You may remember my November book review of Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider. I really enjoyed the book, and have also enjoyed her blog and subsequent articles. Recently a friend of mine mentioned that she was trying a DIY facial cleanser, inspired by Tsh’s Simple Mom blog. I was almost out of face wash anyway, […]
Archive for the ‘DIY’ Category
DIY Homemade Laundry Detergent


My husband, Brad, has been urging me to try a recipe he found for DIY Homemade Laundry Detergent for some time. We are not only a family of five, but we also cloth diaper our children, so we go through a lot of laundry. I was able to pick up all three ingredients (yes, only […]
FREE Haircuts for a Family of Four


One of the areas of our budget where we rarely need to spend money is haircuts. Although we all enjoy a professional wash, dry, cut, & style on occasion, most of the time we don’t pay for our haircuts. Here is how we do it: Brad’s Hair: My parents gave me set of Wahl clippers […]
9 Mini Home Improvements


Two weeks ago Brad went to camp with his high school kids for a week, and I was left alone in the house with the kids. Of course, as soon as Brad was out of the house I began thinking about what I could get done before he got back! I had a few home […]
How to Cook a Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin


A few weeks ago I read about how Crystal tried a pumpkin-cooking experiment using her crock pot and her oven to make pumpkin puree. I had never thought to try cooking a pumpkin myself! We bought two large pumpkins this year. Oliver wore one as a Halloween costume, and I decided to try cooking the […]
A little wood glue goes a long way…


When Oliver was born, my mom bought us an inexpensive little dresser from Wal-mart for his clothes (center-right). Unfortunately it didn’t survive the 2,700 mile trip in the back of our U-haul truck. The front of the third drawer snapped off and the plastic hinges broke. We went ahead and filled the dresser with clothing, […]
Sewing with Shirley!


THE INSPIRATION: Earlier this spring, Money Saving Mom posted a FREE Drawstring Dress pattern for Dolls, originally posted by Liberty Jane Clothing. I have wanted to learn how to sew for some time now, so I saved the dress pattern to my computer. THE TEACHER: On Tuesday, I called up my friend Shirley from church. […]
How to Cut Your Husband’s Hair


As I have said before, one of the ways that I save money is by cutting our family’s hair. For Christmas a few years ago, I asked my parents for hair clippers. I knew my mother would make a good choice because she’s been cutting my dad’s hair since they were dating! It took some […]