FRUGAL FRIDAY #3

Here's my tip and I'm kinda p*ssed off that I didn't think of it earlier.
It has to do with a window air-conditioner unit.

Until just a few years ago, I didn't have ANY air-conditioning. NONE.
I have ceiling fans and floor fans and I used to close off the upstairs and sleep down on the main floor with FANS blowing on me...

and I was suffocating. I was miserable and every summer at some point, I would get sick from the heat.

I would have my dogs shaved down and I'd dip them in a wading pool to cool them off sometimes.

I wasn't trying to be frugal, I was just very broke.
Then a few years ago I just couldn't take it anymore. I had all the fans going and Blue would sit in front of them and block the air. Who could blame him?

Sometimes I left him at my work place (the boarding kennels) over night because there was central air-conditioning. Finally I saved up enough to buy someones window unit that they no longer used and then right after that, someone at work was getting rid of several. I took TWO home. Now I have one in the laundry/mud room, another in the living-room and one upstairs in the main bedroom.
The house is cool. And as Scarlett O'Hara said "I'll never be hot again!"

oh wait, I guess she said - Never be hungry again. But anyway....
None of my air-conditioners have the pleated screen thingy that pulls out from the sides to fill up the "space" between it and the sides of the window. I had cut Styrofoam from boxes that I get at work to fill the gaps but it wasn't perfect and air was definitely coming in. So I went to the hardware store and purchased "side insulation panels".

You are supposed to cut them down to size but I find that they can be pinched together and stuck into the spot and then "released" and they fill up the space nicely. I then hang my drapes over either side so that it covers this "tacky" area. I also take a piece of wood and put it between the window and the frame so that no one can push the window UP and get into the house. This is probably not a big concern for me because I live on a BUSY street that people are always walking by and all the windows with units face the same side as my neighbor that is up at all hours AND I have a security light that goes on if you get close to the house. So there's that AND the fact that BLUE can be very protective when he needs to be....and also there's the chorus of hysterical barking if a BUNNY hops into the yard.

So I feel pretty safe.

Now for my FRUGAL tip.
AFTER I opened the "panels" and squished them in to the windows, I remember that I had bought, on clearance at Target, a couple of egg-shell mattress pads for $10.

I bought an extra one with plans for making a nice big dog bed with it, (but of course that is still on my TO-DO list)
So instead of buying TWO package of panels at $12.98 a piece. I could have cut up the mattress pad and still had enough left over for my dog bed(s)!
AARRGGGHHHH!!!! I hate when I figure out something AFTER the fact.
So, maybe I can help someone else.
Target always clears out these mattress pads right after the school year begins. It's part of the whole "Going Away to College-Dorm Room Stuff" but to be honest, you could probably buy a twin bed size one NOW at full price and still end up paying less than I did!
Oh, well - Lesson Learned!

So does anyone else have any FRUGAL TIPS for this week?

I NEED A POOL ! ! !

MELANCHOLY by Edward Degas 1874

mel·an·chol·y/ˈmelənˌkälē/

Adjective: Sad, gloomy, or depressed.

Noun: A deep, pensive, and long-lasting sadness.

Sometimes, even when the sun is shining and everything seems to be going along smoothly....

a day on the calender, a song, a memory....can make me a little melancholy.

Maybe I'll take a nap....and I know that tomorrow I will be happy again.

I LOVE BREAKFAST

I never understand people who say they don't LIKE to eat breakfast....that they might just have a cup of coffee.

I mean how can you not LOVE breakfast?

Although I do now plan to start just eating fruit on oatmeal...for health and frugal reasons.

Happy Belated Birthday Denise!

(this video made MY dogs HOWL! LOL!)

I just found out that Denise's birthday was the other day!
She runs a Schnauzer Rescue, is a fantastic artist, likes to collect vintage and I adore her!
Stop over to her blog! http://onthevergeofsnapping.blogspot.com/

FRUGAL FRIDAY #2

Drying your clothes on a laundry line!
Apparently you can save a  BUNDLE if you hang it instead of using your dryer!

So I started to do some research. I remember that my Mom hung out our laundry when we were little and that she had RULES. The main one that I remember was that you hung sheets and towels on the outside of the line and your "undies" on the inside where the neighbors couldn't see them.
Apparently MY neighbors don't know about these rules -

I did a whole post about them and how they have their hot-tub on the driveway and their cars parked on their front lawn.

Go here for details of my plight :
http://oldblackcatboo.blogspot.com/2010/04/garden-decision-has-been-made-thanks-to.html
But I am going to put up my clothesline in my backyard behind the privacy fence. I do a big load of dog towels and bedding everyday. Plus I am washing the sheets that I drape over my furniture every 2nd or 3rd day.

So I am thinking that MY savings could be HUGE!
Now, getting back to my research. There is a TON of info about laundry line etiquette and/or rules.

Things like running a washcloth along the line first so that you don't get a dirt mark on your sheets or whatever. Also you are supposed to do the whites first and hang them end to end so that you can overlap and use less clothes-pins. Also tips like "if you wear it on the top, then hang it from the bottom and vice versa".
REALLY there are a lot of TIPS and apparently zoning regulations in some places.
And if you don't want "crunchy" towels, some say to throw them in the dryer for 5 minutes after you take them down off the line.
Others say to put heavy items like jeans in the dryer BEFORE you hang them to get some of the water out.

I got clothes-pins and cotton laundry line from the Dollar store.
This weekend I am putting up my clothesline!
Do YOU have any tips this week?

A SUMMER WITH NO TV ?

I was thinking last night about how I always have the TV on. I get up in the morning and walk downstairs, let the dogs out and turn the TV on. I make coffee, get ready for work, sit down at the computer and the TV is going in the background. Just before I leave, I corral the little ones up and scoot them into the laundry room. Leash up the others and flick off the TV.
When I return home after work, I walk in, let the dogs out, switch on the TV, change clothes and start dinner. The TV stays on until I go to bed.
Most of the time, I'm not even watching it. It's just background noise.
I do have my favorite programs like:
Modern Family

Parenthood

The Celebrity Apprentice.

And then I will start watching other shows before them, like
The Middle.

I admit that I watched most of "Dancing with the Stars"

but now that it's summer and everything is re-runs anyway and (sob) Oprah is gone, well...........
I've decided to leave the TV off. I get most of my info off of the Internet anyway and besides the Weatherman is never right. Nothing much happens around here in this town but the usual. If something DOES happen, my sister or co-workers can tell me.
Now I'm not going to ban myself completely. I WILL use it to watch my DVDs but I just thought that June 1st (which in MY mind is SUMMER!) would be a good time to turn it off!
Wish me luck! It might prove to be a hard habit to break since it's so automatic!