Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Thrifty Things Lately at Harvest Lane Cottage #149

Welcome to another thrifty week at Harvest Lane Cottage. I am glad you've found me! Each week I share my thrifty and frugal projects, ways of saving money, frugal cooking, and my blessings from God. 
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Thrifty Things Lately at Harvest Lane Cottage!

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Hey y'all!


Let's catch up a bit shall we? Here are some of the thrifty things I've done lately.


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~ Rather than call an exterminator,  I made a batch of this ant poison. It took care of the problem in a matter of hours.

~ I made this skirt using a pattern that was given to me years ago and fabric that my friend Michelle at Ozarks Sew n Sews. 

Thank you Michelle!

~ I mended the neckline of my red sweater to extend its life another year.



~ YouTube is a great place to learn new things for free! I have been watching a few videos about jelly roll rugs. I really need some rugs in my new home. They're pretty, but they want you to buy a jelly roll ($40+), ($12), a pattern, special needles and thread. That's over fifty dollars for something that is going to look like scraps and rags, and it's going to be on the floor! Not exactly thrifty. But, in watcing the videos, I found one about making a clothesline rug. That's new to me, but it's actually old-fashioned.  Here's the video I found by Olmzara's Calm. I really like the look, but the price is amazing! You can use a jelly roll if you want, but you still would have to cut it into 3/4" strips. 

~Using the video, I decided to practice the technique using some scraps of paracord that my son left when he moved out. I also used some scraps from the skirt I sewed earlier this week. I ended up with a little trivet. It wasn't easy, but the second one is going much better. I find that the hardest part is wrapping the fabric around the cord. I hope it will be easier with clothesline.

I decided to practice with scraps of paracord.
I wrapped the cord with strips of fabric left over from making my skirt.
I am using wooden clothespins as a thrifty alternative to Wonder Clips.


I zigzagged the cord in a cinnamon roll fashion.
Result: 2 nice sized trivets or mug rugs.
Total cost: $0

~ I cut my husband's hair and saved $25.

~ I made spicy lentil soup for supper. 


~ I found a little antique cream pitcher that was my mother's to use to measure the detergent. I love how old-fashioned it makes me feel. I use 3/4-1 cup per load.

I used Dawn dish detergent directly on stains. It worked well.

I only wash clothes when they look dirty or smell dirty. This helps them to last longer. It also cuts down on laundry and energy use.

~ I cut up a towel and made cleaning cloths. I zigzagged around the edges to prevent fraying. Fewer paper towels to buy and one fewer towel in the land fill. Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do or Do Without. Another version says Make it Over. I've been doing my share of that this year, too.


The rags are on the left, and the things I mended are on the right.
That's a pair of sleep pants on the bottom.

As you can see, I've been making do and making over lately.

God is so good.
Praise God!

What have you been up to this week?

Laura
Blessed to be a blessing

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#thriftythingslately
#athriftyweek
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20 comments:

  1. WOW - you are doing great. Pretty skirt. I love the trivets - what a neat idea.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks so much Cheryl! I have to make some supper now. I'll visit sometime soon.
      Laura

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  2. Very good at being thrifty my friend! Oh the skirt came out so cute! I have made those rugs before and also learned to do one with yarn instead of fabric. Can be a bit ornery to do sometimes! My best thrifty thing this last week was getting ten old soda fountain glasses. Ten for ten dollars versus fourteen dollars for new ones and getting only four. Will be good for company!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Michelle, I'll have to come by your blog and say hello soon. Right now I have to go make some supper. I look forward to making rag rugs over the years as I collect scraps and cover my wood floors. ~smile~ We'll see how much time I have for that now that I'm working. Blessings,Laura

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  3. Your mug rugs turned out so cute. Perfect to use as gifts. :) I need to follow your example and start using cleaning cloths. We are in the bad habit of using paper towels for everything. I know it would be much more frugal to switch to cloths. Thank you for sharing your thrifty ideas. Hope you have a great rest of the week.

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    1. Yes, Evie. I'm glad I made the cloths. They are coming in quite handy. There are still a few jobs I want paper towels for like wiping grease from pans. Tomorrow I'm planning to make some family cloths for us ladies since I was not able to find toilet paper in our store tonight. This hysteria is out of control. Blessings to you! Please write to me again. Laura

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  4. You look great! And you have really been busy. My grandmother used to braid rag strips and make rugs. Your little trivets turned out great. Maybe you can find some shirts from yard sales to cut up for your rug.

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    1. Thank you, Penny. Yard sale season is coming, and I have Fridays off! Yay!

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  5. Make do and mend is very satisfying. I darned some thick tights rather than throw them out. I also made a meat loaf out of the leftover pork mixed with the rest of a jar of apple sauce and half a packet of sage and onion stuffing. It was delicious and served 3 more meals.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are so right Jean. I am going to make family cloths tomorrow out of old t-shirts. It's not the ideal fabric, but it's what I have on hand so it's what I'll use. What an interesting way to make meatloaf. I never would have thought of that combination. I haven't had sage in the house in some time. I may just have to look for that when I go to the Mennonite store next time.
      Blessings,
      Laura

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  6. Love the mug rugs. Good job. Thanks for sharing.

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  7. Hi Laura,

    Your new skirt is lovely! I enjoyed reading about all that you have been up to this week. I had a thought regarding making rugs. The hot pads you made are lovely, but they look like they are a lot of work. My mom loves to make crocheted rag rugs from all of her scrap fabric. I have made a couple over the years too. They last forever and I think they would not be as time consuming to make. We cut our fabric into 2" wide strips. There is an easy technique for attaching new pieces of fabric too. My mom watched a Youtube video and learned to crochet rugs through the video. You use a very large crochet hook so you can make a lot of progress in one sitting.

    May you have a blessed day!

    Sarah

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    Replies
    1. Crocheting the rugs is a good idea, too, Sarah. I love learning new things. So far, I'm finding little time to be creative. I've got to reorganize how I do things. Making thingsbrings me joy.
      Be blessed,Laura

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  8. I'm learning so many thrifty tips from you. I really like the laundry tip. I enjoy doing laundry but if I can cut down on the amount I do and save my clothes and energy costs.

    Recently I participated in a cookbook exchange at our local farmers market. I exchanged about seven cookbooks I wasn't using and I brought home two.

    I received a $20.00 gift card from our home insurance agent so I bought some black hair care products I can't find in the stores.

    Received some lovely hand me downs in the form of sneakers and some tops.

    I still get free books through blogger review programs.

    This freebie was a few weeks ago but I received a free 7qt slow cooker from the Crock-Pot company because I was dissatisfied with
    them not knowing when a replacement stoneware would be available.

    That's about it for now. I can't wait for your next thrifty post.

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    1. Hi Regina,  I like that you took 7 books and brought home 2. It gave you a chance to get something new, but you also decluttered. ~smile~ I need to do that in a big way. I think that I'm going to have to give up the blogger book review programs. I don't have very much time to read now. I have a couple of reviews coming up. We'll see how it goes. I have two books at the library waiting for me to pick them up. They were an interlibrary loan that I requested before getting this job. This has hit me like a whirlwind! Be blessed my friend, Laura

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  9. Great ideas! You look so pretty in red!

    Sarah

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Your blog friend,
Laura Lane
5 Year Cancer Survivor