Froggy Girl Designs

A glimpse into my daily life of crafting, frugal living, and being a mom!

Friday, August 10, 2007

F is for frugality and fabric

F is for frugality and fabric

I was raised with my father teaching me from a young age to do things like calculate the price per ounce of different brands at the grocery store (a skill I use to this day, although it didn't help my math skills much lol), and using up the last bit of ketchup. As I've gotten older, I've taken those values and used them to the best of my ability. I've improved in my road to being frugal over the years quite a bit, I try and watch all electrical usage, water consumption, and the like, as well as do things like grow a garden, use coupons to get the best possible price, shop thrift stores and yard sales, etc. Being frugal is not an ability that is born in most people, it takes work and research. It is also a journey that is never over. In this day of inflation, technology, and advancement, prices continue to rise while many times wages do not.

Milk is the first example that comes to mind. With 4 young boys, we constantly tease about needing to buy a cow to keep up with their milk consumption. When all 6 of us are home, we can easily go through a gallon in a day. Currently, the cheapest local price on milk is about $3.28 a gallon. And that's for 2%, non-organic, etc. etc. So honestly, we would probably save quite a bit if we bought a cow to milk. Anyways, back to my point, frugality comes into play here in many ways for different people. Some people go the route of powdered milk, we don't. We just don't like the taste. So we watch for the best prices and stock up when we see them on sale. A local gas station frequently runs their milk for 2/$5.55 (aren't they clever?), but they only get in about 10 gallons twice a week. So, we go and buy 4 or 6 gallons and put them in the fridge and hopefully that lasts till the next sale we can find.

Some of my favorite frugality websites are : Frugal Village, Families.com, Frugal Folks.com, Budget101.com, Hot Coupon World and Refund Cents.

Fabric...ahhh, fabric. I am addicted to all the colors, designs and the FEEL of good quality fabrics. I'm still very much in the learning stages of sewing and quilting, but I hope that my work is improving as time goes on. I have a perfectionist tendency, so I try to let that come out in my work. I love looking at what I consider a blank “canvas” piece of fabric, and letting it become one of my designs. My current favorite fabric is by Heather Ross for Freespirit , aren't these gnomes adorable!!!!!! I cannot wait to get my order in my hot little hands. Fabric addiction is a dangerous disease everyone, but it's better than the alternatives.

How do these two things match up you say? Buying fabric isn't necessarily frugal right? Well, finding the best price on fabric purchases is obviously the first thing I do. But, I also use them to make quilts for family and friends which to me are just my love coming through my quilts. And, I will be opening an Etsy shop in the next month or so to try and sell some of my homemade items in order to not only support my fabric habit, but hopefully eventually bring some additional money into the household as well. Watch here for more news as it develops!

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home