Foaming Hand Soap Refill

Because my children either completely leave the bathroom without washing their hands, or use five pumps of hand soap every time they do wash their hands, I have decided that there is only one thing to do. Completely switch to foam hand soap. Not only is there something about foam that makes it exciting to wash their hands, which eliminates problem number one, but it is ridiculously cheap to make, which means they can pump away and I don't have to freak out.

You will have to start off by actually buying a hand soap dispenser from the store, but if your children are like mine, it will be empty in no time.

To make your own refill, simply pour in 1 tablespoon of any liquid soap. It can be hand soap, dish soap or even shampoo. My kids and I tend to have really dry skin so I actually used baby shampoo since it is much more mild. Just try and steer clear of any soap with lotion in it because it can clog the pump.

Add warm water to the soap and fill to about an inch from the top. My dispenser actually hand this little sticker on the back with a line that said "fill to here."

Give the soap and water a gentle stir to get it well mixed and that's it. You could also add a drop of food coloring and or a drop of essential oil if you are into having your soap smell good and match the colors of your bathroom. We rent our house, and I have been forbidden to remove the ugly wall paper boarder in our main bathroom, so I wasn't all that worried about making my soap look pretty!

Of course you'll have to give it a few pumps to make sure it really did work!

Are you dying yet at home much cheaper it is to use foam soap than liquid? I was, when I first figured it out.

Clearance Finds

If you know me well, you may already know this. If you don't know me well, then let me enlighten you. I am not a bargain shopper. It's not that I go out of my way to buy the expensive stuff. I don't. But I'm not the kind of person who uses coupons, or goes straight to the "sale" section, and definitely not the kind who goes to 3 different grocery stores just to get a few things for 20 cents cheaper than the last store.

I do however love to buy my holiday decor and crafts on clearance!

Remember when I told you about THIS wreath? Well I was serious. I am going to make it. But instead of making it before Valentine's Day for $30 I waited to buy my fabric until after, and with the help of my 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby for my wreath, I will be able to make it for $16! Plus I have the added bonus of being able to take the next 11 months to make it if I want/need to! (Which I probably will since I have to cut out 150 squares!)

Here's what else I got:

1. Take out boxes (30 cents) 2. V-Day wreath (30 cents) 3. Buckets (89 cents) 4. Felt Heart (30 cents) 5. Heart Ornaments (89 cents). And behind all of that is the fabric for my wreath. I already have fun ideas for each of these items (except the pink bucket which will probably become Ava's toy) but you'll have to wait until next year to see what I come up with!

One more thing about after-holiday shopping. Don't go the day after. It's always 50% off but you can do better. Wait a few days and it's usually up to 70% by then. Way better deal.

Budget Tuesday: mix and match wall art

To give your walls a splash of color and fun: turn mismatched frames from a second hand store into a wall display.

Find several mismatched frames without the glass (they are less expensive that way) and paint them all white. Then display different coordinating fabrics or decorative paper inside your frames and arrange them on your wall. Top one or all of them off by putting a wooden letter or photo or any other object on top of the fabric or paper.

Using frames from a second hand store and your scrap pieces of fabric this can been done even on a tight budget.

Budget Tuesday

I started this blog because I wanted a fun way for people to be able to share their fun projects and crafts. I'm always looking for new and fun things to try but sometimes my mind is just blank. I'm not the most creative or crafty person but I do have some ideas. And I new their were others out there with ideas as well. I hoped that by starting this blog I would be able to convince people to share their creativity. And so far it's been great.

Now I want to develope it into something eveb more great. I have several ideas on how I am going to spruce things but it may take me a while to get them all in place. I hope you all enjoy it when it's complete.

One new thing I'm going to start is "Budget Tuesday". I'm not sure yet if this will be weekly or bi-weekly but each post will be a fun and creative idea on how to decorate on a budget.

This week on Budget Tuesday: Lamp Facelifts

For an easy and inexpensive way to spice up your lamps try one of these:

1. Position paper, silk, or dimensional sticker flowers to the base of your lamp then add stems using adhesive gems.

2. Chain stich swirls in multiple colors on a plain white lampshade to give it some color. To do this, use a pencil to lightly draw your swirls on the shade. Then use an awl to carefully punch holes approximately 1/4" apart along the lines. Complete the chain stiches by hand sewing through the holes with embroidery floss.

3. Add zigzag ribbon. First determine the placement of your zigzags by measuring the circumference of the shade and dividing it by the number of desired motifs. Cut two ribbon lengths for each zigzag and wrap the ends around the shade edges, using hot glue to hold the ribbon in place.

4. Spice up a lampshade by first selecting an assortment of paper flowers of the same color scheme. Then poke a hole in the center and add a brad. Use hot glue to adhere the flowers to the shade.

5. Brighten a lampshade by gluing ribbon with a scalloped border around the rim of the shade.

I recently combined several of these ideas to make this lampshade for my girls' bedroom.

And as always, this blog is for anyone interested in posting their ideas. If you are not already an author on this blog and want to be just leave a comment with your email address. We'd love to have you!