Tag Archives: thriftiness

Saturday Bake – Rustic Italian Bread

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In an effort to restore this blog to what it was before my blogging partner lost his mind, I will begin posting the Saturday Bake again.

Today’s Bake is rustic Italian bread, made in the bread machine. It is excellent spread with butter and garlic bread topping, then broiled or toasted.

1 & 1/4 c. warm water

2 T. Powdered milk or Nido

2 T. Olive oil

2 T. Sugar

1 t. Sea salt

3 & 1/3 c. Bread flour

1 t. Dried Marjoram

1 t. Dried basil

1 t. Dried thyme

1 & 3/4 t. Yeast for rapid Bake (or)

3/4 t. Yeast for regular Bake.

My bread in the picture is on a crumb saving breadboard. This simple yet ingenious contraption is a cutting board that catches the crumbs from the bread. Once finished, the crumbs can be saved and used in cooking, in meatloaf, or as a topping for Mac & cheese etc.  I just tip the crumbs into a large glass jar and put it in the freezer. There are many recipes that call for bread crumbs…

I got this crumb saving bread board from Amazon over 10 years ago and it is still in great condition. I wipe it clean with a damp cloth and that’s it. It is made from bamboo! 

Sage

Good Stewardship – Cheap Thrills

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On this page, we invite our readers to share their thrifty ideas with us and other readers.  It behooves the truly born-again Christian, to make proper use of whatever God gives.  I always like to think, that the more frugal I am, the more I will have to support missions, ministries, and to give to worthy causes – like the crisis pregnancy center.  Wastefulness has no place in the family of God, especially when we consider that every breath we draw is a gift from Him. 

John 6:12

 When they were filled, He said unto His disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.

Proverbs 18:9

He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster.

I’ll get it started with some of my major thrifty stuff.  Please feel free to share your frugal fun with us in the comment section – and if I deem any of them to be superior – they will be edited into the post.

Cut down old flannel sheets, shirts, and anything else that is 100% cotton, into handkerchiefs.  Serge or overcast the edges, or pink if no sewing machine is available.  Wash with bleach or borax and hot water for sanitation, since it doesn’t matter what color they are as long as they are clean.  A good size is 10 x 10.  

Use plastic lids that have a deep lip as plant saucers to catch water run off.  For example – the lid to large Nesquick canisters are ample saucers for a 5″ pot. 

Use large clear “pretzel barrels” as mini cloches/greenhouses for your early tomato and  pepper plants.  They are the perfect size, and will protect tender plants from late frosts and torrential downpours.  A lot of snack foods  come in these barrels now.   And you can use the lids as plant saucers! 

Empty yogurt containers make ideal seed starting pots, with holes poked in the bottom for drainage.  Filled with cheap soilless planting media you can save oodles of money by starting your own plants from seeds.  Especially if you save seeds! 

  • 4-6 parts Sphagnum Peat Moss or Coir
    1 part Perlite
    1 part Vermiculite

Cat Mahm:

Keep the heat in at Christmas-time by lining the windows with “fake snow”. This could be cotton fluff from the inside of an old pillow, or I even sometimes use white dish clothes.

Keeping heat in can reduce the heating bill, so I line everything with towels or insulating materials. It especially helps around the bases of the windows!

Cat Mahm:

Yes it does.

Need to kill the weeds in the driveway? Don’t buy all of that expensive weed killer.

During the spring/summer/fall months, I get a tea kettle to boil. Shortly after it has boiled, I pour it on the dandelions or persistent grass growing up through concrete. I go out the next morning and the weeds have completely withered and are easy to pull up. My driveway is weed free all year long.

Cat Mahm:

I never go out to eat. I never do take out. It’s never healthier, it’s addictive, and it’s way more expensive.

I buy my ground beef in bulk and chop it up into individual pounds, and store them in the freezer. You can do this with so many things. I would love to get a chest freezer someday. Buy everything on sale, freeze it. So many things can go in a chest freezer.

Please share your thrifty secrets with us!

sage

Sage’s Sewing Space – Bounty of Buttons

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I suppose most homemakers don’t have the amount of buttons I have – accumulated through inheritance and every other avenue possible.  For quite some time, my buttons were kept in the giant glass salad dressing jar that held my mother’s buttons.  It held a respectable amount of buttons – all akimbo! 

buttons

My mother felt this was a good system, even though it required a tedious hunting and pecking effort to locate a single button, let alone several matching buttons.  I, however, am not my mother.  And I confess to being a tad, OK, a LOT more needy of organization than she was.  While I won’t go so far as to say my “buttons were being pushed”  – I admit to feeling anxious about them. 

I was compelled to troll Pinterest in search of ideas.  Alas, nothing was presented that would organize the gigantic amount and variety of buttons I had.  The ideas ranged from spice racks to customized shelving.  My penury nature resisted the idea of spending any money whatsoever. 

buttons 1
buttons 2
buttons 3

Garage sales had yielded a bonanza of canning jars the previous summer – and I had my answer.  By sorting the buttons into cute 4 oz. “quilted” jelly jars, I had my favorite things all at once.  Organization – and  thrift.  For someone like me – this is organizing ecstasy.  And since I have a large amount of white and off white buttons, those are divided by size as well.  This solved all at once the huge amount of buttons, which was even greater than my mother’s had been.  And they are easy to locate by color – without labeling.  I love labeling as much as the next “organ-ista” but if I can avoid labels,  I do, because to my way of thinking  –  it’s one less thing to spend money on.    And – these jelly jars are readily available – should I need more (yikes!) or if one should break.  I realize not everyone has this amount of buttons – but this will also work well with large beads and sequins!  I do some sequin work when I make a costume or an evening gown – and they are difficult to store.  They are so light in weight – and easily scatter all over the place.  With the sequins in the jelly jars, I can just dip my beading needle into the jar, and come out with a sequin.  Very smooth!

sequins

In this image you can only see the multi-colored sequins, but in other jars are iridescent, solid  black,  and solid white sequins, as well as specialty sequins shaped like stars and snowflakes.  I do not however – use these jars to store beads – that is another topic entirely. 

basket 1

The next question was – where to put the twenty jelly jars so they would be largely out of the way, but still easily accessible?  A trip to the attic revealed a dusty, black wire, two tiered fruit basket.  I already have a combination wrought iron banana hangar with a fruit basket underneath – so the one from the attic was just taking up space.  Viola!  While the proportions in the picture are deceptive in size, I assure you that there are twenty jelly jars in that fruit basket.  The height of the total basket is 17.5″ and the diameter of the large and deep bottom basket is 13.5.”  More than enough space and easy to see.  This whole thing is set on top of my grandmother’s extremely heavy wrought iron plant stand – which at this time I do not use for plants.  Since buttons are not looked at as often as my other sewing notions – this arrangement keeps them out of they way in my work area, and makes a decorative display for the sewing space.  The faceted “quilting” on the jelly jars makes beautiful buttons even more lovely.  Dusting is easily accomplished with some kind of duster with a handle on it – like a Swiffer or one with lamb’s wool.  

basket 2

It is evident to me, from nature, that our God, is a God of order.  He makes things beautiful and orderly.  What a nice way to emulate our Creator!  Living with order can create harmony and a sense of calmness in our homes.  He is never careless with His creation – we should never be careless with what  He has given us. 

Psalm 40:5

Many, O Lord my God, are Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done, and Thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto Thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

Hints for Home Schoolers – If Onlyism

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It seems like only yesterday, that my children were all home and our days were very full.  What I can recall with great clarity, are the early years of home schooling.  We were alone in our home school – no HSLDA, no home school organizations.  Back then, the materials we purchased from A Beka Book were geared towards Christian schools – not home schools. 

i remember the day to day tenseness wherein i longed for “more time.”  if only i had more time in the day. . .

This thinking was not from the LORD!  It was my selfishness and pride taking over.  As a young wife and mother, (and new Christian) I was using the world’s standards to measure my life, my appearance, my children, our home, and our home school against.  There were days when I felt resentment towards my situation, thinking – “If only I could spend more time at the piano, I would be happier.” 

What about you – do you have a list of “if only’s?”  Let’s take a quick look at a short list of common “if only’s.”

  • If only we had a bigger house
  • If only I had help with the housework
  • If only the kids were spaced father apart
  • If only the kids were spaced closer together
  • In only we could afford all the home school materials we want
  • If only I had more energy
  • If only I had fewer children
  • If only I had more children
  • If only I could get organized
  • If only I felt adequate at teaching
  • If only my kids had a desire to learn
  • If only my kids would appreciate what I’m doing for them!

The underlying source of the “if only’s” is coveting. 

coveting = desiring something to the degree that  it disturbs your inner peace

keys

For me, the intense desire to play the piano was coveting to the nth degree.  While I knew that it was the LORD’s will for me to home school our children, the overweening call of the keyboard never has left me – even to this day.  It is obsession which must be beaten into submission on a daily basis.  Technically – it could be identified as idolatry as well.  People worship many different things.  Some are house proud, some will covet power and money, others desire fame and popularity, while some actually worship their children!

My singular “if only” problem is very, very sinful, because it demonstrates a lack of contentment to my family and the world at large.  Even if I devote all my time to playing only Christian music, that does not sanitize it.  Waking in the middle of the night and longing for an empty house in order to be able to play the piano at 2:00 am is not from the LORD, nor honoring to the talent He gave me.  The solution to the sin is surrender.  Full surrender to the Lord God Almighty.  And gratitude . . .

Won’t you join me in nailing your “if only” to the cross? 

Prayer:  Dear LORD, my failure is before me.  I confess to You that I have not been content, and I want to show a gratefulness towards You that my family and the rest of the world can see.  I see LORD, that what You have given me, is what You want me to have.  You are all sufficient for me.  I need nothing else. 

In Jesus precious name.  Amen. 

sparrows

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Uber thrifty washing machine lint filter!

orange bag

If you sometimes feel like you are feeding a small army – doubtless you at least occasionally buy produce in large bags.  Many of these bags, including potatoes and oranges, come in a bag that is half plastic and half mesh.  

The mesh at right is from a 10 lb. bag of oranges purchased at SAM’s Club.  The front is plastic, and the back is very strong mesh.

Simply cut the mesh from the bag, and toss or recycle the plastic part.

Fold it in half, and serge or sew three sides shut (one may not need sewing since it is the folded edge) leaving the top open.

lint strainer

Here is a completed strainer, this time made out of a Russet potato bag.  The strainer is attached to the washing machine drain hose with an extra long twist tie, which is very easy to remove, with the top inch or so folded over.  If you are using a regular sewing machine, do a double row of stitching for strength. 

We eat a lot of potatoes, and I am always especially happy with the yellow ones because our laundry room is yellow! 

Yet more thriftiness!

I have been buying from a wonderful Christian company called “Taylor’s Cutaways and Stuff,” for decades.  They sell velvet and satin remnants by the pound, and as I am a crazy quilter, this is a dream come true.  But that’s not all they sell!  Right now they are having a their fabulous BOGO cookbook sale!  22 pages of uber thrifty cookbooks to choose from!  Enjoy this delightful website . . .

http://taylorscutaways.com/programs/shop/estore.cgi?lst=1&lnd=12&category=Bargain_Cookbooks

1 Timothy 6:6-7

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.

7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.