Super Frugal Mom

Ingenuity

2010-02-11T14:56:00.000-08:00

I got a white lace top at DI for $4, and I am playing with it to see how far I can make it go. Today I picked off the buttons to put in my stash (10 silver buttons alone would probably be worth the $4.) Then I made the pretty shrug shown (pictures and instructions at www.boleropattern.com, under "Make a Shrug from a tshirt"). Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can get a bolero out of the rest of it. $4 = 10 buttons, lace shrug, lace bolero = pretty good!

Thrift Store Bolero

2010-01-06T15:21:00.001-08:00

Good luck at DI the other day - I found a great little black sequin bolero for only $4 that works beautifully with many of my newly-acquired rental formals:

For more on this bolero, see my ModestProm blog.

ModestProm Rental Dresses

2009-11-27T13:57:00.000-08:00

Well, I continue to plug along on altering the dresses I purchased to start a modest formal rental business!

To help publicize this business, I am going to be having drawings for free jewelry and dress rentals. December's drawing will be for a beautiful 18" freshwater pearl necklace.

There are three ways you can be entered in the drawings:

1) Join my ModestProm.com Facebook fan page (just log in to Facebook, then search for ModestProm, bring up the page, and become a fan). This earns you a ticket for the monthly drawing.

2) Recommend the page to your friends (just click on the "Suggest to Friends" link under the profile picture. Email me to let me know you recommended the page to your friends, and this will also earn you a ticket for the monthly drawing.

3) Email me when your friends join. Just tell me their names (they must be NEW fans), and I will give you a ticket for each friend who joins.

If you are interested in following along as I alter the dresses - to get ideas, or just for information - you can follow my blog at http://www.modestprom.blogspot.com where I am gradually blogging the alterations as I go along.

A Modest Project

2009-10-28T16:08:00.000-07:00

Last week, I stumbled on the opportunity to buy a number of beautiful, high-quality, brand new prom dresses for an unbelievable price. I bought a number of them with the intent to start a rental business for modest formal dresses. Only problem is - almost all of them are strapless and have to be modified. So now I am in crunch mode to fix about 40 dresses over about the next month! I am blogging my progress on www.modestprom.blogspot.com. (sorry I can't get the link to work) Follow along, and be glad you're not as crazy as me!

The Swine Flu is Coming, Part I

2009-09-18T20:36:00.001-07:00

Seems like we've been hearing a lot about the Swine Flu lately. Some large local institutions are making contingency plans based on as much as 50% of the population becoming infected this fall/winter.

For some reason, the swine flu seems to engender a panic that other infectious diseases - such as the "regular" flu - don't seem to. Part of me thinks it's all overblown. But another part of me thinks, better to prepare than to panic. And better to even over-prepare than to be sorry.

For myself, I think a very important part of preparing is doing everything you can to be in the best possible health - including pumping up the immune system and cleansing the digestive system. Diet is a prime factor in this. Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables plus a high-fiber diet are key.

So a part of my personal strategy is to have a Green Drink each day. (No one else in my family will drink them, and I don't force the issue. But I figure if anyone needs to not "go down" should there be a pandemic, it's me, the mother. So I drink Green Drinks regularly.)

This is what I do.

When I go grocery shopping, I buy a bunch of red chard and a bunch of kale. (Spinach, beet greens, collards, any other dark leafy green would work as well.)

I chop them up, rinse them thoroughly, and spin them dry in my salad spinner.
Then I mix them together in a large bowl.

Last, I package them in 1-gallon zip loc bags, which I keep in the fridge.

Then it's easy to prepare my green drink in my high-speed (K-tec) blender:

1. Put in 1-2 C of water.

2. Put in a large handful or two of greens.

3. Add a banana and other fruits (I like an apple and frozen blueberries. But I also use peaches, strawberries, and whatever I have on hand).

4. Blend on the "Whole Food" setting.

This produces a thick greenish-brown drink about the consistency of V-8. It has your full day's allowance of fresh fruits and vegetables (about 2 servings veggies, and 3 servings fruits, depending on what you add). My family thinks it's disgusting, but I have grown to really like it. I notice that when I drink my Green Drink, I feel better and have more energy. I think it will help me to stay healthy - or at least healthier - in the event of a swine flu outbreak as well.

Another T-shirt Makeover

2009-08-24T09:50:00.001-07:00

Here's another T-shirt makeover to create a shirt for my daughter (she does like this one - wore it to school today. I had to modify the sleeves a little first, however - took a little off the bottom to make them tighter).

It was done almost exactly the same way as the one in the previous post. Here's the pattern:

I used another XXL t-shirt from my stash (purchased at the same yard sale, also for 25 cents, making the cost of this shirt $1.25 - $1 for the pattern, 25 cents for the t-shirt). As a quick reminder:

1. Cut the sleeves off the t-shirt, cut the shoulder seams, cut one side seam, to make the t-shirt lie flat.

2. Cut the pattern front and back from the t-shirt (fold as needed). Remember, you can use the existing hem from the t-shirt.

3. Cut the pattern sleeves from the t-shirt sleeves (cut the underarm seam of the sleeves first, to make them lie flat).

4. Sew the shirt as usual.

T-shirt makeover

2009-08-23T22:13:00.001-07:00

Shopping for school clothes with my teenage daughter - not fun! Neither of us have much patience with shopping. I haven't sewn for her for a long time, but after this shopping trip, I am ready to try again. (Sewing couldn't possibly be worse than shopping!)

Here is what I did.

1. Went to JoAnn's. Patterns were on sale for $1 each. Bought five patterns for what I thought were cute/stylish shirts. Figured that if she didn't like all of them, she would probably like some, and at $1/pattern I was willing to gamble.

2. Looked through my stash. Found a man's XXL t-shirt I bought at a yard sale for 25 cents, plus some white knit cloth I bought at DI. Here's the t-shirt:

3. Cut out the sleeves and cut up one side of the t-shirt (it was in a tube), cutting so as to avoid the stain on one side.

4. Carefully laid the front, back, and sleeves out on the t-shirt, then cut them out.

Front (placed so as to allow for using the hem that's already there):
Back: Sleeve (note that I changed the shape of the sleeve slightly, so I could use the hem)

5. Sewed the shirt as per the instructions:

6. Daughter didn't like it - "too much white, Mom." Couldn't re-do it - only scraps of fabric left over from the t-shirt. Ah-ha! There was enough to add a ruffle, to cover up some of the white (also to cover up the gathers in front, which came out uneven):

7. Daughter still doesn't love it. But she didn't love anything we saw when we were shopping either. Everything we saw shopping cost at least $10, and most things were $20-$30. This cost me about $1.50 to make.

She does like it enough to say, grudgingly, "Well, I'll wear it, Mom."

For myself, it was just a reminder - a little ingenuity can sometimes go a long way.

Beauty by the Front Door

2009-06-19T18:18:00.000-07:00

Ten years ago, when we moved from Provo, my friends gave me a rose bush. I planted it by the front door. It has grown and grown until it is much taller than I am.

Every June it is loaded with large pink blooms. It makes me happy every time I go in and out the door.

Sometimes life gets so busy, so focused on conserving resources and taking care of everyone else's needs, that we habitually deny ourselves small pleasures and always put our own needs last. But I think it's worth taking care to hang on to some things just because they give you joy. It's worth it, to keep some beauty by the front door.