Frugality

Proverbs 31:30-50 (KJV)
Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

With the economy the way it is, most of us are having to cut corners. This post will be a little different than most of mine, but I wanted to talk about trying to be as frugal as we can. A lot of the blogs out there talk about decorating our homes, and show lots of different ways to decorate for each holiday. Some of them are quite expensive, and I'm sure that a lot of you gals are like me, and you just don't have the money to spend on trivial things. All of us want our homes to be comfortable and homey. I think that was one of the biggest compliments that I've ever received....when The Dad started dating Jess, he told her that our home was "homey". That's how I want it to be. Now...that being said....I have a long way to go to get certain spots cleaned out that seem to accumulate all the "junk" that I don't know where else to store. That's one of my goals for this year.But... I wanted to share with you all a few things....and a few of my favorite web-sites.....that you might be interested in, too. This post will be very random, with several different things, so just bear with me....PLEASE!!!If you haven't already done this, and you like Big Lots....go to their web-site - www.biglots.com - and sign up to be a "Buzz Club Member". You'll receive e-mails from them every week telling about their specials, but the great thing is....every now and then you'll receive a printable coupon for 20% off your entire purchase!!!
Isn't that wonderful? I buy a lot of my cleaning supplies there, and if nothing else, you can get 20% off those items!!!

Here's the great deal I got this week. I LUV baskets...of all kinds...

This basket was with all the other baskets....but, it had a holiday tag on it, which meant it was a Christmas item.....I took it to the service desk, just to be sure.....the tag price was $7.00....but it was 90% off....making it 70 cents....less my 20% coupon....so I got 5 (all they had) for 56 cents each. These are very sturdy baskets with wire frames!! I'm not crazy about the color, but a can of spray paint can take care of that...as soon as the weather warms up!!!

Next....if you want to do a little decorating for Valentine's Day, but just don't want to spend a lot of $$$$$...it can be done!!! I got this Styrofoam wreath, a pack of silk rose petals, and a roll of Valentiney ribbon....

and used this:

Plus all of this......

To make this.....all for only $3.00!!!

I'm in the process of making another Valentine's Day wreath....
a "rag" wreath.
Here's a pic of the work in progress:

All you have to do is get your hubby to twist 2 plastic coated clothes hangers together (because he's much stronger than you are)....and you use that as your wreath form. Then, cut 2" x 6" strips of the material of your choice (I used Valentine fabric, red fabric with white hearts, and white, pink, red, and purple toile), and tie them to the form, pushing them tightly together. I don't have the cost of this one, but I'm sure no more than $5 for all the fabric....I already had the clothes hangers....and Pappy!!!

For more frugal craft ideas, here's a wonderful web-site:
http://dollarstorecrafts.com/

And....last but not least.....
here are my Valentiney bargains I got at AmVets for around $2 for both!!!

A glass heart-shaped candy dish with a dove
(I placed it on a red napkin so the dove would show up)
And, a ceramic dove....a love dove!!!
This one, I plan on.....eventually.....using as the topper of a tassel for Valentine's Day!!!

So...that's that about that, as my Grandmother used to say. I hope you might have gotten some ideas for how to decorate for holidays on a budget....a tight budget...of course, everybody doesn't have my eclectic taste!!!!

Here are a couple more sites that might interest you:

http://makingdowiththenotsonew.blogspot.com/

http://www.daveramsey.com/

http://print.coupons.com/couponweb/Offers.aspx?pid=13953&zid=jl94&nid=10&bid=alk090130160150puemruno

Oh, one more thing....Goodwill is having a half-price sale this weekend!!!

In His Love...and with mine!!!