Insourcing #34....Look where a little bit of DIY and Thrifting gets you...

 

Each month I like to do a tally of the many ways in which I've saved my family money. I draw up a three columns, and in one, I list what I've made or found at the thrift store or DIY'd, in the second, I list a value, and in the third, I note ways in which we've been able to then reward ourselves.

 

This month I'm really proud as we not only saved ourselves a lot of money by Insourcing, but we managed a little getaway for ourselves, a ski trip for our daughter, and some bling for me as rewards! This would not be possible, if we were out wildly flinging money around on swanky gifts for friends or ourselves on a week in-week out basis.

 

So first of all, I made all meals. And when I say all meals, I mean ALL meals. This alone saves us an enormous amount of money as opposed to eating out, and I'll confidently call that a saving of at least $600 for the month as for the 3 of us to even have a nice lunch at a café` once a week would easily cost $150 each time.  But thankfully, that didn't mean we were in some sort of culinary purgatory. We enjoyed fresh lush salads as seen at the top of my post, café style breakfasts...

 

...a lavish brunch with family...

 

 

...and interesting and tasty gluten free lunches...

 

 

Shopping at our lovely local thrift stores yielded a 60s/70s inspired costume for my daughters upcoming Dance Night for under $30, saving over $100...

 

 

...and some pretties for me that rival the designer stuff I'd been eyeing off on Net-A-Porter, saved me literally a bare minimum of $600...

 

...these two pure linen blouses were brand new, still with tags, and set me back just $22 each. I've since returned and bought a third, in a different style again, and it was reduced from the $22 to just $10. These were all originally almost $200. Lucky me!

 

 

My daughter and I trimmed each others hair with our CreaClip (available on eBay) and that investment of $35 has saved us thousands in the last three years. We both have long hair, all one length, so trimming it with this little tool is a simple task, but you can engineer quite complex haircuts with this if you are brave enough to try! We were actually going to 'treat' ourselves to a visit to the hairdresser, just for fun, but when we discovered it was going to set us back $45 EACH for a trim, we very quickly changed our minds! I put a toner through my silver grey hair and conditioned it too, saving a further $55.

 

 

I finally got around to making some Annabel (The Bluebirds are Nesting Blog) inspired gift ribbon. This is just a thrifted vintage floral sheet, torn into lengths about 7-8cms (2-3 inches) wide. It's then stamped with a black ink pad and a cute stamp (Annabel uses a chandelier but I couldn't find one...I've since found a bird cage though, and will share photos of that result soon), and the image is coated in glitter paint/glue. I will wrap some parcels with it later in the week, to give you an idea of just how cute and adorable this actually looks when used with butchers paper and a bit of panache`.

 

I now have...well, I don't know, but it must be at least 35 metres of this, rolled around cardboard shapes to use and gift.

 

That's a saving on gift ribbon alone, of $70, minimum.

 

 

I made these cute Dancing Ribbons for my granddaughters out of nothing, saving probably $20 on colouring or other activity books for their recent visit..

 

 

 ...and my daughter and I did our own manicures with Jamberry vinyl wraps, saving at least $210 over the course of a month, on salon manicures.

 

 

Now just so you know, all this insourcing is not completely thankless or bereft of fun.

 

This month I got in a mind to have myself an Art Deco inspired Insect Brooch. I found this one on Etsy, and it's on it's way to me now. I think it's very cute with it's Moonstone and Pearl body, garnet eyes, and Plique a Jour wings.

 

 

As mentioned, the teen woman-child flitted off on a school supervised ski trip in another state, and while she was away, husband and I were able to escape to this view, five hours drive from home...

 

 

Now that's what I call a successful month of insourcing!

 

What about you? How did you save money? And how did you reward yourself? Tell me all...

...Mimi...