Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Frugal Tip from the Green Housewife - Make Do While you Wait

(Got to have a sense of humor)

When Pete and I got married, we had no dresser for our clothes, so Pete's mom gave us this beautiful oak chest made by Pete's grandfather. 



I hate to admit it, but for years we have just piled our clothes in it in a huge mound and would dig through it when we wanted to wear something. I have dreams of someday buying a beautiful "Wardrobe" like from "The Lion, Witch, and The Wardrobe" which could be a heirloom passed down to our grandchildren. And in the meantime, I don't want to buy some cheap dresser which would eventually be put in a landfill somewhere. (Did you know that "the amount of upholstered furniture we are throwing away into landfills has increased six times from the 1960 figures to those of 2008" ?"http://hollybarbo.wordpress.com/2009/06/03/landfill-furniture-part-2/ 
       Well, I finally got sick of our clothes mound while "New Year's Cleaning" this year, and not having it in the budget to buy my dream "Wardrobe", I decided to get creative.  I spent 15$ of a 25$ gift card I got for Christmas from one of my preschool kids, and I bought a 12" by 10" shelf.  Then I laid it horizontally on the bottom of the chest to create dividers. To make everything fit, I rolled up Pete's T-shirts like you would a towel and put them in the dividers.
Here is the finished result:

So now while we wait to afford my dream "wardrobe", we can have some semblance of functionality!


What are your "green" or "frugal" tips?

5 comments:

  1. Hey, Andrea! I'm looking forward to reading more of your blogging! I love your creativity in storing clothes while waiting for your dream wardrobe!

    As for green/frugal tips, I plan our weekly menus to use like ingredients so they won't go to waste. And though we aren't vegetarian, we have been eating fewer meals with meat: vegetable soup without the ground beef, meatless spaghetti, black bean quesadillas, etc. By shopping at ALDI instead of Kroger or even Wal-Mart, I'm able to keep our weekly food expenses to about $50 or so a week (as opposed to $80-$100) - and that's feeding two adults and two growing boys who eat like adults!

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  2. Hey Ashley! Good to hear from you!

    Wow! 50$ dollars a week for groceries - Pete and I spend 50-80$ a week, and that is just for the two of us! I have a long ways to go in this department, obviously! We eat less meat as well to save money - that is, I do - Pete eats TONS of meat. I try to plan weekly menus the same way you do, but I've been slacking in this lately! (To be honest, when we can afford more, I slack off!)

    How are you guys? Think of you and your adorable boys often.

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  3. Since being married I've really seen the benefits of "re-gifting." Sometimes when we get a box of chocolates for Christmas I tell my husband "Don't eat that!" we're giving it to my aunt and uncle for christmas! He hates it, but it saves money-especially during the holidays.

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  4. big fan of making do myself. sooo much better than buying what you can afford now & having to get rid of it later. "Make do, make over, do without" makes life richer in the long run.

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  5. Dmarie - it truly does make life richer! Pete and I have sort of made a vow to each other to not to make any big purchases unless it is something we will use for the rest of our lives, and something we could pass down to our grandkids!

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