I am looking for suggestions for inexpensive gifts for school age children. My daughter is 4, and in preschool. We're starting to receive lots of invites to Birthday parties, which I love. I want her to make lots of friends. However, I'm guessing if I spend $15 to $20 on every kid during the year, I'll be broke come spring. Any suggestions?
This is a picture I painted for our local County Clerk. It is in her office at the Court House. She is very patriotic and asked me to do a painting with the American Flag and an eagle.
Thinking about it, it seems to me that the greatest thrifty tip is employing ingenuity! If you have a household problem, look at the conventional way of tackling it (which probably costs lots of money), and then try to turn it around to a more frugal option. Usually it involves being crafty and doing things yourself, but it is also usual that the outcome is much more satisfactory!
If you get a lot of clothes for Christmas or a birthday, there is one thing to do: split your closet into sections. Like sweaters, long sleeves, short sleeves, and so on. Then organize by color group, all the same colors together. If you have shoes, organize them by type; like high heels, sneaks, boots an so on. Also for type of occasion; like party, wedding, sports, work an so on. It will also work with jewelry, head gear, dishes, movies and books too.
By Haley from Georgetown, DE
Organize Your Closet
Raise the closet pole up high but under the top shelf. Depending on the size of your closet, one side could be for the short items and the other for the long. Purchase ready-made book case type storage units (Lowe's) and put it on one side, I used two side-by-side and made an extra shelf for each one. You can store a lot of your sweaters, T-shirts, shorts, jeans, etc. on the shelves, much like they stack them in retail stores. There is storage room near the floor - to store shoes on the floor.
Everything is neat and very visible. Use larger plastic storage boxes for out of season items and store on the top shelf. You will find that you have more dresser draw space and less hanging of blouse type items in the closet.
Closet organizing units sold tend to be expensive if you buy the whole unit! Each situation will be different. Use your imagination.
First, get rid of stuff you don't wear. If you can't tell what you don't wear, he's how to figure that out: Hang up EVERYTHING! Start with sleeveless shirts (even t-shirts) and organize them by color. Move on to short sleeve, then long, etc. When you can see how much you have of one type of clothing and how many of each color, it's easier to see what you never really wear. Of course, there are items you don't wear often but want to keep. But you'll see colors you don't even look good in (mine's yellow) and colors that don't "go" with anything you have. Once you have thinned out how much clothing you have, it will be easy to put things away.
I got this idea from the store I work in which hangs everything up and organizes by type of clothing and color. I did this to see what I really needed and what I didn't. The other piece of this puzzle was to decide how many of each thing I needed. NOT clothing I wanted, but needed. Nobody needs 14 of anything. The less you have, the less you have to take care of. The less you have to take care of, the fewer resources you will have to use to care for those things. It's a win-win for you and the world.
Use COLORED HANGERS to organize. Example: use RED hangers for Dress Clothes; WHITE hangers for T-shirts; BLUE hangers for School Uniforms. Then be sure to hang all the same colored hangers together.
By Anna
Tops and Skirts
Closets were just a suggestion when my house was built, they are so small. I wear knit tops with skirts everyday to work. I use hangers for knits with prints and fold solid colors in a dresser drawer. When wearing a skirt with print, I just go to the drawer and find matching color. With the prints hanging it's easier to see the designs.
By Sandy
Keeping Accessories for Outfits Handy
When putting outfits, in your closet, that have certain accessories, put them close by. So when you're dressing in a hurry, everything is close at hand and you won't have to go searching for that belt, scarf, tie, etc. This would be especially helpful, if for some reason, a pal had to go to your house to pick out an outfit for you.
By Terri from NV
Work Outfits
I like to hang necklaces, belts, pins, etc. that go with an outfit right in the hanger with the clothing. I try to set up my work outfits on Sunday afternoons, it makes for faster weekday mornings. It also gives me a chance to inspect these outfits for, snags, loose buttons, necessary ironing, etc. I look great all week and manage a few extra minutes sleep each morning!
By Terry
Hanging Pants and Skirts
Use safety pins or clothes pins to attach clothing like skirts, pants, shorts to wire clothing hangers, in case you don't have the convenient clip hangers like they have in stores, for your closets. I like using these pins instead of folding and draping the clothing over the hanger. This way, if your clothing has been hanging for a while, it doesn't have dust across the top of the fold, which is hard to get off.
Keep and eye out for old windows with wood frames at yard sales. They can be made into rustic looking picture frames. Find pictures that are a little smaller than the window and use a matte, which can be found at any craft store, to give it a finished look. Use tape or staples (put in sideways) to hold the pictures and mattes in place. Multi-pane windows can be used to frame multiple pictures. An inexpensive way to find artwork or pictures to frame is to use old calendar pages.
Squeeze bottles like the ones restaurants often use for ketchup and mustard can be great for condiments in your kitchen. If make your own salad dressing or buy it bulk, you can transfer the dressing to squeeze bottles for easy use. Squeeze bottles also work well for mayonnaise, jelly and many other condiments that usually come in jars.
I was buying the storebrand instant oatmeal, or Quaker when a coupon was available, but now our family is cutting back on sugar. I buy the largest container of store brand Quick Oats, add my own cinnamon or chopped up apple, walnuts, etc, whatever you like to add. I put all the ingredients in a microwave safe bowl add water and cook, put some low fat milk on it and enjoy. If you don't have time for breakfast at home, put the ingredients in a container and add water at work, then microwave. You just may have to do without the milk unless there is a small refrigerator at the office.
Pillows are hard on our washers. To clean them, either take them to the laundromat and use their machines. Or, sprinkle with baking soda, or your favorite scent of carpet fresh, Febreeze, etc. and put them outside in the sunshine. Remember to turn them several times and to keep them directly in the sun. Smells clean and fresh, and saves wear and tear on your washing machine.
We lost a male lab with parvo. We had Cheyanne and Dakota, both around 6 months old. They were raised in the same yard and both were on their shots. But Dakota still caught Parvo and we lost him at the vet's office. Chey quit eating and lost all her enthusiasm to play. We then looked and found another male so we brought in Cocomeaux. I treated the inside and out with bleach. After almost 2 weeks, Cocomeaux started showing signs of Parvo. But one thing that saved us this round, I did research on the net and found this stuff called Parvoguard. We ordered it just to have it.
The day it arrived at home, we walked in to a mess. All symptoms were there for parvo. We started him on the Parvoguard and, let me tell you, I keep it all the time now. When anyone shows signs of the tummys messed up, I give them a dose and they seem to do better with it. So let me tell you, look up Parvoguard on the net. It's around $35.00 a bottle, but it beats the suffering you and your pet go through, not to mention the cost. So just try it! I promise it's a life saver.
If you are serving cake or pie with ice cream, save time by preparing the ice cream scoops before the party. Just scoop ice cream into large muffin tins with cupcake liners. Then cover them plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn and put them in the freezer until needed.
Preschoolers often have a hard time knowing which shoe goes on which foot. One easy way to help them is to draw a small smiley face on the side of the sole so that the faces smile at each other when the shoes are on the correct feet. Using a pen or permanent marker works well for tennis shoes. You could use a white-out pen for shoes with a black sole.
By glowgirl from Watertown, WI
Mark Dominant Side
My kindergartner was having trouble figuring out which shoe goes on which foot, so I tried the following, and she has had no trouble since. Here's how it works.
Determine which hand is dominant. In my daughter's case, she's a "rightie". So, I took her right shoe, drew a big red star on the inside of her shoe, right on top of the size number, where her heel rests in the shoe (so that, when on, her heel is on top of the star). I made sure the marker I used was permanent, a Sharpie is what I used, but any permanent marker will work.
I then explained to her that the shoe with a star in it goes on her right foot, which is on the same side of her body as the hand she writes with. Like I said, after I did this, she's had no more trouble putting her shoes on the correct feet, and she feels empowered because she can do it herself.
This will work for "lefties", too, except the star should be in the left shoe instead of the right.
By Melissa R.
Mark The Big Toes
Use a magic marker and draw a star or dot on the outside of the shoe by the big toe area. When the child can put his shoes on and the stars touch, then they have their shoes on the right foot.
By Sharon
Teach Them "Left"
Also teach your child that the left pointer finger and thumb form the letter "L". then printer the letter "L" on the inside of the left shoe. this also helps the child learn their letters.
After the holidays we often have copies of photos of our kids that lack the quality fit for using in a scrapbook. Some of these photos have a good picture of your child but there is a problem with someone or something else in the photo. So, instead of "chucking" these photos, make use of them for Valentines Day. Cut out your child's photo from the print, and use it to make a one-of-a-kind Valentine. I worked on this project one year with my son, and we had a blast writing captions to fit the photos. For example, one photo had him messily licking icing from a bowl. The caption read, "You and I can lick anything together, Valentine." With a photo of a funny face we added, "Be my Valentine, and we'll have lots of fun together." Now, with the use of digital cameras, the applications of creating personalized Valentines is limitless.
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I am looking for the manual or setting explanation for WestBend 41026 Breadmaker. My mother inlaw misplaced hers. I have searched and found the one for just a meal. I requested the manual from a site but haven't heard anything back. I even tried to the 1 hour loaf, it didn't work.
I evidently failed cutting things out in kindergarten. I am trying to cut out, traced cardboard template, shapes of flowers, etc. but can't seem to get them to look good. What else can i do? do i need a "die cutter"?
Every once in a while my terrier will eat plastic bags and then vomit them back up, in pieces, of course. Does any one have a clue as to why he does this?
I need help with my pineapple plant. I grew a pineapple and just removed it to eat. But what do I do with the stalk it grew on? Do i cut it out of the center of plant or just leave it?
Can anyone tell me how to fry chicken livers without having grease pop all over. My husband and oldest son love them but I hate fixing them because I get splattered on every time I fry them. I tried boiling first but that didn't work. Help!
I have loads of those plug in air fresheners and I have been trying to find ways of refilling them with my own scents. I have tried using water, oil and water mix, oil, scented perfumes, etc and none of them seem to work. Has anyone found a way of re-filling these with their own scents?
I live in Phoenix Arizona and we have had some pretty cold weather lately, in the 20's some mornings. We have around 30 hibiscus planted along the front of our house and they are not looking too good. Is there anything we can do to nurse them back or not? I think the cold weather is over now. We need some suggestions please!
I was wondering if anyone knows if digital clocks which work but which are missing part of the display can be fixed. I have a microwave which is missing several segments of the LED/LCD display -- so much so that many numbers are hard to read -- and a clock radio which just recently is missing one of its segments.
I am looking for suggestions for inexpensive gifts for school age children. My daughter is 4, and in preschool. We're starting to receive lots of invites to Birthday parties, which I love. I want her to make lots of friends. However, I'm guessing if I spend $15 to $20 on every kid during the year, I'll be broke come spring. Any suggestions?
(Putting the Leaves on Your Family Tree - Part Three)
Well, by now if you have been working on this, you have lots of family information and treasures stored. When most of us are working on our genealogy, we find it's a piece of cake to find out about our parents or grandparents but getting information on great grandparents can be a little harder. Genealogy is kind of like a treasure hunt and history lesson all in one. Now if you are lucky, you have found some member of your family that has a written genealogy already prepared or a family member with a Bible that contains this information. If this has happened to you, you may want to research further. There are many areas that you still can explore. If you have found out that you are the only member of your family researching, I will give you many places you can go.
Winter weather can be fun, but it can also lead to "cabin fever." With long winter weeks ahead, create a list of activities that can keep kids entertained without costing a penny. Post the list of free activities on the fridge and create a checklist of things to be done before the first flower pokes through the frozen ground.
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This is a picture I painted for our local County Clerk. It is in her office at the Court House. She is very patriotic and asked me to do a painting with the American Flag and an eagle.
