Heart Shirts for Valentine's Day

                Valentine’s Day is almost is almost here, so today I thought I would show you easy projects your kids can do. Most kids like to dress up at Valentine’s Day, and they want you to buy them all the fancy clothes with hearts and flowers on them. Right now is the worst time to be buying these clothes, because everything is marketed up for Valentine’s Day. I have a very simple project that will cost little to no money depending on if you have two simple things at home. All you need is Red, Pink or White felt or construction paper. Then pick out your favorite shirt that buttons down the front.

1.       First take your felt or construction paper and cut out 11/2 to 2-inch squares depending on how big you want your hearts.

2.       Next, fold your square in half and cut out your heart shapes in one or multiple colors.

3.       Now you need to cut a button hole slit in your colored hearts.

4.       Take your hearts with the little slit and slide it over your buttons on your shirt.

5.       Now you have a shirt with hearts you decorated yourself.

This whole project took less than 20 minutes to make and place on the shirt. This would even work on boys polo shirts if they want to have a couple of hearts themselves. Now you don’t have to go out and buy all those expensive Valentine’s shirts.

If you really want to be creative try making some bigger and smaller hearts in multiple colors. Then just layer them. Start by putting the bigger hearts over your buttons then place a smaller one on top to make a multi-colored layered look. Mix and match them to create your own look

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This was something I did with my girls when they were little and they loved it. This is a cheap easy way to decorate a shirt for Valentine’s Day. Have your kids decide how they want to decorate their shirts. You can even save them and use them again next year if you like. Valentine’s Day does not have to break the bank if you get a little creative from Suzie Homemaker.

Plastic Bags

                Here is a quick and easy way to store plastic bags! How many of you have a drawer full of plastic bags? I know I do! My youngest daughter early this morning was complaining about all the plastic bags stuffed into a junk drawer.

So before she went to school I showed her how I would organize the drawer and make the plastic bags easier to take out and use. This whole project took me less than 30 minutes to do and I had over 200 bags to deal with. This is one of my decluttering projects I needed to do. I also had a lot of paper bags to deal with too.

Plastic Bags

1.       First, sort your bags into small and big piles. This way when you need a bigger bag you don’t have to hunt for the right size bag.

2.       Take your plastic bags and flatten them out. This will remove the air.

3.       Next, fold your bags in half and flatten them out.

4.       Start making a pile of your folded bags. This makes it easier to grab when you are ready to roll.

5.       When you have a big enough pile of folded bag, you can start rolling.

6.       Always start from the bottom of the bag when you are rolling, your handles will always be at the top.

This makes it easier to grab a bag when you need one.

7.       When your roll starts getting big enough stop and put a rubber band around it.

Paper bags

How many of you just toss your paper bags in a drawer? I know I’m I do!

But why not declutter this drawer also. This is really easy to do. Take your paper bags and fold them in half.

Sort your big bags into large piles and small bags into small piles. Take another paper bag and place them inside. Now instead of having a pile of bags everywhere, you have 1 bag full of paper bags you can place neatly into a closet.

This is a really easy way to declutter and save space. I know people don’t always like to clean, but this took me less than 30 minutes to do. Now everything looks neat and clean without much effort. I like finding ways to simplify my life and this is just another way I declutter my house.

I hope you enjoyed my little helpful tips on bag storage from Suzie Homemaker.

Cheap Trip to Florida

                The last 9 days have been very interesting for Suzie Homemaker, I have been in Florida. Coming from Wisconsin this has been a welcome relief. We only ended up with 8 days, though. The weather was terrible and had our first day’s flight canceled. One day later we were in Florida soaking up the sun. We went to Gainesville Florida. We had 3 days to tour Gainesville and enjoy the nice upper 70’s weather. Now I know you are saying this is a blog about saving money, so here are some ways we saved on this trip.

                First, you need a way to save on airline flights. Use your frequent flyer miles you have saved up and get you tickets for free or at a discount. Fly economy, not first class or business class, this is a waste of money. Plan your vacations well in advance to get better deals.  Grab a bite to eat before hitting the airports. Food at the airports are so expensive and really not that healthy. We packed little bags of nuts which are allowed to have in your carry- on luggage. When packing luggage do not take so much that you have to check a bag, this is an added expensive that can cost you a lot of money. We each took one small bag and one carry on. Everything fit in the overhead compartment, and did not cost us any extra money.

                Day 2 or our trip we stayed in Gainesville. Again check if you have any banked up hotel stays available. We used 3 of them on this trip, which made our hotels free. Since we didn’t drive down here we had to find ways visit attractions. Taxies were out of the question, they were way too expensive. On this vacation, we tried our first Uber ride. The Uber-Company tracks your phone and gives you the name of your driver and driver’s license number and time of arrival. This was such a nice experience and a lot cheaper than a taxi.

                When in Gainesville, I recommend seeing the Natural History Museum. This Museum was free but we sprang for the extra $7.oo dollars a person and visited the beautiful Butterfly Gardens. This was well worth the extra money. We spent over 3 hours going through this museum. Don’t miss this museum if you ever find yourself driving through Gainesville. This is a must see Museum.

                The next 4 days we were at a retreat called Luther Springs in Hawthorn Florida. We were attending the first Camp Money Mustache in Florida. My husband was one of many speakers there. This retreat is a religious camp with beautiful rooms. When we had time we walked the hiking trails, canoeing did archery, and if you liked there was even a pool available. The whole experience was breath taking. If you ever get the chance to stay here all your food is included.

                Day 7 we were back in Gainesville at a different hotel. We decided we wanted to see the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens. We were only 2 miles away so we decided to walk there. It only took us 45 minutes to walk there. They had several waterfalls, and beautiful rose gardens, spice gardens, Azalea/ Camellia gardens, rock gardens, Bamboo gardens, and several sink holes. You can spend hours walking through these beautiful gardens for $7.00 dollars a person. We ended up walking about 7 miles that day round trip. This was a nice way to end our vacation. We enjoyed the nice warm weather and got a little tan as a bonus. Gainesville is a nice town with a lot of things to see and do.

                Day 8, time to go back to Wisconsin and home to the kids. This one vacation we will not forget. Planning ahead of time can save you a lot of money when you take vacations. This vacation was cheap because we had airlines miles banked, hotels banked and our stay and food at the retreat were free because my husband was one of the speakers. So all we had to pay for was our two attractions and a little bit of food on the way. When we get home our children will be waiting at the airport to take us home. What a great way to end our vacation. I hope you enjoyed some of my tips for cheap travel from Suzie Homemaker.

Easy Potato Pancake Recipe

I thought today I would give you a quick and easy recipe I make for my husband and myself.  If you need a quick and easy recipe to make in a hurry this one you will like, My husband loves potato pancakes, but I make mine with a little twist. I don’t actually have a recipe but I will show you how I make these potato pancakes step by step.  From start to finish this recipe took less than 30 minutes to make and fry up in a frying pan.

Potato Pancake Recipe

Things you will need

1 very large potato or a big scoop of mashed potatoes           ½ cup any flavor cheese

¼ cup chopped onion                                                            1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 scrambled egg                                                                    Salt and Pepper to taste

Grater, cooking spray, frying pan, spatula, knife, and a big bowl

This recipe makes 6 four inch round pancakes.

1.       Take one very large potato or a big scoop of mashed potatoes. Peel and wash the potato.

2.       Take a grater and grate your potato and place into a large bowl.

3.       Chop up ¼ cup onion and add to potatoes.

4.       Grate up ½ cup of cheese. I used Cheddar Cheese, but any cheese will work.

5.       Add 1 Teaspoon of minced garlic.

6.       Add 1 scrambled egg.

7.       Add Salt and Pepper to taste.

8.       Mix everything together in the big bowl.

9.       Spray a frying pan with non-stick spray, so the pancakes don’t stick to the pan.

10.   Take a heaping spoonful and place in the middle of the pan. Press down to make them flat.

11.   Fry your potato pancakes on medium heat until golden brown. Flip over and fry the other side to a golden brown.

12.   Time to eat and enjoy.

When you are short on time and you want something quick and easy to make, try this recipe. You can add just about anything you want to this recipe.  I make these when I have no idea what to make because I know my husband will approve every time. Leftover potatoes can really make a quick and delicious meal. This recipe can be for breakfast, dinner or supper. I hope you enjoy my Potato Pancake recipe from Suzie Homemaker.

Time to Declutter

                I hope everyone had a safe and happy News Year’s Eve.  Now it’s time to start 2017 with those New Year’s resolutions. My first thing on my list is to declutter some of my drawers. How many of you have drawers where you throw things in and can’t find anything in them anymore?  Now is the time to reorganize and sort things out so you can find things when you need them.

                How many of you received a lot of boxes this Christmas, I know I have a few left yet. Take those little boxes and line them in your drawers. Sort through your junk drawers and separate things into little dishes and rubber band them together. Take your pins and place them into little bowls. Place these little odds and ends into your little boxes to keep things separated. All those little boxes really can come in handy. Instead of buying those organizers in the store use what you have already around the house. This is an easy way to declutter a junk drawer. You will be amazed at what you can find once you clean these drawers out. Using what you already have at home can save a lot of money.

                How many of you have little scraps of wood in your basement or garage? Take a drawer and measure out and make some dividers. This is an easy way to separate another drawer. I used these in my spatula and big spoon drawer. This helped me separate my serving spoons, pizza cutter, steak knives, and more. No need to buy this in the store when I had the scrap wood available for free.

                How many of you have too many dishes for leftovers, I know I do. Here is a simple way to organize all those covers. First, sort through your dishes and make sure you have a matching cover for all of them. Any extra ones throw away if you don’t use them anymore. Take a square dish and put all your square covers in one. Take another square dish and put all your round covers into this one. Separating the shapes helps keep things more organized.

                Every year at this time I go through my drawers and declutter and reorganize things. This is a great way to clean house and throw out things I no longer need or use anymore. Try finding things around the house to use as a container. This is a cheap and easy way to declutter. You don’t have to go out and buy expensive organizers when you probably have everything you need right at home. If you don’t want to throw things away, donate these items to your local Thrift Shop or Good Will Stores. Somebody out there would love to have your gently used items. Anything that can’t be given away, please recycle if you can. I hope you enjoyed some of my decluttering ideas from Suzie Homemaker.