Frugal Friday

You can have hobbies that are fun and frugal at the same time. Many hobbies are money savers in themselves.

My hobbies are quilting and sewing, gardening, cooking and couponing.

These are some of the ways I enjoy these hobbies without spending a lot of money.

1. Quilting and sewing: Use scraps that I have saved, have been given or purchased very cheaply at yard sales, thrift shops or on ebay; use clothing for fabric such as blue jeans; piece leftover batting together to make the size quilt you need; get patterns and ideas from quilt books checked out from the library or free on the internet (such as http://www.quiltville.com/); make homemade baby quilts for shower gifts instead of buying a gift; Sell quilts on ebay (haven't tried this yet but would like to!)

As you can see from the above picture, my sewing machine is rather old and basic. But it does the job! It is an old high school home economics singer sewing machine built into a cabinet. It even has a name some teenager carved into it! I found a walking foot/quilting foot to fit it that has made all the difference in the world in my quilt sewing. I can quilt on my machine with it and its wonderful for sewing on the binding. This machine was given to me years ago by my mother who bought it from a high school surplus sale at the school where my sister in law taught home economics at the time. Sometimes I think I would love one of the new fangled sewing machines, but this one does the job and I like it. I had it serviced a while back and borrowed a new one from the sewing machine store to try out. It had lots of fancy stitches, etc. But the bottom line is I LIKE MY OLD MACHINE BETTER.

2. Gardening: Buy seeds at Dollar General for .10 or .25 per pack; divide perennials and replant in other areas of the yard; be the recipient of friend's divisions of perennials; Plant perennials and annuals from seeds instead of buying the established plants; allow annuals to come back the following year from seed; root cuttings of plants; Some of my favorite plants came from divisions of heirloom type plants at the family cemetery near my home. If they live in a country cemetery with no care at all, they will live in your yard. The plants were planted there many, many years ago. This is the cemetery where some of my family is buried and I was responsible for maintaining it. These plants were being mowed down every year and so I was able to save some of them.

The picture above is of some aloe plants. My mother in law gave me one little aloe plant about 15 years ago and it has multiplied and multiplied. It happily grows babies for me which I repot. They make great gifts and the gel inside the plant is good for burns and stings. My mother in law was killed in a car accident 7 years ago and this aloe plant is a physical reminder of her that I want to keep growing.

3. Cooking: Check out cookbooks from the library; use frugal recipes from cook books such as "Not Just Beans" or "More With Less Cookbook"; inventory freezer and pantry and plan meals around what you have on hand; Plan menus around the grocery store sales paper each week; Use the "Pantry Principle" (shop to replinish the pantry only); use coupons wisely (see no. 4 below) Look for recipes on line that use the ingredient you have that needs to be used; buy meat that has been marked down but is still in date; Use the freezer to store sale meats; Plan menus ahead of time; Know the best price for each item and only buy it when it is at the best price and stock up when it is at the best price; organize the pantry and freezer to know what you have to avoid buying something not needed that is not on sale.

4. Couponing: Only use coupons to buy things you would use anyway; Use coupons on sale items and especially if you can get a rebate too!; Keep coupons organized; Study sale papers weekly from Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid to see what can be bought for nearly nothing or for a final cost of "free" or even sometimes they pay you!; Study each stores "gimick", such as extra bucks, cash register rewards, and rebates to know how to use them to your advantage. After an initial investment roll the gimicks over and over. Don't let the store trick you into buying items that are overpriced while you are there getting the deals! The coupons will pay for the newspaper subscription.

The coupon organizer above is one I bought from Gooseberry Patch using a birthday coupon they sent me. Its not exactly what I want for my coupon oranization, but until I come up with a better solution its nice and pretty.


I totally understand that some people don't want to do coupons, but for me it is a hobby.


If your hobby can't be done frugally and its your passion, that's a great incentive to be frugal in other areas of your life so that you can afford to enjoy your hobby!

Go to www.biblicalwomanhood.com/blog.htm for more frugal tips.

Happy Friday and Happy Weekend!

Debbie J.