I’ve been to the grocery store and bought a bag of mixed nuts before as have many of you out there. You remember, the mix with the three or maybe four types of nuts. After awhile, boring right? Well……I have decided to embark on making my own. I’ve mulled the idea around before but this is it, I’m going to make my own.
I did a bit of research including checking out Cooks.com. There are many, many recipes out there for trail mixes. Some of the options looked very interesting as they included some surprising ingredients such as captain crunch cereal. I was looking for some healthier ideas, so sugary breakfast cereal wasn’t something I wanted to include. I did come across the following recipe, no breakfast cereal ingredients, and it looked like a good start.
BLAZING TRAIL MIX
1 (6 oz.) pkg. mixed dried fruit bits
3/4 c. broken walnuts
1/2 c. coconut
1/2 c. sunflower nuts
In a mixing bowl combine fruit, walnuts, coconut and sunflower nuts.
Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. Makes 11 (1/4 cup) servings.
With the above Blazing Trail Mix as a start I decided to give it a go. First off I needed some mixed dried fruit bits. I don’t know about you, but those packages of dried fruit bits that my mom use to use in Christmas cake made me gag, and I don’t know how natural they are so I decided to dry my own. Our local grocery store had a sale on organic strawberries so I bought some and took out my food dehydrator. The pics below are of the American Harvest Snackmaster Dehydrator and some sliced strawberries dehydrating.
My American Harvest Snackmaster Dehydrator
Sliced strawberries on the dehydrator trays
I sliced up the strawberries and dehydrated them over night so by the time I got up in the morning they were done. I haven’t completely decided yet what other types of fruit to use but I do want to include the walnuts, coconut and sunflower seeds. Perhaps I’ll check the sales and that will help me decide what other fruit pieces to include, it’s nice to know that the possibilities are endless though isn’t it?!
To start off, I live with my family in what western society would deem as a small home. Our house is a 3 bedroom 1 bathroom rancher that is just under 1200 square feet. If I had the keep up with the Jones attitude we wouldn’t live in this house anymore as we would have felt the pressure to move on from our “starter home” into a larger home by now. Personally I like small, less costs for maintenance and less time to clean. Our lot is also small, in fact I like to say that we have a “postage stamp” sized yard. It has just enough grass space for the dogs to pee! Now, compare this to other areas in the world and our home is a mansion!I guess what is large or small is somewhat relative to where you live.
According to Psychology’s Abraham Maslow and “Maslows Hierarchy of Needs”, a roof over our heads is something that is considered one of the basic needs of humans. I wonder how many of us have really looked at what is out there for a roof over our head as opposed to what we have been somewhat spoon fed for housing alternatives? Of course if money was no object creativity could reign to a degree but lets say money is an object whether due to finances, beliefs around wants and needs, simple living, frugality, sustainability and/or even consumerism. If any of these are the case then what’s available out there?
Renting aside lets take a look at western housing ownership alternatives, frugal alternatives.
Some time ago I watched a TV program, maybe even a news segment, about a gentleman who had designed some shipping containers into homes. At the time I thought it was an amazing idea as they were portable and could be brought in when needed, as I believe they were used for a homeless shelter if I’m remembering the story correctly. It didn’t cost much to make the containers into homes and I think he designed them so that there were two or three units in one container. Shipping container homes aren’t just limited to this type of an idea though, in fact they are being utilized as small homes, cabins or summer homes, large homes and even a drop in center in London England! If you don’t have that creative of an imagination as to how this would work click on the links below…you’ll be amazed!
Other alternatives for Housing ourselves frugally or for those who want to live more simply is the small house movement, and I don’t mean small like the size of home I live in. Perhaps the better word would be tiny. These homes are in the size ranges of around 100 square feet. The following is a You Tube clip of a gentleman by the name of Jay Shafer who founded the “Tiny Tumbleweed House Company”. Jay’s philosophy is to live simply and enjoy life, he seems to be doing that.
The next video clip is about a woman who built her own small 83 square foot two story home with recycled products. In fact, her front door came from a garbage dump. It’s amazing!
The next idea for living simply and frugally is the idea of living in a van, 5th wheel or RV year round, not just for summer camping or vacation purposed. This isn’t a new idea as where I come from I know of many people who are snow birds. These folks live in their home 6 months of the year during summer but as soon as winter hits they go on down south where it’s warm. The difference is living in your van, 5th wheel or RV 12 months out of the year. Perhaps selling your home, downsizing and moving into a 5th wheel or a Motorhome. People have done it and some really enjoy it.
There are still other alternatives such as Geodesic dome homes, tree homes, and for those who live near bodies of water….house boats or boats converted into floating homes.
The first link is of the infamous Freedom Cove float home on the westcoast of Vancouver Island British Columbia Canada…truly amazing what they have accomplished and they live very sustainably.
There are still other alternatives I could mention, especially in other parts of the world but I focused mainly on western world alternatives. If you know of any links to some other alternatives that could be posted here I’d love to hear about them, I found this particular blog post very interesting and welcome any addition to it.
I must tell you that I do like to eat healthy, and I must also admit that knowing what really is healthy can at times be a challenge. I think that “they”, the nutrition powers that be, whoever they really are have changed their minds on what we should be eating or should stay away from over the years. Case in point….coconuts, eggs, margarine or butter. I’m sure there are many reasons about that and I won’t get into that debate in this article. What I want to do is share the discovery I made not that long ago with a new food in my diet. I have been introduced to a great food called Quinoa, pronounced “Keen-Wa”. This amazing food is an ancient grain that was one of staples of the Inca civilization long ago, along with their two other food staples of corn and potatoes.
Quinoa is said to contain more protein than any other grain on average. Protein is a long chain molecule made up of Amino Acids. Quinoa is 16.2 percent protein which can be as high as 20 percent depending on the variety on Quinoa. Comparatively Rice has about 7.5 percent, and 14 percent for Wheat. The protein in Quinoa is said to be a complete protein as it has all nine essential amino acids, and is especially high in the Amino Acid Lysine. Besides Amino Acids, Quinoa is also a very good source of manganese, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper and phosphorus. Add to that list Vitamins, Fiber, and Oil and Quinoa sounds like a nutritional power house doesn’t it?
This amazing whole grain, besides being very nutritional, is also versatile as it can be substituted for many grains in recipes and can be served both warm or cold such as in a salad or believe it or not as a breakfast cereal.
So far, I have only ate Quinoa in salad form, but am definitely going to try some of the many recipes that I have come across.
This was the Apple Quinoa salad that I enjoyed the last time I cooked the grain. It takes half the time to cook than brown or wild rice which is great. I added apple, almond pieces and a home made curry dressing. It turned out wonderfully….MMmmm
If you have tried Quinoa in a recipe that you really enjoyed please feel free to share. If you haven’t tried this amazing grain please do consider doing so, I’m sure you’ll find it a great addition to your pantry…and as an added bonus it can be purchased in bulk to help your wallet. Enjoy!
Are you wondering whether or not you have a fungus on your foot…maybe Athletes Foot? Athletes Foot is very common, in fact I read a statistic that up to 70% of the population will contract the infection at some point in their lives. Athletes Foot, otherwise known as Tinea Pedis, is a fungal infection that is not only contracted by athletes alone, anyone can be at risk. Athletes foot is caused by the ringworm fungus which can be found in many places such as on the floors of gyms and locker rooms, in socks and shoes, in bathtubs and on shower floors, on the decks of swimming pools and in spas. The fungus can be spread by contact with an object or spread from person to person. If the conditions are right for the fungus to survive such as on warm moist areas (in between toes as an example) or in little micro lesions such as on the heel from dry cracked skin then the fungus can take hold. As the infection spreads it may affect the soles of the feet or even nails. Once the fungus has taken hold the effected skin becomes more vulnerable to bacteria that can cause skin infections of which persons with compromised immune systems, the elderly and those with diabetes are more at risk.
So are you now wondering what Athletes Foot looks like? Athletes Foot can be described as red peeling and/or itching skin. The skin can also appear to be dry and flaky. If you have the inflammatory type of Athletes Foot the infection may appear as red blisters or thick patches of dry raised skin. Between the toes, especially the 3rd and 4th and 4th and 5th toes are a common spot for Athletes Foot to thrive. If the skin around the heel and down the lateral side of the foot is dry and rough, it may be what’s known as the “Moccasin” type of Athlete’s Foot. Sometimes the infection may also appear on the hand, which is also known as Tinea Manuum.
Once you have been diagnosed with Tinea Pedis you will definitely want to know how to get rid of it and how to avoid getting it again. First off, keeping the the feet clean and dry especially the area between the toes dry is very important as this fungus likes warm moist areas. That being said, wearing shoes that breathe will help, vinyl as an example would not be a good choice. Try giving shoes 24 to 48 hours to dry out between wearing time. If the shoe has a liner, take out the liner to aid in the drying process. Along the same lines as wearing shoes that breathe, socks with cotton or bamboo, that are natural fibers may also help as they won’t trap moisture.
Secondly, there are products available to get rid of the fungus. One of the products that I am aware of that I feel really does work and isn’t a powder that can get into your lungs is a line of products called FootLogix. This line has a product for fungal feet that delivers the ingredients as a “mousse”. This way of delivery makes sense to me as it doesn’t spray into the air or poof into the air like a powder. The ingredients go where they are supposed to as the company claims to have develped a dermal integration system so that the product acts like a carrier to deliver the medication down into the epidermis. The soles of the feet and the palms of the hands have an extra layer in the epidermis called the Stratum Luciderm. Footlogix claims their product is able to get down into the layers of the Epidermis. If there is a fungal nail, then they have a product that can be directed under the nail by a spray, not a fine mist spray that gets into the air, but an actual spray that gets under the nail. Footlogix is also non drying. This product, including the fungal products contain Urea, a non occluding moisturizing agent. Putting this product on will not dry out your skin, which is especially important for the elderly and the diabetic. Applications should be 1 to 2 times a day for about 4 weeks for skin and longer for the nail. If you go to purchase a product, you may want to check to see if it has alcohol (which is drying) or an occlusive ingredient that won’t allow your feet to breathe.
Fungus under the nail of the Great Toe; Onychomychosis
Another option is to try Tea Tree Oil, this has also been known to help clear up Athletes Foot, and is a natural product. I happen to like the smell, but there are those who find the smell to be very strong. It may take 4 weeks of treatment for skin infections to clear up, but longer for the nail to clear up and grow out.
Thirdly, moisturing to help avoid dry skin is important. Dry skin can lead to micro lesions (small cracks) which can act as a portal of entry for fungus among other things. Intact skin is an important part of keeping out fungus, bacteria and viruses. Moisturing your feet after a bath or shower is very important but especially during the summer months when sandals are common, but not in between toes.
An option for foot care would be to see an esthetician for a pedicure or a footcare nurse. These two options would be more reasonably priced than a podiatrist or a Chiropodist. If you do go for footcare, ask how the implements, and foot soak tubs are cleaned and sterilized. As I said earlier, a spa can be a breeding ground for infections some of which can be very serious such as MRSA and TB if there aren’t good cleaning and sterilizing practices in place. Foot Baths, Files and Implements should be cleaned properly!
Implements for footcare should be properly sanitized, disinfected and/or sterilized
Summer is coming and I want to enjoy my sandals, so I am going to take care of my feet so they can take care of me. Here’s to all of us getting our feet ready for the summer!
Note: I am not a doctor and recommend anyone that has a concern about their feet seek the advice of a physician.
Last year I started some of my garden plants from seeds. My parents, sister and hubby along with myself all shared in a garden in my parents backyard. I have a postage size backyard with a couple of miniature sized fruit trees, a cherry and an apple and a few plants including some in pots but I wanted to plant an Acorn Squash. My little space could definitely not work for a wandering Squash plant so I planted one in my parents garden. I eyed up the available space and chose an out of the way spot. Once it had been planted and watered it was a great success as it grew like a weed and produced very well. I shared several of the fabulous squash with my parents, my sister and her hubby and even had enough to give a few away…and that was with one plant!
This year I hope to plant a few things in my little garden area again along with planting one or two things in my parents garden again.
The winter season leaves a lot of time for one to dream about spring and the sunshine that it brings. Along with spring and the sun comes the yearning to plant something. Thoughts turn to asking oneself whether or not to purchase little plants for everything to be grown or whether to start some of the plants as seeds? Well, with this thought in mind I decided to attend a Seedy Sunday to have a look at some of my options and to share some of the seeds I had saved from last year including some Acorn Squash seeds. I have planned on attending a Seedy Sunday in the past but have never done so until this year. What is a Seedy Sunday you ask? Well, it is a gathering of people who bring seeds to share and take home seeds, at no charge except a small entrance fee to get in to the event. There were other people from local seed companies with seeds for sale and few miscellaneous garden related vendors including some community oriented non-profits that set up but the focus was mainly on seeds and seed exchanging or swapping. Among all the vendors at this past event I also saw a table with several very capable gardeners available to answer any garden related questions. They had a spread of gardening books to refer to and looked quite enthusiastic about being available to assist anyone with garden related inquiries. Let’s just say I couldn’t volunteer to help with that table, I’m definitely not a Master Gardener, yet I most certainly don’t mind trying out my partly green thumb, having some fun and learning along the way.
I have had my successes and my failures along the way but through it all I like the fact that I along with my family ate something that I grew! It’s been a great source of pride when I’ve picked cherries off our little tree and brought them inside to share or ate some dish I’ve put together with a garnish of chives I’ve grown!
Besides a source of pride and joy, growing a lot of my own produce has saved my family money, and who doesn’t want to say they have saved some money? With all the strange weather that North America has had this past while I’ve been wondering if our produce prices at the grocery store will be much higher than last year, and if produce prices do skyrocket how happy I’ll be to go shoping in the garden without having to take out my wallet…a GREAT way to save money!
At this last Seedy Sunday, I brought some seeds to share and trade for others. I browsed the seed exchange table and chose a few packets that included some Tomatos, Parsley, Leeks and some Parsnips. Maybe some will grow and grow well…and maybe some will not but as I said earlier I’m all about the trying and learning . Again, I’m not a Master Gardener but that aside I’m going to have some fun!
My goodness how times have changed. When I was growing up my family had a laundry line that went from the house out across the backyard and hooked up at the end of the yard onto a very tall poll. My mom would do the laundry in the washing machine that was downstairs in the basement and then she’d haul it up the stairs in the laundry basket. Mom would keep a bucket of wood clothes pegs in a container by the back door that she would take out onto the porch with her and the laundry basket and hang the clothes out on the clothes line to dry. It was a “given” that in the nice weather, of which we have just had some very hot weather, all the laundry would be dried outside on the line. That was what families did back then, every one had a laundry line. Friends would come over to play and mom would have had everything, and I mean everything, hanging in the breeze. As I sit here at my computer and remember, I can recall several times being embarrassed because the whole families “unmentionables” were blowing in the breeze for all to see. Sure, lets hang out clothes and linens outside, but I would get so upset when my mom would hang my underwear up so the neighbors could peek at them and know what my unmentionables looked like. I can laugh about it now but back then it wasn’t funny.
Times changed, and certain neighborhoods got the idea in their head that laundry lines didn’t work with the “look” of the neighborhood. Hanging your clothes out to dry only happened in the poorer areas of town or in the pictures of the slums on television….or that’s the idea that was at times portrayed.
I guess the saying what was old becomes new again can also be true of laundry lines can’t it. There have been many challenges to this idea that hanging laundry looks bad as most of us, including municipal governments and Hydro companies are encouraging, are “into” saving money. As recent as April of 2008 the premier of Ontairo, Dalton Mcguinty stated that dryers use 6% of Ontario’s power supply and decided to lift the ban on outdoor clotheslines. Amazing huh, an entire province of people were actually banned from using clotheslines! Thank goodness that changed…money talks doesn’t it. So now hanging your clothes out to dry has become almost “trendy”, or “hip”. What, trendy you say? Yup…in fact if you look at what your options are now for drying your clothing without a dryer you may be surprised! Some would say infact, we are behind Europe not only with our fashions but also when it comes to cleaning and drying those fashions.
Let’s have a look at the different options available to us to hang up our laundry.
#1 The old stand by laundry line is still available, where one end attaches to the house and the other to a large pole/post at the other end. If you visit the website of the hardware store Rona, they have a very good post on how to install a clothesline post. Click on the “pointers” box and then the “greenwise choices” box to find the post.
#2 The umbrella line. This is the laundry line that has a pole down the middle and the top folds out like an inverted umbrella although there appears to be many options to the old inverted standby.
#3 The small round hanging line with attached pegs. This has been popular in the past with the grandma’s who lived in apartments and washed their stockings and underwear in the sink and then hanged them up in the tub over the shower head with this line. The price point on these are fabulous as I’ve seen them for sale for well under $10.00 in several different stores.
Remember those three options? They are kind of the standard. Well…there are many more ways to hang your clothes, the following are just a few.
#1 The Antonius. This is a clothes hanger sold by Ikea that looks a bit like a bakers rack that you hang from a ceiling with pulley’s. You would lower the rack down, hang up your clothes, and then pull it back up to dry them. This would be a great option for inside a garage, a laundry room, or outside on a patio if it was covered.
#2 Metal Folding Clothes Dryer. This is a dryer that I myself purchased from Real Canadian Superstore. I only have a postage stamp sized backyard so this one was a great option for me. Another reason I like this dryer is because it isn’t wood and therefore I don’t get any staining on my clothes that can happen with the wood ones. I also like it as it folds up for easy storage. I slip mine between the wall and the washing machine…isn’t that great! I think I paid about $30.00.
#3 The Barbantia Wallfix Dryer. This is a dryer that you must fix to a wall and pull it out like a shelf when needed. It will give you about 25m of line. The nice option to this dryer is that you can push it back against the wall when not needed. At the time of my research the dryer sold for about $170.00.
#4 The Three Tier Tower Dryer. This is a metal drying rack that includes three shelves for laying out sweaters etc. and a bar at the top to hang clothes on hangers to dry. The neat idea they had to add to this one is that it is on castors, and the price is right, around $35.00 from Canadian Tire. The down side is that it won’t do a full load by any means but it would work for a single person, or maybe a couple.
#5 The Sundog Balcony Dryer. This is a great idea for the condo or apartment dweller as the rack fits over the balcony and comes out like a shelf. This dryer retails for about $28.00 from The Sundog Clothesline Company.
Have you ever had the chance to check out an Organic Bakery? We don’t have one where I live, but about an hour and a half drive away there is one and OH MY! I’m glad it’s a ways away or else I would need some extra strength to help me to not live in there! It has the most amazing smell with the most amazing organic selections of baked goods including goods for those with gluten intolerance and some selections of diabetic goods too if I remember correctly. What were the prices like you ask? Well…some of the items were definitely not on par with other bakeries but they use as much organic ingredients as possible so I believe it justifies some higher price points.
I like to use as many organic ingredients as possible too when I bake, although I am definitely not a professional baker by any means, I do like to try my hand at a few things. One of my more common baked item I will bake is a fabulous Organic Oatmeal Flax Cookie With Chocolate Chips. Baking these cookies as opposed to purchasing them from any bakery let alone an organic bakery will definitely save you money, and as a side bonus your house will smell wonderful! I’ve had a few people mention I should post the recipe on my blog so here it is folks….enjoy!
Organic Oatmeal Flax Cookies With Chocolate Chips:
*All ingredients are preferably organic
Butter or margarine 1/2 cup
Brown sugar 1 cup
Large egg 1 cup
Vanilla 1/2 tsp
All-purpose flour Just under 1 cup
Ground Flax ( I buy the whole seeds and grind them in a small electric coffee grinder) Enough to top up the flour in the measuring cup to 1 cup
Rolled oats 1 cup
Baking soda 1/2 tsp
Salt 1/4 tsp
Optional Ingredients
Dark chocolate mini chips (dark chocolate is healthier than milk chocolate as it contains antioxidants) 1 cup
or Dried Cranberries 1/2 to 1 cup
or Chopped Walnuts 1/2 to 1 cup
or Chopped Pecans 1/2 to 1 cup
The options are endless!
Turn the oven to 350 F or 175 C. Mix the butter or margarine along with the brown sugar, egg, and vanilla in a mixing bowl until its smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until mixed.
Decide which optional ingredient you want, I used the chocolate chips this time, and stir it in. Drop the mixture in spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet other than a non stick pan as there are studies to say you may end up ingesting the non stick chemical concoction. You may need to grease a cookie sheet, but I have rarely needed to, I find the butter in the mix seems to keep the cookies from sticking.
Bake the cookies for about 10 to 12 minutes. Once they are done let them cool a few minutes before you remove them from the pan. Depending on how big you like your cookies this recipe can make anywhere from 1 1/2 dozen to 3 dozen. Mmmmmm Enjoy!
When summer finally gets here I am going to be going camping…yay! For many years my camping consisted of a big container with all the gear needed such as utensils, plates, cups and food. Other items needed included a tent, sleeping bags, and flashlights etc. All of this would get crammed into the back of my vehicle and then the rest of my family would try to stuff themselves in alongside. One year some of us had to flatten out our sleeping bags and sit atop them so we could all fit in the vehicle along with all the gear we needed. Was this camping on a budget? It sure was! Did we have fun? We sure did!
Those tenting days were definitely fun, but this year our days of tenting have ended. We saved up some money and payed cash for a 1984 21 foot Aristrocrat RV. We could have taken out a loan to purchase a new or at least newer RV, but do we really need a new RV? No, we don’t. Did I really want to make monthly payments for an RV? Absolutely not! So instead we bought an older motor home with about 128,000 KM that needed a bit of attention. After we had a friend who happens to be quite handy and knowledgeable have a look at the engine and give the rest of the motor home a once over we decided to take the plunge. We had looked at several other motor homes and gone so far as having one of them assessed by an automotive garage, but wanted to spend our hard earned money on the right one, and this one felt like the right one.
After a few days of discussions we agreed on a price and a day when my husband and I could drive up to finish the paperwork and drive it back home. Once we got it back we were then eager to pay some attention to it. We had no major concerns about the motor home that needed to be addressed right away although we knew that with the age of the motor home and after having a look at it quite thoroughly there were definitely some issues that needed to be addressed at some point. So, what did we do you ask? First off we had the engine serviced at a garage which included an inspection,oil change, radiator hoses replaced, and some wiring fixed among other items. This cost a pretty penny but was definitely needed. Having an automotive repairman inspect it and give us the low down on it mechanically was well worth it in my opinion.
We still needed to attend to several items other than mechanical and were really blessed when we were told by a good friend that he had the opportunity to get a hold of a motor home that was being junked that we could use some parts off of. That sounded great as we could then salvage and scavenge parts off of it that were still good and save some money in the process. One item we needed was an RV fridge. Buying a new RV fridge was not an option as a new one could cost upward of $1300.00. I was ready to go without or continue to use the little bar fridge that was put in the unit by the previous owner as she didn’t want to spend the money for a new fridge either. It took a lot of time and sweat equity but the RV fridge was removed out of the old unit and installed into the new motor home. When the motor home was leveled properly and the propane was connected it worked. The propane will be very handy as we can camp in a space that may not have electricity yet our fridge will still be able to keep food cold.
Several other items were scavenged off the old unit including a hot water tank, carburetor, halogen headlights, fresh water intake , water pump and inside door panels. Amazingly enough the door panels in the junky unit were of the same fabric as the seats in our motor home! I wasn’t too concerned about door panels at first but when our good friend convinced us to replace the gold shag carpeting with the nicer fabric off the junky motor home I was amazed at the difference. Believe it or not, door panels can make a huge difference! I was glad we were convinced to change them, they made the cab look much more finished.
All of the salvaged items and help from our good friend made for some great cost savings for sure. If we had to have replaced all the items that we had salvaged with new items we would have spent much more than we did as we agreed to pay the owner of the junky unit $200.00 and the cost to tow it away. The owner makes some money on his unit, and we save some money on repairs and replacements…it’s a win-win!
Although we have definitely saved some money by salvaging, we have still had to purchase some new parts such as a toilet valve, side mirrors, sliders for the screen door, piping for under the kitchen sink and roof vents. We will also be purchasing some window sealant/ putty as we need to take out a window, scrape it clean and reset and seal it to stop a small leak. For now the window is covered up with a tarp.
There are still some items that can be addressed at a future time, but now that we are almost finished with the main repairs we can start looking at planning some holidays without having to break the bank. Here’s looking forward to some great summer camping…happy camping all!
I know that it isn’t mothers day just yet, but I happened to be thinking about it, in particular about what I was going to “get” my mom. You can be frugal about your gift purchases yet even more frugal than a store bought gift would be a home made gift. OK, I may have lost some of you on the “home made” thing because you may not be that “crafty” or the term “home made” conjures up an image of something not up to gift giving par. Perhaps some of you just haven’t developed the crafty side of the brain and coming up with a good idea for a craft is beyond you, you are not alone. Don’t fear because the following is a fantastic way of being frugal yet coming up with something that is a good idea, home made and is free! What is it you ask? Well….those of you who are crafty have more than likely heard of the big craft store “Michaels” I’m sure. Those of you who haven’t heard of it it’s basically a large store that specializes in selling craft items from paints, candle making tools to knitting supplies and everything in between. This year Michaels has decided to have free one day Mothers Day craft making classes from May 2nd through to May 10th. Crafts include free t-shirts to free jewelry. For those of you who aren’t crafty and the thought of actually crafting something scares you…no need to fear as they have someone who teaches the crafts right there. Isn’t that fantastic?! So, click on the link below and have a look through the class listings for the special Mothers Day free crafts. Great for kids and adults!
For those of you who are just looking for ideas I thought I’d list a few off that may not be free but at least they are low cost. Let’s honor our moms!
Ten Mothers Day Craft Ideas:
Take her for a walk around a local park to see the flowers in bloom.
Have her over to your house for her favorite flavor of tea and some home made cookies
Make a booklet of coupons for chores that she does such as an hour of vacuuming or ironing
Cook her dinner…how about BBQ ?
Have you planted any garden seeds this year? If so, transplant one of the plants into a pot and make a card to attach to the pot explaining what it is and how much sunlight it needs. (ie: tomatoes, herbs etc.) Pots can be found at second hand stores, Freecycle, or even the dollar store.
How about spending the afternoon with her playing games such as cards or scrabble?
Pop up some popcorn and have her over to watch old home movies or slides?
How about a spa at home? Run her a bubble bath to sit in then when she comes out file her nails and let her choose a nail polish colour for you to paint them with. She needs a hand massage first….don’t worry you don’t need to be a masseuse!
If you have a digital camera ask a friend to take a picture of you somewhere outside and then print it off the computer onto photo paper. Go to the dollar store and purchase a magnetic sheet to stick onto the back of the photo so your mom can keep it on her fridge. If you can’t find the magnetic sheet put cardboard onto the back of the photo and purchase a roll of magnetic strip. You can cut off pieces of the strip to stick onto the four corners on the back of the cardboard.
Last but not least is a chocolate fondue! Women have loved chocolate since the beginning of time I am sure, mom’s are no exception to the rule. Chop up some banana, apple, and pineapple or whatever your moms favorite fruits are for fondue dipping….MMMMmmmm I guarantee she won’t forget it! If you have been wanting to ask her to fix the hem on your pants….this may be a good time.
If you have any wonderful and frugal Mothers Day suggestions please share them, I’d love to hear about them!
How many of you have dropped an earring down the sink? Maybe you were washing the dishes and one of your rings slid off and went down the drain! Or how about the loss of a ring due to showering and forgetting to take your rings off first? Oh my goodness…what do you do?? First off you probably told everyone within a mile radius NOT to use the sink and then you either tried to take the drain apart your self or called a plumber. Well…fear no more my dishpan hands friends because I just viewed the most ingenious way to solve your problem….at a mere fraction of the cost of hiring a plumber! You have got to watch this video clip!
Copy and paste the link below for a one minute video by Michael Davis of the Family Hack site for the solution to a lost item down the drain.
