Homemade Playdoh!

Thanks to Thrifty Reader Leah for this great idea! I can't wait to make this for my little one.

Ingredients: 
4 cups flour
2 cups salt
4 cups water
8 tsp cream of tartar
6 TBSP oil
food coloring
 
Directions:
Mix together in a large saucepan. Cook until it holds together and pulls away from pan. Cool and knead. You may add peppermint or almond extract for scent if you wish. 

ENJOY!


Also, while browsing the net, I came across another recipe from CupCake KidCafe. It uses Koolaid!

With either recipe, I strongly recommend you let your bigger kids help you make this. It will be a fun science experiment for them, and then they can play with it later! But remember, safety first.

Be sure to post pics if you try this!

Homemade Wine

Thrifty Reader Christine told me one of her biggest areas of unnecessary spending is wine. I'm not a wine fan, myself, but it's one of those things I wish I liked (similar to coffee, which I don't like either). So many options make it intriguing!

This link is all about homemade wine (this is obvious once you click on it).

In this link, I found a whole host of recipes on making your own wine. They even break it down by what you can make the wine with. Herb wine? Really?

I'm not sure this will save you all that much given the ingredients, equipment, and time you'll need, but at least you'll have a great experience!

This is definitely not all the information out there, but hopefully it will help you move in the right direction!

DIY: Flokati Rug for Under $25

Thanks to Thrifty Reader Amanda for sharing this great tutorial.

A fair warning, the rug might only cost you pennies, but it will take a LOT of time. This is great though if you are looking for a project. SUPER easy and inexpensive. The results are fabulous!

Own a Home without a Mortgage

I came across this video and couldn't help but share it. Maybe you're not into exactly what they do, but you could certainly learn tips of ingenuity, minimalism, and contentment. While *I* wouldn't do this, my husband likely would it if we could figure out where to put three kids. He's hard core like that.

 

Shotgun Shack

This family of 3 lives in a 320 sq ft house and even homeschool their son. They run a business next door. It is all simplifying and focusing on "what you have and not what you don't have." They even have a guest bed. I think this is a great idea if you can make it work. Discuss what you think in the comments.

Thanks to my friend Coot for sharing the link with me!

Thrifty Reader Request: Saving with Your Dog

If you have a pet, you get to experience the joys of a friendly companion. They can become like members of the family. And like all members of the family, they cost money. Whether you have one or you are considering buy a dog, here are some ways you can save the cash but still enjoy man's best friend. I hope these help!

• If you are really strapped for cash and can't even pay your bills, now is not the time to buy a dog. This article discusses why pets are expensive and says that Americans spend $30 BILLION annually on their pets.

Me and my pup, Delilah

• Buy a small dog. - We are just THAT frugal. Lol. We have a chihuahua. I got her from a home that rescued one dog and bought a shelter dog. My pup cost me $75 before shots. When you compare that to the hundreds of dollars that other people spend just to buy a dog, I'd say we got a pretty good deal. Smaller dogs also eat less, use fewer toys, make less mess, and take up less space.

• If you already have a bigger dog, consider buying food in bulk. For my chihuahua, we buy 25lb bags when they go on sale. This one bag lasts over a year. Your bigger dog will go through it faster, but you plan on feeding them, so go ahead and buy it. You can keep the big bag in the garage and fill up a small container to store in your cabinet for everyday use.

• Do not buy food at your vet or go all fancy with the food. Check the ingredients the next time you're in the pet aisle. Many brands use the same ingredients and some are just cheaper than others.

• Also, to save your money and your dog's life, don't overfeed it. You go through food quicker and obesity in dogs can create problems for their joints and energy.

• Consider doing away with buying name brand treats and start making your own from scratch. This website has some awesome recipes, and the ingredients are likely already in your cabinets.

Another cute pic of Delilah

• Buy toys at garage sales. Gently used toys work great and cost a fraction of the price.

• Your vet will charge a ton for services that could easily be done elsewhere. You can get your vaccinations at pet stores or animal welfare agencies at a lower cost. 

• Make sure you get the shots done on time. Preventative maintenance is a great way to save money in the long run.

• If you think there may be something wrong with your pup, search the internet for home remedies first. If you are still concerned, call your vet. Be sure to price around as well.

• Groom your dog at home. For thicker coats, make sure you brush regularly. This will save you a headache for when you go to wash the pup. For small dogs or somewhat large dogs, your bathtub will serve a great place to do this. If you are worried about hair clogging the drain, invest $3 in a drain net. When it is warmer, you can wash/groom your dog outside. If you'd like a good tutorial, this video was helpful.

10 Thrifty-Friendly Mother's Day Gifts for Under $15

Alrighty, Thrifty Readers, you have less than a week to come up with something for your mama for Mother's Day.

You want to get her something, but don't have much money? The biggest piece of frugal advice I can give you is to be creative, and put your effort into it.

Dads of small children, I am mostly talking to you. Don't drop the ball. Read this and do something for your wife on behalf of your children. These gifts can obviously be given to your own mom, but let's not forget the moms whose kids are too young to do this stuff on their own. If you just plan on saying, "Happy Mother's Day" to her, I will smack you.

On with the fun!

1. [free] Let her sleep in. Especially to the dads small children, even if this is the only thing you do for her all day, she will be glad she married you. She might not even find herself with a headache tonight, if you know what I mean.
2. [free] Spend time with her! Just treat her like the queen she is. Don't make her lift a finger.
3. [<$1] Make a card with a special message from the heart. Show her how much you appreciate everything she does. Even if it looks like you designed it with your eyes closed, it will mean so much.
4. [<$15] Make her a meal. I don't care if you have to open every cabinet in your kitchen to find something and dinner ends up being at 3 hours late, the effort you put in will be noticed.
5. [$13.75] I found this great zipper wallet by Bumble Sweet Designs that sells for $10.50. Even with shipping, you're still under $15. It's so cute, and who wouldn't love something new and handmade. This won't arrive in time, but you can make an IOU in that great card you made.
6. [$8] Etsy really is a great place to find amazing stuff. I found these earrings for $6 by Alililly. Shipping is only $2, so you really can't go wrong.
7. [$9.99] Walgreens has great photo gifts. You can make your mom a calendar of the most awesome people in her world: her kids! This calendar only costs $9.99 and you can start it at any month you want.
8. [$14.88] Does your mom already have photos printed from your special event but neglected to put them in frames? You can get her this great 5-piece frame set from Walmart.
9. [$8.79] And what woman doesn't love to be pampered? Target has these great bath sets that smell great!
10. [$11.25] Kohl's has a great sale going on right now. You can get this great FAMILY frame for less than half of what it regularly is.

 I hope these ideas help you find something for that special lady in your life. Make sure you treat her well. She brought you into this world; she can take you out of it.

To the moms reading this, feel free to leave it open for your children (or husband) to read. :-)

Homemade Laundry Soap (Liquid)

This is an easy way for you to start saving money. It is a great "experiment" to do with your kids, it saves money, and after you make it, your home smells unbelievably clean for days.

There are likely a hundred recipes on the internet for laundry soap. This is the one that we've found works the best, and we've been using it for almost three years.

All in all, you end up saving about 85% on laundry soap for however long you decide to do it. It takes about 15 minutes, will last about 64 loads (or 128 loads if you have a High Efficiency washer), and the ingredients will last for about a year or more. It does a great job for normal laundry. If you have a load of extra soiled laundry, you might want to add a scoop of OxyClean or use your leftover regular stuff.

All of the ingredients are found in the laundry aisle. Look high and low for them. They are there. If you happen to use a small store that might not have everything like Walmart, you can try asking a manager to order it for you. It's worth it. Trust me.


Ingredients/Supplies:

1 bar of Fels Naptha - a really strong bar soap for laundry (you will use one 3rd of this per batch) **You can buy a different type of soap, but you might need to use the whole bar in that case**

1 box of Washing Soda - We bought Arm & Hammer

1 box of Borax - We bought 20 Mule

A two gallon bucket (with or without a lid. We covered ours with a towel)

A whole bunch of tap water




Directions:

Use a cheese grater to shred 1/3 of the Bar of soap (you may need to use the whole bar if you bought something other than Fels Naptha)

Bring 6 cups of water to a high temp (doesn't matter if it's boiling or not) with the soap in it. (You can add the soap before or after it boils)

Keep stirring until all of the soap melts

Add 1/2 cup Borax and a 1/2 cup of Washing Soda and stir until it dissolves

Put 4 cups of warm-hot water into the bucket (we let the 4 cups boil in another pot while we were messing with the rest of the soap mixture)

Stir in soap mixture

Add 1 gallon and 6 cups of warm-hot water to the bucket and stir

Let it sit for 24 hours to gel

The end product will be a mixture of solid gel and water (similar to the texture of egg noodle soup)

This batch will last about 64 loads. If you want to add fragrance, you do that when you're boiling all of it.

Use a 1/2 cup of laundry soap per load. If you have an HE washer, use 1/4 cup per load.

We bought/found a pot, spoon, cup, and cheese grater that we will only use for this. I think that as long as you wash it with dish soap it will be fine, but we did that just in case. We also poured half our mixture into an old All container for easier use. Since it didn't all fit, we just left the rest in the bucket and covered it with a towel.

I'd say try it. Even if you decide that you don't like using the laundry soap or whatever, the ingredients individually are great for cleaning laundry, the kitchen, and the bathroom. They are also all natural, so you can feel like your being green at the same time!

I also know of a dry homemade laundry soap recipe, but you're just going to have to wait for that one!