Lindsey - Thinking Thrifty This Thursday

Lindsey here - thrilled to be back and kicking off a new series called "Thinking Thrifty".

Recently darling daughter and I started watching a series called Economy Gastronomy. It was basically about reducing your monthly food bill without sacrificing the quality of the food you serve. There was great emphasis placed on using up what's in your fridge (aka "leftovers") before rushing out to buy more food. This caught our imaginations and we're investigating other ways to be "thrifty" or even, dare I say,"frugal" - surfing the net and plundering local libraries for appropriate recipes and ideas. I used to joke that I should come straight out of the supermarket and instantly dump a portion of what I'd just bought straight into the bin rather than going to the trouble of taking it home! Apparently most people bin at least a quarter of what they buy each week. Amazing!

Anyway, "So what the heck is she warbling on about?" you are muttering. Well, what's occurred to me is (a) the less I spend on food, the more I can spend on scrapbooking and (b) am I - or could I be - a thrifty scrapbooker? [sharp intake of breath and hoping that husband cannot read my mind].

I freely admit that, in the past, I have been guilty of spending VAST - yes I said VASSSSSST - amounts on scrapbooking stuff. However, I do think I'm better these days and, if not exactly frugal, I think I might fall into the "thrifty" category now and again (I can hear my friends snorting with derision now). I do try to get good value from what I buy these days by using every last scrap and making sure the "big ticket" items are used over and over again.

I wondered if I had anything useful to pass on to other people - tips about making things go further and wotnot - and if anybody else would be interested. So here goes. These tips are in no particular order just as they come to mind really.

HOT TIP #1 (and this is a really good one). Get as many of your family interested in papercrafting as possible. My daughter and grandchildren are into making cards and off the page stuff. Thus many bags of crafty fabulousness come into my house and, if indeed there were such a thing as a household ledger, this swag would be recorded in the column headed "Activities for the grandchildren when I am babysitting or during the long holidays". Brilliant. I have boxes and bags full of this stuff - and some of it is actually used by the grandchildren. If they aren't interested in crafting you need to rectify that as soon as possible. If you don't yet have grandchildren you will need to sit your kids down and suggest that they get on with it pdq.

SEWING AND FABRIC

Whether you are using your sewing machine or handsewing with some gorgeous embroidery floss - it's still a really cheap way to add dimension to your page. I reckon though that the secret is to have your machine permanently ready to go otherwise the thought of digging it out, blowing off the dust and cobwebs and threading it up etc is so offputting that you can't be bothered.

If you are an ex-quilter or dressmaker with lots of offcuts and leftovers you will be able to use fabric on the page too for practically nil cost. I had a scrap of this cute cat fabric leftover after making cushions for a highchair. I've stitched it onto this page and cut out some cat faces as embellishments. Really quick and used up a scrap which otherwise would have been binned.

Here's another scrap which perfectly matched the layout. See the red heart? It's fabric, it's backed with some padding, there's a bit of ribbon and lace stitched on and is dangling loose from the thread.

Don't forget if you are throwing out clothes, examine them for things to cut off - buttons, trims, lace etc. I've even seen recently a rather ancient popper (maybe you call them "snaps") - anyway those metal doofers - I've seen one of those on a layout. It looked great. Don't overlook the inside of garments. You know those skinny bits of ribbon they put inside the shoulders of new garments? You cut those off right? They are perfect for sticking on a card.

Thanks for listening today. Tune in next week for the second thrilling thrifty Thursday session.