Couponing: 500GB of cloud storage just $49 for life from PCloud
AppSumo is currently offering a deal for 500 GB of cloud storage for just $49—for life. Goodbye, Dropbox. Read more …
Thrift
Twitter party tomorrow for my second Chicken Soup for the Soul book!
I’m in another Chicken Soup for the Soul book! This one is called My Kind (of) America, and it’s all about people being kind to each other—something that we need a heck of a lot more of these days. Read more …
Extreme thrift and a nice blanket
Sorry about the silence over the last week, but it’s Hippie Christmas here in Madison and I’ve been a tad busy with the festivities. For the uninitiated, Hippie Christmas happens every mid-August around the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus. That’s when most of the student rental contracts turn over, and kids who didn’t have the time or foresight to empty their apartments ahead of time dump their unwanted belongings on the curb for the garbage collectors—or whoever gets there first. Read more …
Pear scrap vinegar in progress
I’ve been meaning to blog about my fall cleaning and canning activities, I’ve been so busy that I get overwhelmed thinking about where to start. Hence, I haven’t blogged in ages. So I’m starting simply, with a picture I took yesterday when the sun came out for the first time in ages. I’ve had five of these half gallon jars … Read more
Sewing Saturday: Darning a pair of Icebreaker wool running tights
When I visited Mindy Celeste this summer, I snagged my Icebreaker wool running tights on the pull-out metal frame of the sofa bed. My former way of fixing this would have been to patch it with a scrap of knit fabric. Now that I have a darning foot for my sewing machine, I darned it instead. The darning stitch is … Read more
Free clothes and fun at the clothing swap
I went to a clothing swap today hosted by my friend Enid. She had a great set-up, posting little labels on the wall to keep the different categories of clothing organized. Below you can see the stacked sweater, pant, and shirt piles. This is what the piles looked like after we’d rifled through them.And finally, the T-shirt pile. I brought … Read more
Found in the trash: Furniture, free money, and fuel
Dekalb and I went downtown again to harvest ‘garbage‘ today – one of our favorite ways to save money and recycle at the same time. Here’s the first spot we hit: A lot of this furniture was in good condition even after being thrown into a dumpster, but neither of us needed any so we left it there. Both of … Read more
Upcycling 101: The Annual Garbage Gleaning
It’s that time of year again, when consumer goods grow on the curb and around dumpsters as if by magic, all sitting there just ripe for the picking. In other words: the leases downtown are almost up, university students suddenly realize they have no desire to move all their crap with them, and they end up throwing perfectly good stuff out as trash: … Read more
The best cat beds are free
There is no happier cat than one who is curled up in a little box. OK, well, one that is killing a spider might be equally happy, but that’s not as cute. This wooden box is a drawer I’ve had since I was in college. I got it when the school threw out a bunch of old furniture from the dorms. … Read more
Want a garden border? Look around the neighborhood.
Last year, I was taking a walk around my neighborhood when I noticed a few landscaping stones in a ditch by the side of the parking lot. By landscaping stones, I mean those huge, 20-40 pound pieces of limestone that have been cut flat on the bottom and top so they can be used to build garden walls, bench supports, and so … Read more