Throwing away that empty salsa jar? STOP AND READ FIRST!

Remember the December post about Redneck Travel Kits? Well, as I mentioned, I have an obsession with jars - - big, little, short, tall, skinny.....glass and even plastic. I like 'em all. I die a little inside when I am at someone's house and see such useful articles discarded, tossed away in the garbage can like an old shoe. Hmm....an old shoe (an old L.L. Bean boot in particular) MIGHT make a cute container for a marigold on the porch in the summertime....but I digress! Back to the jars. I rounded up a few recycled jars that are just plain fun, frugal and fabulous. Indeed, I (and my sister) saw the potential for that which is typically trashed.

Here's a reminder of the results of a year's worth of jar-saving and freebie-requesting. I think it is a super great way to reuse and recycle an old jar:

BUT, that's not the only cool thing you can do with a jar. Check this out:

What a lineup......let's talk about 'em, left to right:

1. The first jar with the cute grasshopper is actually not a glass jar, but a plastic jar that began life holding stinky (yet dee-lish) pickled bologna. My parents gave me some cool old books, some of which included a paperback song book. I decided it wouldn't be too awful to sacrifice just a few pages to decoupage onto a couple of jars, so decoupage I did! To finish the top a bit, I simply wrapped some off-white yarn around the jar and glued the ends.
2. This short little jar was a glass salsa jar. I wanted another one to match the taller one, so this was perfect! Big brother and little brother. Or father and son.
3. This little cutie was made by my sister and was given to me for Christmas. She scrubbed it up, cleaned off the gooey label and painted the lid a cool chalkboard black followed by my initial in white. Then she filled it with some yummy smelling potpourri. What an elegant yet simple project!
4. Mr. Barilla pasta sauce jar is still humbly working full time behind the scenes in the food storage industry. However, in his retirement, he serves as a container for rice instead of pungent spaghetti sauce. This suits me and my kitchen cabinets perfectly. You see, Mr. Barilla is akin to a bad liar. You can see right through him and his other jar friends. This makes it oh so easy for me to keep tabs on my rice and dry goods inventory!
5. If you read about how to make sweet tea the other day, then you've already seen the last suspect in the lineup. This was a little relish jar that was just the right size to sit perched on a candlestick from Dollar Tree. I am sorry to say, but I don't really remember what brand of adhesive I used to attach the top and bottom. BUT, hot glue does NOT work, FYI. Most adhesives will list on the back if they are appropriate for adhering glass, so just read up on it. Also FYI, there is a very similar looking drinking vessel (they called it a Redneck Wine Glass) on walmart.com right now priced at $19.95 for a set of four. With tax, that's a little over 5 bucks for each glass. Now why would you do that when you can make a set of four with four free jars that you've saved, $4 worth of candlesticks and MAYBE a $3 - $4 tube of adhesive?!?

Well, whadda ya say? Are you inspired yet? Make your garbageman happier with less heavy trash bags and keep those jars! You've got craftin' to do. Have a fun, frugal and fabulous week, from our house to yours!

A thankful heart: It's not just for Thanksgiving anymore

I consider frugality as something that enriches my life and my family's life by helping to supply our household with the things it needs, as well as many of the things it wants. I have been blessed with the ability to be creative with the resources that I have and make meaningful things out of items others would literally consider to be trash. For that, I am THANKFUL to God. I have stated before that I feel like God helps lead me to the deals and freebies that I find, and I truly believe that! My various internet, clearance shelf and yard sale finds made such a big difference to me, my family and our budget over the past couple of years.

I would like to approach this fresh new year with a heart of thankfulness. I know as well as anybody that it is sometimes hard to have a thankful heart when you are in the throes of a difficult situation, but deliberately finding SOMETHING to be thankful for each day is necessary for your own happiness.

So, what are the things for which I am thankful? Here is a list in no particular order:

• My church. The congregation of Bronston First Baptist in Bronston, Kentucky was warm and welcoming form the first time we ever stepped foot through the door. We officially joined the rolls last year (my husband and I by letter and my son by baptism - YAY!).
• My salvation by the blood of Jesus Christ. Need I say more? Without this, NOTHING ELSE MATTERS ONE BIT! It amazes me that God would want to do a thing for somebody like me. I sure don't deserve it, but He loves me anyway. I know this because He sent His Son as a sacrificial lamb not only for me, but for you as well. It is a lot for my mind to even comprehend, quite honestly.
• My family, both immediate and extended. Sure, every now and then they make me wanna yelp like a loon, but I love them very much. They support me in whatever it is I do, they have wiped my tears and shared my joys. I have also learned that not everybody is blessed to have others in their lives that care about them or even acknowledge that they exist. I must add that "family" includes Puppy and Leonard, my dogs! God sent these two "Good Guys" to me, as He knew I needed them.
• A place to live. Not only do I have a place to live that is warm in the winter and cool in the summer, but I live in the kind of place that I always wanted to live: a ranch-style house in a subdivision that is convenient to town. Many people dream of mansions, fancy cars and tropical vacations, but I really don't care about those things. I am truly happy right where I am. As a matter of fact, I have felt guilt many times while driving past run-down old houses and trailers inhabited by people who simple are not able to do any better.
• My job. Most everybody complains about their job. I complain about my job, too. But - truth is, my family wouldn't be where we are without it. Thank you Lord for giving me a good job!
• Plenty of food to eat. We eat a lot of hot dogs, soup and hamburger helper-type meals, but we do NOT go without. No matter what has happened, God has always seen to it that there is food in our cabinets.
• Being blessed to live in America. We have so many freedoms in this country that many cannot even imagine. Enjoy them - - including your freedom to be FUN, FRUGAL AND FABULOUS!

I challenge you to make a conscious effort each and every day to find ONE thing to be thankful for. Maybe thinking of that "thing" will diminish the severity of the trials of the day, if only a little bit. 

Here's wishing you a fun, frugal and fabulous week, from our house to yours!

How to Get Your Mailbox to Deliver Loads of FREEBIES

Good Monday everyone! I hope and pray that everybody is staying warm. As I write this post, it is all of 3 degrees outside. Wow.

Neal: "What do you think the temperature is?" Del: "One".

~~ Planes, Trains & Automobiles

The motto of the postal service says: "Neither rain, nor sleet, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds". My mailman certainly stayed true to his words this fine morning as he and his trusty little jeep slid through the treacherous streets of Oak Ridge subdivision. Indeed, quite a bounty I received in freebies today, BUT I will save the specifics for the next Saturday Mail Call this weekend!

So, can you get all sorts of goodies, gadgets and thingamabobs to the point to where it seems like Christmas year round? Sure. There are all kinds of websites and blogs devoted to all things free and cheap, but I mainly stick to four different ones. Any other sites mostly seem to duplicate each other. Some just seem "seedy" and "virusy" (is that a word?).

HOWEVER, here are the sites I trust, have great luck with and check into daily:

Hip2Save:  http://www.hip2save.com

Free Stuff Times:  http://www.freestufftimes.com

Free Stuff Finder:  http://www.freestufffinder.com

Mommy Saves Big:  http://www.free-product-samples.blogspot.com

Useful Tips: 

• Stick to the most recent posts on these sites. Don't click on any of the archives on the sides of the post, as most of the offers there are expired and you will just end up annoyed! 
• Create another email address specifically for freebie finding. Many offers require you to give them your email address, and you might not want to keep cleaning house in your regular inbox!
• Most (if not all) the offers I have ever found on these sites have been legitimate. BUT - I do not personally give any financial information to any company for any reason. You never know.....
• Check each of these sites DAILY. It only takes a few minutes on each site to check out the newest posts. If you don't check every day or two you might miss something fab!

Well, folks, there you have it! Happy hunting and have a fun, frugal and fabulous day from our house to yours!

Saturday Mail Call!

MAIL CALL!

Good Saturday everybody! At the end of each week, I would like to share with you everything that I have received FREE in the mail for the week. Like I have said before, free stuff in my mailbox soften's the blow of the bills that usually lurk inside. So........what have I received this week? It may have been a tiny bit of a light week due to the holiday, but just take a look at all the loot below:

Yep, my mailbox yielded a nice crop this week. (Thanks, Keith the Mailman). Here's what I got:

4 Wheel & Off-Road Magazine, a pack of Bicycle Steam Punk playing cards (in from of the 4 wheel mag), 2014 Betty Crocker calendar with tear out recipe cards, Six coupons from My Coke Rewards for a FREE 12 pack of a Coca-Cola product, Forbes magazine and Two Scholastic books. 

FYI - - my mailman was sooooo generous last year that I left him a Christmas card with a Lindt gourmet chocolate bar (gotten free at Walgreen's with coupons, of course) in my mailbox. Now how, you might ask, can you start reaping such a postal harvest? Well, I PROMISE my next post will be on my sources. I don't mind to share because I believe God leads me to all these deals. You know, I rarely keep any of my freebies anyway. I usually share them with others, and many of them are nice enough to give as gifts - - particularly when paired with items I have purchased at a really good price. I have actually made a Gift Closet in the spare bedroom in my home to house the fruits of my efforts. It sure was nice to be able to do the bulk of my shopping from my own gift closet this past December instead of braving the stores.

So - - you can expect a post on freebie sources AND how to make a gift closet in the near future! Have a fun, frugal and fabulous day, from our house to yours.

Who said there is no such thing as free lunch??

With the start of the New Year, many are thinking more about resolutions, and those resolutions often involve MONEY.   Resolving to do better with finances for many means less eating out. Never fear, help is on the way! There are still some ways to satisfy that thirst or hunger fix when you are out and about. Did you know there are many restaurants that will GIVE you food just for signing up to get their emails? Remember, you can always unsubscribe at any time. I honestly can't count the number of things I have eaten for free this past year, but somehow, things TASTE BETTER when you don't have to shell out hard earned cashola for it *wink*. Some of the offers that I took advantage of last year, such as a free Frisch's Big Boy and a free Fish Meal from Captain D's are expired, sadly. BUT..........

Here is the list of places that I have personally found to still be offering deals. It is certainly not an all-inclusive list, as I have really only included the places that are available to me locally in Somerset, Kentucky. If you plan on doing any travelling and want to save money on meals, it is worth doing a simple google search for restaurants in that area that may offer free food with email signups.

1.  Penn Station:  "Sign up Today for a Free Sub"

Go to http://www.penn-station.com. On the right side of the screen, there is a drop down menu where you can select a location. Penn Station restaurants appear to only be located in KY, IN, VA, WV, TN, MI, MO, SC and OH. Once you have selected a city, fill in the information requested. Within minutes, a printable coupon for a free sub will arrive in your inbox. Here's the good part: if your family members also have email, they, too, can sign up to receive a toasty and delicious sub! It is one per person. So - - as long as each person has their own separate coupon when they order, everyone can eat for free! This may be TOO frugal for some of you, but if you want to dine in TOTALLY free, you can always order ice water. I prefer it most of the time anyway....

2.  Fazoli's:  Join the Fazoli's eFamily for FREE spaghetti!

Simply go to http://www.fazolis.com/efamily to sign up for their email club. Not only will you receive a printable coupon for a FREE spaghetti with marinara or meat sauce AND breadsticks (two if you carry out, but UNLIMITED if you dine in ), but you will also receive a free printable dessert coupon on your birthday plus other coupons and promotional info throughout the year. like the Penn Station offer, family members may sign up as well. Again, dine in, order ice water and enjoy as many breadsticks you want with your meal. And, for the record, no dirty looks from Fazoli's staff!  They were all very nice and helpful.

3.  Dunkin' Donuts: FREE medium beverages

When you visit http://www.dunkindonuts.com, you will see a tab at the top right hand corner that says My Dunkin'. Sign up to become a member and you will receive not one, but TWO medium drinks of your choice! They are sent via postal mail with the first arriving a couple of weeks after requested, and the second one arriving near your birthday. Don't like coffee? No problem. Dunkin Donuts has sweet tea, hot chocolate, and a variety of Coolattas such as the very yummy Berry Blast. And they even pile on the whipped cream if you want!

4. Firehouse Subs: Birthday FREE sub

When your birthday does roll around, you can throw back that free Dunkin Donuts Coolatta with a tasty Firehouse Sub. From their website: "Just show an I.D. with your birth date on your birthday and you'll get a FREE medium celebratory sub". Nothing to print, so this one is the easiest of all. Well, okay! Will do!

5. Kroger Free Friday Downloads

Okay, so this isn't restaurant food or drink, but it is FREE, nonetheless. Maybe you are tired of running the roads and just wanna eat your lunch at home. If you shop at Kroger and have a Kroger Plus card (it's free, so why not?), one of the perks is the Free Friday Download. Each Friday there is a new coupon for a free item that you can download THAT DAY ONLY, no other purchase required. Today, it happens to be a free Jeno's Pizza. Other Fridays may offer non-food items such as shampoo. Simply go to http://www.kroger.com to sign up to link your card to the account. There are many other advantages of signing up besides the Free Friday Download - - tons of coupons to load directly to the card instead of searching and clipping, easily keep track of fuel points and view the sales circular.

Alrighty, that's it for now.  I will certainly keep you posted if something new comes about, and you can let ME know in the comment section below if you know of other tasty deals. Happy munching!

Sweet tea, anybody?

You know, you just can't beat a good cold glass of sweet tea. This is probably not news at all to any of you, but up until recently, I didn't really realize I could make my own at home easily.  Other than with those powdered "kool-aid"-style drink mixes, anyway - - and I don't like those. They taste nothing like actual tea. Anyhow, I had been buying sweet tea by the gallon at Kroger and never paying more than about $1.50 a gallon.  Cheap enough, right? For most people, yes. But I am one of those people who enjoys the PROCESS of making things as well as enjoying the end result of the fruits of my labor. So one day my husband bought a box of teas bags at the store. I reluctantly followed the directions on the package, added some sweetnin' and...........hmm......it was surprisingly good! This began my love of making my own tea, and I would like to share my process with you. I learned some tricks that made it easier when making more than just a cup - like making a whole GALLON jug.

I have told you I like to save anything that might be of use to me later on. A well rinsed and cleaned plastic milk jug fits the bill perfectly as a vessel for homemade sweet tea. I mean, that's what they sell it in anyway at the store! Starting with a clean plastic gallon jug, fill it with water. Pour the water into a four quart pot and turn the heat on high until it starts to boil. Here's one trick I learned that made life easier if you use tagless bags: set a metal colander right into the water to hold the tea bags. Once it's time to take them out, all you have to do is lift out the colander and toss the bags into the trash.  Also, if any of the little tea leaves try to escape, the colander sorta helps to hold them in place instead of having yucky floating stuff all in your tea.

Okay, back to the boiling water..... Once it comes to a boil, I just turn off the stove and place 14 tea bags in. Now the kind I get comes as a tagless double package, so I actually only put in 7 double bags. Let that sit (or is the word "steep"? I dunno.....) for about 15 minutes.

While your tea is sitting - or steeping or sleeping or whatever you wanna call it, you can go ahead and add your sugar to the empty gallon jug. I love to use old aluminum kitchen tools, so I use my little metal funnel and measuring cup to make the process easier. You know what a grainy sticky mess sugar can be if it is spilled! I add 1 1/2 to 2 cups of sugar, depending on what I have available.

Remove the colander full of tea bags and allow the tea to cool for probably 30 minutes before you try to transfer it to the jug. The easiest way I have found to transfer the tasty, newly brewed tea is with a glass measuring cup with a spout.

Now, time to clean up your mess while you wait for the tea to cool a little more! After you've cleaned it all up, here's your reward:

I mentioned the cost of a store bought gallon of tea earlier, so what does my tea cost? Here's a rough breakdown:

The tea in the photo is from Dollar General.  I am NOT brand loyal to anything unless something just tastes bad. I am all about value. This box of 100 Smart & Simple tagless teabags cost about $1.25. like I said, I use 14 bags (7 double bags) per gallon. That works out to roughly 7 gallons at a cost of about 18 cents each. Now for the sugar. I usually get a 4 pound bag of Kroger Value brand sugar for around $2.15 on sale. There are about 9 cups of sugar in a 4 pound bag, so that puts each cup at about 24 cents per cup. Since I add 1 1/2 to 2 cups, it costs 48 cents at the most to sweeten my gallon of tea. Cost of container is FREE, of course. 

SO - - the total cost of a gallon of refreshing, homemade sweet tea is a whopping 66 cents! 

Hmm, that DOES beat $1.50 - - by 84 cents, actually. It saved me enough to buy a nice candy bar to enjoy with my sweet tea..........or a pack of gum..........or a small bag of chips.

Have a wonderful and blessed day from our house to yours!

How to Fake a Pressed Tin Backsplash

I would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year! My wish for you is that it will be the best and most blessed year yet. Perhaps you want to try something new this year or have plans to re-do something in your home. Well, here's a little something that may give you some inspiration.

Have you ever seen and admired a backsplash or ceiling all dressed up in pressed tin? Well I had admired them for many years, both in magazines as well as in the homes of a couple of family members. One day I headed out to Lowes to do a little snooping to see if this was something I could do in my own kitchen. Unfortunately, here's what I found (copied from Lowes website):

From www.lowes.com

Ughh.....one 18x24 inch tile for $19.95. And how many would I need?!? I would probably have to buy the adhesive to go along with it too, and whatever else, I don't know. On to Plan B. But just what is Plan B? I really wanted something other than just the blaaaank walllll behind the sink and stove, so I pondered several other options. I thought about other options like cut up pallets, stones and ceramic tiles, but kept running into the same issues - - too difficult, too pricey.......etc, etc. I finally concluded that I really wanted the pressed tin look to go along with my decor, so I searched on. One day I came across a photo of some textured wallpaper that had the same sort of pattern to it as the pressed tin tiles. Best of all, it was less than twenty bucks!!!! So I thought that maybe, just maybe this might work!

From www.lowes.com

In my opinion, the pros were: it's cheap, I can cut it with scissors, I can do ALL of the backsplash with one roll, I can paint it with whatever shade or tint I want, I can remove it later if I get tired of it with little regret of wasted money. The cons - - well, okay, only one "con": If you look closely, you will know it isn't authentic. So, my decision was obvious. I went to Lowe's and bought a double roll of allen+roth brand Paintable Ceiling Tiles Wallpaper for $18.97 + tax. No adhesive was needed, as it was prepasted. The only supplies needed to install it were simple: a tape measure, pencil and a sharp pair of scissors. I didn't fool with buying a wallpaper trough for water, either. I installed it in the kitchen, so the sink was literally right there! The pattern was easy to match up and I had the paper up in one evening! I let the paste dry a couple of days prior to painting it. Fortunately, I had plenty of paint in the garage to mix and match, so I simply mixed up some black, gray and white and painted 'er up! After that dried, I touched up here and there and then sponged on some silver metallic acrylic craft paint, followed by a dry brushing of some gloss black. These paints together gave the wallpaper depth and an authentic metal look. So, without further adieu, here are the before and after shots. Ignore the objects in the pictures. This is the only close-up of the "before" that I could find:

BEFORE: "Plain brown wrapper"

AFTER: Fab and Frugal!

I was thrilled with the results, and still may go over it again with the metallic paint for additional shine. I am still thinking about whether or not to paint the outlets to match....but I am sorta leaning toward no. What do you think? My hope is that this will inspire you to do awesome and creative things while on a budget. Most everything in our house would be considered "builder grade", but I am slowly making it our own! It doesn't matter WHERE you live, really. With a little imagination and some effort, anyplace can be nice if it is your heart's desire.