Home is where the heart is. And since our hearts want to be thrifty and green, that’s what we work toward with these posts. Read about home projects, cleaning and organizing, and food (meal plans and recipes).

Safely remove black mold

Safely remove black mold from your subfloor

I recently replaced the flooring in my parent’s master bathroom without any prior experience. If you’d like to read how that went, you can find the details here: Installing peel-and-stick vinyl tile in bathroom Since the first bathroom went so well, my parents wanted me to replace the flooring in their guest bathroom too. Of course, every project is a little different and this was no exception. I used a utility knife and flat head screw driver to remove the wood…

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restore a rusty metal bathroom shelf

Restore a Rusty Metal Bathroom Shelf for $5

This project idea was hatched when we had to remove the metal bathroom shelf above the toilet to prepare for installing new flooring in my parents’ bathroom. By doing so, it became clear that the silver metal had seen better days. The bathroom shelf was really rusted in places, especially along the shelf poles. In all honesty, it looked like it needed to be thrown away and replaced.  However, it’s not unusual for an over-the-toilet metal shelf unit to cost…

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5 steps to remove old linoleum

5 Steps to Remove Old Linoleum from Your Bathroom Floor

Is the flooring in your bathroom old, outdated, and showing wear and tear? Is it peeling up from the floor, bubbling from water moisture, or stained? Do you dream of getting new flooring but can’t justify paying thousands to get it done professionally? Then I have good news for you. Because this is another project that you can totally do yourself, and while sticking to a small budget. We’re talking less than $100/bathroom, depending on the size. From start to…

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Crayon Coasters

Transform metal coasters into Usable coasters

Whoever thought it was a good idea to give coasters a metal lining did not test their product before marketing it. I must be one of the few fools to buy them without realizing how awful these coasters would actually work. I just thought they looked nice. However, if there is any condensation that drips down onto these metal-lined coasters, the coaster will get stuck to the cup, and will rise with the cup when it is picked up. But…

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Fixing the chirping smoke detector

I’ve been learning a lot of new things since I took the leap and quit my job – how to cook fish, how to change the air filter, make curtain rods, refinish wood furniture, spray paint things, make necklaces, etc, etc. So when the smoke detector in our master bedroom started chirping in the middle of the night last night, I looked at it as another opportunity to learn something new! This time the lesson would be in replacing smoke…

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Make (Cheap) Homemade Gluten-Free Bread

Make Affordable Homemade Gluten-Free Bread

My daughter and I both discovered that we have some level of gluten intolerance in 2017, so my family is always looking for gluten-free alternatives to the wheat-y things we used to love. Bread is a big one! But it’s so expensive at the store. Even the cheapest loaves I could find run about $5 for a small loaf! It’s much more cost effective (and environmentally friendly) to bake your own. How it’s thrifty: According to my math, you’ll spend…

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Sand and Refinishing Table

Refinishing an old wood table

Today I assisted in refinishing an old wooden table that my mother in law wanted to modernize for the grandkids’ play room. We used an electric sander to remove the shiny varnish from the entire piece of furniture, and then wiped off the dust thoroughly with a damp rag. Then we used a mini roller and painted the top with gray chalk paint and wiped it to give it a distressed look before it fully dried. For the sides and…

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How to Cook boneless skinless chicken in a Crock-Pot

I found this article and I’m going to be trying this out tomorrow. Chicken is thawing in the fridge right now! I’m always looking for ways to do more in less time and the crockpot is sorely underutilized right now at our house. This needs to change. Here’s to making helpful healthful changes. https://www.livestrong.com/article/536887-how-to-cook-boneless-skinless-chicken-breasts-in-the-crock-pot/ EDIT: The chicken only needed to cook about four hours on the low setting so I was glad I was home checking on it every hour…

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How to Make an L-Shaped Couch from an Old Mattress

How to Make an L-Shaped Couch from an Old Mattress

This is a project that I completed a couple of years ago when we bought a new mattress and I didn’t want to throw away the old one. We needed a couch (and a bed) in the basement, so I did some googling and found instructions on how to make a sofa from a mattress. 8 hours and $10 of supplies later, we had our new l-shaped couch: Since it was made from a queen mattress, it is also comfortable…

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