Our Frugal Lifestyle

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Passionate about eco-frugality. I used to party hard, clubbing my way from pay-packet to pay-packet. Never getting ahead, just getting by. Then came our much wanted baby with no savings in the bank - only an old car. Changes were made to our lifestyle and we didn't turn back. In the past 6yrs we purchased a flat, found employment, lived below our means, built an emergency fund, purchased a reliable car and saw the financial benefits of our frugal lifestyle. Our only debt is our mortgage. Our aim is to manage our cash flow wisely, pay off our home quickly and eventually work for pleasure, not necessity. Join us on our journey, share insights, tips and tricks to help us and others to get ahead while having a good time.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Baby Gift For 1 Year Old Beauty.

I had a very busy marathon of a weekend yet again. Dance class for Dolly, grocery shopping done, laundry nearly up to date, moonlighting job attended to, playgrounds played in and a crafting project finished.

The birthday party is over, the gift is given - so I can at last... show you what I made for Ms Elegant K's, 1 year old. 
Cushion & Cover
I made a cushion and cushion cover! Yeah.. all by my little self... well kind of... Dolly helped too :-) She sat between my legs and pushed her little foot down hard on that pedal, nearly stitching up my fingers.

I am tired of trying to purchase birthday gifts that have very little sentiment and even less eco kudos. So I decided to take action instead of whinging on and on. 

This gift was eco-frugalistic in the materials used but due to lack of know how... this project took me over 5 hours to complete.

I used:
  • 1$ Women's shirt from the op-shop.
  • Piece of fabric from early 1980's trousers (sat at my mums all these years in my fabric stash!!!)
  • .50 Cent vintage doily from op-shop.
  • 6 buttons from $1 Op-shop mixed button jar given as gift by a Helpx.
  • 1/4 of good quality cotton cot sheet purchased at op-shop for $2, Dolly has out grown it... (she's never slept in a cot!).
  • Pillow stuffing from a good quality pillow we no longer needed. 
  • Threads of various colours.
Total monetary cost roughly = $2.50
Luckily I don't charge myself for my time because $20 x 5 hours would make an very expensive cushion indeed. LOL.  

Everything was washed carefully and dried in sunshine. Dolly and I measured and cut fabric for the cushion cover. The Rambling Expat got busy with his iron and gave it all a good going over. Dolly and I then sewed the panels together. By now she was ready for an outing. So off we went to the playground, she played for ages and I hand sewed on the buttons and doily with different coloured threads whilst siting on the bench.

Home again, I made a simple white cushion. It was the wrong size :-(
Everything came out again and I made another! This time it was perfect :-)
Finished Front!
Finished back!
I removed a button and replaced with a different one for a bit of interest.
Dolly was very proud to give a gift that she helped make. The Rambling Expat gave a CD of Photo's he took at the Baby's baptism 2 weeks earlier (he's very skilled in this area). It's a really nice feeling to give from our hearts and hands instead of something from the shopping centre. It's eco and frugal too! Happy Days.

Have you made anything eco-frugal lately? Comment and let me know.

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