TMR Frugal Living Tip #57

Fun Crafts Repurposing Cottonelle Toilet Paper Roll Tubes

April 22, 2012 By ThriftyMomma 3 Comments

I participated in a campaign for Mom Central Consulting, on behalf of Cottonelle, and received product samples and a promotional item to facilitate my party. All opinions are 100% mine.

I was thrilled to receive this wonderful package of Johnathan Adler Cottonelle Tissue Roll Covers. I hosted a fun party where I invited several friends and their children yesterday. We made easy and fun crafts repurposing Cottonelle bath tissue paper tubes for both the kids and the adults. The kids mostly wanted to make binoculars out of the toilet paper roll tubes. It’s a very inexpensive craft for the kids to do, and adults make sure to punch the holes so the kids can tie the yarn. These are great projects to teach the kids about recycling just in time for Earth Day.

I also wanted something for the ladies to be able to do instead of just children centered crafts. We made pencil holders out of the toilet paper tubes. I bought a couple of packs of scrapbook paper which was very inexpensive at 99 cents a pack! I also purchased card stock to use for the bottom. I did not want to use acrylic paint as it would take too long to dry. At first we used a marker to color the inside top portion, but then one of my friends suggested we use a piece of card stock to reinforce the inside of the tubes. It worked perfectly.
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Next we cut out the strips in half to roll the tube with and used craft glue. Slowly roll the tube and make sure to keep it smoothed while rolling so it doesn’t create bubbles.

At the end of the rolling, you will need to reinforce the ends. I used some more craft glue and wiped off the excess. There isn’t any glue after it dried. It was much cheaper than using mod podge.

Next we cut out a circle of blue cardstock. You want the circle to slightly larger than the tube. My friend is gluing on the bottom to the tube. We also used purple card stock and rolled it up in the inside of the tube.

You can see the inside and it was very strong after we let them dry.

Here is the finished product. Each lady made a different one. It was a lot of fun.

Each lady left with a Johnathan Adler Cottonelle Tissue Roll Cover. One of the ladies is using hers to store her daughter’s hairbows and ribbons. Another one is using hers to store her cotton balls. The uses for these great and colorful roll covers are endless.

What will you make by repurposing toilet paper roll tubes?

Filed Under: craft, family life, Green Living, Product Reviews Tagged With: craft, Family Life, Green Living, Product Reviews

Free Disney Resuable Shopping Bag from Disney Store on April 22nd

April 21, 2012 By ThriftyMomma 2 Comments

Receive a FREE Disney Reusable Shopping Bag from the Disney Store on April 22nd. Bring in 5 plastic shopping bags to exchange for the free tote bag. Supplies are limited and only good on April 22nd. Get there early.

Filed Under: Freebies, Green Living Tagged With: Freebies, Green Living

TMR Frugal Living Tip #96

April 16, 2012 By ThriftyMomma 1 Comment

Today’s frugal living tip is to use both sides of the paper when printing. I cannot follow this tip for school reports, but I use this often when printing coupons, and other items where it doesn’t matter. It is cost effective and cuts down on the amount of paper used.

My son comes home with an obscene amount of paper from school, and mostly it will just get thrown away. I let him draw and color on the backs of those pages so he isn’t wasting my good print paper. That paper is not cheap. I do recycle all the paper in our house.

Do you print on both sides of the pages or do you also let your kids draw on the backs before discarding?

Filed Under: Frugal Living Tips, Green Living, saving money Tagged With: Frugal Living Tips, Green Living, Saving Money

TMR Frugal Living Tip #94

April 3, 2012 By ThriftyMomma Leave a Comment

Today’s thrifty living tip is to hang your laundry using a clothesline or a laundry line. I have two metal posts outside that I use for my clothesline. Inside the house, I have a thick long chain on hooks which runs the length of my wash room. I do have a long wash room.

I can use the inside line when the weather is too rainy or cold to hang laundry outside. Hanging laundry helps to save electricity or natural gas, and I also find it puts less wear on my dryer. I have had the same dryer since 1997! I do use my dryer, but I hang laundry as much as I can.

Worried about wrinkles or clothes are too stiff, then just throw them in the dryer for a few minutes to help soften them. I prefer my towels to be stiff as I find they absorb the water more after I bathe. I just love how my sheets smell in the fresh air.

Do you hang your laundry?

Filed Under: cleaning, Frugal Living Tips, Green Living, saving money Tagged With: cleaning, Frugal Living Tips, Green Living, Saving Money

Turn Off the Lights for Earth Hour on 3/31/12

March 30, 2012 By ThriftyMomma 2 Comments

I’m not sure what rock I had been living under, but I never heard of Earth Hour until last year during my speech class. An exchange student from China gave a wonderful speech on Earth Hour. I try to live a “greener“ life by conserving more of our resources, planting more of my own food, and recycling. I plan on participating in Earth Hour by turning off my lights for one hour. It seems inconvenient in our super busy lives to not be on the computer or to watch television, but maybe Earth Hour can help us to slow down a little and spend more time together as a family.

Earth Hour originated in Sydney Australia in 2007 by the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) by asking everyone to turn off their lights for one hour. The date is March 31, 2012 (Saturday night) at 8:30 PM until 9:30PM. The initiative is to help offset the climate change, but it also conserves energy. From the Earth Hour website: “It’s scheduled on the last Saturday of every March – closely coinciding with the equinox to ensure most cities are in darkness as it rolled out around the Earth.” Last year more than 135 countries and millions of people participated in Earth Hour.

What else can we do to help preserve our planet?

Earth Hour asks everyone to go beyond the 60 minutes of one year by doing more to help conserve and preserve our world. The things we do to conserve are usually what helps to save you money. No matter what your views are, we do need to help preserve our planet for our generation and future generations. What we do now impacts us all now and in the future.

Get involved . It is also a great way to slow down and spend time with your loved ones. There are lots of great ideas by making a nice dinner by candlelight, play games with your flashlights, go outside and pretend to camp or look at the stars, talk, tell stories, or spend time with the neighbors and play cards. The possibilities are endless, and some communities have big events for the whole town or city to participate together.

I dare you to participate in Earth Hour on March 31, 2012 from 8:30-9:30. Will you join Earth Hour?

Filed Under: Earth Hour, Green Living Tagged With: Earth Hour

TMR Frugal Living Tip #82

November 10, 2011 By ThriftyMomma Leave a Comment

Today’s thrifty living tip is to use sports bottles or commuter mugs. I do have some plastic Tupperware mugs and big sports bottles to bring when I’m traveling and to use at school. It’s an environmental friendly way to cut down on trash and of course it does save you money.

It saves you money by making your own coffee to bring with you instead of buying it on the road. This can easily save you $20+ per month or even more depending on the size of coffee you purchase. It might not seem like much, but that is $240 per year! You can also save money by not spending $1.25-1.50 for a 20 oz bottle of water. Now if you bought a case of water (16 oz) you still spend $4-5 per case. You won’t save as much money unless you buy a bottle daily at the vending machine. But you can refill your bottles or mugs, and it cuts down a big amount of trash. Even if you recycle the bottles, it still isn’t as environmentally friendly.

There is a big debate of plastic bottles vs stainless steel. Many of the plastic sports bottles and mugs were made with BPA which we found out was harmful since it leached into acidic (orange juice) or hot liquids (coffee and hot tea). Now you must make sure that your stainless steel bottle doesn’t have a liner as it will contain BPA. I’m not going to have that debate and will leave it up to each individual.

Filed Under: Frugal Living Tips, Green Living, saving money Tagged With: Frugal Living Tips

TMR Frugal Living Tip #80

October 11, 2011 By ThriftyMomma Leave a Comment

Today’s frugal living tip is to reuse those coffee grounds, tea bags, eggshells, and vegetable/fruit peelings. Yep I drink coffee and tea on a daily basis so I take the grounds, and work them directly into the soil around my plants. Of course you can also throw them in a compost pile. I take rinsed eggshells and crush them before mixing into the soil. I also compost. You can either compost vegetable/fruit peelings or just dig small holes into your garden. I dig them in a few inches and let them rot until it’s time to till the soil. I love just digging small piles directly into the garden as I don’t have to deal with a compost pile this way. My soil still benefits and it gets worked into the whole garden plot twice a year. Not everyone is keen on the idea of having a compost pile so here is another alternative way to reduce waste, but it still helps your soil and plants thrive. The best part is that worms love the coffee grounds and seem to attract them. This is actually a positive as worms help to aerate the soil.

Filed Under: Frugal Living Tips, gardening, Green Living Tagged With: Frugal Living Tips, Gardening

TMR Frugal Living Tip #76

July 6, 2010 By ThriftyMomma 4 Comments

Today’s thrifty living tip is to bring your own bags to the store. We know all it cuts down on plastic being used to make bags which is great for the environment. It also cuts down on the amount of trash in landfills. But did you know that you can stuff a lot of groceries in them? Not only that, but the majority of them have a reinforced bottom which is great for canned goods plus heavier items. Most people say they have a hard time remembering to bring them to the store. So what I’ve done is to keep them stored in my car side door. This way I always see them before I get out of my car. I have heard that some stores will give a discount for bringing your own. None around me do this, but you might be one of those lucky people. CVS has a key chain one that you can buy for 99 cents, and you will get a $1 ECB for every 4th purchase when you have it scanned. I’m even starting to bring bigger tote bag ones when I go to yard sales. I usually get the bigger ones for free at some stores I have shopped. Another great thing about them is you could make your own customized ones if you wanted to have more stylish bags. I feel that these bags are a great and inexpensive investment.

Filed Under: Green Living, Shopping

TMR Frugal Living Tip #75

June 30, 2010 By ThriftyMomma 1 Comment

Today’s thrifty living tip is use cloth napkins and dish towels over paper napkins and paper towels. This will save you lots of money over your life. I still use paper towels from time to time, but a super sized pack will last me for months. I usually buy one or two of those 8 roll packs on sale at CVS yearly. I have the same pack of napkins I got on sale over two years ago. I just rarely use them. I would much rather use my cloth napkins and towels.

I buy the dish towels on clearance and stock up. I make my own napkins by cutting out the size I need and serge the edges so it doesn’t ravel in the wash. These napkins will last for years. If it’s a big spill then I find the dish towel will clean up the spill quicker, and I don’t have to waste several paper towels. When they get to a point that I can’t use them in the kitchen, then they become cleaning towels. I really try to use them up as much as I can before discarding. We all know it’s better for the environment, but it’s also much better for my pocket book.

Filed Under: cleaning, CVS, Frugal Living Tips, Green Living, saving money Tagged With: cleaning, CVS, Frugal Living Tips, Green Living, Saving Money

Are You Ready for the Winter Heating Blues?

October 24, 2009 By ThriftyMomma 20 Comments

Each year I say I’m going to get my house more energy efficient for winter, but I end up procrastinating and do nothing. Then when I open my heating bills I want to cry. This year I am going to make my house more efficient so I can stop dreading the heating bill. I have a 55 year old house that comes with the original windows and doors which can get drafty. I did take down my doors to re-stain them, and filled in all the tiny hairline cracks. We had a nice cold front but I couldn’t feel any wind coming through like usual. Here is what I’m doing this weekend.

1) I am hanging thermal lined curtains in my living room. I eventually want them in the bedrooms we sleep in.

2) Installing door sweeps for all three doors.

3) Installing foam weather stripping for the windows. I also will caulk around the outside window casings and door frames.

4) I made a door draft guard for all three doors. We only use one of them on a regular basis. I will only put it in front of the door at night.

I spent under $200 for everything including the curtains. That was my biggest expense since I needed 8 panels for my living room. I didn’t want to use caulk on the window sills since we live in a warmer climate. Our winters aren’t very harsh so there are days I want to be able to open the windows to let in any nice air. That’s another reason why we didn’t want to put plastic wrap on the windows. I should be able to save at least 20% off my heating bill just doing these simple steps.

There are lots of ways to winterize your house. I don’t have to wrap or insulate pipes since we don’t get hard freezes and most of the time it’s only a day or two at a time. I don’t have a furnace or boiler so I don’t need to clean it out or make sure it’s in good working condition. I have a forced air natural gas heater so it’s minimal maintenance. Our attic is already well insulated, and we don’t have basements in Louisiana. You need to consider your winterizing needs which will depend on how cold your area gets. There is a lot of great information on the internet. I hope I gave you a few tips to consider so you don’t cry when you open your heating bills this winter.

Filed Under: Frugal Living Tips, Green Living, remodeling, saving money Tagged With: Frugal Living Tips

TMR Frugal Living Tip #71

October 21, 2009 By ThriftyMomma 3 Comments

Today’s thrifty living tip is decrease your amount of laundry. How do you ask? There are two simple tricks I use in my household. First is to use a towel more than once. We don’t use washcloths, but the towel that only dries hands can be used for a week. The same thing for the bath towel. I make sure to hang it so it will dry between uses. We also wear our pajamas for 2-3 nights before calling them dirty. I have 2 pairs that I rotate nightly so I only have to wash 2 each week. I don’t wear my pajamas all day and only for bed. I also don’t wash clothes that I only wore for an hour or two like dress clothes for church. Unless I got sweaty, there is no need to wash them since they aren’t dirty. This has helped cut down on the amount of laundry we do each week.

Filed Under: cleaning, Frugal Living Tips, Green Living, saving money Tagged With: cleaning, Frugal Living Tips, Green Living, Saving Money

TMR Frugal Living Tip #70

October 13, 2009 By ThriftyMomma 4 Comments

Today’s thrifty living tip is make your own cleaners. You are literally pouring money down the drain along with caustic chemicals. I put vinegar in a small spray bottle to use for counters, the sink, and cutting boards. It disinfects and won’t hurt anyone if ingested including kids and pets. This would also be great for high chairs and cleaning kids toys. I also use vinegar in the toilet bowl and bathroom sinks. Vinegar makes a great fabric softener and disinfects my towels and sheets. To clean vinyl floors I again reach for vinegar. It cleans my floors well and the smell usually goes away within twenty minutes.

For my stove top, I make a paste of baking soda and water. Just be careful not to get it close to the burner openings. I let it sit for 20 minutes, and just remove with a cloth and warm water. I may have to use a little elbow grease on the burnt on stuff, but this usually loosens it up making it easy to clean. There are lots of great recipes on the internet so just google homemade cleaners.

Filed Under: cleaning, Frugal Living Tips, Green Living, saving money Tagged With: cleaning, Frugal Living Tips, Saving Money

Frugal vs Green

April 28, 2009 By ThriftyMomma 2 Comments

Lately I’m noticing a new trend. More people are turning to books or sites about frugal living or living more simply. Many of these same people also want to help the environment. You can actually do both. For centuries people have practiced both, and it’s only become more of a trend in the last few decades. I do find it funny how thrift was considered cheap, but being “green” is cool and hip. I love these new buzz words. Most of the frugal tips I practice daily, not only save me money, but they are good for the environment. I wrote an earlier article about Reduce, reuse, and recycling. All of these ideas save money and are good for the environment.

Many companies are also trying to cash in on being green and “All Natural”. Clorox has come out with a whole new line of natural cleaners. I don’t have a problem with companies using non-toxic ingredients. I think it’s great, but you will pay a lot more for them. If you really want all natural ingredients, then just make your own cleaners or use these ingredients to clean your house. I use baking soda and vinegar on a regular basis for all my cleaning. The bottom line is research many of these new cleaners, and you might be surprised by the actual ingredients. Lessen your use of energy and resources like water will also accomplish both goals. There are tons of ways to your reduce your consumption so I’m not going to list them. Many of these ideas are very old fashioned that have been practiced for generations.

Filed Under: cleaning, Frugal Living Tips, Green Living, ramblings Tagged With: cleaning, Frugal Living Tips, Green Living

TMR Frugal Living Tip #62

March 31, 2009 By ThriftyMomma 5 Comments

Today’s thrifty living tip is reuse your newspapers before throwing into a recycling bin. There are many ways to reuse your daily newspaper, but I’ll highlight a few of the more popular ideas. None of these ideas are meant for the colorful glossy ads.

Make packaging material by shredding them. This is easier if you already have a paper shredder.

Use it in the garden as a way to stop weeds. Again only use the black and white sections. Open the papers and lay them flat on the row or area you want to use them and wet them down with the garden hose.

Use shredded paper in the compost pile. You don’t need a lot but it makes a great addition.

Use sections of the paper to wipe glass or windows. It doesn’t leave any streaks but you will have to wash your hands afterwards.

You can use the Sunday comics as gift wrapping paper.

Of course old paper can make great hats for kids. There are several great sites that will show you how to do this on the internet.

We use old paper when we have crawfish or any kind of seafood boil. My inlaws just chunk the paper along with the peelings into a hole. It breaks down so it doesn’t go in the trash. Of course he does this in the cane fields that he owns. This idea might not be viable for just anyone.

Filed Under: cleaning, Frugal Living Tips, gardening, Green Living Tagged With: cleaning, Frugal Living Tips, Gardening, Green Living

TMR Frugal Living Tip #57

January 20, 2009 By ThriftyMomma Leave a Comment

Today’s thrifty living tip is use a pumice stone to clean hard water stains. This works really well with porcelain sinks, toilets, and even tubs. You can buy them at Lowes or any hardware store. We have an older toilet plus hard water. So deposits will build up over time, and it’s the original toilet to our 50 year old house. You do have to apply some elbow grease and it took out all the old stains. The inside looks brand new again. They are relatively cheap and I think I paid under $4 with tax. It’s a lot cheaper than most chemicals and it’s not toxic. I would recommend putting on a pair of latex gloves first.