DIY Recycled Desk Tidy

In this post, I am going to show you how to make a funky, practical desk tidy out of toilet paper tubes and plastic lids. It really is simple to create a useful item to store your pens and paper clips etc. This is especially handy for kid’s desks and encourages tidiness.

What you will need:

  • 3 toilet paper tubes
  • A deep rimmed lid
  • Gift wrap off cuts
  • Double sided tape or glue
  • Scissors

Method:

  • Stand your 3 tubes side by side. Cut about 1 cm off the top of the 2nd one and 2 cm of the top of the 3rd.
  • Cover each tube in you gift wrap as neatly as possible. It is best to take the wrap inside the opening of the tube to give a nicer, finished look.
  • Draw around the lid onto the back of the gift wrap and cut out the circle. Stick the circle inside the lid.
  • Stick the tubes together with the lid in the front. (See picture). Fill with your pens and pencils etc.

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Save & Make Money by Upcycling Furniture & Home Decor

The word upcycling can scare some people, especially those who are not very DIY minded, but you can save money (and even make money) by choosing simple upcycle projects. You don’t need to be wielding power tools to give something a new lease of life.

Simple Upcycle Project Ideas

Sand and paint a piece of wooden furniture. Whether you use furniture you already have, or find a piece second hand, you can make any shabby piece of furniture suit your needs or spruce it up to sell on.

Upholster and paint wooden chairs. Dining chairs/ bedroom chairs can be repainted in a modern colour, and using a staple gun, you can upholster the fabric easily and quickly.

Spray paint wine bottles or mason jars. This seems to be a trend at the moment. Whether you need vases or just decorative pieces to match your theme, you can spray paint wine bottle or mason jars to fulfil a purpose. These are great centrepieces for weddings too.

Blackboard frames. Remove the glass from a photo frame, and paint the inside with black board paint. This creates a blackboard for notes or for kids to play with.

Quote prints. It is really simple to create a quote print using canva.com. You can buy second hand frames and paint them to match your colour scheme. These are also a great side hustle idea to make and sell.

These are just some of the projects you can undertake without the need for power tools. Anyone can sand and paint furniture, all you need is a little patience. Upcycling second hand furniture is a great way to refurbish your home on a budget and you are helping the environment too.

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Have you taken on an upcycling project that you are proud of? Do you have any simple upcycling ideas to share?

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DIY Colour Learning Game for Preschoolers

I have a 21 month old son who is developing an interest for understanding colours. He has learnt blue and green, but I wanted to give him some tools to help him master the other colours through play. Children learn more and take in more information when they are having fun.

With this in mind, I created a colour sheet and dug through his toys to find toys of certain colours. You can print out coloured items (and even laminate them for prolonged use), but I thought he’d have much more fun using his own toys and it wouldn’t feel like such a ‘lesson’ if toys were involved.

If you would like to use my colour sheet design, you can download it here:

colour-play-printableDownload

*I stuck my sheet onto cardboard to prevent it being ripped or scrunched.

The method is really simple. You might have to guide your child depending on their age, but the idea is to place the toys on their corresponding colour on the sheets. It is easy to switch up too. Swap out the toys for pom poms or even foods of a certain colour to keep their interest.

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Content belongs to Sensibly Frugal Living

Building a Mini Stockpile for Tight Weeks

Why build a stockpile?

When you hear the word stockpile, you may think doomsday prepper or extreme couponer. What I am suggesting is not quite that extreme, but it does involve building up a small stash of long-life foods/ freezer meals for weeks when money may be a little tight. Cutting your grocery bill and eating from your stockpile for a week or two, will help towards paying for the car maintenance or your dental treatment, for example.

I know people who build a stockpile over the whole year to last them through all of December and January. For some, these are the most expensive months of the year due to Christmas costs. A stockpile to eat from is a great way to eliminate the stress of grocery bills. Even more so, if all the items are sale/ yellow sticker items.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

How to build a stockpile?

  • Give yourself a small budget each week to buy some items to add to your stockpile. I usually send £2 – £3 per week, depending on the sale items/ bargains I find.
  • Always check the dates on the perishable items, even long life items might be coming up to their use by date.
  • Keep your eyes peeled for reduced items/ yellow sticker items. Vegetables etc can be blanched and frozen on the day of purchase. Meat can be frozen too. You can split the packs to make smaller portions to make it easier when you come to use it.
  • Keep a list of everything you buy, so you can tailor your stockpile. For example, if you bought pasta last week, it makes sense to buy pasta sauce the next week to ensure you have a full meal to hand.
  • Blanch and freeze veg that you don’t use.
  • Think outside of food. Each week, we need toiletries and cleaning products too. Don’t forget to watch for sales on items such as toilet paper and toothpaste.
  • Don’t buy branded items. You can get more for your money on unbranded items.
  • Store your items separately from your usual groceries to ensure they don’t get eaten accidentally. If you only have the one freezer, write ‘stockpile’ on the packaging in marker pen.
  • If you have enough ingredients to batch cook, freeze the extra meal for your stockpile.

How to use your stockpile efficiently

My main tip for using your stockpile efficiently is to meal plan. Take an inventory of what you have and write a list of what you plan to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. From that list you can make a list of any fresh items you need to buy.

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Do you stockpile? Do you have any tips and tricks you have learnt along the way?

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Content belongs to Sensibly Frugal Living

DIY Cardboard Car Track

Do you have a toddler who loves wheeling toy cars around and pretending to be a little race car driver? Why not create a car track out of recyclable materials that is totally free to make. Once they grow bored of it, you can stick it in the recycling bin.

This is more than just a fun toy for them that encourages their imagination, it is also great for developing fine motor skills as they learn to follow the roads and park cars in the spaces.

What you will need:

  • Large sheet of cardboard (I cut open a pizza box)
  • Marker pens or paints
  • Small toy cars
  • Pencil
  • Ruler

Method:

  • Cut your cardboard sheet to size.
  • Draw your roads and parking spaces in pencil. Add any other details you would like to include. You can rub out and redraw it until you are happy. Feel free to use my design.
  • Colour or paint over the top of your design to bring it to life.
  • Play with your child and show them how to use their new car track.

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Content belongs to Sensibly Frugal Living

DIY Valentines Chocolates

These chocolates are not only good for Valentine’s day, but they also work well as birthday and Christmas gifts too. They are simple to make and decorate, and cost me just £2.60 to make 15. That works out at 3 gifts.

*prices correct on Tesco.com at the time of posting

What you will need:

  • Petit Four cases £1
  • Chocolate x2 £0.60p
  • Sprinkles £1
  • Saucepan
  • Bowl
  • Spoon

Method:

  • Lay out your petit four cases on a tray.
  • Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of hot water on the stove. This method prevents the chocolate from tasting grainy.
  • Spoon equal amounts of the melted chocolate into the cases.
  • Top with sprinkles.
  • You can leave them to set at room temperature or in a fridge to speed the process up.
  • Once set, you can remove from the cases. I like to leave mine in the cases.
  • You can gift them in cellophane bags if you have them, but a small tub will work just as well.

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Content belongs to Sensibly Frugal Living

D.I.Y Dog Toy

My Nan has a Bichon Frise who bites and tears through toys like paper. Buying replacements ends up costing a small fortune, and all that one use plastic and stuffing is not good for the environment.

I have seen many of these dog toys online and thought I’d give it a go. The result was impressive, and it is made even better because it is a toy that can be ripped up without worry of cost, and can be recycled after use.

What you will need:

  • An old item of clothing, bed sheet, or pillowcase
  • Scissors

Yep, that really is all you need!

Method: (For the purpose of this tutorial, I will use an old skirt)

Cut your fabric into even strips. It is up to you how many you do as the more strips, the thicker your toy will be. Leave two of the strips to one side.

Bunch one end of all the strips together and tie them tightly with one of the strips you have set aside. Cut the ends of this strip to match the ends of the bunch. Keep your other strip aside for later.

Split the strips into three and braid tightly. I found it easier to grip the tied end of the bunch in my knees to braid as it gives you resistance to create a tighter braid.

Tie the ends just as you did at the start with the strip of fabric set aside and your dog toy is ready.

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Content belongs to Sensibly Frugal Living

How to Add Knee Rips to Jeans

Do you or your children want the ripped jeans look, but you don’t want to pay out? This post will guide you through 5 easy steps to get that ripped knee look.

When I was a teen, my dad wouldn’t buy me a trendy pair of ripped jeans from the high street shops because he refused to pay for a hole. I see his point now, especially when they are so easy to do yourself.

Use old or Secondhand Jeans

There is no point paying out for new jeans, to then go ripping and cutting at them. You may as well buy a new pair of ripped jeans. You’re reading this post to save money, right?

Choose Where to Rip

This is important because you only get one shot at getting the cut right. You need to be 100% sure before you go anywhere near your jeans with scissors. Mark where you want to cut with a line. For rips in the knee area of your jeans, it is best to put your jeans on and mark a line just above your knee cap.

Make a Cut

Cut the area you want to rip, ensuring you do not go through the back layer of the trousers. It is best to pinch the front layer of fabric in you fingers (see picture) to make the first incision.

Make Frayed Edges

Once you are happy with the width of your rip, you need to fray the edges to make it look as natural as possible. You can do this by pulling at the threads until you get the desired effect you are looking for.

Try Them Out

Put them on and admire your thrifty, fashionable, ripped jeans! If you want the rips slightly wider, or fancy adding a few more, you can tweak your design until you are satisfied.

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Note: You could also fray hems in the same way if that is the style you like. Decide on a length for your jeans and mark with a pencil. Cut along the line, and then pull at the threads until you achieve the frayed effect.

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What is StepChange?

After receiving some messages with requests to do meal plans on a very tight budget, and then seeing some posts on Instagram from people who are still struggling to just get by because of large debts, I wanted to share a post that may help some families who are in debt crisis.

StepChange (UK) is a debt charity that offers free, tailored advice and debt solutions to people in debt. They can work with you and your creditors to come to a debt solution that you can afford to repay over a realistic time frame.

If your are in a serious debt situation and feel there is no light at the end of the tunnel, it is worth giving them a ring. There is no shame in admitting you need help.

You can check out StepChange for yourself here: https://www.stepchange.org/

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I hope this post may be of help to those who need it. It really is free and simple to see if StepChange can help you out.

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Content belongs to Sensibly Frugal Living

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