Five Frugal Things | 100% mending
This week's edition of Five Frugal Things happens to be entirely about mending, because once I get my sewing stuff out, I like to get it all done at once.
1. I fixed Arthur's eye.
We bought Zoe a handmade velour whale from Fluffyland when she turned six and in case you weren't an FG reader then, here's a whole post about her sixth birthday.
I just reread it and am having all the feels.
Anyway, she named him Arthur, and sadly, Arthur lost his eye.
Even though Zoe doesn't play with stuffed animals anymore, Arthur still holds a special place in her heart.
Stuffed animals are not just for small kids at this house...I mean, I have a big stuffed fox in my bedroom!
And Lisey has somewhere around 57 stuffed animals in her room. 😉
So, Zoe asked if I could fix him up.
I put the bottom part of the safety eye inside, secured it with a safety pin, and then sewed the eye opening tighter to keep the back from coming out again.
Then I popped the eye front on, pulled my threads a little tighter, and tied them off.
He looks so much better now!
2. I fixed two shopping bags.
Two of my foldable shopping bags had issues. The first, one from Aldi, had strap issues.
I sewed a new strap seam.
And then I did a little further reinforcement.
This yellow bag had a little stitching coming undone, and I lazily sewed it without changing my pink thread.
You can't see it from the outside, so no harm, no foul.
3. I sewed Mr. FG's driving glove.
The faux leather part on the thumb had worn away and come loose.
I stuck a little glass bottle inside the thumb and then hand-sewed the remaining leather part back on.
It's not as good as new, but the gloves are totally serviceable now.
4. I sewed an armhole rip.
Mr. FG just wears this one under work shirts, but I still figured a repair would be a good idea.
All good now.
5. I mended Mr. FG's tshirt.
This one got a rip right on the sleeve seam.
A quick run through the machine, and it's good as new. Super easy!
My mom always said (and now I say it too!) that if you want to save big money with your sewing skills, mending is where it's at.
Nothing I did in this post required a whole lot of creativity or skill...it was all basic stuff. But even these basic skills can really help you avoid spending money on replacement items.
Plus, extending the life of an item is an environmental win; you keep something out of the landfill and also prevent a new purchase.
And that's why I am a diehard mender.
I'll work on my Frugal Five later, but I also did a lot of mending this week. I sewed my daughter's jacket (at gymnastics), sewed a quilt in about 10 places that my son uses on his bed. It felt really good to get all of those small holes fixed.
YES. Getting all those little issues knocked out feels awesome.
Writing down what it would have cost me verses what I paid makes me feel like I earned money
Yep, for sure. How much would a new item have cost? Or how much would it have cost to pay someone to fix it for me?
You menders rock!
1. We have been eating from the freezer and pantry to try to use up oft neglected items. I did go out to lunch with a friend but I wasn't very hungry so i just had a bowl of chili.
2. We visited the new Lidl for a Saturday morning date. It was fun to see a new store. We picked up several items to try and the bill was about $13.
3. I over bought yarn before Christmas so I put the excess in my car and will return it to Michael's the next time I am near one of their stores.
4. We're enjoying watching Acorn TV through our library card. I also have been busy reading ebooks borrowed from the library and have a book on CD going in my car.
5. I'm helping host a bridal shower. We had a Shutterfly code to save $25 on an order, earned from a Best Buy order, that will be used towards invitations.
How does Acorn work thru the library card?!
Acorn thru the library? Wow. I pay by the month (it's worth it). Where is your library (city, state)?
Want to learn more about how this could be available via the library.
Brilliant fix on the eye.
Thank you! I'm so pleased that Arthur is back to being his cute self.
I was completely amazed by that fix as well. Wtg, Kristen!
I need to remember this sewing technique. It would have stumped me. I absolutely hate mending, but I have to admit that it has saved us money (and sad kids when the seams come loose on stuffed animals). BTW, I helped chaperone our high school youth group retreat this past weekend, and there were a LOT of stuffed animals there, including a pillow pet. Most of the girls were 16 and 17 years old. They never outgrow them!
I have done eye “surgery” on stuffed animals by removing the remaining good eye and satin stitching 2 new eyes or replacing with buttons. But Arthur probably looks best with his original googly eyes.
Feeling all the feels here too, as 2020 is a big milestone year for my children. SO much has changed in the last 10 years, and we are at the start of a new phase for the next 10 years.
Frugal things never change, though 😉
1. No mending, but supported a home sewer and ordered wrist warmers from her. These are making a big difference for my freezing hands in winter time and making it less necessary to turn up the room heat.
2. Stocked up on toiletries from CVS with rewards and coupons.
3. Not happy about store closings, but went to the A.C. Moore clearance for art supplies. Also used an old gift card.
4. Baked banana bread for snack for the kids.
5. No coffee or meals outside the home last week.
Funny word, “sewer”, right? Lol! Seamstress sounds lovely and old-fashioned, but would a male who sews be a “seamster”?!
Mending saves alot of money . I have seen nice 1.00 clothing items at thrift stores that only need mending. You could get an entire winter wardrobe for 10 00
I love your mending posts. They’ve inspired me to mend a lot of things I never would have thought to mend before (like pot holders). I have canvas shopping bags I need to figure out how to fix, too. Two have handles that are almost worn out and a third blew-out through the bottom. I think I can fix the handles with my limited skills, but the busted bottom is proving to be a challenge.
Not exactly mending, but before Christmas I used material from my kids old outgrown, holey-footed fleece jammies to make drawstring bags for our advent calendar. It felt great to find another use for the material and make something useful for only the price of some ribbon.
Your work on the whale eye is perfect!!
1. I gave my husband a haircut at home last night. Nothing new for us, but it's frugal.
2. On Saturday, the kids and I picked up my mom and drove to a Once Upon a Child store that was having a sale where their clearance items were 90% off. I thought my mom was just coming along to entertain the kids, but she ended up paying for everything! She is so sweet.
3. Ended up with unexpected free time this morning (cancelled meeting) for which I already had childcare. Instead of buying a latte or going shopping for birthday party supplies without a well-planned list, I drank water and read my book.
4. Accepted that my son has outgrown some shoes that I loved and are still in good shape and listed them for sale on Facebook.
5. Stuck to my grocery list on Saturday, which was pretty minimal.
A Once Upon a Child shopping trip is an even better deal if your mom is paying. Yay for generous moms!
I have a mending basket calling my name. Maybe this will get me to it!
Speaking of keeping stuffed animals, one of my daughters, who is 34, still has (and often sleeps with) her stuffed animal that was given to her at age 3. I have sewn soooo many seams back on that fuzzy guy. He's part of the family now. He went on all of our family vacations with us.
1. I bought organic apples for $1 a pound, which is pretty good for organic. I plan to pull a Kristen and make applesauce, which I love.
2. I am happy yet again that I bought a Foley food mill at the thrift store. I don't have to peel the apples! It makes me much more likely to buy peeled fruit in bulk when it is on sale.
3. Our church has a "peanut butter ministry" and I found peanut butter at a lower price this weekend, so I bought several jars, since I donate each week.
4. I'm gathering tax documents so I can do my own taxes with Turbotax for cheap.
5. I signed up early for an event and get $5 off of a $30 fee for being an early bird. That fee covers breakfast, snacks and lunch for the 8 a.m. - 2 p.m. event as well as all materials.
Five frugal things:
1. Redid the back of a low-rise concert chair with a nice piece of brocade fabric from American Ribbon Company and added a carry strap made from an unused luggage strap. The chair is over twenty years old -- a couple of wood pieces have been replaced, but its the kind of chair you need for lawn seats at concert venues.
2. We're going to three lawn-seated concerts this summer, at $25 CDN each admission (compares well to $200 for a single stadium show admission). We're seeing some musicians we've seen before, some we've always wanted to see, and some we're glad to be seeing before they die! These are through Groupon.
3. Sunday shopped my local FreshCo for marked down produce: zucchini, mushrooms and a green pepper for $1 -- just the things I need for chicken caccitore (added to broccoli and home-made canned pasta sauce).
4. Groupons for lunch/dinners and excursions bought for our March trip to southern US.
5. Hemmed two pairs of pants I bought 50% off at Value Village.
Per the pink thread, there's actually a growing movement called "visible mending" where you mend something to show off that it's been mended.
1.) Figured out how to turn off my printer's setting to stop when the toner is "out." Turns out there's a lot of toner left in the cartridge after Brother claims it's empty.
2.) Purchased a third party replacement toner. I don't always recommend these but I've had decent luck with these.
3.) Used slow shipping on Amazon to rack up a few digital credits for some manga I want to read. Sadly my library system doesn't stock much manga at all so I have to buy it. Some I get physical copies of but lately I've been just getting digital versions of the ones I don't care as much about.
4.) Downloaded some free books (thanks Gutenburg!) to my Kindle.
5.) Bought a gift card for Hulu at Target saving 5% with the RedCard. I do this with all my streaming services and subscriptions if I can. It ain't much but it adds up.
1. Taking anything for lunch lately. I found a crushed Pop Tart in the pantry. Added it to my lunch bag. I get pretty desperate around 3pm most days!
2. Have yet to purchase one box of girl scout cookies from the supply in my dining room.
3. Stretched my tank of gas last week so I could make it to Costco to fill up.
4. My van was super dirty with salt/dirt from winter. It rained like cats and dogs on Saturday morning, so I left my van out to get some of it off. I even drove through huge puddles to get some of the salt off the bottom (I'm turning into my father!)
5. Heels of bread are not liked by my children, so I trick them by using them in grilled cheese! They will never know when the heel is covered in cheesy goodness!
#5 -- hah, I have to do this to fool myself 🙂
I have 16 month old twins and reading your Zoe turns 6 post gave ME all the feels. I want to be able to create memorable birthdays like this for them, with simple, special things. So inspired!
1. Made baked French toast from frozen leftover bread pieces. It fed all 4 of us breakfast for 2 days. Maybe cost $1 to make.
2. Bought a ham at 50% off at Aldi's. Came to $1.10 per lb.
3. My husband wanted to order dumplings, from a Chinese restaurant, to celebrate the Chinese New Year. We compromised and bought frozen dumplings from the Asian grocery store. They were great and for $20 it will feed us all for 2 dinners.
4. Picked up a package of swim diapers from a neighbor on my local Buy Nothing Group
5. Original plan was to make chicken pot pies for dinner, but we ended up making them vegetarian and "open-faced". Now we have 4 pot pies at a fraction of the price.
This so reminds me of when I restuffed my son's bear. It was getting flat from so much love. I flipped it on its back, and proceeded to snip the stitches... My 4 YO son cries "Don't Mom! You're hurting him!" We had to put the bear under anesthesia 😉
That is SO cute. Little kids are just the best.
Last night I hauled stuff out of the freezer and pantry to make what I call my first US style meal. Mum had bought cream of mushroom soup last winter and I wanted it out of the pantry. Score one for using up ingredients I don't usually use.
I am trying to do a big shop once a fortnight and top up on the off week. This week I have stuck with this. I just wish our fruit and vegetables were a little cheaper. The Australian fires have pushed up some prices.
I am looking after my granddaughter three days this week and I have free activities planned.
I am so happy that Christmas and engagement parties are over for now. Next I need to make three wedding gifts and help pay for my girls weddings.
I have cut some projects out of fabrics I have to hand.
Mending no matter how small has always been very satisfying to me in that one can relatively easily and simply restore something. There is something so good about saving something from being thrown out and still worn. This applies double to items with sentimental value such as the stuffed animal mentioned in this column.
I have always been someone who would rather something was fixed, than tossed and/or replaced. This had gotten to the point where the woman who did alterations on my clothes (something I am not able to do) literally would not allow me to have something fixed as she felt it compromised the garment! Which tells you that although I never wore anything raggedy, this woman who worked hard to make her clients look good at all times always had our best interests at heart. Regular off the rack clothes never looked so good as when she hemmed, took in or let out various pants, jackets, etc. She made my regular priced clothes look custom made!
Re your #2: I say it's OK even if others can see the stitching. I exercise extreme frugality by mending bags with whatever color I have on the needle that I'm unlikely to use again. My bags are mended with pink, green, yellow, but never black.
As it happened, I did some mending this week as well:
- reaffixed button on my pea coat. I've done this more times than I can count; at some point I'm going to have to reinforce the fabric;
- fixed a hole in a t-shirt underarm;
- reaffixed the button on a pair of slacks;
- and a really gnarly one: fixed a raveling hole in a sweater, at the junction of the neck and shoulder seams. It was just as aggravating as I thought it would be; I feel 100% justified in putting this off for two months.
The first three saved me $15 for 15 min of work. I estimate the sweater fix would cost me $25-50.
I also cooked:
- Fried rice from take-out rice I stashed in the freezer, assorted veggies, and a lot of eggs. I didn't have any appropriate leftover meat so vegetarian it is.
- Turducken Rice from the too-dry turducken; stock from chicken scraps, onion skins, carrot scrapings, and celery leaves; veggies I had on hand; and rice. It started life as soup but it came out thick and I decided I liked it that way.
- KAF Morning Glory Muffins because they are glorious and nutritious (carrots, apples, whole wheat flour, wheat germ, raisins) and 100% superior to store-bought.
Not Frugal:
I spent much of Sunday dealing with the library, now that roommate has cleared out several years' worth of paperwork). I dusted, shelved, reorganized, and set aside at least 100 books to sell or give away. After all that work and dust, I decided to order Chinese food for dinner rather than cook.
I think you earned it -- and will recoup it with all the book sales
Aw, I went back to her 6 year old party -- so so adorable and yes, Arthur is well served by 50% more eye. And clever how you did that!
1. This has been ongoing but I completely overlooked it -- no heat or AC (live in SoCal) since well before Thanksgiving, except for Christmas eve and day, when our daughter was there -- we cranked it up to 70 degrees for her. Otherwise, we are liking the cool -- it was averaging 58 - 60 degrees in early January, and now it's 60 - 62. Of course the real savings would be no AC during the other 7 or 8 months of the year. 🙁
2. Used JC Penney card to get discounts on new pants and shirts for my husband's upcoming trip. 2 of his favorite brand of polos were marked down to $6.49. The pants were buy one/get one 40% off, plus an additional 10% using the card. Will pay off as soon as they send the bill.
3. NOT best week for frugal eating but, we forced ourselves to go home and cook food after work and a grueling mall trip for his clothes. It was late but not bad tasting.
Then, the usual-- reading library books and renewing online, trying to use up frozen and pantry foods -- finished off discounted chix breasts and ground turkey plus veggies in crisper; checking prices and coupons here and there before making purchases. Nothing too amazing 🙂
Must be mending week - I did some too.
Five frugal things-
1. Ignored the Netflix email I received trying to suck me back in!
2. Wrote out my February budget and planned my February menus - still in use it up mode. Decided $200 is more than I want to spend for the month (even though I set my 2020 budget at $240 a month) so I’m going to go back over it again to see what I can cut.
3. Planted some herb seeds in pots for my windowsill, using some of my Christmas bonus to buy the seeds and potting stuff.
4. Reread my Tightwad Gazette books - prices are uses are from the 90’s but the principles still apply. Can’t believe I’ve owned these books for 20 years!
5. Ran out of cream for my coffee and also my favorite tea, both on Sunday. Convinced myself to wait on the creamer until first of the month. I’ve decided to pass on ordering the tea since it’s a specialty item.
6. After my food processor tripped the breaker for the fifth time while trying to make pie dough, my husband took it apart to see what kind of motor it has. He also looked up the price of a replacement motor ($170 - yikes!). Since it only trips when I use it to make doughs, pizza, pie, etc, and a replacement FP would be about $150, we decided to do nothing until/unless it conks out altogether. In the meantime, I’ll use a different method to pull together the doughs.
All in all, a pretty good frugal week!
1. Went to CFA today and my husband had free nuggets and a large fry in the app and a free sandwich from a survey, I had free nuggets and a large fry from the app and then used rewards points for a large soda, so we just had to buy one large soda and we had a gift card from my parents for that. And we got the free sandwich survey on my receipt, so have another free sandwich! I love Chick Fil A.
2. Picked up two Ina Garten books at the library.
3. Skyped the grandkids instead of flying to Nebraska! 😉
4. Made Joanna Gaines' banana bread with some overripe bananas. It was REALLY good and is now my new recipe!
5. Used Amazon's B2G1 book sale and got a couple of books for my kids' birthdays. Then I mailed my daughter's early enough to use media mail. Could have sent straight from Amazon, but wanted to personalize the gift wrap and include a note.
6. Enjoying not running the a/c in Florida. I hate to admit that I have run the heat when it got down to the 30s. ;(
The 30s totally justify running the heat!
1. Chicken breasts were on a 3 day special for 99¢ a pound. I bought 8 packs so 44 pounds total. I divided them up into smaller bags and froze them.
2. An artist friend had an art showing. Wine, cheese, crackers and fruit were served. Hubby and I went and counted that as our lunch.
3. I won a $5 GC from DD. Hubby and I stopped on the way home from #2 and got a free snack.
4. Went to a girl's night out. We played Bunco. It is $5 per person. The host supplies dinner and drinks. Everyone takes a turn one month out of the year. I am a sub so I never host. I get to go several times a year. This time I won. Brought home $30 and had a great time. A friend drove me this time. We take turns.
5. I have been decluttering the office. It is looking really good.
I don’t like to sew as a hobby but I like being able to mend things like you or for things like hemming pants or curtains! I love that you were lazy about changing the thread. I have a dish towel with mismatched thread!
1. Gave my daughter a haircut. It turned out great.
2. Sewed closed a v neck sweater that was a bit revealing. I pinched the v about 1 in up and stitched down to the point careful to keep the line straight on the outside down to the original point. The inside creates a bit of a triangle of fabric but the sweater lays nicely anyway.
3. I pulled my bread machine out of storage and used it to make a loaf of white bread to go with a chili dinner.
4. Had some jam packets from a work outing at a Diner taking up space at my desk so I used one to sweeten my tea. It tasted good.
5. Use the rice cooker porridge setting and the timer to make steel cut oatmeal for breakfast.
I have been looking for that kind of shopping bag! It is perfect for keeping in your purse all the time. Do you have a link to purchase?
Yes! These are my favorite reusable bags. It's so easy to keep one or two in your purse for those unexpected purchases. https://amzn.to/2t5JI1f
Loved your shout-out to all your blog community commenters the other day. It is neat to see what God built/builds in this space:)
As for frugal things:
1) Buying clearance food items, eating leftovers, cooking from
scratch, mesl planning from pantry, using coupons. Persevering in the little things that add up.
2) Reading this blog &
Money Saving Mom to stay encouraged & be in the mindset of being content
3) Utilizing the library & homeschool "hand me downs" to supplement our daily lessons
4) Using creative inspiration from online to set up sensory play ideas for my youngest. No new toys/supplies, but we're using things we have in new ways--and it's working well.
5) Slowly bringing out some Christmas gifts from extended family that I set aside (we get a lot), so that each craft set, etc. can be enjoyed at a focused time.
One at a time with the craft sets is a brilliant plan!
1). I cut both my girls hair rather than taking them to the salon.
2). I was able to get a pair of school gym shorts for my son from our school’s uniform donation program, rather than buying them.
3). Sunday was crazy busy with little time to cook. We were eating in two waves so I used odds and ends to make two different quick and easy meals. We eliminated food waste and avoided eating out.
4). We are all reading books from the library.
5). We decided to shorten our upcoming vacation to limit the expense. The kids school break will be a mix of being away and being home. I think we will still all have a great time and will be spending significantly less:
You put a smile on my face seeing all you saved. Good for you!!!!
I've been ignoring a cardigan for about a year since one of the patch pockets came 3/4 off. This morning I finally pulled it out and decided that it was easier to remove the pocket entirely than to sew it back on, given the stretchy knitted fabric. So I did, it took 30 seconds, and nobody has noticed all day that I've only got a pocket on the right 🙂
YES. And now you have a piece of clothing back into the rotation.
I hate sewing on stretchy knit fabric, so I think your fix was perfect.
Mending things is a "feel-good" thing for me. Like ironing, I feel like I've accomplished something when I can see the improvement. The results are satisfying and I've extended the life of perfectly good clothing or made them better.
How funny. Of all the days to be reading your frugal mending post. This morning I bound the frayed edges of a bath mat which I made a few years ago. I had a large bath towel, which would not fit on our towel rack, even when folded. I was able to make 2 good sized bath mats with that towel. I fancied them up somewhat and I love using them. They can be washed with the regular towel load.
I am also planning to mend a pair of jeans. No telling what else I will find that I've intended to mend before the day is over. A half slip with stretched out elastic already comes to mind. Thanks for sharing your mending post.
I have also been busy mending. We are traveling in an RV and, though the sewing machine is on board, I have been hand mending. The curtains at the front side windows were coming apart at the seams, now stitched back in place. A pillow made for Halloween had lost a button, now sewed back on; my purple hooding with front pocket across the belly showed stress at 2 corners, so I wove the holes to reinforce the stressed area and it is now solid; seams on hubby's jean shorts were coming apart and lots of 'tassle-like' fringes were coming down, now fixed and stitched. I have a winter jacket with crocheted arms and one caught on something sharp and ripped the wool. That will be my last project out of the 'need to be mended' bag. I mended all my cloth bags before we started our RV travel using my sewing machine last fall. It is very satisfying!
1). Checked a receipt immediately & got a 90cent refund for an imaginary can of vegies the self scanner at the supermarket had added to my tally
2). Doing way better with meal planning
3) Checked my stash for a birthday card & wrapping paper instead of buying
4). Really wanted dumplings one night - remembered dim sims in freezer - 80cents vs $12 & they were yum
5). Batched errands
Yeah, those imaginary cans really sneak up on a person! Nice catch
Here are my 5:
1. Our refi is finally getting closer to completion and originally, 4 months ago, our interest rate was 3.87%. Since the process has taken months to close, our lender said the rates have been dropping and locked it in at 3.5%. Not only are we saving an additional $70/mth due to the rate change, but we saved $500 since the lender decided to cancel the original interest rate, not us.
2. I earned a $10 GC from Swagbucks and shopped for baking items for the church's bake sale.
3. Back in October, I sent my receipt and copies of my therapy bills to my insurance company requesting a 50% refund. My ins. covers therapy at 50%...It's taken a long time, but I'm finally getting a refund of $500.
4. I made bananberry bread and used up those items that were sitting around.
5. Instead of buying DS2's college books, I rented them from Amazon.
I have a sweater waiting to be mended. The online tutorial suggests using a wooden mending "egg", which I don't own. I have been procrastinating going down to the basement, looking for a piece of wood, and sanding it smooth. BUT I never thought to use glass!!! Brilliant! Thank you so much for the suggestion. Can't wait to put my sweater back into rotation as this is the time of year that I start to get sick of my winter wardrobe 🙂
Ooh, wonderful! I hope the glass works out great for you...it did the trick nicely for the glove, which was too small for a mending egg, even if I did have one.
I’ve posted a few things for sale on Facebook marketplace. I have lots of books to sell. I’m thinking eBay or amazon would be the best places to list them. Does anyone recommend one over the other? Or another method to sell them?
eBay is more work, but you definitely get more return for your money. Also, because Amazon is so huge, I get fewer sales there. It seems like your item is more likely to just disappear over there!
That is good to know! I’ll start listing a few things in Amazon tomorrow. Thank you!
I mean on eBay.