Five Dollar Decor - Cardboard

Today, I'd like to talk about cardboard.

Mr. Scrimp and I have an entire closet that is filled from top to bottom with cardboard boxes from moving. We can't bring ourselves to throw them away (I have packrat tendencies). After all, the cardboard is perfectly good, and if we don't use it for a project, we'll need it again eventually anyway.

Well, I think it's time to break into the closet, because I've put together a list of some really great ways to use cardboard in your home.

Most of these involve a fair amount of DIY effort from you, but if you're like me, cardboard is going to cost you nothing because you have already accumulated so darn much of it. So it's a fair trade-off, I think.

Link: Unhappy Hipsters

Every so often, I find an interior design idea from a magazine or website that looks beautiful but not like someplace I would ever live.

There's actually a blog out there that takes those images and puts captions to them. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Unhappy Hipsters.

"And one day, a ladder appeared. Julien climbed with guarded optimism; could this be the way out for which he’d been searching all these weeks?"

(via dornob)

Why to Cook at Home

I'm no superwoman. I'm easily bored and tend not to finish everything I start. So, how do I keep going with making homemade meals in the face of cooking fatigue and general flakiness?

There are lots of ways to answer this question, but I don't think I could express them much better than Kristen of The Frugal Girl did this week in her Monday Q&A post. Go read it and be encouraged.

Recipe: Zucchini Bread

I had this one friend in college who made amazing zucchini bread. When Mr. Scrimp and I got married, I knew I had to get her recipe and make some, because we both love it so much. I altered it here and there (for instance, I added grated apple for a little extra sweetness and because I didn't quite have enough zucchini), took a bunch of pictures, and made two batches. It was the first thing I ever baked in our house. You can tell, because in the photos everything was mixed by hand in a salad bowl. What can I say? Everything else was still packed.

Project: Five Minute Wall Decor

We're having unseasonably warm weather here, but it's still wet and gray. In order to add a splash of color to one of our bare walls, I whipped up this little project based on an idea I saw a while back at Dollar Store Crafts. I kid you not, it took me less time to complete the project and hang the finished result than to write this entire blog post.

Other Blogs

I follow roughly a hundred blogs these days, and I add more to my feed every day. There's a pragmatic element to that--it's a lot easier to write blog posts of my own when I have a collection of cool links to send you on days when I haven't been cooking, crafting, or writing decor posts about crazy things you can do with toothpicks or something. But I also just really like reading blogs.

I found a new one just today, which looks to be right up my alley, and want to recommend that you check out Post Grad Hair Cut, especially because until February 1 she's doing a giveaway for a book all about how to make macarons. All you have to do to be entered is leave a comment on her blog.

Is it really only Tuesday, Internet? By the end of the day yesterday I was convinced we had to be all the way into Thursday at least.

Pie in a Jar!

I really like making pie, but we don't eat a lot of sweets, and with just the two of us one pie is really too much. The answer? A single-serving pie made in a jelly jar! These can be made in a large batch, frozen, and pulled out to cook one or two at a time when you're ready to eat some.

We also really like pot pie, which can also be made as single servings in a jar and frozen until you're ready to cook them. I don't have a problem with frozen, pre-made food--as long as we're making it ourselves.

Check out the Our Best Bites blog for directions, a ton of great photos, recipe variations, and more.

Happy Monday, everyone. Have a great day!