Zero Waste Living

Good afternoon, savvy savers! For this weeks Tutorial Tuesday, I wanted to share with you how I created the headboard in my master bedroom with vintage shutters!

As many of you may know, I am a fan of all things French inspired! My husband and I often travel to NOLA, and part of our seasonal trips include browsing vintage shops for ideas of cool vintage pieces. In one such shop I saw a pair of shutter headboards that I loved, unfortunately the set cost $1,200.00! Fortunately, some time ago I found a set of headboards in town, laying on the side of the road, and so I knew just what I wanted to do with them, make new headboards! This is where this tutorial was born!

What’s the best part of this project? The project cost me nothing, as I found the shutters, took them home, steamed them, lightly sanded the edges, added a white wash finish, touched them up with homemade rust solution on the nail holes, then gave them the one over with my Shark vacuum! They were hung with silver wall hooks, and sit snug to the wall! They are beautiful, funky, and fabulous!

 I also stained two wooden crates, in walnut, which are used as light stands, topped with plexi-glass squares which allow the pieces to be functional, and then I finished the look with blue, vintage mason jar lamps! I used linens I had on hand, just in a mismatched scheme that matched both the headboard and room accessories. I feel that the shutters give the room a bit of a breather, and lend itself to my notion, that bedrooms should be an area of realization and comfort!

So, if you all have created any new upcycled projects this week, please let me know below! 

Here’s to creativity!

Good morning, savvy savers! It’s Tuesday, and you know what that means… another awesome upcycled project tutorial!

For this weeks Tuesday Tutorials, I wanted to share with you how I made my kitchen, vertical hanging pot rack, for only $3.00!

That’s right, $3.00! How did I do this?

• I used two $1.50 decorative, metal garden fences from my local Lowe’s, inverted them together, and secured them to the wall using metal hanging hooks.
• The spokes of the gates fit snugly inside each other and will not come apart!
• I hang pots and pans using coated s-hooks as well; I purchased the hooks, here, from Amazon.com using gifts cards earned by taking online surveys!
• The $3.00 for the garden gates came from iBotta cash earned from redeeming grocery store offers.

This is such a super simple project, which can be adapted to hang pots, kitchen supplies, garden tools, and office and art room staples as well! I also plan to construct something similar to display my marionette collection as well!  This rack could also be adapted for horizontal hanging, as a full unit, or a half-unit extending from the wall as well; this method would need brackets, though!

Here’s to DIY’ing!

Hello again, savvy savers! For this weeks Greener Living Series Post, I wanted to discuss ways you can save money around your home, by reusing common household items.

Here’s my list for items we re-use in our own home:

• Save used CD’s! Old CD’s make for inexpensive coasters. Also consider hanging discs from windows to prevents birds from crashing into them!
• Save roll-on deodorant containers! Empty roll-on deodorant bottles can be used as paint pens for small children; pull out your used ball, and soak over night in a solution of dish soap and rubbing alcohol to clean. Then just dry, fill, and reuse!
• Save plastic ice cream buckets! Create a compost bin under your sink reusing old ice cream plastic buckets; these buckets will contain smells and make it easy to transport to larger bins outdoors!
• Save your wine corks! Corks can be used to make homemade trivets, picture frames, carved stamps, and bottle seals.
• Save your butter lids, as they can be used under shaving foam cans in the shower to prevent rust from touching enameled tubs! Also great as plant saucers!
• Save the funny pages from your local newspaper, store it in your gift closet for inexpensive kid’s wrapping paper; the comics generally also include holiday-themes which can go with most celebrations and activities!
• Save used milk jugs! Jugs are an awesome way to store used oil from your deep fryers needing to be discarded
• Save your newspapers! Newspaper, cut into strips, and saved in a kitchen drawer can be used in a myriad of ways; layered in cast iron pans to prevent scratching, to line bird cages,  and to line Terra cotta pots from sticking together, while storing for the winter, stacked together!
• Save your Wipe containers, as they make great yarn and ribbon dispensers!
• Save old shirts and jeans, those that cannot be donated, and cut them into rags for use in cleaning car wheels, gas grills, and smokers!
• Save lip balm pots! They can be used to hold aspirins in purses, cars, and while traveling!
• Save bottle tops! They can be placed under legs of furniture to prevent damage to floors and carpeting!
• Save your bread bags! They make excellent waste pick-up bags while walking the fur-babies!
• Save your glass jars! They make for excellent storage, as well as for salad kits; add all salad ingredients together, and before serving add dressing and shake, for a quick, healthy lunch!

So, that’s my off-hand list of things to save around the home for reusing! Not only will you be helping to save a few pennies, but the planet, too!

Here’s to greener living!

Good morning, savvy savers! For this week’s Greener Living Tip, I wanted to post about a very commonsense method for lowering your household electrical consumption, as well as lowering your carbon footprint, lowering your thermostat at night!

Here are a few reasons to lower your thermostat at night:

1) Help prolong houseplant life. Keeping your thermostat 75 degrees at night will prolong the life of household plants; cooler temperatures at night help to mimic outdoor, nighttime cooling off periods. This tip also allows plants to need less water when they’re cool. A helpful tip, when leaving to go out of town leave plants in the coolest part of the house, and they will instinctively know to consume less water, staying fresher until you return!

2) Help lose weight. To shed a few pounds, drop your thermostat below 70 degrees, for half of each day;. you want the room to be so cold enough so that a light sweater feels perfect. Why is this useful? When the temperature drops, your energy expenditure increases, which tells your body to burn more calories; this can burn roughly 100 a day. Over a period of one month, increased energy can translate into an extra 3,500 calories burned or one pound body fat!

3) Extend the Life of Your Fridge. Your refrigerator and freezer work really hard to keep your food safe and fresh, so when your home is cooler, large Freon-regulated appliances will not have to work as hard to keep your food cool. This will extend the life of the appliance, and help reduce the number of service calls needed to replace Freon.

4) Get a Better Night’s Sleep. Lowering your home’s temperature by about five degrees sends a signal to your brain to release more melatonin into your bloodstream, triggering the desire to sleep.

5) Lowering energy costs. Each one-degree drop on your thermostat can reduce your energy bill by 1-3 percent, and by lowering your thermostat to 68 degrees at night, you will help to lower your energy bill by 10-15 percent, which is an average savings of $120.00 annually!

So, friends, that’s one additional way you can save on your monthly heating bills and make your home a little more zero-waste in the process. And if you have any tips for saving on your monthly heating bills at home I’d love to hear about them below!