$0 Budget Month Guest Post: Organizing Made Fun

My name is Becky and I blog at Organizing Made Fun.

Stephanie asked me to help out with her month long challenge of $0 spending. I did an entire month or organizing on a very similar subject: 31 Days to cheaply organize your home!

Let me tell you that if you think organizing has to be expensive, it doesn't. I'm going to give you three examples of how to organize without having to break the bank! First is oatmeal containers!

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This oatmeal container was turned into a ribbon organizer.

I have made one into a headband/hair things organizer for my daughter's hair things, too.

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How about a yarn organizer/holder? 

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My next idea is hangers!  What about those dry cleaner hangers that come with your dry cleaning? If you were going to send them back or throw them away...consider this instead:

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I found this cute way to organize flip flops - quite creative for someone with a large collection of flip flops. 

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How about hanging scarves or tights? This is such a simple and easy idea!

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Maybe you have a pants hanger that you no longer need?  Organize your ribbon! 

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Last hanger idea...my friend, Julie, came up with this clever way to organize her boots! She took a skirt hanger with clips and clipped her boots!

OK, last idea is left-over containers.

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I used left-over containers to organize my whole stash of paint supplies.

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You can use scrapbook paper to make ugly containers into something pretty and use somewhere in your home for organizing.

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Or even use it to help organize things in your fridge - like snacks for your kiddos!


Well, I hope this gets your imagination going. I would love for you to stop by Organizing Made Fun and get more inspired by all kinds of organizing ideas.




I'm currently doing a series every Monday this month called "Organized Resolutions" and I'd love for you to check it out.

$0 Budget Month Guest Post: Busy Kids=Happy Mom!

Hi Everyone. I want to share with you the guest post sent to me by Kristen at Busy Kids = Happy Mom!  Kristen didn't have a lot to say in her post, so I thought I would share with you how cute her blog is. If you have kids (like I do), Kristen has some adorable ideas that your kids will absolutely love to make! Here are a few ideas that I found on her blog that I will be making with my guys. These may have not been $0 crafts for Kristen to make...but I can make them this month with stuff I have laying around my house :)
Coffee Filter Turkey

 Clay Mickey Mouse Snowman Ornament

 Glow Stick Lanterns (what child would not love this!)

Now here are the adorable posts that Kristen sent me for her $0 budget crafts.


Here are 2 popular posts for a $0 budget:
Spend, Save, Give Banks for Kids

Out of Pringles Cans!  Go here to see more!

Upcycled Craft for Kids

Out of things in your house!
Go here for our secret ingredient.

Be sure to stop by and meet Kristen, a part-time as a reading specialist.  She blogs about ideas for keeping her kids engaged, unplugged, and life skills training.  She also has a popular Mom Spotlight Series.  Visit her here at Busy Kids = Happy Mom. 

$0 Budget Month Guest Post: I'm Not a Trophy Wife

Hi Everyone


Happy New Year!   Stephanie over at  Full of Great Ideas  asked for Guest Posts on Full of Great Ideas during the $0 Budget Month.  I knew this was a post I could contribute to.. if I got my post submitted early!   

My name is Laura and I'm Not a Trophy Wife.  It's a description of myself and a blog title all rolled up into one!   I think the title says it all!  I always say I am many things, but I'm Not a Trophy Wife. I describe my decorating style as Pottery Barn inspiration meets  TJ Maxx, Target meets garage sale (heavy on the last two)!

So here are a few of my favorite $0.00 budget ideas.  These ideas came from items  I already had on hand.  I didn't have to leave my home or spend money to create these project!

My first project is an up cycling idea from large green bean cans.  I have changed these up several times during the year. The first project was for organizing my son's "treasures."

This project was created with burlap, ribbon and greenery in my craft room unfinished basement.

My next project is one of my most popular posts.  Here is the original post.

I repeated the theme for Christmas by adding branches from our Christmas tree and Cuties oranges.  Here is the original post.  So easy, zero dollars and they both have an organic look.

Here's a final project that was zero dollars (sorta)! I already had the super discounted dinged frames from Michael's and I had the scrapbook paper in stock.  I made it for Valentines Day, but it has a permanent spot in our bedroom.  Here's the final framed piece of artwork. It's leaning against 2 shoe boxes wrapped in a roll of brown paper from Home Depot I bought during the summer as a boredom buster for summer.

Thanks Stephanie for the opportunity to show simple ideas for $0.00 Budget Month.

FANtastic Beer Steins on my $0 budget

I can't believe I can say this...I have not spent a penny in 1 week! We had some returns to do from Christmas gifts this week and we were fantastic to return the items but did not buy anything after. Even the kids returned a couple of items and they took the money and have saved it for another time. I would like to say they are learning to save, but I know this is not 100% true. I have to admit that teaching my kids to save and value money has been one of the toughest things we have been trying to deal with lately. If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them. Please share how you have taught your kids to value money.

We have already noticed that the amount of time we spend together has increased. We spent today as a family playing outside (our weather is ridiculously warm), reading in the sun, doing a couple of crafts and taking down the last of the Christmas decorations. My husband and I both commented how wonderful today was because we didn't run around shopping.

I made my own bread and hamburger buns today and used up a few small items in the freezer (we had hamburgers and hot turkey sandwiches for lunch) but we are starting to run out of fresh vegetables and milk, so I will have to stop by the grocery store quickly tomorrow.

How are all of you doing? Are you saving a few dollars? Are you also spending more family time?

Here is my $0 budget post for today.

Have you seen the NFL beer steins on Pottery Barn's site? They are FANtastic (hee hee hee) and if your football team is in the playoffs it makes you want them even more. Well at $24.00 EACH!!! they would have to have some gold content in order for me to feel they were worth buying. But as soon as I saw them, I knew I could make them for nothin.

Source Pottery Barn

Source Pottery Barn

I should now share a picture of my husband's beer stein collection but I won't because it might make you think he has a drinking problem, which he doesn't :). Well he has lots of beer steins! So I grabbed 4 of his favorite shaped steins and snuck away to my craft room.

I designed the team logo using Sure Cuts a Lot and cut it with vinyl I had left over from my marble tiles. Yes, I could have used contact paper but I really didn't want to mess up one of the beer steins so I used my good vinyl.

To be honest with you, the larger steins with the handles would work easier than this shape since it was difficult to get the vinyl to lay flat on these.  But these did work out great, I just had to cut the vinyl and overlap it carefully to create the circles.

I used a flat knife that I have to cut 4 straight lines to quarter each of the circles. You could use an exacto knife or a pair of scissors to do this too.

I used my painters tape technique to transfer the vinyl to the glass.

Be sure to lay the logo down first and then carefully the circle around it. Remember the circle will be bunchy, so you will need to carefully separate the vinyl where you cut it and overlap it. You can get a perfect circle this way, just be careful not to damage the vinyl otherwise the etching cream can creep under.

You can see the outer part of the circles are bunch and bubbly but that does not matter. You just need to make sure the part that will be in contact with the glass and etching cream is flat and tight on the glass.

Lay the glass on something to prevent it from rolling. The etching cream can run, so you want to make sure the glass doesn't move.

I used Armour etch to etch the glass. My instructions are covered with a million warnings so I have had to learn how to use this from trial and error. I now stir the etching cream before I apply it. This seems to make it give a more even etch.

I apply the cream using a cheap foam brush. I apply it really thick and evenly over the entire area to be etched. Be sure to not get any on the other part of the glass. It will etch almost immediately.

I recommend letting the etching cream sit on the glass for 20-25 minutes. I don't know what the jar says to do, but I did 4 of these glasses, 1 for 15 minutes, 1 for 20 and 2 for 25 and I found the 25 minute ones looked the best.  Once the time had elapsed, I scrapped the etching cream back into the bottle. I was told to do this by a fellow blogger and it seems to work. I then take the steins to my laundry sink and run them under warm water to get off all the excess etching cream.

 Peel off the vinyl and wash the glass with dish soap and you are done.

They took some time and were a little finicky to make, but they turned out great and cost me zero dollars, so well worth it.

 

What do you think? Not bad for nothing!

Have a great spend free weekend.

Stephanie

Fork Stand on my $0 Budget

Did you see the Blessed to Be Blessed's guest post yesterday with here $0 infinity scarf? Amazingly creative! If you missed it, you can check it out here.

Today's post has helped me get rid of use up a basket of old forks I found laying around that didn't match my everyday or my formal set. I made photo stands out of them. This $0 project would work amazingly well with silver forks ...like anyone has some of those laying around to be altered into a plate/photo stand. Steer clear of thick, heavy gauge forks; they are very hard to bend and you will not be happy with the end results.

Here is what the project looks like in the end:

Materials:

• Old forks
• Needle nose pliers
• Wire bending tool (not necessary but nice to have)

Method:
Using a wire bending tool my husband had (if you don't have this, you can easily use pliers) I bent the prongs of the forks forward and backwards so the fork stood on its own.

You start with the two outer prongs and you bend them forward to approximately a 90 degree angle.  Be sure to line up where the bend is otherwise you will have a wobbly stand.

 

Once the outer two are bent, move to the middle two. Bend them in the opposite direction as the outer ones.

So your fork will look like this.

 

Then using a pair of pliers, I separated the middle prongs so they will provide better balance.

Test out the fork now and see if it stands well. If it is off balance, bend the prongs a little to get it in the right position. I liked mine to lean back slightly but it is up to you.

Then using needle nose pliers, I rolled the 4 prongs to make a loop on the ends. This makes it look a little nicer and provides an edge for the photo to lean against.

I had planned to used these forks as pictures stands. I really wanted this stand to hold photos of my two guys in my office that I don't want to frame since I change them frequently. I love how they are not bulky on my desk.

I now think these would have work great for the Personalized Marble Tiles I made for everyone at Christmas.  I made over 20 of these as Christmas gifts and ended up buying plate stands at the Dollar Store for each of them. I wish I had thought of this earlier because they are far cuter than the Dollar store stands I gave. I will have to remember it next year.

I still have one of my original plates waiting to be gifted (we will see them later this month) so I tested out my fork stand and it worked great. You can barely see the top of the fork sticking out but I love how it doesn't take away from the tile.

What do you think of my $0 fork plate /photo stand?

How has your spend free day been? We have had an interesting morning. My guys were in desperate need of hair cuts but since I am determined to not spend unnecessarily, I sat them down and did it myself. Before you gasp in disgust, my son had really curly hair so even if I completely messed up and had many different lengths, you would not be able to tell on his hair. My daughter on the other hand has perfectly straight hair. So this took me a little longer but ended up working really well. I saved approximately $45 by doing this! Not bad. Maybe in the future I can alternate between me and a professional.

Do you but your kids hair? Anyone have any tricks to make this easier?

Have a great day,
Stephanie

$0 Budget Month Guest Post - Blessed to be a Blessing

Hello everyone at Full of Great Ideas!  I am so excited that Stephanie gave me this opportunity to guest post for the $0 Budget month.  I am new to this whole world of blogging and so I am low on crafting supplies and trying to start small.  Before I launch into my ideas, let me introduce myself!

My name is Alesha and I blog over at Blessed to be a Blessing.  I got married last May to my high school sweetheart and the man of my dreams!  Travis work as the Assistant high school and college age Pastor at our church.  We serve together in both areas and on worship team!  I have always enjoyed crafting and after much deliberation, decided to launch into the world of blogging.  I sew, knit, crochet, make cards, scrapbook, and mend...(I guess that counts as sewing, but I feel like it should be in its own category!)  So here are my projects...enjoy!

Project One: The Infinity Scarf

If you are like me, you probably have a bunch of old scarves laying around that you never wear but won't get rid of.  They are pretty, but for some reason they are never just quite right; they were too thick, too thin, too long, or too short!  And so often I won't get rid of them because they were gifts -  in my case, they were hand knit or crocheted gifts from friends!  I always feel so awful throwing away a homemade gift. =(

So my solution?  Turn them into infinity scarves!  This automatically solves both length and thickness issues - mostly anyways.

I didn't even bother taking pictures for this tutorial because it is so SIMPLE!  Simply match up the ends of your scarf, pull out a needle and thread, and sew them together.  The thread will be so thin compared to the yarn you won't even see it.  Perfectly simple and completely free!  I love, love, love my new scarves.  And here's the best part...if I ever get tired of having them like this, then I can cut out the stitches and BAM!  They are back to normal!  =)

Project Two: Sleeve Removal from a Cardigan
I did this project when before I started blogging and was so impressed with myself that I had to create a blog to show it off!

This little refashion turned a sweater that I never wore into the perfect accessory!  Take an old shirt, blouse, or cardigan and go to town!  The full tutorial is on my blog.

Thanks again for having me and I'm looking forward to hearing more from you guys!  Thanks again Stephanie!