Frugal Friday's Gone to the Dogs

This week I devoted my attention to my dogs.  Last week was my tenant and next week will be goats. 

 I buy Coolero beds every year and they never last.  They are suppose to be reusable so if your dog eats the cloth covering you can just replace the cover but my experience is that the screws lock up with rust from being outside and they have to be tossed when the cover is no longer any good.  

A few months ago while trying to find an alternative for the Coolero beds I came across a video on You Tube made by the Columbus Dog Club showing how to make pvc dog beds.   It looked so easy I decided to make some.   I had some old shade material I hadn't used in a while and decided to use that for my cover so all I had to buy was the pvc,  fittings and screws.   I had dreaded sewing the covers and this appealed because it had no sewing involved.  I don't mind sewing but the material the indoor outdoor beds are covered in is difficult for me.

This was so easy.  Cut 1" pvc with hacksaw.  2 sides were cut at 35.5 and 2 sides were 25.5.  The legs were 6".  Put it all together and hammer it a bit to make sure the fittings are snug.

Lay it upside down on the cover material.

Screw it on.   It did take two of us to screw it on.  To keep it tight one screwed  while the other one held it tight.  The screws were the kind that had a washer like head to hold the material.  I will probably double the shade cloth on the rest because dogs nails will go through it fairly quickly but they did with the Coolero too.   I got a few done but want to make a few more.

The ones I bought cost about $35 each and these were about $12.   And if you wanted to buy Coolero covers and make your own frames you could and it would still save about $12 ea.   I buy about 10 cooleros a year....we have a lot of dogs, so this is worth it to me, and the pvc is reusable.  The dogs really do use them, especially in spring and fall when the ground gets cooler.  They are house dogs but in nice weather they stay out a lot more and when they are out they really do appreciate their beds.

I also made them a bunch of dog toys.   Malia had an old Dora blanket she wasn't using and we started using it for the dogs as bedding.  Being dogs, it eventually got chewed up and pretty much full of holes.   I took it and cut all the shredded parts off.   Put the pieces that were still good on a sheet I had gotten at Goodwill for a couple of dollars.  I pinned them together and then cut out the sheet with the blanket,  and sewed them together.  I zigzag stitched it all over for added strength and double zigzagged the seams.   I put in 2 squeakers, added some poly fill and finished stitching them up.

Just need to turn it inside out, add the squeakers, fill and finish sewing up which sounds like a lot but it's about 10 min. maybe.

Normally I spend at least $100 on stuffed dog toys every summer.  They tear them apart within hours leaving me with a mess of polyfill to pick up.   The ones I made are still going strong and I mostly used repurposed things.    The squeakers weren't expensive and the polyfill was about $5. and I have some left over.  I didn't care what they looked like although they weren't bad looking.   I could make the dogs do without to be really frugal but I think there's a happy medium.  They love the toys and I feel good reusing things rather than spending money and buying more poorly made items that end up like badly made childrens things....in the yard broken for you to clean up.  The quality is better and the cost is nominal.  Win/Win.

Somebody help me remember the saying..... Use it up, wear it out or do without???  Is that it?   I love it.

Elizabeth

Frugal Friday - Just Say No

Just recently my county has gotten a Walmart.   I've never been a big fan of Walmart but having one so close made it pretty convenient.  Before this the only big chain store was a Foodlion.   There is another small family owned grocery store but that's about all we have out here.   If I wanted to go shopping I went to town.   It's about 45 minutes away so most trips were planned.   Now I could just run to the store whenever I wanted.   It's only 15 miles down the road and that's darn close.   Yep....it's close all right.  Maybe too darn close.

I used to make due when I ran out of something.   Or I would run to the small family owned grocery store even though it was quite a bit more expensive.  Not any more.   I could run up to Walmart.  After all Walmart is cheaper right?   

Not necessarily.   Sometimes it is and sometimes it's quite a bit more expensive.   I had seen documentaries about Walmart's pricing policies but now I was experiencing it first hand.   An example:  Cloves at Walmart  4.99.   Cloves at Foodlion  2.79.   Same size bottle.  Same quality.  I've  found the same thing to be true again and again with different products.  

For me though the bigger issue is that I left the house for a $3 item but the trip ends up costing me $20 because I see this or that and I think I need it.  I get sucked into the same mind frame on a smaller  scale with Foodlion too.   But at least there it's just food items.   Walmarts one stop shopping is a killer.   

A few years back I saw another documentary with the Dalai Lama in it and one of the things he said  was how hard it was even for him when he went into an American grocery store because it's so bright and full of everything under the sun and how he was somewhat captivated and mesmerized by it all.    Well folks if the Dalai Lama is mesmerized by it, I don't stand a chance.   

I am and have been just saying no to Walmart.  Now I go to the family owned store where it's not so shiny and bright and things may be a bit more expensive but my wallet and mother earth are both better off for this.

Elizabeth

Frugal Fridays

Frugal Fridays

I am declaring Friday's to be Frugal Friday's from here on out.   Everyone is cutting back and looking for ways to make a dollar go further it seems, me included.   

If you have a good frugal tip please share it.  We can all use the help.  Or if there is something you feel your spending too much money on and think others are managing to do less expensively ask.  If your wondering about it someone else probably is too.   

Turning plastic food containers into garden pots

Although technically it's Sat., I haven't been to bed yet so it's late late Friday night in my world and this here will be the first Frugal Friday post.  

I have always got tons of plastic containers from sour cream or yogurt etc. around and I save them to freeze things in but still they add up.   I hate tossing them.  Plastic will be in our land fills forever and it just feels wrong to use them once and add to the growing mass of garbage in the world.  

I decided to use the extra ones I have on hand as plant pots in the spring rather than to buy peat pots.  Although they would be fine to use as is after being washed out, I wanted to dress them up just a bit so they were prettier to look at when I'm watering them.    

These are so easy to do.  First I cut the very top off with regular scissors.  Then I took a pair of my decorative scrapbooking scissors and cut again right next to the first cut,  to leave a pretty edge on them.  Michael's or any place that sells craft supplies sells these scissors for a couple of dollars in a variety of pretty patterns.  

Next I put a couple of coats of primer on them to they would hold a colored paint without it peeling right off.   When that was dry I used a cheap acrylic craft paint.  It took a couple of coats but I went from white to a medium brown.   Any color you like will do.  I'm messy when I pot things so I wanted them close to the color of the soil.   A terra cotta color might have been pretty too.

Then I punched 4 or 5 small holes in the bottom of each one and that was it.  I used a hole punch and hammer on a small craft mat to do that. 

  When they were really dry (24 hours later)  I took my fingernails and tried to scrape the paint off but it didn't come off like it would had I not used a primer first.   I didn't paint the bottoms so that if they sat in a wet spot for any length of time they wouldn't start to peel.   

Since I am always running short on pots in the spring when the seedlings need to get out of packs but it's too soon to put them in the ground these will help bridge the gap.

Elizabeth

On bean soup and being frugal

Mixed beans soaking to make soup

There is a part of me that loves that the economy has made us look at our spending and reassess  how we are spending and to try and be more self sufficient.  I have always hated spending on things I knew I could get cheaper if I bought in a less trendy fashion.  I love looking for a bargain when I do need something and am just about at my most happiest when I have figured out a way to make what I have work without going to the store at all.   I love that doing this is somewhat trendy now instead of being afraid to let my more spendthrifty friends see that side of me.   What was almost an embarrassing quirk about myself is now acceptable.   I hope to pass these values on to my now 9 yr. old child.   What to value and give our life's energy to and what's a true waste of our life's energy.  Easier said then done with children sometimes.

This week we went shopping.  Some things needed to be new and were costly and to not spend money on them would end up costing us more in the long run.  Other things were determined to be unnecessary and still others were things we wanted but we were able to find a less costly way to get them.

I have for years gone to Goodwill to buy old comforters for my dogs beds.  I used them in their crates or doghouses.   I still use mats for smaller crates but all the larger ones and the dog houses get the old spreads and comforters I've collected over time at various Goodwill shops.   My dogs, especially my puppies eventually de-stuff them and new ones are needed.   This week my 9 yr. old and I stopped at a Goodwill to check for comforters and spreads (they are getting harder to find now) and while we were there she started looking at clothes.   We have for years gone to Goodwill to drop things off but never to buy clothing for her.  We ended up getting her a bunch of new- to- her, clothes, a much needed lamp for her room and a few books.

I found a vinyl swivel rocker for the kennel for both the dogs and myself and a glider with a gliding ottoman that I put in the living room.  I had always wanted one but could not make myself spend $300 -$500 for one.  I got this one for under $30.  We both joked about how we would be fighting about who would get to sit in it.

Our new glider chair and ottoman

My favorite "saying pillow"

 She commented on the way out how much she liked this going to Goodwill thing.   I wrestled with the guilt for about a minute.  The wanting for her to have the best of everything.   But letting her learn the value of money is the best thing for her. 

Later I had to stop at the grocery store.   I was looking for italian sausage for flavoring for my marina sauce and saw meat for $10 a lb.  $10 a lb!  Yikes.   And in a way I was glad it was so high.  With those prices many people truly can't afford it.   And that means less cattle for meat will be raised.  And less cattle means less havoc on the environment on a multitude of levels.   And that's a good thing.   And so is bean soup.  I still will add a bit of meat for flavoring but that pot will last a good while, was by far friendlier to the environment as well as to my wallet and makes me glad I am happy where I'm at.  Bloom where your planted and remember - inner piece comes not from getting what you want but from being happy with what you already have.