Frugal projects

I have discovered over the course of the last year that I actually enjoy being frugal. Every time I get a great bargain on something I need, I tell just about everyone I know about it. I just can't help it. I love spreading the news.

I like trying to find new ways to do things, whether it is reverse engineering something we eat at a restaurant so I can make it at home, or making something nice as a gift instead of buying it. I would really like to be able to live on a minimal amount of money just to prove to myself that I can do it.

Every now and then, I even get the urge to built something, like a house (lol) and make it livable without spending a dime. Then I take a really deep breath and make that idea go away. I am not a stranger to work, but just where in the world would I build such a thing? And why would I do it when I don't need to.

I get wild hairs every now and again to so something off the wall. Like my vertical planter. My husband just looks at me like I am crazy then tells me that if it will make me happy to try...but he never expects it to actually work. My thought is that you never know until you try, and trying is half the fun. And if it works and saves money, why not? If it doesn't work, take it apart and use the materials for something else. That is why we have an old flag pole buried in the middle of a raised flower bed with string tied to nails and pole beans growing in it. It is ugly as home made sin, but it works. And it has worked for 3 years now.

My next project is still undecided. I either want to try to make a couch, or a Murphy bed. I don't really have the space for either one, but they would be useful when we have company. When we have company, it is usually 14 at a time. And trying to find sleeping space for all of them is difficult at times.

I don't know, that will probably have to wait. DH has a project in mind for this weekend that will probably keep us busy for at least a week. We are going to pull up carpet and put down laminate. It really wouldn't take that long except that the area in front of the door has tile glued to the concrete subfloor. And there just isn't a good way to get that stuff up. Hammer and chisel is just about the only way. And that takes forever. So this weekend project may take over a week. We have to have it done by the end of the month though, because said company will be here Halloween weekend. And if we start it, it will have to be done by then.

But then again, we still haven't painted our bedroom or put down a floor in there either. And that project has been almost a year this month. No one sees it but us and I can look at dry wall for a while longer if I need to.