Mice and peppermint

There's no better motivator for cleaning and organizing than having critters decide my fabric stash will be THE place to hide, breed, and live out the winter.  These are very smart mice.  They don't eat regular mouse bait of any kind.  I need more lye and peanut butter to make more bait.  No one I know owns a cat and all the feral cats of the neighborhood have disappeared.  I think maybe some of the neighborhood pit bull dogs may have killed the cats. 

I remembered an old time remedy my Grandma Mama used.  Peppermint.  Supposedly, mice don't like the smell of peppermint.  It drives them away.  Grandma Mama had a special patch of mint growing in her garden.  Every year she crushed the mint leaves and mixed them in a little lard in a tin can.  She left this can near the wood cook stove for a few days to make her own version of peppermint oil.    Later she would put bits of fabric or cotton batting in the oil to make peppermint balls.  She would put them around the house in places where mice were likely to roam.

Well, I don't have mint growing in my yard.  I can't get to the store right now to buy peppermint oil.  My daughter will pick some up for me.  Hmm....  I do have these.  These came from Taco Bell where my SIL and I eat once a month on our shopping trip.  The cashiers don't mind giving them to me when I ask for a few extra. 

I crush these up and put into a jar.

I add some really hot water to melt it all. 

I put some of the melted mint water in a spray bottle and added just a bit more water.

I spray around the kitchen counter and along the baseboards all over the house.  I don't know for certain this will work but my house smells better.  It really can't hurt to give it a try unless the meat eating ants decide they like peppermint candy too.  (knock on wood)  I really believe this should be the peppermint oil because the concentration of oil in candy is very small.  Candy is mostly sugar. 

I won't be doing any fabric or craft organizing until after I get the storage/guest room painted.  My best guess at when I'll get started organizing again is January.  I plan to buy the paint on my next shopping trip in a few days.  In the mean time, I'm working on 6 charity quilts to be given to residents of the nursing home where my mother lives..... and trying to stay out of the way of the mice.

Amazon search box

You will notice the Amazon search box on the side bar of my blog.  I never thought I would add anything to my blog that would possibly entice someone to spend money.  It goes against my nature and the intent of this blog.  This blog is my way of telling others about ways I've learned to save money rather than spend it.  My regular readers know how often I rant about the spend, spend, spend and buy, buy, buy thing.  I once said that this blog is commercial free and would remain that way.  So what changed?  Well, let me explain.

I do believe there are some items a person should own to live a frugal life.  What those items are depends on the individual person or family and their choices for frugal living.  For example, I do use the library regularly because it's free but I also own books I feel are worth having in my own library for easy reference whenever I need them.  I do shop thrift stores and discount bins first for items I want or need.  My readers have seen some of the bargains I find.  I rarely buy anything that is not a bargain in some form. 

When I find a good book at the library and decide I really want to own a copy, I buy through Amazon.  I prefer some books in paper but I also love books on disk I can listen to while working.  Not long ago I wanted a good solar battery charger to have in my weather related preparedness items.  The local stores I shop don't carry those so I shopped Amazon.   I've been drooling for a really good quality pressure canner.  I've not seen any pressure canners at all in the stores I shop.  The stores around here don't seem to carry these anymore.  I've been watching the thrift stores for a little over two years and none have shown up.  I'll probably start searching Amazon for one before long. 

I've tried ebay, craig's list, and other online related buying sites but I prefer Amazon.  I've bought things through Amazon for a long time and never had a problem.  I admit I'm a little slow about rating my purchases sometimes.  What's really neat about Amazon is that there are ordinary people (just like me) selling things.  Yes, there are a lot of businesses that sell there but a lot of regular people are selling their unused and unwanted items too.  I mentally see Amazon as one big giant yard sale or thrift store open 27/7.  When I buy an item through Amazon I feel as if a regular person is benefiting from my purchase.   Not always but often enough.   A couple of months ago I bought a replacement copy of my favorite cookbook.  Mine was a copy, of a copy, of a copy given to me several years ago.  I paid  more than the lowest price for a used book simply because the seller said it was their personal copy.  I felt more connected to that seller than the others with lower prices. 

So you see, I feel like Amazon is yet another tool to help me live my frugal life.  When I've exhausted all other means of finding an item, I can use the Amazon search to find it.  I gave this a lot of thought and decided if someone is planning to buy something anyway, why not have a link on my blog to make it easier and possibly earn a little money if someone buys through the links.  I'm still waiting to see if my application has been approved.

Hmm... about the money I'll earn.  I truly don't expect it to be much.  Heck, I may earn as much as a $10 Amazon gift card every few months. (grin) I can always use the gift card to help pay for one of my own purchases. I don't have enough readers planning frugal purchases for big earnings.  At the same time I feel it's a good thing to help put buyers in touch with sellers.  Ordinary sellers trying to sell what they no longer want or need and quite possibly selling stuff to help get themselves out of debt.  There goes my active imagination again. 

One other reason I have the Amazon search box is to see if it actually earns money for anyone who displays it.  Remember, I said when I tell my readers how I do something that I believe is good frugal.... I want to say it because I've done it, am still doing it, and know it works.  I believe the best way for me to comment (critique) about the associates program is to try it for myself.  I like experiments sometimes.  It was reading Joan's blog (How to be a housewife) that got me thinking about becoming an Amazon associate. 

This experiment may not work for me.  It appears the whole intent of the Amazon associates program is to get bloggers to entice readers to make purchases.  I can't blame Amazon for wanting to earn money.  That's why they opened the Amazon business in the first place isn't it?  Hmm... I'm having difficulty describing how I hope the link helps rather than me trying to earn money. 

Ok, let me try this.  There is an old black and white movie where the real Santa Clause goes to work in a department store.  (can't remember the name of the movie)  What Santa is supposed to do is get people to buy toys from the store he works at.  Santa instead tells parents about other stores that have the right toy instead of enticing the customers to buy a totally different toy from the store where he works.  The store owner is obviously upset with Santa sending people to other stores to shop.  But what really happens is the people actually become better customers for the store because Santa was looking out for their best interest.  The customers vow to shop that store more often because the customers liked the "I think of you first" attitude.  

I'm not Santa but I do want the Amazon link on my blog to be sort of like what the Santa in the movie did.  I often tell my readers what I have and why I think it important (or not) to my frugal life.  If you (the reader) actually buy one for yourself, the buying is your own decision for your own frugal life.  For example, I may drool over a particular pressure canner but not everyone wants to can foods.  Some may prefer freezing or drying instead of canning.  There should be no reason for my blog to urge you to buy something you're not really interested in owning.  Aww, fooey, I still don't think I'm explaining this right.  I've gotten too wordy already.  Maybe you get the intent of what I'm trying to say anyway? 

After I've experimented with the Amazon associate program for awhile maybe you (the reader) may want to try it on our own blog too.  Or maybe not.  Hmm.... how long should this experiment last?  Any suggestions?

Now if only..... I could get the amazon associates box to display below where I write my posts instead of beside it, it would be so much better.  The constant flickering of the Amazon linky box messes with my eyesight and is very distracting.  It also interferes with the buttons below the post writing box.  I have to guess where the button are because they are invisible unless I scroll up and down to the perfect spot.  Then I can see just a smidgen of the buttons.

Paper fire logs

I was asked if phone books could be turned into fire logs to take camping.  Absolutely!  Back in the 70s, when we lived in a house with a fireplace, I turned old newspapers and junk mail into fire logs to burn.  Back then, we considered it quite frugal to use up otherwise wasted items so it wouldn't end up in a landfill.  These days it's called green living or sustainable living.  Hmm.... I sure wish I had a fireplace now.   

 Lehman's Hardware actually sells a device for rolling newspapers into logs.  Go to their website and put newspaper log roller or paper log roller in the search box.  I had an older version of that device back then.  It's much prettier now.   Hmm... Lehman's also sells a newspaper brick maker that looks very interesting. 

If you don't want to go to the expense of buying a paper roller here's a miniature version of how the logs are rolled.  For camping logs..... you need a phone book, some twist ties with metal wire in them, a spray bottle with some water, and something to roll the paper on.  I used a chopstick for this demo but it could be a dowel or a couple of straws hooked together. 

What you roll the paper on should be longer than the paper so you can easily remove it later.  Fold the paper over this and start rolling very tightly.

Roll about 2/3 of the way of the sheet and then

insert another sheet and keep rolling.  The  fire log should end up being about 3 or 4 inches in diameter.  Keep adding and rolling until you get a log about 2 1/2 inches in diameter.  Now start spritzing the paper as you add a new one.

Just a light little spray will do.  What are doing is making the paper stick to itself which is making a tighter roll.  The tighter the roll the better it burns.  It's more solid like regular wood logs.

Spritz each new sheet as you add it.  You don't have to soak it.  A light spritz will work fine.

When you get the log to the size you want, wrap it with the twisty ties and spritz the log one more time to make the last sheet stick to itself.

I actually removed the chopstick after I had four or five pages rolled together.  When rolling logs by hand it's easier to remove at that time than it is after the roll is finished. 

If you are rolling newspapers into fire logs for a fire place or a campfire it's best to use tuna cans or veggie cans as the holder instead of string or twist ties.  Remove both ends of the can.  Make the logs whatever size needed to be a tight fit inside the cans.  The cans hold the paper together much better while it's burning than string would.  The cans could be reusable.  One can in the center of the log will hold it.

For those who do preparedness planning and keep a rocket stove or charcoal grill as your emergency cooking device; the phone book paper logs would work in those too.  

DIY logic

There are those who don't see the point of sewing or crafting things for yourself.  What's the point of learning to sew or weave rugs or making your own clothes when it's cheaper to just buy them?  The cost of fabric is about $10 a yard, a ready made outfit for a child is about $3 at places like the dollar store or Walmart.  How can we compete with that?

Well here's an example of why I make my own rugs.  I bought a rag rug for $3.  (Bad idea!  I don't know what I was thinking... geeze)  I love rag rugs.  This is what happened the first time I washed it. 

Hmm.... that's a cost of $3 for a one time use, disposable rug.  What if I bought one of these a month?  That's $36 a year for disposable rugs.  I can find better uses for $36 than putting it into the trash.  I'd much rather spend time creating a rag rug for myself using what fabric scraps I can salvage from old clothing or quilting scraps.  At least I'll know the rug will last much longer than one washing.  I have a rag rug I made by crochet.  I've been using it for over 15 years.  By my calculations I've saved $540 making that one rug instead of buying disposable ones.  I'm sure it will last at least another 15 years.

Here's another example.  My pot holders have finally gotten the best of me. 

They are grease stained and won't wash clean.  I can't stand to look at them this way anymore. I got these for xmas three or four years ago.  The cost of buying new ones is about $4 a pair at the dollar store.  (I think)  I could buy some that will last another three or four years; but, I can make them free by using what I have and keep the $4 for something else.  I can take apart these to use the padding for new ones with fabric scraps or....

use scrap batting and quilt scraps to make some.  Hmm.... make some matching place mats to go with them too.  I used two layers of flame retardant and one layer of cotton batting.  I have napkins, an appliance cover, and an apron cut out ready to finish.  All matching.  The thread of the satin stitch is a perfect match to my kitchen wall color.  I saved even more money by making these too.

A few months ago, I thought about how I used to save leftover cooking oil in a can designed to filter out bits of food.  It was an all metal can with a filter screen and a lid.  I haven't seen one of those cans in a good number of years.  Maybe I'm not looking in the right places.  Anyway, I wanted to start saving the used cooking oil.  Since I can't find the filtering cans, I had to come up with a way to make a filter to work for me.  This is what I did.

And this.

I like the screen for filtering large pieces of food and the cotton fabric for filtering the smaller pieces.  I plan to cut the screen to fit inside the jar ring.  I will cut the fabric so it fits on top of the screen.  The filter fabric can be washed by hand in the dish water after the dishes are done.  Rinsing very well of course.

So what about clothing?  Is it worth the cost of making my own?  The cost of fabric is very high compared to buying ready made.  True, ready made clothing is "cheap" in dollars but it's also cheap in quality.  When I buy a shirt, for example, if it fits my chest and stomach, the shoulder seams hang nearly to my elbows and the back is too wide.  I can either wear it like that or spend the time altering it to fit me.  Altering defeats the point don't you think?  It requires taking the whole thing apart to re cut and resew.  If I'm going to spend time remaking the outfit anyway, why not make it myself in the first place? 

Sometimes ready made clothing shrinks in odd ways.  When the fabric used for making ready made clothing is created, it's stretched and starched.  Manufacturers save money this way.  After the clothing is sold, and it's washed, it shrinks back to it's original form.  If the cutting room gets the straight grain cutting just a bit off before the clothing is made, then the fabric shrinks in odd ways.  If I make my own clothing I can trust I've cut it on the straight of grain where it's supposed to be cut straight of grain.

So where do I find fabric for making my own clothes instead of paying $10 a yard?  My own older clothes, thrift stores, yard sales, my fabric stash, from friends clearing out their stashes, and so forth.  Here's an example. 

I used leftover t-shirt fabric (from making memory quilts) to make my undies.  That was in November of 2009 and I posted the instructions here.  T-shirt fabric never really wears out if it's quality fabric to begin with.  I'm planning to make some bras from leftover fabrics too.  Hopefully, that's a project I can do this weekend.

You beginning to see my point?  No?  Well look at it this way.  Suppose you learn forgotten skills like sewing, crafting, scratch cooking and so forth.  You find ways to stop paying for disposable items or at the very least not buying something you can make yourself.  You learn to stop paying for a personal chef and so forth..  If you eliminate just $100 a month from your buying budget.... that's $1,200 a year you could be saving for something special. 

No time for DIY projects?  Yes, I know, not everyone can devote time for sewing and crafting but what about just one hour a day?  If you spend one hour relaxing in front of the tv, why not keep your hands busy too?  Multi-task tv watching with crochet or weaving or knitting or pinning fabric for clothing together.  Pretty soon you will realize that 5 to 7 hours a week devoted to DIY projects adds up to a lot of $ savings in a year's time.  Ok, suppose you only learn one DIY craft.... for example crochet dish cloths.  You could barter quality crochet dish cloths for something else or sell them for extra spending money. 

Hmm.... I could debate the DIY vs Cheap buying for a long time.  Type-talking about the subject is not getting my work done.  If I haven't convinced you by now..... maybe I will by letting you see the changes I make in my own life.  I can't do everything at once but I can do one at a time.  What's the saying?  All roads start with the first step.  I've taken the first step going back to basics..... have you?

Paying for convenience?

I've talked about not paying for convenience food several times on this blog site.  It goes against my nature to pay a manufacturer to be my personal chef.  Things like adding butter sauce to a vegetable at double the cost of plain vegetables is probably the worst example I can think of but this next example comes in as a close second to that.

Pudding cups.  Aww.... come on now.  Paying someone to stir your pudding and put it into little cups for you?  Can you afford that personal chef's wages?  Let's talk about it for a minute.

See the price of the pudding cups?  If you buy 10 items you can get .50 cents off.  Let's say you don't have a sale like this so the normal price is $2.49 for 6 little cups containing about  3 or 4 tablespoons of pudding.  That works out to about .41 cents for each pudding cup.  We can figure up the hourly wage of this personal chef in a minute. 

If you are serious about saving money.... stop paying for convenience!  Learn to cook.  Hmm.... I mean learn to stir your own pudding.    It's not that hard.  

Hmm..... let me show you how it's done.  Maybe a visual demonstration will help you remember what it's costing for that personal chef to stir your pudding the next time you are tempted to purchase pudding cups.  This is all the cooking equipment you need. 

Oh yes, you will need a few of these.  I asked my neighbor to give these to me because she buys KFC several times a week.  Don't get me started on that convenience, it would take all day.  Baby food containers or any small container with a tight fitting lid will work for this cooking technique.

Pour 2 cups of cold milk into the measuring cup.  The measuring cup is the thingie with numbers on it.  Stop pouring the milk when it reaches the 2 cup mark.

Now pour the milk into the bowl.  Open the pudding box and pour the pudding powder into the milk.... like this.  Take the stirring thingie and start moving it around the bowl to mix the pudding and the milk together.  A little rapid movement every now and then helps too.

You will notice the pudding mixture starts to get thick in about 30 seconds.  Keep stirring for 30 seconds more to be sure you got it all mixed together.  That's it.  Your done.  The pudding is now officially pudding.  It took one minute to make.  Was that so hard?  Let it set for another 60 seconds to thicken up some more while you line up your containers. 

tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, DING..... ok, times up. 

The next step is to take an ordinary spoon and put a little pudding into each container.  Add the lids and put them all in the refrigerator. 

Oops!  You made 5 containers instead of 6.  Ok, so you like a little more pudding than comes in those little cups.  I can understand that.  You now have one container for lunch each day at work this week.  Now let's figure up the cost of the personal chef's wages.

The cost of the box of instant pudding was .49 cents at Aldi.  Five self-made pudding cups is about .12 cents each if you add a little for the cost of 2 cups milk.  Total for 5 containers is .60 cents. 

You are saving about $1.89 of the cost of the prepared pudding cups.  It only took about 1 minute to stir.  At $1.89 per minute, your personal chef wants you to pay him $114.40 an hour to stir your pudding for you.  Can you afford that?  Wouldn't you want to be the one earning the $114.40 per hour instead of paying a personal chef? 

I don't know about you, but I believe $1.89 in actual savings, multiplied a few times, might work out to be enough to pay for some electricity or water once or twice a year. 

Hmm.... you want to know how to get the cost down to even less for pudding cups?  It will require some different cooking utensils but the technique is still just stirring.  Buy yourself some corn starch.  I believe this corn starch cost me around .69 cents when I bought it.  It goes on sale most often around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.

 

The cost goes down to about .02 cents per pudding container if you make your own pudding cups with corn starch, sugar, and milk. That would be .10 cents for 5 pudding cups.  A savings of  2.39 for one minute of stirring.  At 2.39 per minute you would be paying yourself  $143.40 an hour to make your own pudding cups. 

Go to the Argo website and click on the recipe button to find all kinds of neat ways to cook with it. 

You get it now?  I hope my little spoof on stirring pudding helps you mentally see how to save money easily the next time you are tempted to pay for convenience.  Stop paying for a personal chef until you become a millionaire!   Oh, I forgot, millionaires don't pay those kinds of wages either.  How do you think they became millionaires?

Cardboard crafts blog

For those who follow this blog, you may not be aware that I've launched my cardboard craft blog.  Yup, I started a third blog.  Why have more than one blog instead of putting everything on one?  Well, I think of the blogs as sort of like having three file cabinets.  Each one for a different subject. 

You can find the link on the side bar or go here.  It's rather plain right now and not much information there yet.  Check it out if you are interested in cardboard crafts.

Sometimes it's a simple fix

You see this? This is where our bath towels are supposed to hang to dry after our showers. It's the only usable towel rack in my bathroom right now. I'm thinking of

other possibilities but for now this is it.





The trouble with this rack was that, when the heater came on, this is where the towels would end up. Well heck, if I couldn't keep them on the rack what's the purpose? I might as well let everyone throw their towel on the floor or put it in the hamper wet where it could become musty and smelly.

When wet there wasn't a problem because the weight held them on. But as soon as they dried, the wind from the vent would blow them off the hooks. Well today, for the umpteenth time, I picked up towels again. Then decided today was the day to do something about it. I don't like bending and picking up towels every time I go into the bathroom. So I cut some small pieces of t-shirt fabric, made, and sewed small loops on the side of each towel. (As I usually say, it doesn't have to look pretty, it just has to work.)

Now the towels stay put! I sewed the loop in the middle of the side because the towels would be puddling on the floor if I sewed it on the end. Towel puddles would be like a special invitation to a purse dog just looking for a warm place to lay down.

Yea! No more musty smelling towels in the clothes hamper or on the floor.

Do it yourself or pay someone to do it for you?

During Ladybug's nap time yesterday I sorta fixed my Gammill quilting chair. As you can see it's seen better days.





I used some scraps leftover from the window quilts I made for her room a couple of months ago. Sewed two pieces together to get a large enough piece. Lay it on the chair and cut around it making sure I left enough fabric that it would go underneath. Then sewed elastic around the edge, pulling it taught as I sewed. The elastic pulls the fabric underneath so it stays put.

If a person really wants to live a more frugal life then making repairs should be a part of that life. I sometimes let repairs go undone until they bug me mentally to the point I "have" to get it done. It's not that I don't want to make repairs. It's that I don't believe I have the time. I must keep reminding myself that any projects worthy of doing deserve time to get done.

If a person has more time than money.... repairs are worth the effort and should be a part of the simple life.

When I was younger, repairs were a normal part of my routine. It might be as simple as sewing on a button or patching a tear on jeans. Sometimes it was replacing a door knob or tightening a chair leg or painting a dresser. Back then, I thought nothing of taking the time to make repairs. After all I grew up in a time when we were taught.... if it's usable then repair it. If it's not usable.... make something else out of it. It was just natural to make repairs.

As my quilting career took off, more and more repairs got shoved aside in my quest to stay ahead of the long waiting list of tops to quilt. I worked more so I could pay someone to do my repairs so I could work more and pay more people to do still other repairs. At heart I'm a do-it-yourselfer. I like getting my hands dirty so to speak. There's just something very satisfying about knowing I did it myself.

Now that I'm moving back toward a simpler life, repairs are once again becoming a part of my routine. The seat cover for the chair is a temporary fix. Yes, I do know how to do upholstery work too. I've been a do-it-yourselfer for my whole life. Of course, I can't do everything; but, what I don't know, I'm sure there is a website or a book that will tell me how.

Gift tags

I was thinking about gift tags yesterday. I knew I wanted something unusual for my grandkids so I did an internet search and came up with this idea.

I made one from a dollar bill just to get the folding right then I used magazine pages to make more. I could have used file cards to cut simple shirts (or dresses) and colored them with crayons but I like these better. Hmm... I probably could print something out on the computer too. Naw, I still like these better. The dollar bill ones will be for my grandkids and the paper ones will be for other people. I'll attach a piece of paper on the back with names.

Paper bows

Everyone knows about using newspaper as a free alternative for gift wrap... right? Why spend money on something that has nothing whatsoever to do with the gift inside? The money saved by not purchasing

wrapping paper could pay for something else. Maybe a gallon of milk or an extra pound of ground beef? Wrapping paper in most homes only lasts as long as the gift is still wrapped then it gets thrown away.
.
I'm going a step farther and making my own gift bows too. These are made from phone book and magazine pages. Who cares if the wrapping paper and bows come from free items? What's important is the gift inside.


Here is a good site with instructions for making bows. Simply change from ribbon to paper for your own bows.