DIY Life

Thought you had to spend a pretty penny to eat healthy? Sometimes it seems that way, with organic packaged food being all the rage these days. You know you are a creative do-it-yourself-er, or you wouldn't be reading this post, so I have faith that you can eat healthy without losing your shirt.

What we all may forget is that most healthy foods aren't found in the packaged foods section of the market. Instead, WebMD suggests that there are ten healthy foods you can purchase, each for under a dollar or close to it.

Some produce makes the list, like bananas and apples, while some canned and dry foods, like beans, tomatoes, and lentils round out the list. And let's not forget the yogurt!

What does this mean to you as a healthy DIYer?

• You can save money and eat healthy foods.
• It is easy to keep your pantry stocked with healthy foods.
• Teaching your kids about healthy foods and being frugal is a snap.
• Making dinners such as Greek Pasta with Tomatoes and White Beans can be second nature.
• Compiling your own additions to the list of cheap, healthy foods is on your "to do" list. Here are some of mine: frozen organic spinach, fresh broccoli, kiwis, eggs ...
  

This can be a great way to source out a rare vintage find, or expand your collection of designer handbags without shelling out the big bucks. Keep your closet fresh this spring by getting rid of stuff you don't wear, and swapping them for things you will. And needless to say, this is a great way to find those rare pieces you've been coveting for your next DIY fashion creation.

[via: Lifehacker]

I consider myself a frugal person. When it comes to buying anything new, I check my local thrift stores or shop on eBay to see if I can get the item cheaper. It seems that the only time I decide to spend too much money is when I go to the grocery store hungry.

Besides clipping coupons and going without a night on the town with my husband, I wondered what else I could do to step up my frugality. Lynnae over at beingfrugal.net asked her readers to send her their frugal tips on surviving when money is tight and dollars need to be stretched. Her readers came through in a big way, so she compiled a list of 168 frugal tips to survive a recession.

From saving money on grocery shopping, utilities, transportation, and clothing to saving money on miscellaneous necessities, Lynnae breaks down the great tips her readers have offered into nine categories. While not all the tips are feasible for everyone, there certainly are tips that everyone will be able to utilize.

[via: Curbly]

Whenever I travel I spend hours watching HGTV in my hotel room. It is a guilty pleasure because I don't have television service at home. In case you're like me and don't always spend hours watching home improvement networks you might not know about the Troy-Bilt Love-Your-Yard sweepstakes.

The winner receives $3,000 in cash to implement Justin Cave's personal plan for your yard. The winner will also receive a riding mower, push mower, tiller, and string trimmer that converts to an edger, leaf blower, and hedge trimmer.

You can enter once per day and the contest closes on May 25, 2008.

Taking the concept of home theater to extremes: the gentleman who spent a jaw-dropping $6.8 million on construction of a home theater. Not just any home theater. The ultimate home theater. I mean, this thing has everything. Owner, Jeremy Kipnis, says his creation is "the greatest show on earth."

The theater is a large room, eight feet high at the entrance and sloping up to sixteen feet high. The centerpiece is a massive eighteen foot laboratory grade screen. Equally impressive (or tasteless, depending on your view): a super-powerful audio system with sixteen eighteen-inch subs arrayed around the seating area for totally realistic surround sound.

Naturally, the whole thing can play "ungodly loud," according to Steve from Audio Video Interiors. Yes, it's basically like having your own personal IMAX theater to hang out in.

For more home theater fun and games, check out my earlier post on home theaters, and Jessi's home theater-planning post. Also handy: Anna's post on DIY projection screens.

Sometimes we choose DIY for the love of DIY, but other times it's for the monetary savings. Doing a project yourself, getting exactly what you want, and not paying through the roof makes DIY projects appealing to so many of us. Labor costs account for half (sometimes more) of construction costs. Doing work yourself can be your biggest savings, but only if you really know what you're doing, or have the time to learn. First, go through this quick checklist and figure out if you should do it yourself or not. If you do decide to take it on, this list of money saving tips will help you get the most for your dollar and the best end result.

The article suggests setting priorities and re-evaluating the scale of improvements. They offer tips on choosing which improvement will yield the greatest return, and suggest ways to obtain moderately priced materials instead of higher end expensive ones. They also warn what corners not to cut. Saving money is great, but not at the expense of safety, or quality. There are ways to do it well without re-mortgaging your home. With 10 tips in all, finishing with the DIY option, you'll find great pointers on how to save money on your home improvement projects. Check them out and let me know what you think is missing. How else do you save money with home improvement projects?

My Dad is a handyman of sorts. One day, when I was about 8, my Mom commented that she wished she had a bigger kitchen. She went on about how nice it would be if it were brighter and open onto the backyard. She described a space with big window and French doors. She wanted a table big enough to fit our family of 8 and guests, along with a separate seating area. Obviously she was just dreaming right? Obvious to us maybe, but to my Dad, not so much. She went out for the day and came home to my Dad having torn down the outside wall. "I'm building you a kitchen!" he announced.

This might have been a chivalrous act if he had any idea what he was doing, but he didn't. It may have even been OK if he had free time to finish what he'd started, but the weekend ended and he went back to work. He used his holidays, evenings and weekends building this perfect kitchen. This meant over 5 years without a kitchen sink! With 6 kids and no kitchen sink I don't know how my mother survived, but she did, and she's been enjoying a show-home kitchen ever since (eventually finished by contractors). We all take a bit of fun in giving my Dad a hard time about the projects that he starts and doesn't finish.

According to research done by Saga home insurance, my Dad isn't alone. 52% of homeowners in London have unfinished DIY projects around the house, with an average yearly spending of 2000 pounds. That's almost $4000 USD. Reasons for the unfinished work ranges, but lack of time falls high on the list. My Dad has become better since retirement, seeing most projects through until the end rather quickly. The research reflects this same thing, noting that only 36% of homeowners aged 50 and older have un-finished projects, making them the age group that is most on top of their DIY projects.

Can you top my Dad's 5 year kitchen re-model? Share your stories of unfinished DIY projects in the comments. Also, what's your number one reason for letting time pass on projects?

When I saw this deodorant container hiding place the first thing that came to my mind was "you put your (contraband substance removed) in here". While it does look like the sort of thing you'd see people using in a bad stoner movie, it is also a very clever hiding place for all sorts of things. If you're on vacation and staying in a resort or hotel, you'll typically take your cash and valuables with you when you leave the room. With this handy little hiding place, you can put your jewelry or cash in the old deodorant container and rest assured that they are safely hidden.

Here's what you'll need to assemble your secret storage container:

1. Empty deodorant with the center stick left in place
2. Candle
3. Match
   
4. Masking tape

The full instructions explain how to put it all together and even show you how to make it look like a used deodorant stick.

Another handy use for an old container is as a q-tip holder. Stay tuned as this instructables author shares more cool uses for old deodorant containers.

I love watching street performers. In the summer, my favorite days are spent wandering the shops on Granville Island in Vancouver and watching buskers. Our children have loads of fun and enjoy the entertainment too. There is something about their exceptionally odd talents and their fearless performance style that I find appealing. I probably like it so much because it is so far from anything I could ever pull off. Or so I thought until now.

How to make money busking (street performing) teaches exactly that. You'll learn what separates the good shows from the great shows or what might leave passers by to mistake you for a beggar rather than busker. You'll learn why it's not a good idea to set up next to a pretty girl and why seeding your hat with tips works so well. Play to the children and their parents will follow. Plan a good show with a clear beginning, middle and end to draw and keep a crowd.

Do your research, track your success and sell merchandise. If you think of yourself as a professional and treat your show that way, others will too, and you'll be more successful for it. There are loads of great tips. Even if you're not really considering abandoning your job for busking, maybe you'll take a challenge and try it just once.

There are dozens of ways you can save money and protect your budget while gift shopping. This is especially important during holiday time because most people will be spending money in amounts above their normal budget and they'll be spending that money in places they might not normally shop. It's the responsibility of each of us to be our own smart shopper. With some assistance from Consumer Action, I have brought you this list of suggestions for saving and protecting your money during the holiday shopping season.

Saving money always matters, but this is the season where a little savings at the grocery store can leave room in the budget for a few extra Christmas gifts, it's that much more important. It seems like our local newspaper has tripled in width to accommodate all the holiday flyers, and digging through to find the grocery coupons can leave your head spinning.

A sale doesn't always mean savings. You'll head to one store because of a deal on meat, but if that store regularly has higher prices on bread and cheese, which you'll grab while you're there, you might not be saving on your total purchase.

The Grocery Guide will take all the stress out of shopping and point you to your highest savings. Simply put in your zip code and they have the prices from your local stores. They track flyers and coupons, offering the biggest savings and saving you the trouble of finding the best deal for your shopping list. Compare your options, search for coupons and print recipes.

The Grocery Guide includes hundreds of stores across the country. They are missing some of the smaller neighborhood stores, but those aren't usually your most economical choices anyway. Don't spend your holidays walking up and down the grocery store aisle comparing prices, do a little search at home then head out with a plan.

[via: Lifehacker]

Have you ever been in the position where you'd like to give some money to a charitable organization but you don't know which charity will make the best use of your donation? Do you know if a particular charity serves your financial intentions? In the past, it was quite difficult to determine the relative value of an investment in a charitable organization. In the information age however, you can now research individual charities with ease to make a comfortable decision about who you're going to send your money to.

Charity Navigator is a website dedicated to researching and reporting on the monetary performance of charitable organizations large and small. Sites of this kind are extremely valuable and Kiplinger.com names Charity Navigator as one of it's 25 Best Web Sites for 2007.

Every special someone in our life deserves to have a special gift. If you don't want to give just any ole gift to your teenage daughter, why not wrap her Christmas gift in money?

I say teenage daughter because that is what this instructional reminds me of. What teenage daughter or young child wouldn't love to be given a gift that is wrapped in money?

Using two crisp one dollar bills, the author shows us step by step how to fold a one dollar bill into a box, and then use another one dollar bill for the cover. The author doesn't like a "traditional" cover, so he (or she?) has made the cover to go around the box, so that you slide the box in and out as you wish.

If you are giving this homemade money gift box to a person under the age of eighteen, I suggest using money in larger denominations. I think that the only time I would use two one dollar bills is if I was giving the box to my spouse.

Holiday tipping is emphasized more in some areas than others: in the suburbs of Middle America, it can be relatively uncommon, while in some buildings in New York, it's required. Not tipping your doorman can be like slamming the door in his face.

The custom of holiday tipping may have begun because people in certain professions provide services that are worth far more than they're actually paid to perform them, and because people who work hard for lousy wages might need a little holiday financial help from grateful patrons. Either way, neglecting to tip the right people at this time of year can be a social disaster... but who are those people, and what should you give them?

Blueprint magazine has an article on their site (also published in their November/December issue, currently on news-stands): the Holiday Tip Sheet. It has etiquette advice and a printable chart (PDF) to help you figure out who (and how much) you should tip during the upcoming season, and who should receive a gift, either because they can't accept cash, can't accept gifts over a certain monetary value, or really deserve something more personal than money. Ideas for what to do when you're on a tight budget are also included.

With Blueprint's help, you'll have no problem showing the people who help you out how much you appreciate them.

The PopSci guys take on a fun little project with this musical stash for your cash. They turn an Altioid box and a musical card into a theft-detering money box. I'm not sure why exactly you'd need this, hopefully it's not because your coworkers are actually stealing from you the way these guys suggest! Still, you could hide anything in there and the musical alarm would let you know if somebody was breaking into your tin. Personally, I don't want a silly song playing every time you go to pay for coffee, but I could find other uses for it I'm sure. It's a simple, clever idea. It's not hugely practical, but it only takes 5 min to put together and it could be fun setting somebody up.