It's always a good idea to think about what you can make instead of buy and to make things that help your budget. Even more so in a time like this with the economy crashing and burning and prices necessarily rising. If you can be 'green' while you're at it, better yet. (The green movement is one trend I hope sticks around; it's about time, right?)
I'm going to try to post about something economy- and eco-friendly on a regular basis. Hopefully I'll remind myself and others to not only craft for a hobby but also for frugality's sake. We could learn something from other countries that don't view spending as a sport. </soapbox>
Pack a lunch!
Going out and taking out for lunch is expensive, and it's only going to get even more expensive. Thinking about how much money you've saved always feels good and is especially reassuring now; not to mention that you'll feel super responsible and less wasteful. Lunch near where I work averages about $10 a day. That's $50 a week and $2600 a year. Gah! Here's some idears:
- Plan your meals for the coming week on Sundays. Think of key, in-season ingredients that are common to several dishes. I try to think of 2 or 3 proteins and vegetables that I'll use for lunch and dinner throughout the week. For example: tomatoes, potatoes and chicken. That can get you pasta; stuffed tomatoes; roasted potatoes; chicken parm; potato, corn and chicken chowder, etc. And yes, I live alone so I'm cooking for one -gasp!- Just make two servings of your recipes and have one for dinner and one for lunch the next day or so.
Some of my favorites recipe sites are Five Mushrooms, Allrecipes, and Apartment Therapy's The Kitchn.
To plan meals, I use my "What to Eat" pad from knockknock. This pad is also helpful to keep track of what you need at the store so you can make a meal at a moment's notice. But guess what, you don't really need a fancy pad. Just keep notepad near your fridge.
- Make a lunch tote. It looks like all you need is a small amount of fabric, some batting and a closure like Velcro or snaps for a square-bottomed bag, with or without a handle. One of these will be a new project of mine:
http://www.simplicity.com/index.cfm?page=section/classroom/sewprojects/lunchtote/lunchsack.html
http://sewing.about.com/library/weekly/aa072100a.htm
http://tumblingblocks.net/blog/index.cfm/2007/7/31/oilcloth-lunch-bag
Happy lunching!
Image from tumblingblocks.netLabels: budget, cooking, ideas
1. Many of you reading this are probably familiar with feed readers that track subscriptions to blogs or news topics. I use
Google Reader to track several blogs myself.
A bunch of those blogs are craft/DIY-related. Aggregators are great--once you are aware of an RSS feed you want to track in the first place. That's the catch.
2. You might also be familiar with
popurls.com, which gleans content from the most popular websites. It's basically a cross-section of the
hive mind that is the Internet. Also great; it keeps you current and aware of trends and popular topics. But boy, it is potentially a huge undertaking and I have shied away from it. (But not for long now the the mobile version is now fully featured, ahem cough.)
3. Behold, popurl's new sister site,
epsonality.popurls.com.
It gleans content from the most popular creative sites, subdivided by topic. And every topic is relevant to modern crafters: Crafts (duh), Small Business, Entrepreneurship, Photography, Design...oh man. It''s pretty nice not being held back to the feeds of a select few crafty blogs. Also have to love the previews available on mouse roll-over. I wonder if they'll add more categories; I think breaking out sewing and knitting/crocheting from the Crafts pack might be beneficial. Then again, that's what interests
me.
Happy browsing the other creative fish in the internet sea!
Labels: community, tech
Happy Monday, fair sewers. While I'm not the first to post about the
Project Runway-inspired patterns offered by Simplicity, I finally got around to buying some and they were on sale!
$9.99 instead of $14.95+.
The following designs are going to keep me very busy:
#2922
#2942
#2951
#3507
There are a LOT of options, but I think I picked the best [wink].
It's been so long since I've sewn from a pattern; I think I'll have to spend some time reading tips on
BurdaStyle. I know, I know...why was I so crazy as to pay for patterns rather than download some open source patterns? I'm usually so pro-open source. It was a combination of having my eye on these patterns for quite some time + not seeing anything I thought I'd look good in. Though, this doesn't mean I won't keep checking back for new patterns. And maybe something on Burda will grow on me.
Images from
Simplicity.comLabels: project, sewing
Hooray--the new look for my site is fully launched. I've even got some content up. Now I just need to fill up the shop and write my FAQ and policies pages.
Take a look at the new site! Now on to the difficult task of marketing oneself...
Labels: shop, update
Pack a lunch!
