ThriftThis article is dedicated to crafts! With the economy the way that it is (do I dare say “Recession”?) , we have had to get creative when the need arises for a present, or decorations within our homes. These are all ideas that either myself or my best friends have used in the past or recently. I was so impressed by these ideas that I wanted to share! If some of the needed materials are not common household items you can buy them inexpensively ( I would no steer you wrong).

Have a blank wall to decorate? How about post cards? You can frame them, or like one of my best friends did in her bedroom,stagger them all over the wall ( she had a lot of them). You can just tape them up or use push pins, whatever you prefer or are allowed to use. How about other collections? Do you have a large collection of anything you could hang? This could be any kind of picture. Some examples could be scenery, fairies, angels, sports. Take a look in your closet or basement. What about baskets or a beautiful, old quilt or blanket? Anything is fair game.

This is a great gift for just about anyone. You will a length of fishing line, maybe 10 inches or so, and a handful of beads. You can use any kind of bead you prefer, but make sure you have at least 2 that have small openings. Tie the beads you chose with the small openings about 2 inches in from each end, one on each end, so that they do not move. Add enough beads to fill each end of the fishing line and tie the line in a knot or around the ending beads. Now you have a creative and beautiful bookmark! My best friend has one, and it is very pretty. If you know someone who uses large book often ( like cookbooks) you could make them a few to mark their favorite recipe/pages.

A good universal gift idea is the “basket”. I use this often. You can use a basket you have on hand or that you got at the thrift store OR you could use a gift bag. In my area I can by them for $1.00. You can fill these with homemade baked goods (cookies, chocolate covered pretzels), small soaps ( I frequently get these as part of gifts and cannot use them myself so I save them), homemade body oils/lotions, homemade or inexpensive candles, a book. For men you could fill them with appropriate items that your man would like. I have done male fragranced cologns and facial products and other small, inexpensive gift ideas they liked. Check out your local dollar store for these.

I hope some of you try these ideas. Let me know what you think and please comment or email your ideas! I would love to post them!

Thanks to All!

The Domestic Goddess

My best friend and my stepmom and I were sitting around talking the other day, and knowing that I am a frugal person and have this website the conversation naturally drifted towards “thrifty” topics, and some mom topics. I decided to write a post about these ideas. They are very good tips and I hope you all like them. The first one was brought up by my step mom. She is a “hair dresser”, i apologize that i do not know what the current professional term for this is, and has been since before I was born. She gets an hourly wage, but mostly survives on tips, like a waitress does.  For years, she has “put away” $5.00 a day out of her tips into envelopes. She has an envelope for each month. She uses this money to pay for her camping expenses (she owns a very nice camper in a camp ground, where it stays permanently year round). She saves the money in her envelopes all year. She also uses this money as an emergency fund, and pays the envelopes back by increasing the dollar amount per day, say $10.00 a day instead of $5.00. This system has worked for her for years. Just in case you are all wondering, she does not trust banks and likes to keep her money close by. This is a very useful tip that all of us can use. I have an old tootsie roll container that i put all my spare change in. When the Tootsie Roll is full, I cash in or deposit the money into my bank account, depending on what I need at that time.

The second tip was provided by my best friend, Tonya Ramsey. She has a four year old son, and when her son was small, her and her husband wanted to combat the “scary monster under the bed/in the closet” problem all of us parents face. They took a unique, and frugal, approach. They filled a spray bottle with water and told him it was monster repellent. Every night at bedtime, they sprayed the “monster repellent” around his room. They also gave him an empty 24 ounce soda bottle, and told him to keep that by his bed, and if he got scared or needed to ” beat up the monster”, to use the bottle. These two things worked like a charm, they have NEVER had to deal with him waking up in the middle of the night crying because of “monsters in his room” I think this idea is brilliant! Hats off to you, Tonya!

I hope these two tips prove useful to many of you. Please comment or email me with your tips and hints, just follow the links on the website! I look forward to hearing from you!

“It is not quantity that should define our lives, but the quality with which we live it.”

The Domestic Goddess

Everything we do impacts the environment. All the foods we eat, the products we use, the items we buy and put into our home affects our planet. It is up to us to make the wisest choices for our families to help clean up and preserve our environment and our planet. We only have one Earth. Let us all do what we can to keep it livable.

I watched the Ellen DeGeneres show last Wednesday. On her show she had a woman on that works with ocean creatures. She helps educate people about extinction of sea creatures (by the way- hundreds of species of fish are extinct now..never to return!)  Specifically, she spoke about how baby Albatross (birds) are dying because of the TONS of plastic in our oceans. PLASTIC! What happens is this: Either consumers (us) or manufacturers throw the plastic away instead of recycling it. At some point is gets broken down into little tiny pieces and then DUMPED in oceans. The Mommy Albatross goes out to get food to feed her babies, thinks the little pieces of plastic are food, eats it then takes it home to baby to eat. The babies stomachs get full of plastic and can’t eat, then they die. How sad! It proves my point, everything is related, from me going to the store and buying a soda then throwing the empty plastic bottle away….and a bird species becoming extinct.

My son is 15 years old. He just completed his freshman year of high school. He joined a group called “The Parker Green Squad”. This group is helping to educate the students about the dangers to our planet and the environment, recycling, etc. They are trying to raise money to put recycling bins through out the school. I couldn’t be more proud! He joined all on his own, and when he told me he said he felt that he was doing something important. Of course, I cried because I was so proud of my baby…almost grown up! It amazes me how a young man can do whatever he can to help save our planet and US, yet a grown person is to lazy and selfish to simply recycle a plastic bottle!

For several years now, I have kept a  ”junk cupboard”. In it I put odds and ends for future use. I should probably rename this cupboard,but it works. I have toilet paper/paper towel tubes, a baggie of soap slivers, bread bags, empty coffee cans, empty cereal boxes, empty/clean milk jugs. Whatever I might possibly find a use for later. Maybe for a craft project, maybe I have a need around the house. Whatever comes up, I go to the “junk cupboard” first to see if I something that will work instead of buying a new something. My bathroom garbage can is an old, re-used, large coffee can. It works perfect. I currently do not have a filing cabinet, soon but not yet. In the meantime I have a couple of clean, re-used cereal boxes; the tops cut off on a diagonal line; to store and keep my important papers seperate. It works well, actually. The wall above my computer is decorated with my son’s art work and his kindergarten graduation certificate ( it has his picture on it…very adorable). As I looked around my home the other day, I realized 99% of my possessions are used. Very little was bought new. I feel good about that because I know I am doing my part to keep items out of the landfill, taking up space and ruining our environment, killing species of animals that, once gone, will never come back.

By the way, I am now boycotting fish. I love to eat fish and will miss it, but I feel a higher calling and it is a sacrifice I am willing to make. I will never be able to eat a piece of cod, or orange roughy, again and not think of the dying baby albatross!

So, we all need to pay attention to the big picture! We need to realize that EVERYTHING we do affects the entire world around us, even the fish in the oceans, the birds and wildlife in the rain forests. We can ALL do something, however small a something, to make a difference!

“The quality of our life should not depend on the quantity of our possessions”

Thanks to All!

The Domestic Goddess

The Domestic Goddess is now published on a website and in an online magazine! Follow the links below to read about saving money while going green and about delicious summer beverages!

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1826087/iced_tea_the_original_summertime_beverage.html?cat=22  - this is Associated Content site

http://healyourselftalk.com/magazine/going-green-reducing-household-expenses   -  This is on the Heal Yourself Magazine site. This magazine will be going into print soon!

I hope you enjoy these articles. Look for more articles monthly in www.healyourselfmagazine.com in the Domestic Goddess section!

The Domestic Goddess

I have had some requests to do a post on all natural beauty products. So I did some research to supplement the information that I already had. I do not know how to make homemade eye shadow and lipstick. These recipes and suggestions are all natural altenatives to other beauty products. Most recipes contain ingredients that you already have in the kitchen, making these recipes very inexpensive and affordable.  I hope some of you try at least one of these recipes and comment back and let me know how they worked for you. Include any improvements that you made to the product.

• wrinkle remover: Honey ( yes just plain old honey). Dab onto desired areas, around eyes and mouth for example. Leave on for approximatley 10 minutes, then rinse with warm/hot water. ( I have used this for about 2 years now, and nobody believes that I am 33- everyone thinks i am in my mid to late 20’s. Could just be a coincidence though!)
• Natural Exfoliator: combine 2 tablespoons corn meal, 1/2 cup honey, and 1-2 tablespoons hot water to make a paste. You can mix in aloe gel or olive oil for softening benefits. Rub on with washcloth, rinse with water.
• Homemade Lotion: 1/2 ounce Cocoa Butter (melted), 1 ounce olive oil, 1 ounce orange juice, 2 drops essential oil (orange if possible-smells great and combines well with cocoa butter). Mix all ingredients together. You can put in an reused lotion or squeeze bottle container. I put mine in a redused blue noxema tub with screw on lid. I suggest keeping this in the refridgerator because it will be cool when you put it on and it feels wonderful, especially in the summer time.
• Homemade body oil: 2 parts olive oil, 1 part lemon juice. Mix ingredients and store in airtight container. Does not need refridgeration. Shake well before each use. I use this every night before bed and my skin has never been so soft! I reused an empty lotion container for my body oil.
• lip gloss: this is incredibly easy! This idea is also a great way to use up that last little bit of lipsick that is stuck down in the bottom of the lipstick tube. Scrape out the remaining lipstick and put in a small, microwave safe container. Depending on how much lipstick you use ( you can also use multiple colors to create your own shade), Put in about a tablespoon  of vaseline ( the good old fashion petroleum jelly stuff that all of us have in our medicine cabinet somewhere). Microwave until melted. Watch carefully and microwave about 10 seconds at a time. I would suggest reusing an old Carmex container- the one with the screw on yellow lid. Reuse any container that will easily go into your purse and not leak.

I have found these suggestions are easy to create in my kitchen, very inexpensive to make and work just as well, usually better, than anything I can buy in a store. An added benefit is that I have Eczema, skin allergies and EXTREMELY sensitive skin. I can use all these products and not worry about an allergic reaction. The ingredrients are all natural, therefore not harming my body or our earth. I hope you enjoy these recipes. Leave your comment and let me know how you like them!

The Domestic Goddess

Imagine your sitting in your backyard or on the porch, it’s warm outside, the flowers and trees are blooming. The kids are playing and laughing in the yard. Maybe your working on a craft or reading a book. Suddenly, your throat feels dry. Nothing sounds better than an ice cold beverage. Here is the  dilemma: do you reach for an expensive soda, energy drink, or juice? Do you drink water, or could you make your own satisfying beverages for much less money than soda, energy drinks, etc? The answer is Yes.. you can! For years now I have been making homemade lemonade, sun tea, or drinking other inexpensive drinks.

Homemade Lemonade: 1 cup real lemon juice, 1 cup sugar or splenda, 2 quarts cold water. Stir to mix and enjoy! I can buy a 1 quart bottle of 100% lemon juice for between $1.00 and $1.50. A large bag of sugar sells for around $1.49.  This is by far cheaper than store bought juice, contains real lemon juice(which is good for you) and delicious.

Sun Tea: I use a re-used, clean milk jug. I fill this with water and put 5 to 7  Lipton orange-pekoe tea bags in through the top, leaving  the paper tags to hang outside the jug. Let sit in the sun for approximately 4 hours and remove tea bags. Refridgerate and enjoy. You can sweeten with sugar or artificial sweetener, add lemon if you wish or any other add ins. I drink this all summer long and it is very nutritious and delicious. You can use your favorite tea and adjust the amount of tea bags used for weaker or stronger tea.

Kool Aid:   I have been buying generic kool aid for years, usually on sale at 10 for $1.00. You can use real sugar or artificial sweetener, I have used both and recommend using slightly less artificial sweetener as it is stronger. You can’t beat this as it is extremely inexpensive. Obviously if you use sugar it is not “healthy”, however you can use this drink to make homemade popcicles, add gelatin and make homemade jello. It is far better than soda or other sugary drinks. A wide variety of flavors are available to please any tastebuds.

Juice from concentrate or ready made :  In my area a large bottle (around 25 - 32 oz.) sells for between $3.00 and $4.00. You can buy a container of frozen juice concentrate for less than $2.00 and it makes about 2 quarts. Do I need to say more?

I hope these ideas help make your summer most enjoyable and refreshing!

Thanks to all!

The Domestic Goddess

For those of us who get the “spring fever”  and feel the need to scrub our entire house with a toothbrush to make it sparkle, you know how manufacturing companies have created “needs”, things we supposedly absolutely have to have or our dwellings are not clean. Obviously, this is a myth. It does not take $100 worth of products and “stuff” to make our houses sparkle. I do a major cleaning twice a year, towards the end of spring and the beginning of winter. Never have I spent more than $15.00 on cleaning products  to clean my home. New items like the Swiffer products are not necessary, convenient and time saving, yes; but not necessary. The chemicals in the cleaning solution on the swiffer and like items can actually be harmful, while the pads take up landfill space. These are all the items and cleaners that you need to spring clean your home.

Broom, dustpan, mop, bucket, rubbing alcohol, baking soda, all purpose cleaner or a bucket of mild soap and water, rags, and yes: a toothbrush.

Use the bucket of soap and water and the toothbrush to get into any cracks or small areas of furniture to clean away winters grime and dust. Rinse tootbrush with clean water and wipe any soap out of crevices. Use a rag to dry.

Clean all windows, glass, and mirrors with rubbing alcohol and a rag. They will really sparkle. If you worry about lint on these surfaces, use newspaper(black and white print only).

Use a bucket of mild soap and water and a rag or scrub brush to clean walls, base boards, floors, etc. For grungy looking wood furniture you can scrub the wood with mild soap OR my personal favorite, Murphy’s wood oil soap. Rinse with a clean, wet rag then use an oil like olive oil or linseed oil to make the wood shine again!

Use a paste of baking soda and water for “soft scrub”. Use on sinks, tub, and tile.

Don’t buy expensive smelly powders for your carpet. Just sprinkle your carpets with baking soda, let sit for 15 to 30 minutes and vacuum as usual.

Wash all washable rugs, curtains and table cloths in the washing machine. Curtains can actually be hung back up wet and let them air dry. The smell from the soap will make your rooms smell wonderful.

Sweep and mop all washable floors. Apply any floor wax treatments if you choose to do so.

Open your windows and let the entire house air out. Bacteria, dust, possibly mold, and other allergens build up in enclosed houses over the winter. Let them all out!

Following these steps will make your entire home smell and look wonderful! Don’t forget to declutter also! Most often we let mail, magazines, newspapers, old clothing build up over the winter. Recycle and donate whenever possible!

Thanks to all!

The Domestic Goddess

Hello All!

As I look at everyone around me, very few people are “doing well” in this terrible economy. Many people are out of work and looking everywhere for a job to support themselves and their families. Unemployment claims have gone up, people going to our local food bank have increased in numbers, more people are shopping at thrift stores and other discount stores. Many people however, have not re-evaluated their lifestyles, several are still living the lifestyles they have become accustomed to, without thought to their shrinking bank accounts and wallets and their needs in the future. So, I wanted to address this issue.

Desperate times sometimes need desperate measures. People cannot go along spending money as they did before their job losses, or whatever it is that has changed their financial lives. For example, my boyfriend recently lost his job and I currently only work part time. Both of us have been applying at places that are both hiring and not in the hopes that he gets a job and/or I get a better one. Just to pay the rent and other bills we have had to cut expenses down to the bare minimum. I do mean bare minimum. My back porch, which was my “Zen Spot”, where I went to read my books, do homework or just relax, is now strung with clothes lines. I wash my clothes at the laundromat or in the sink myself then hang them up to dry. We have not eaten out in 3 months, we do not buy anything but the necessities of life. We both are smokers and are working on quitting. In the meantime, we now roll our own cigarettes, as a result we smoke less and hope to quit very soon. I am a Diet Coke junkie, however, it is not a necessity so I have been drinking “sun tea”, iced tea brewed in the sun in the jug. This is a very cheap beverage. I cannot have much sugar so I drink  it unsweetened but you can sweeten it with sugar if you like. I make real lemonade from lemon juice (one cup lemon juice, one cup sugar in a 2 qt pitcher) It is very tasty. I bake our “treats”, cookies, cake, brownies, pies, from scratch here at home. I love to bake and am good at it, my family likes my homemade items much better than any store bought treat.

I only drive to the store, work, or to put in applications at businesses, and to take my son to and from school. I combine trips to save gas. I do not leave my car running, this wastes gas. My son’s birthday is in July, we had a huge party planned that cost a lot of money. We have changed plans and are now having it in a beautiful local park ( no rental fee). My family will all be making some of the food to help defray some of my costs. 

We have to keep internet services, as my boyfriend is going to school online and I have my website to run. However, if we could get away with it, I would happily have it shut off. We still have cable, but I did contact our cable company and am having our services reduced to save money. We turn the lights off and unplug appliances when not in use. My mother struck an agreement with the 0wner of her apartment complex, she now cleans and shows the apartments for rent and gets a significant amount of money off of her rent.

There are all kinds of measures one can take when financially strapped. Think outside the box. Do you have more than one vehicle, do you need both? Maybe you could sell one? Write letters instead of making long distance phone calls. Buy inexpensive foods instead of pricier versions.

I hope this gets people thinking about things they can do to decrease their spending. Thanks to all for reading, and check out my “Recommendations” page for inexpensivly priced books you can buy on all kinds of ways to save money!

The Domestic Goddess

Here are some general hints and tips you can use in your own home to save money. Remember it is all the little things you do that add up to big savings. There are only so many ways that you can save a large sum of money fast.

- Cut out non essentials from your grocery list. For example, do you have to have soda? At least try a cheaper brand and remember that change takes time to get used to. Check the store brands at your grocery store. They are almost always cheaper and usually taste as good or better than the name brand.

- Turn off all lights when you leave the room. Unplug all gadgets and appliances where possible when not in use. Plug your computer and its accessories into a power strip. When not in use just flip the switch to off. Even when your *stuff* is off it is still drawing power, adding money to your power and light bill. Unplug your coffee pot if you don’t need to set it on a timer. I do this and use the clock on my microwave because I cannot unplug it. After your cell phone is charged, unplug the charger. Unplug lamps when not in use. You can also plug your t.v., vcr, dvd player into a power strip and just shut off the power strip when not in use.

- Use recycled or cloth shopping bags. This not only keeps plastic bags out of the landfill and reduces pollution but several stores now give you a discount, say 5 cents per bag, on your grocery bill for bringing your own bags. Two of my local grocery stores do this. If you frequently forget your bags at home when you go shopping, simply put them back in the car after you unload your purchases. I keep mine in my trunk. Call your local grocery stores to see if any of them have this discount.

- When I moved into my apartment I had to start from scratch. I had NOTHING. I was lucky in that my best friend and family were very generous and gave me all of their unwanted items, which furnished my apartment until I was able to buy improvements or replacements and the items that I wanted but had to do without until I could afford them. The point is put the word out when you have a need. You might be surprised to find someone you know has that item and is willing to give it to you or sell it very cheaply.

- Go through all your possessions and have a rummage sale to get rid of your clutter and make some extra cash. Most american households are cluttered with stuff that  we don’t use. A good rule to follow: if you haven’t used it in 6 months or more, get rid of it, unless you have a strong emotional attachment.

We all know that paring down expenses is usually not much fun. It is up to you to keep a positive attitude and try to make it fun. See how far you can stretch your dollar. Find new places you can buy the items you need to have at a cheaper price.

If you are new to this frugality business, explore stores you have never been in before. The “dollar stores” that are all over the country actually have a lot of very good, useful products you can use right in your own home. In my area we have Family Dollar, Dollar General and Dollar Tree stores. I frequent these stores on a regular basis. Remember to compare prices at all the stores you shop in, never assume one store has the best price.

Rent movies and video games instead of buying them.

Use your local library! Most libraries rent not just books but movies and cd’s if not for free, then extremely cheaply. One library not far away from me rents them for 25 cents each and you keep them for 7 days. Libraries have a much larger selection now compared to a few years ago.

Shop at rummage sales. I find this great fun. You never know what you will find. Remember: buy something because you need it, not because you want it.

When my family has get togethers, we make them pot luck. We all bring a dish to pass and the person who is hosting provides the main dish. You get a much larger variety of food, one person does not have to do all the work and everyone saves money.

Combine all your errands into one trip and make a route that enables you to go everywhere you need to without wasting gas by going back and forth across town. This will save you gas money, wear and tear on your car, reduce carbon dioxide emissions into the air causing pollution and will save you time. Who couldn’t use a little more time and money?

It’s worth it to buy the more expensive energy efficient light bulbs. If money is short buy one or two every couple of weeks, or one or two a month and start replacing the lightbulbs that you use most frequently. These will save up to 30% on your power and light bill. I have made the switch and the energy efficient bulbs cast light just like the old ones.

Look for free or cheap entertainment. One thing we do in my household is rent movies from the library, pop some popcorn ( I do it the “old fashioned” way on the stove. Pour enough oil in bottom of pan just to cover, power in a cup of popcorn-the kind sold by the bag, not microwave. Cover with a lid and turn the heat up to medium/high. Listen for the pops to slow down to a few seconds between each pop and turn burner off. You don’t want to burn the popcorn. Salt to taste. I put a couple of tablespoons of butter right in with the oil for a buttery flavor), and hang out with the family. We play cards and board games. Go to the park and play games with the kids. Go for a walk in nature. There are tons of nature trails or even some parks have hiking trails. Check out your local newspaper for upcoming events.

Message me with your tips and hints on how you save money in the comments section on the front page!