My husband and I have always been big fans of retirement accounts. We both opened 401(k) accounts when we started our first corporate jobs in our early 20s. When we left those jobs to become self-employed, we rolled the funds over to IRAs. But we had a period of about 18 months when we didn’t contribute… Continue Reading
Frugal Fun With Kids And Felt
I came across this winter felt board idea a couple days ago, and this afternoon I spent a few minutes cutting out felt for our son. I have a bag full of felt scraps left over from my felt food project (I used some of it for the ornaments I made last month, but I… Continue Reading
Easing Back Into Travel As A Family Of Four
Before we had children, my husband and I used to travel somewhere relatively far-flung at least once a year. Then our son was born in 2008, and suddenly it seemed much easier to stay home. And really, that’s what we wanted to do anyway. A year later, we bought our current house, which has been… Continue Reading
A Frugal Curtain
Last night I made a curtain to go between our downstairs bathroom and the under-stairs storage area behind it. The whole thing cost about three dollars, and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. This is an old sheet (leftover from when I bought fabric to make diapers for our first son five years… Continue Reading
Felt Birdhouse Tree Ornaments
It’s that time of year again, and I’ve started making Christmas ornaments for our nieces. I’ve been doing this for 12 years now, and our nieces and I all enjoy the tradition. Our oldest niece is 15, and she has quite a collection of handmade ornaments now. I always have fun figuring out what to… Continue Reading
Curbing Impulse Spending
Happy Friday! I have another post inspired by Kate, and I’d love to hear from the rest of you on this topic as well. It’s one that is the downfall of many a budget: impulse spending. Here’s what Kate writes: I need to leave my debit card at home. I go out for one thing… Continue Reading
Made My First Cough Syrup
Have you all discovered Frugally Sustainable yet? I had browsed around over there off and on in the past, but I’ve started reading more posts lately and loving it. If you subscribe to the blog, you get a free copy of Andrea’s e-book “Herbal Rescue: Your Guide To Creating A Homemade Herbal First Aid Kit”… Continue Reading
My DIY Wall-Mounted Jewelry Box
A couple weeks ago, I saw this post on Organizing Made Fun, and I really liked the wall mounted jewelry box. My jewelry was in a regular box on a shelf in the back of our closet. It was hard to get to, hard to see what was in it, and I realized that I… Continue Reading
Progress On Our Projects And Some Good Links
I hope you all had a great weekend! Our was spent working on the rough wiring in our basement, with a lot of help from my parents. I have a circuit map that I’ve been drawing onto a blank floor plan, adding x’s and o’s for all the outlets and lights. The whole basement map… Continue Reading
A DIY Bike Cargo Area
My husband recently spruced up his bike to make it easier to carry stuff, and I thought I’d share his cool DIY design. In the past, he always used a backpack to haul stuff on his bike, or he put stuff in next to our son if he was hauling the kid-trailer. But now he… Continue Reading