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Guest Post: How I Save Money In The House

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I am so happy to have Tammy over at creativekkids share a post with us today.ย  Tammy is a dear friend and one of our Pastor’s wife at our church. Her youngest daughter, Kiley, and my oldest go to the same 2 year old nursery at church. Tammy is such an encouragement to me through this blogging journey and I am just amazed at how fast her own blog is growing. In fact, when I discovered, through facebook, that she had a blog, I was estatic and could not wait to read her content and she what she had to offer. I said to my hubby, So far, I have not been disapointed, yet! So check out her blog at creativekkids where she shares daily activities her creative kids have done, yummy recipes, DIY’s, etc. I am confident that you would not be disappointed!

Guest Post from Tammy : How I Save Money In The House

When Zan asked for posts about thrifty housekeeping, I really didn’t know what I would write about, even though I do consider myself fairly thrifty.

However, I wanted to write how I save money in the house. ย One way we save money is by decorating our house ourselves. ย Now our house is not a Martha Stewart ย house. ย It would not be featured in Good Housekeeping. ย But it is a house that has to be lived in by 7 people: ย 5 under the age of 10 plus I babysit 3 children as well as host Sunday School parties and other functions. ย Therefore, I want a house that is kid-friendly, low maintenance, yet still looks nice.

One way I have saved money is by making all the curtains in our house. ย Curtains

I know that not everyone can sew, ย but if you can, curtains are some of the easiest things to sew! ย I do have help with my mom as the tutor, but if you just want to do sheers that you can drape, then it would consist of hemming two edges! ย Another reason I make my own curtains is so that I can also get exactly the colors and design ย that I want.

The last major room make-over we did was when we switched all the kids’ bedrooms. ย We put our two oldest girls in a new room, and let them pick the color. ย I told them that I would make strip quilts for them, so we first went to the fabric store to pick out the material. ย Of course we went when the material was 40% off and I had an extra 10% off coupon. ย Woo-hoo! ย I bought material for both quilts as they will be Christmas present; but if you sew a lot, quilts can be very economical if you use your scraps or find material at garage sales. ย My mom will use a sheet that she gets on clearance or at a garage sale for the back of the quilt.

We took the material with us when we bought the paint so that we could get the right color. ย  We painted the room ourselves, and the girls were able to help as well which helped them take ownership for the room.

The girls helping to paint their room.
The girls helping to paint their room.

We wanted to give the girls loft beds so that they would have their own personal space under the beds. ย My oldest needs to get away from the little brother and sisters at times and have some peace and quiet, so we were hoping that this would give her that space. ย One loft bed had been given to us, but we needed another bed. ย The only problem was that we needed one that was a shorter length than the normal size so that it could fit in the corner that we wanted it to go in. ย We were not able to find anything that was the right size, so my husband made one out of 2″ x 4″ pieces of wood (and other sizes as well.) ย  Then he painted it. ย It is very sturdy, and only cost the price of wood and hardware!

The bed my husband made
The bed my husband made

The loveseatWe had a little loveseat given to us ย that folds out into a twin bed for their cousin or friends that will sleep over. ย It doesn’t really match–but they don’t care! ย Kaylin will curl up on the loveseat and read a book.

I wanted them to be able to decorate above their bed a little, so I went online and ordered a few sheets of vinyl. ย I had bought a little cricut at a garage sale for $15 for the crafting that I do, and I had bought two cartridges at a different garage sale for $12.50 each. ย With that little cricut and those two cartridges, we cut out their names and some flowers and dots. ย (Their quilts have flowers or dots.) ย Then we went up on their beds, and they helped decide where they wanted the flowers and dots to go.

Putting the vinyl clings on the wall.
Putting the vinyl clings on the wall.

They loved it partly because they were able to help in the work and the decision process!

The curtain that was made out of a sheet.
The curtain that was made out of a sheet.

I just took a full-size sheet that my mom had given me and made a curtain that will hide the bottom part of Kaylin’s bed. ย The sheet had a rip on one side, but it was great for what I needed it for. ย My husband cut a piece of rod that he had and somehow made it fit perfectly from one end of Kaylin’s bed to the other. ย I sew–he saws!

beginning of strip quilt
Half of the front of Karis’s quilt.

I am still making the quilts, and then I will make curtains with the left-over material. ย When those are made, the room will be complete!

I have found that if you expect the best and the niecest, that that is what your kids will want. ย But if you are happy with the little things and take pleasure in doing it ย yourself, so will your kids! ย Of course, there are many ways that you can decorate a room, but it doesn’t have to break the bank.

If you are looking for a new way to decorate or you want to spice up a room, go to thrift stores and garage sales looking for bargains! ย  Go to craft stores at the end of the season when they mark everything down 75%-90%. ย Look on pinterest for upcycling items. ย I have started boards on reusing jeans, t-shirts, and towels!

If you don’t think you are good in those areas, bring a friend along who is. ย I do not think I have a great eye, but my mom and her friends do. ย They go garage saling with me, and they will see a wreath and say, “Oh, yeah, we can totally remake that!” ย Then we do a craft day, and they all will come over and bring down our bins of flowers, foilage, and wire, and get to work! ย By the time they are done a couple of hours later, we have beautiful new creations. ย  As we are creating, we’ll hold them up, and say, “What do you think?” ย We’re all comfortable enough to give feedback. ย Sometimes it is taken, sometimes it is not–but we all had a good time. ย However, with their feedback, I get new ideas I would have never thought of.

So that is just a simple way that we decorated our older girls’ room. ย What are some of the ways you have decorated a room and not spent a lot of money?

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3 thoughts on “Guest Post: How I Save Money In The House

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