Commercial Free T.V.

How many of you hate commercials? I know I sure do! Today I would like to talk to you about your T.V. viewing. How many times during your favorite T.V. show do get stopped to watch a commercial? I don’t know about you, but I hate to be sold something every 5 to 10 minutes. This makes it so hard to follow your T.V. show you are watching, and I hate commercials. Our family used to have cable T.V. but this was becoming so expensive so we canceled it. We found cable T.V. to be boring because they show the same movies over and over again. We as a family decided to become a cord cutter. So today I am going to tell you what we decided as a family  to do to cut costs on T.V. and view fewer commercials.

The first thing we did was drop cable and went to straight local T.V. only, saving over $75.00 dollars a month. We decided to get Netflix instead of cable. We only pay $8.99 a month. Netflix has all kinds of movies and T.V. shows that you can pick from commercial free. We have 4 different accounts that we set up so each person can have their own selection of movies and T.V. shows they want. You can watch any movie or T.V. show you like at any time of the day. Knowing we don’t have to be sold something every time we turn on the T.V. was a major plus. Getting rid of cable has made our T.V. viewing time a lot less because most days the T.V. doesn’t go on till after supper.

Another good online streaming platform is Amazon Prime. This platform cost $10.99 a month or $99.00 dollars a year. They also have a lot of movies and T.V. shows to pick from commercial free. One thing I like about Amazon Prime is they have free shipping for all your packages which is a major plus. Since my husband has a business this pays for itself each year for us.

How many of you have kids who like to listen to music? Mine would listen to music all day long if they could. Buying music online or from any other source can get very expensive. If you have a smart T.V. that hooks up to the internet, check out Pandora. My kids love this and it even has music that mom and dads can listen too also. Why should you pay for music when you can have it right at your fingertips.

Having movies and T.V. show when you want them doesn’t have to cost a fortune or break the bank. Instead of paying over $800.00 dollars a year we now pay about $250.00 dollars a year. By being a cord cutter we as a family have more time together. Finding ways to save money is a great way to save for your future. Cutting cable saved us a bundle and we will never go back, from the house of Suzie Homemaker.

Homemade Scrunchies

Here’s another craft idea for you to do with your girl- scout troop or your daughters at home. If you have some scrap material, towels or sheets, this is an easy project to do in 30 minutes or less. Today I would like to show you how to make homemade hair ties or scrunchies. Buying these in the store can get very expensive. Why not make these at home for less than half the price you would pay in a store.

Here’s what you will need: Little pieces of material, towels or sheets. You will need a scissors and ruler to make your pattern and some elastic.

1.       Take your scrap material,towels or sheets and draw your pattern out. I made mine 18 inches long by 4 inches wide. Cut your pattern out.

2.       Take your strip of material and fold it in half. Sew up the side leaving the ends open.

3.       Take a safety pin and pin it into one end and start pulling the material inside out.

4.       Take a piece of elastic and stretch it to almost 18 inches. Cut the elastic. 

5.       Sew one end of your elastic to the inside or your material.

6.       Take your safety pin and pin it into the other end of your elastic. Push the safety pin through to the other end of your material.

7.       The elastic will stretch as you pull this through. Sew the piece of elastic to the end of your material. 

8.       Sew your ends together and you have a homemade hair tie or scrunchie.

This is a fun and easy project you can do in under 30 minutes. For pennies, you can make your own homemade scrunchies. I like making things at home and saving money. You can make these scrunchies any size you like. I hope you like your homemade scrunchies from Suzie Homemaker.

Do-It-Yourselfers

This post is for all you Do-It-Yourselfers! This is another way to save money. If you are handy with a hammer, screw driver or paint brush, why not do it yourself. Today I will show you a few things that I do myself or with a little help from my husband and children. Knowing you can do the project yourself and save the cost of a professional coming out to do the job, gives you a sense of accomplishment. Here are a few things we as a family do, as a Do-It-Yourself project.

Oil changes for your car can be expensive if you take them into a shop to be done. Here is where my husband and including my daughters have changed the oil in the car. Yes I have changed oil in our cars too. Just go to the store and buy your own oil and filter. My husband has car ramps, he just drives the car up on the ramps and puts a pan underneath to drain the oil. I wasn’t  kidding when I said my daughter can change oil, the school she goes to has a mandatory shop class. I think this is a great idea because they are taught minor maintenance of a car including changing a tire. Besides when you go to a shop they always try to tell you need more done, like your air filter is bad. Buy this in the store and replace it yourself for less than half the cost that they will charge you. If you feel you can’t change your oil yourself, try finding a neighbor or home mechanic.  Try going to a local school that has a shop class. My daughter’s school is always looking for cars to do minor repairs and oil changes on, for free. All you have to do is buy the oil and filter. With the teacher watching, the students learned how to do minor repairs on cars as part of their homework assignment.

                Repairs inside the house can be costly if you have to call a repairman. Most service calls start over $50.00 dollars. I recently had my control panel go out on my stove. I called a repair person to see how much it would cost and he told me over $300.00 dollars. Yikes! So I did a little research on the internet, found the part I needed and watched a how to fix and replace my control panel video. With the help of the internet , I was able to buy my part cheaper and also watch the video on how to replace the  part. This whole project took 3 days for the part to come in and 1 hour to replace the part. By ordring the part online  it only cost us $75.00 to repair my stove.  All the things that break in your house can easily be fixed by yourself at the fraction of the price.

                This one my daughters don’t like to well, but mom rules on this one. Doing dishes by hand or dish washer. Yes I have a dish washer but it does not get used. We have 4 sets of hands that can do the dishes. The dish washer cost money to run and uses to much water and takes too long to dry. As you can see I wash all my dishes by hand and air- dry them. This is another reason I don’t use my dish washer, my youngest daughter decided it was for hiding all her goodies.

                Don’t get me wrong, sometimes you have to call in a professional.Some projects you can’t do yourself.. We found this out this last summer when our septic system decided to collapse. We were going to try and do some of the digging with our tractor to save some money, but this was way too much work and time we did not have. So we did our research and found a company that did a great job at a reasonable cost. Doing the big projects are sometimes better left for professionals, but the other jobs can be done by D0-It-Yourselfers like you. Do your research and save money form Suzie Homemaker.

               

Craft Projects Made Easy

Today I have a fun craft project to do with your children or girl- scout troop. This project is very easy to make and very inexpensive. Most of the materials you will need you probably have around your house. With a little prep time, this project can be done in about an hour depending on the size you make.

Materials Needed

Crafting foam or cones                                                   scraps of material in different colors

Scissors                                                                           Ruler

Pinking shears (optional)                                                Pencil or Pen

Beads, buttons, colored tacks, or any other flowers or decorations

1.       First, cut your foam or cones into whatever shape you like and make it, at least, ½ inch thick. I did circles to make it easy. I have also done heart shapes.

2.       Cut your material into 1 ½ inch squares of different colors or all one color depending on what you like. Sometimes I even add lace to dress it up a little bit. If you want this project to last a little longer, use pinking shears to cut your material so it does not ravel.

3.       Take your pencil or pen and place it in the middle of your material and wrap the material around your pen or pencil.

4.       Next, push your wrapped pencil or pen and push it into the foam. By twisting the pen or pencil just a little bit this will make it look like a flower. Take your fingers and spread it out just a little.

5.       Start by doing the sides first all the way around. Gradually start doing the top. Leave open any areas you want to put any or your beads, flowers or any other decoration.

Materials Needed

Crafting foam or cones                                                     Cupcake holders in any colors

Scissors                                                                                Pencil or Pen

Beads, Buttons, or any other flowers or decorations

1.       First, cut your foam or cones into any shape you want and make it, at least, ½ inch thick.

2.       Take your cupcake holders and cut them into 4 pieces.

3.       Take your ¼ piece of your cupcake holder and wrap it around your pen or pencil.

4.       Push your wrapped pen or pencil into the foam twisting a little bit. Spread out the paper a little bit to make it look like a flower.

5.       Start by doing the sides and gradually work your way to the top. Leave room for your beads, flowers, and any other decorations you may like to add.

This is a fun and inexpensive project to do with almost any age child. I did this project with my daughters Girl Scout troop. We made hearts at this time, but you can make any shape or size your like. We also took round foam balls and made hanging decorations with the material and the cupcake holders. I hope you enjoy this project from Suzie Homemaker.