Well, a little later than I would like to be getting this posted, but such is life. If you have read my bio you know that besides 4 children, we also have 3 dogs, 3 cats and 2 birds. We recently acquired the 2 birds at the beginning of the summer. While shopping for the cage and a few "toys" for their cage I kept noticing these fabric hanging things for the cage. It was pretty much just some fabric or yarn with bells and maybe some large wood beads. I thought they were a little expensive and figured I could make something myself. Here is a picture of what I came up with and it only cost me about $.87 to make one.

While browsing the reduced area at JoAnns, I found a package of gathering material strips. There were about 8 strips for $3.49. Using just 2 strips and a toilet paper roll, I created something similar to those high priced ones I had seen in the store. Granted, they're not as nice as those, but our birds like them just as much. Here is what I did. I punched holes on each side of the tube, threaded some of the fabric through and tied knots. Then I looped the fabric around one of the bars at the top of the cage and threaded them down through the tube. You could tie large wooden beads to the ends if you want, but our birds enjoy it as is. I hope this was clear and if not, please comment and ask questions.

Like many of you, I have become obsessed with Pinterest. There are so many cool ideas on there, but if you are like me, you want proof that they work. Well, starting today I will share one that I found and I know works great for me. It is the fabric softener for the washer. It comes from Food.com It calls for 6 cups of water, 3 cups of vinegar, and 2 cups of hair conditioner (this is a whole bottle of V05). I made it the way it called for the first time (I only made half a batch), but found that it seemed like too much vinegar. The second time I made a full batch and reduced the vinegar to 2 cups and this was much better. It costs me less than $2 to make about 3/4 of a gallon of softener. It lasts our family of 6 for a month to a month and a half (depending on how much laundry we have in that time period). I think it works just as well, if not better than the commercial brand that cost 2-3 times as much.

Well, that's it for today. I hope I haven't bored any of you and that I have helped you with saving some money. Have a great day!