machine for some crafty time. Adrien inspired me to do some sewing after the post yesterday. I did some browsing on www.etsy.com and found ideas. My Little Miss has some plain shirts so I decided to embellish them with some extra fabric I had. So I created these two shirts for FREE.

How did I do it? Pretty easy if you know how to work a sewing machine.

• First I cut a square of fabric for the backing.
• Second I pick out the next layer. For the cross I fold the fabric in half and draw half a heart same for the cross. When you open it up you have an identical side.
• Then I sewed the 2nd layer on the backing
• Finally sew the finished embelishment on the fabric. I used a zig zag stich. I am not the best seamstress, so my lines are not perfect. I did this for fun and I can't wait for Little Miss to wear her new shirts!

Wasteless Wednesday - Pillowcase Dress

I've got a very talented friend, Adrien. She always amazes me with her creations. She finds something then she just makes it! The best part is it looks completely FABULOUS! She has always inspired me as artist. Take a look, at her pillowcase dress! She made this out of 2 extra pillowcases she found around the house. Then she put her signature artist touch on them.

Can you believe it is reversable?

Wanna make one? Here is the video she watched to learn how to make this dress.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtuGUB-jsH8

Thirfty Thursday and Kitchen Update

When I am doing the family laundry I always find loose change in the washing machine or hear them banging around in the dryer. In my house the family knows if it's left in the pocket's it is mommy's.

As I was hopping blogs I came across this cute idea from Domestic Divas Fancy blog. So I had to make one for myself.

I took a used candle jar, oh it still smells so good and turned it into this: Moms Tip Jar!!

Update on my frugal kitchen redo:

We got our breakdown from Lowe's.... did you know Lowe's added on $450 as the middle man. So I went online to Formica.com and found a registered installer. That lead me to a new company that is a home builder that also does countertops. They came out today to measure and gave us an estimate which came to $950 for the counters and install. They also bid the tile work which is $250! So we can get the counters and tile backsplash done cheaper than the counters only at Lowe's YEAH!!!

This weekend we will be removing the old counters ourselves (look for photos). Then on Monday our new counters should be here!

This past weekend my hubby was out shopping at Lowe's and found this... a new stainless trashcan. It was on sale from $90 to $30! Way to go!!

The little one's seem to think it is a drum.

Wasteless Wednesday

Oh how I love the smell of candles... I always have some scent glowing in my house. Candles relax me during my hectic day with the kids.

We go through candles very fast so I tried something new... I purchased small votive candles and put them in a candle jar that I had already used up. Then I put them together on my candle warmer. It worked great!

The votive candles are so much cheaper than the large one's and all I really want is the smell and the candle warmer also eliminates the burning and the fire that attracts the kids to investigate. My oldest once burnt her hair blowing out a candle.

My favorite scents are vanilla, coffee, and cake smells. You see the theme .... food!

Thrifty Thursday

Any moms of little boys? If your son is anything like mine loves to crawl and play on the floor sometimes even sliding on the wood floors you go through blue jeans like crazy.

I bought Will several new pairs of jeans at Target it was their special $6 ones right before Christmas, being the frugal girl I am I buy the cheap ones. What do I get?? Holes in the knees in 3 weeks in every pair!!! Urgh.... I could scream.

As I was reading around in the blogosphere (love to read my readers blogs too) I came across one of my readers post. Was it a sign , maybe... she was blogging about holes in jeans too. So I would like to feature her as my frugal find of the week. Check out her blog to see what she did with this problem. PS I also give her my frugal seal of approval for her rockin signs!

Wasteless Wednesday

Don't throw away those Christmas cards put in a bag along with your wrapping paper. Cut the front off and use as gift tags for next year. What to do with photo cards? We put them all in a photo album each year it is fun to then see how the familes change over the years. I love photo cards!


This is a photo of our Christmas Card display along the stairs. We have cards on both sides of the railing. The kids love to stop and look at them.


Here is a freebie for the first day of 2009 http://www.chick-fil-a.com/breakfast/ Free Chick-Fil-A chicken biscuit coupon on your next visit when you purchase something on January 1st. Enjoy!

Wasteless Wednesday

I can't believe it is Wednesday already, this week is flying by.

My kids and husband love drinking bottled water when we are on the go. Any time we head for the mommy van they have to grab water out of the fridge. Stop wasting money on bottled water every week. After they finish wash in the dishwasher fill back up with new (tap) water or (filtered) water and put in the fridge. These bottles will last a couple months or so before you need new ones. It saves a little money and they can still grab them on the go. When the bottles are ready for the trash remember to recycle!

Wasteless Wednesday - Holiday Gift Ideas

Don't Waste Reuse!

Pringles Cans- clean them out and cover with wrapping paper, fill with homemade cookies. What a great gift!

Glass jars- I am saving our glass jars for homemade salsa. You can also use them for homemade hot chocolate for Christmas gifts. I will be posting my mom's secret recipe soon.

Old Christmas Cards- Don't throw away your Christmas cards after the holiday is over. Cut strips of the design and reuse next year as holiday gift tags.

Old Evening Gowns and costume jewelry- put in a box for your kids, friends kids or grandchildren. Kids love to play dress up. If the dresses are really long cut them shorter for kid length and use the extra fabric as a wrap.

Brown Paper Grocery Bags- opt for paper and save the paper bags, get the paints out and let your kids decorate the paper with red and green paint then wrap presents.

White Elephant Gift Exchange- at least one holiday party partakes in this annual tradition. Find something you don't use that others might enjoy.

Wasteless Wednesday - Save Your Corks

My husband and I enjoy red wine. After we uncork a bottle I save the corks. For a long time I had them in a decorative jar then I saw a FABULOUS idea at a friends house a wine cork board. I went home and made one that day and this is what I came up with.


Here is how you do it:

1. Find a large picture frame your are not using 11 X 14 or larger. I bought this simple black one at wal-mart for $5
2. I cut the corks in half (easy not to slice a finger, I assume no liability)
3. Remove the glass from the frame and discard (don't have any frugal tips for the glass)
4. Arrange the cut corks in the frame along the card board backing of the frame.
5. Once you have a good pattern remove one at a time and hot glue on the cardboard backing.
6. Enjoy your new cork board. I have mine over my desk with birthday party invites and announcements to display and remind me what we have coming up.