How to Save Practically Anything: My Dress

I have this lovely dress.

Which, unfortunately, comes with really cheap plastic rings attaching the straps.

When I first wore this dress to a wedding, I guess I had the straps too tight because one of the cheap plastic rings snapped. :(  Thankfully I had a sweater to wear to cover this mishap.

Later, I brainstormed ways to re-attach the straps.  My ingenius solution?

A paper clip!

I even managed to find one that blends in well with the colors of my dress. :)

I have another one on stand-by, lest the same misfortune strike the other strap.

Why get rid of a perfectly good dress if I can just fix it? :)

How to Save Practically Anything: Dog Food Bag

Okay. Maybe my newfound love of frugality is bordering on insanity. But, if it saves me money, I won't complain!

We buy 15.5 lb bags of food for Daisy.  It's just more economical, and it's usually on sale.  These bags have handy-dandy zipper tops on them.  Love it! Keeps the food really fresh.  We just finished the first of these bags recently.  About to throw it away, I set it aside and thought...

...this bag could be VERY handily re-purposed as a trash bag! Even better, when it's about full, I can ZIP it shut securely!

Looks kind of silly, but very effective!

It only gets one extra use, but a very worthwhile one.  Maybe saving myself ONE extra trash bag every couple of months doesn't save me dollars, but I also believe in making the most of every resource we are blessed with.  Plus, all of the little things add up in the end!

Recipe: Italian Turkey Meatballs

Tonight I made a delicious recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, Parmesian Orzo with Meatballs.

As much as I love the recipes in this book, they often call for pre-packaged or frozen ingredients.  For economical as well as health reasons, I prefer to make things fresh and from scratch.  So when the recipe called for a bag of frozen meatballs, I set out to figure out how to make them!

I found this recipe and altered it according to what I have, as well as what I preferred.

I will have to add photos of the preparation process in the future, as I got too busy and forgot to take them!

But here's the finished product:

And here are the meatballs with the Parmesian Orzo.

...and the recipe!

You will need:
1 lb ground turkey
2 T Italian seasoning
1 T Basil
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 T milk
2 mozzarella cheese sticks

Combine all ingredients except the cheese sticks in a medium bowl.  Cut the cheese sticks into rounds about 1" long (about 15 per stick).  Use a soup-sized spoon to portion out amounts of meat--about 1 T each, maybe a little more, eyeball it!  They should be roughly the size of a ping pong ball. Put 1 piece of cut cheese into the meat and roll it into a ball.  Place each ball onto a greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Makes about 30 meatballs.

These came out very juicy and delicious!!!

Frugality: Money Saving Ideas

Yesterday I posted a Facebook status asking for ways people save money and practice frugality in general. I was surprised at the amount of responses I received! Some were things I definitely already know and practice, others were brand new! But I'm going to share them all so anyone else who is interested can get new ideas!

1. Coupons!

2. Make your own coffee at home and avoid going to coffee shops.

3. Take your lunch to work and don't eat out.

4. coordinate shopping trips to save gas.

5. Use a grocery list when shopping and buy only what's on the list.

6. Cut cable.

7. Buy generic brands over name brands.

8. Get your personal finances in order (visit sites like The Simple Dollar for good advice!)

9. Plan your meals around grocery ads and what's on sale.

10. visit totallyfreestuff.com to pick up free samples and such.

11. Use the 10-second/30-day rules before making purchases.

12. Grow your own garden.

13. Use towels/cloth napkins rather than paper towels.

14. Line-dry clothes.

15. Watch TV less (or not at all!)

16. Bike or walk when possible instead of driving.

17. make your own laundry detergent

18. avoid buying soft drinks

19. use CFL lightbulbs

20. simplify your cell phone plan

21. use a water filter rather than buying bottled water

22. use a cash-only system for purchases to limit your spending

23. don't eat out!

24. create a personal budget

25. Find entertainment that is very inexpensive or free.

Over the next month or so I plan on elaborating on each of these topics. Some of them I haven't tried myself (yet). I will do a bit of research into each one, and if I have time I will try it before I post on it-if not I'll write a later post on what happened!

I want to investigate the practicality as well as frugality of each of these awesome ideas. Feel free to comment and let me know what works (and doesn't!) for you!