Frugal Things

1. I made Greek yogurt!! It is so easy. You just strain regular yogurt through a cheesecloth to drain the extra liquid. It reduced in size by half! So creamy! So delicious. 

2. I made a padded bag for my camera. Pictures coming in a future Friday post. 

3. I am wearing a hand-me-down maternity dress! It is super comfy!! 

4. I chopped up a bunch of tomatoes that were marked down at the produce stand because they had bad spots. Some went to Warnie, who likes to eat them plain. Some went in dinner last night, Feta Cheese Chicken. Some went in my Sunday dinner, baked ziti, that I already put together (bonus points! I don't like having to cook on Sunday). The rest I am taking to a friend's house for tacos!! 

5. I also bought peaches that were bruised and marked down. I made a jar of jam, that will be used to stir into Greek yogurt for Jared's lunches. I cut up a bunch and we ate them plain and in smoothies. :) 

6. I turned some old bread and rolls into garlic bread to go with dinner last night. 

7. I bought a bunch of clothes and old shoes from a friend. They are mostly play clothes. Some of them look pretty worn and have stains, but they are perfect for play clothes or blueberry picking clothes. This way I can save their nice t-shirts and shorts for special days and not worry about getting these clothes messy. 

I will try to post my blueberry buckle recipe early next week.  I am making one later today and I'll try to take pictures. 

Oatmeal

Jared eats oatmeal every morning. He likes to take it with him and eat it later. We have found the cheapest and most convient way is to prepackage a bunch of containers at one time and leave them on the counter. That way he just grabs one, fills it with hot water, and takes it with him each morning. 

This has saved us money and it cuts out all those weird chemicals in oatmeal packages (and apple pieces dyed red to look like strawberries...). 

Jared likes raisins and pecans. 

I like raisins, pecans, cinnamon, and brown sugar. :) 

In the summer we add fresh fruit in the morning with the hot water. 

Diaper Fix

I started replacing the elastic in my cloth diapers yesterday. There are two pieces on the legs and one in the back. The top diaper is old. Look how much tighter the legs and back are on the yellow diaper. 

It cost me about $2 total for all the elastic for the diapers. If I estimate my time at an average engineering pay, it costs me about $6 a diaper to replace the elastic, which is cheaper than buying new ones. :) 

I cut the new elastic between 4" and 4-1/2". As you can see the old elastics are about 6" or 7". 

There are plenty of tutorials online so I won't explain how I did it.  I think I will be replacing the elastic about every two years of wear. The Velcro seems great on all my diapers. I don't think I will have to replace that until 6 or 8 years of wear. 

Ps. I still love my cloth diapers. More on that later. 

Five Dollar Fix

The week before Warren was born the dryer knob stopped working. It cracked and spun in circles without resetting the timer. We kept forgetting to look to see if we could buy a new knob so we used pliers for a while to turn the switch, but one day Jared put them back in his work truck without thinking, while he was gathering up some other tools around the house. That wouldn't have been a huge deal, however, I had thrown all of Martin's stuffed animals and blankets in the washer before his nap. Thankfully, I had another pair of pliers in my car. 

My Dad stopped by and I mentioned wanting to order a new knob. He pulled out his phone, searched eBay, and found a knob for $4.88 with free shipping. So he ordered it for me and I put it on when it came. It works perfectly. 

After dealing with complicated things, insurance, doctors appointments, birth certificates, etc. it is nice to have something work so easily and in one try. Praise God for a simple and cheap fix.