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Thursday, December 13, 2012

Another score!

This "dumpster" score brought to you by a closing daycare. Any time a day care or preschool closes, moves, or wants to update equipment check with them to see if they are willing to part with older equipment and toys for cheap or free.

Here are some things I acquired for free:
 A Swing! Hooray! This one works!








A sink and Stove combo! I'll have to build a refrigerator and install some shelves under the sink for storage but it's very promising!







Some things I scored from dumpsters and lucky finds!

 Lucky Find! A Friend found this for me and saved it! It's a child's card table with matching chair.
 That same awesome friend found this couch for the kids. It was actually less stained before my kids got a hold of it!
 My Luckiest dumpster find! A working non smelly couch! It's lazy boy brand and works perfectly. I couldn't figure out why they tossed it except that it was stained and had a few tears.





And a like-new very sturdy bookshelf for the kids!








Stay green,
Yasha

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Use It Up, Wear It Out...

Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. That's what grandma said right? I try to take it to heart at our house so food, clothes, and other assorted things don't usually get wasted.

This is a big reason I shop used stores. I feel bad paying full price for kids clothes that I know they will grow out of before they get a hole in them.

I've scored pretty big over the years by shopping used but the biggest score is using it until it wears out completely. Take these shoes for instance. My favorite sandals have lasted me 4+ years of heavy wear. These poor shoes are practically the only thing I have worn in warm weather during that time.

It may now be time for new shoes but by using up my shoes until they have completely worn out I have probably saved about $40. That isn't much to some people but it's a day's worth of meals for my family.

Hope this inspires you to keep something a bit longer than you would normally!

Stay green,
Yasha

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Dumpster Score!

Say what!?

Most Parents discourage children from touching, going near, or even thinking about dumpsters. I try to encourage mine to look at them. Why? Well sometimes people throw out completely good things. Toys, chairs, couches. Any of these things can be spruced up and resold or kept depending on he condition.

Now I haven't gone so far as to actually jump in a dumpster nor would I let my kids do it (or see me do it if I ever work up the courage.) Jumping in a dumpster takes some preparation and caution. You don't know what is in there. If it will shift. If it will break. If there are bugs. *shudder* However, things conveniently placed next to a dumpster are fair game.

Trash day has become one of my favorite days. I have found some of the more affluent neighborhoods are awesome to cruise through on trash day. Amazingly, there are still a lot of people out there that never take things to Goodwill. They just leave them on the curb.



Still think I'm crazy? Take a look at some of the treasures I found.
Kitchen Chair needed a new bolt
(Please ignore the pile of blue bags in the corner. They're full of donations waiting to go.)
Fully functional keyboard needed new batteries
Dora the Explorer chair Hole needed sewn up

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Un-paper towels.


I find myself, on a daily basis, wiping up sticky messes, eewie gooey crud, and just random "what is that!?" spots. So, of course, I love prepackaged wipes. I mean loooove. As in dewy eyed drool on myself trip over my feet L-O-V-E. Not everyone feels this way about wipes but not everyone has kids either. (I'm sure other moms out here have a similar infatuation.)

Small problem with wipes... They're expensive!

So how to solve this? Unpaper towels. A simple linen napkin that I wet with either water or vinegar to wipe up messes. Works just the same as a pop up wipe but I can toss this into the laundry when done.

What's that? Do they scrub? You bet your cookies they do! I never dry these with dryer sheets and most of the time I hang them so they do scrub really well.

Now if you don't like my simple linen wipes they have a ton of cutesy ones on etsy. If you prefer scented just fill a container with 3 parts water, 1 part vinegar, and your choice of essential oil (just a few drops should do). Either put the mix in a spray bottle to spray and wipe or put he mix in a container with the wipes and leave them until you need them. I personally prefer the spray method but I know some people that use the soaked ones.

Either way you look at it unpaper towels will save you a bundle.

Stay green,
Yasha

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

I finished a project!

Now to get the pictures posted before I forget! I repainted the kids' toy box. Eventually I will add a lid to it also but for now, at least, it is painted!

Before Picture; not so pretty. This was my Husband's toybox that his grandpa built when he was 3 or so. That is the origional paint job. (His sister added her name later to the corner.)
 Primer White It took 2 cans and a part of a third of Krylon "2 in 1 Primer and Paint" in White
 Taped off. Random spacing because I'm too lazy to measure. I don't care if the lines are crooked or uneven. It will add character. At least I will say it's character.
Painted and waiting to dry so I can remove the tape! Krylon Pistachio (green) and Krylon Peekaboo Blue (blue) are the colors I used for the stripes. I did one blue one green rotating colors. it helps to spray a bit of the base or top with the correct color before doing stripes so you don't mess up.
Ignore the screen in front of the camera. I got lazy. Note to self Clear coat the white before taping off! Yeah, I will have to go back and touch up the white.

Friday, February 24, 2012

The Natural Remedy

Over the years I've come to trust modern medicine to help with all sorts of things. I guess the more I go down the "runny nose aisle" as I like to call it the more I become distrustful of it, though. When I see 15 little boxes that only help with a handful of symptoms and 15 other little boxes that help with the rest I kinda get disappointed with how medicine has become way too common.

Don't get me wrong, when I have a cold I'm the first one to ask for a bottle of cough syrup. I don't want to suffer any more than the rest of us. However, since I first became pregnant in 2008 I have had a 3 month break where I wasn't either breastfeeding or pregnant. That alone has limited what medications I can take. With those limitations I have looked into more unusual methods to relieve my symptoms.

So just what have I come up with?

Elderberry.

So just what can this little berry do? Well according to some doctors doing a double-blind study over in Europe "a complete cure was achieved within 2 – 3 days in nearly 90% of the elderberry-treated group [...]" Sounds like pretty good results to me.

Now I love my local hippies as much as the next person so when I first was told about Elderberry syrup I totally blew it off. I mean if this stuff was so great why do we have NyQuil? It wasn't until I stumbled upon this research article that I actually put some thought into it.

So if you'd like to try something new or just wanna check it out. Try asking for Elderberry syrup next flu season.

Check out the full article here: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/field/jimr/2004/00000032/00000002/art00005

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Legwarmer Frenzy

I love love love baby legwarmers! Ever since My little girl started wearing them at 9 months we've always kept a pair handy. They're great! Perfect for protecting little knees from rug burn and scrapes. They keep legs warm in the winter and protected from sunburns in the summer. Adorable and fashionable, what more could one ask for in a child's clothing accessory?

Now that our son is here we have acquired more pairs (this time with sports themes.) Our daughter still wears her legwarmers too, sometimes on her legs, sometimes as makeshift sleeves. She gets creative with them.

Legwarmers are just so cute! Here are some of ours.

Stay green,
Yasha

Friday, January 20, 2012

Dolls and Diapers and Bears oh my!

Ever feel swamped in kid stuff? I live that life. 1000sqft shared between 2 parents and 2 children. The kids have taken over.

Someone somewhere must have a good idea on how to organise this stuff! Please send me some tips!