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I’ve mentioned before – I’m pretty short. 5 feet and 1 inch tall, to be exact. Whenever I buy pants of any kind I have to buy the “short” length, and even then they are sometimes too long. Last weekend I found a pair of jeans at Old Navy that fit me perfectly on top but were the regular length so they were ridiculously long on me. I couldn’t pass them up though – they were $5.97.

Luckily, I didn’t have to pass them up because I know how to sew. Some of my readers are back-to-school shopping right now for your kids. You’re looking for deals but your kids want the trendy stuff. And even if you know how to sew – they don’t want their torn-up-on-purpose jeans looking hemmed. I don’t blame them. I don’t like my pants to look like they’ve been hemmed either.

Jeans can be tricky because a lot of times that bottom hem is part of what makes the style. The jeans I picked up on sale are a little teenager-y looking for me (but I still think they are pretty cute) so they are the perfect example for what I want to show you today …

How to hem jeans and keep the original bottom hem

Begin by figuring out how long you want the jeans. Either measure the inseam of a pair of jeans that you like or just fold the bottom hem up to where you want it to be. Remember to include that bottom hem in your measuring because we’re keeping that. Just work on one pant leg to begin with. When you get it where you like it, pin  it in place. Unlike ordinary hemming, you are NOT going to sew these inside out. Simply fold them up.

Match the front to the back and both sides to be sure you aren’t going to hem one side shorter than the other.

Once you’ve got the first pant leg just how you want it, fold the jeans in half and lay them flat like this. Then fold the second pant leg to match up to the first one.

Once you have them both pinned up, it’s time to sew. Of course, you can do this by hand but I’m much too impatient to demonstrate that. You’re going to sew right along the edge of the original hem but NOT ON IT. As close to the edge as you can. Like this …

After you sew the hem, stop there and try them on. Just flip the extra stuff under and make sure you like the length. At this point can you can still rip the seam out and start again. After this it gets a lot trickier to fix. I tried mine on. I thought it looked good.

If you’re happy with the length, continue on. If not, rip the seam out and try again. Take the jeans back off and head back to the sewing machine. If you have a serger then cut the extra off and serge them. If, like me, you don’t have a serger then sew a zig-zag stitch right next to the straight stitch you just sewed – make the edge of the zig-zag touch the straight stitch if you can but don’t let it overlap.

Now, take a deep breath and keep a steady hand. Take your sharp fabric scissors and cut the extra material off. You want to cut right on the other side of the zig-zag, as close as possible without cutting the stitch.

Iron the seam nice and flat with a very hot iron. Try ‘em on. Like it? Good. Now do the other side. If you look really close you can tell … but you wouldn’t say they look hemmed, would you?

I know … I’m in the bathroom. I wanted you to get the full effect though.

Please keep in mind … this won’t work if the jeans have much of a flare at the bottom. If that’s the case, then cut the bottom hem off about an inch up, then cut the circle hem into a straight line so it’s no longer connected. Sew on as described above but you won’t use the whole hem. Just sew the ends together once you get all the way around.

Why I do what I do ~ Chloe was going through a funny phase a little while ago. Whenever a song would come on in the car that David listens to regularly Chloe would say, “That’s Daddy’s favorite song.” She’d do it with almost all the music I’d listen to. As soon as it was something familiar she’d pipe up and tell me it’s his favorite. Then one day I was bored of the CD I was listening to in the car and switched it to the country music station. I like country music but David does NOT. I don’t listen to it all that often and I can’t think of a time when we’ve said anything about it in front of her. But sure enough … as soon as I turned the radio to country, Chloe made a weird face and said, “This is NOT Daddy’s favorite song.” Perceptive little girl …

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Wanna know how much the girls have grown? Here’s a picture from a few weeks ago. I sewed matching dresses for them for a family party.

My younger niece, Aliyah is on the left, Chloe is in the middle and my older niece, Jazmyn is on the right. They make me very, very happy. Also … I was recently blessed to become and auntie for the third time. I now have a nephew!

I try to remain somewhat private about my family life on my blog, but it’s tough because my family and my faith are my life. So if a little of either of those sneaks in here, you’ll forgive me right? I already know you all love my little stories about Chlo

Some of my favorite reads from this week …

How To Replace 6 Vital Documents from Get Rich Slowly. This is one of those posts that you want to bookmark and save … just in case.

17 Ways To Save Money In The Shower from Almost Frugal. Keep an open mind and consider a few ways to slash your budget … in the shower!

Negotiating Tips To Use With Car Dealers from Bible Money Matters. Before you head out to the car sales lot, read this.

I’m Free! How I Broke A 30-Year Caffeine And Soda Addiction from Small Notebook. She’s got me thinking … she’ll get you thinking too.

How To Budget In Less Than 20 Minutes A Week from Moolanomy. Craig breaks down the basic steps and sheds light on how simple it can be.

Why I do what I do ~ I was running errands this week with my daughter and my older niece in the car. I told them we were headed to the bank next. Jazmyn asked, “What’s a bank?” I thought for a second and said, “It’s where the money is.” Jazmyn immediately replied, “I think my mom lives there.”

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I loooooooooove cookies. Really, really love them. I also love baking. There are many days when I have to fight off the urge to whip up a batch of homemade cookies because even though they are so delicious and pleasing to everyone in my house – they are no good health-wise and should really only be a treat. That’s how it goes in this house. The trouble is – most cookie batches that I make yield about 3 dozen cookies. Although there are 2 extra children here during the day, there are actually only 3 of us that live here. We do NOT need 3 dozen cookies. I could just halve the recipe but I don’t ever think to and I have my favorite recipes memorized in full amounts – no need confusing myself.

So the other night, I was about to have girl night with my mom and sister. I was headed to my mom’s house in my cozy clothes (we get comfy and watch movies – nothing fancy-shmancy for us) and wanted to bring a treat with me. I thought real quick and remembered I had some baking chips leftover from another recipe so I ran in the kitchen and whipped up some black and white cookie dough. I scooped it out of the bowl and divided it between two quart-size freezer bags. I took one bag of dough with me to my mom’s and tossed the other one in the freezer at my house. Quick and easy. For girl night we had fresh-out-of-the-oven cookies, but not too many of them. And now, sitting in my freezer is a half-size amount of cookie dough for another night.

I love this because 1.) I didn’t have to go out and buy a package of cookies. 2.) I didn’t bake more than I needed. 3.) I split the ingredients for the recipe between 2 events, when I might ordinarily have baked the same thing twice. It’s like batch cooking for dessert!

A friend of mine keeps cookie dough in the freezer and then only scoops out 2-3 cookies worth of dough at a time for her and her son after supper some nights – brilliant!

Why I do what I do ~ At the beginning of the summer Chloe found some purple stuff in her salad. It was red cabbage. She asked me what it was. Knowing that the name would immediately be off-putting to her, I didn’t answer but redirected her, “Isn’t it cool that it’s purple? Try it. I bet you’ll like it.” She tried it. I almost fell out of my chair in shock. And she said, “Mmm, I like purpleness in my salad.” For the rest of the summer, every time she’s had a salad she looks for the red cabbage and eats it all. A couple times a family member would hear her call it “purpleness” and correct her. When they would tell her it’s red cabbage she giggled and said, “No it isn’t. It’s purple. Not red.”

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photo credit: littlebluerobot

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I‘ve explained the right way to make yeast bread and some of the basic principles behind it that you really need to stick to. However, some people still have trouble and don’t know what they are doing wrong. If that’s you – then this is for you. Here are the 5 most common ways (in my opinion – no science here) to ruin yeast bread.

1. Kill The Yeast

I use active dry yeast in all my recipes. You have to proof the yeast in warm water if you want it to work. The first way to ruin your bread is to douse the yeast with scalding water – or better yet – straight cold water from the tap. You’ll notice that the yeast does almost nothing. It doesn’t foam, get frothy or bubble. This is a fantastic indication that you’ve killed your yeast. Congrats – you’ve ruined the recipe early on. Please, don’t continue, you’re just wasting your ingredients. Throw out the yeast and try again.

2. Don’t Knead Long Enough

If you want the consistency of your bread to be tough, dense or dry – do this: Knead only once or twice, until it looks good and mixed, then set it for the first rise. No need to wait for that smooth and elastic thing that recipes constantly mention. Moist, even consistency is highly over-rated.

3. Add Too Much Flour

If you like your bread to be dry and crumbly – then add tons of flour. As you’re kneading – just dump it right in. Pay no attention to the feel of the springy dough as it becomes more like a dense, stiff ball – flour away!

4. Don’t Keep Track Of Time

If you want to be sure that your dough will deflate in the oven then absolutely DO NOT keep track of how long it rises. Consider the rising times to be more of a suggestion. If you’re tied up with something – go ahead and let it rise for 90 minutes. It doesn’t really matter that the loaf collapsed – does it? I mean, dry bread is good for something – right?

5. Bake Too Long

Out of fear of under-cooking – be sure and add at least 10 minutes to the suggested baking time. One can never be too careful. Disregard the suggestion to tap the top and bottom of the loaf, listening for the hollow sound – it might fool you. Bake a little longer – just in case.

No harm or offense intended. This post is written as a light-hearted how-NOT-to. For information on how you SHOULD make yeast breads, try this post.

Why I do what I do ~ Chloe, to me while I’m starting supper- “Mom, will you sew me some swan wings? They need to be white and have feathers and go like this (shows me the shape). Can you do it right now?”

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Some of you might be wondering how things are going over here in my personal life. I mentioned a little while ago that we’ve been in transition. Well … we’re still there. Our home hasn’t sold yet and we’re still doing lots of commuting. I made the decision that I was going to stop holding off on things – you can only stay in a holding pattern for so long before you pull all of your hair out. So I’m back to blogging! I’ll give you an update every now and then so you know what’s going on. I think it’s helpful to my readers to know what’s going on with the girl that’s writing – it gives you a little context so you know where I’m coming from.

A couple things worth mentioning:

Domestic Cents is now on Facebook! I finally decided to join the masses. I’ll use the FB page for discussion, posting extra photos and posing questions. I hope you’ll join in. If you try one of my ideas – snap a picture and post it to the page!
I have a new tab at the top of my home page – All Things Fall. I’ve linked to a few of my Fall posts from last year in case you’re in need of a little Autumn inspiration!

Now on to a few links from some of my favorite places on the web! Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Discontentment Undermines Frugality from Gather Little By Little

Things Vs. Experiences from The Wisdom Journal

Stock and Organize Your Freezer For Last Minute Meals from Organizing Your Way

3 Ways That Spending Time Actually Makes Time from The Well-Grounded Life

Bridal Shower Curtain – an awesome gift idea from The Happy Housewife

Back to School Pencil Case from Sew Mama Sew

Handmade Tote Bags from Remodeling This Life

Headband Refashion from Skip To My Lou

Why I do what I do ~ The other day I gave my niece a granola bar for snack. When I said, “Would you like a granola bar?” She asked, “What did you call that?” She was pointing to the bar. I said, “A granola bar.” She looked confused and said, “I thought it was a gorilla bar.”
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Taco night will never be the same …

I decided to try my hand at making my own flour tortillas. We like tacos, enchiladas and quesadillas so tortillas frequent my shopping list. Now, I can buy them at the store for less than $2 so it’s not like I’m going broke buying them or anything but I loooooove the challenge of figuring out how to do something on my own rather than buying pre-made.

It turns out, as cheap as they are to buy at the store, they are even less expensive to make yourself! The big bonus is that you can make them from ordinary ingredients that you already have on hand. So if on a whim, you want to make some quick quesadillas for lunch with the extra cheese and chicken in refrigerator then you can whip these up and do just that! So here it is …

(Please bear in mind … I am not at all Mexican. I do not have a single Mexican relative that I know of. So if this recipe is completely un-authentic then I really have no idea, but it was good to me and I hope you like it too!)

Flour Tortillas

Recipe yield: 12 tortillas

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tbsp. shortening
• 3/4 cup (or so) water

Directions:

1. Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder together thoroughly. Add the shortening and blend with a pastry blender until nice and crumbly.
2. Add the water to the flour mixture a little at a time, mixing as you go, until a dough forms (just like you would for a pie crust). You may not need all of the water so you don’t want to just pour it all in.
3. Place the dough on a floured surface and give it a few good kneads for even consistency. Cut it into 12 little chunks. I use a pizza cutter to do this. Cut the whole into three large chunks and then each of those into four and they should all be about evenly sized.
4. Heat a large non-stick skillet or griddle to medium-high heat.
5. On y0ur lightly floured surface, use a rolling pin and roll out each dough chunk into an extremely thin circle. I’m talking paper thin. Like this …

   

6. Gently lift the tortilla and place it in the heated pan. It cooks very quickly, about 2 minutes on the first side and about one minute on the other side. As soon as it turns golden, flip it. While it’s cooking, you can roll out your next one.

It would probably be awesome to serve these immediately, but that doesn’t really fit in with my lifestyle. I made these during nap time in the afternoon. After they were all cooked I placed them in a gallon-sized resealable bag until supper time. I like my tortillas warm though, so when it was time to eat I placed them on a dinner plate, covered them with a damp paper towel and microwaved them for 30 seconds. Perfect.

Need some taco seasoning to go with your homemade tortillas? Try this homemade version!

Why I do what I do ~ Chloe actually eats tacos, which is a little shocking because I usually make them with ground beef. She loves sour cream on her taco just like her Mama, but she calls it white dip. Sometimes it’s all in the name – just can’t think of eating something that’s gone sour on purpose.

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One of the frugal saving graces for me in the kitchen is my ability to keep a stocked pantry. I’ve had to grow into it and learn what exactly I need. It’s different in each home because every family is unique in their tastes and preferences.

It might seem contrary to call a stocked pantry a frugal thing. Stocked pantry might make you think of buying in excess or purchasing items at whim – so much so that your pantry is full. This is not what I’m referring to. My actual pantry is quite small – a very narrow closet. When I refer to a stocked pantry I am referring to a kitchen that has all staples on hand at all times. Don’t get me wrong – we run out of milk like every other family, but my essentials – especially dry and non-perishable – are almost always in supply. As crazy or unpredictable as my life may get I have not let this slide. Here’s why:

Unplanned Cooking

When I have staples on hand I can whip up pancakes/waffles, bread, muffins, cookies, brownies, tortillas (coming soon – stay tuned!), pizza, calzones … I think you get the idea. I don’t have to menu plan these items because I always have everything I need to make them. If I realize I’m supposed to bring a dish to share somewhere then I don’t have to run out to the store to get all my supplies, I can just walk around the kitchen and make something from what I have.

Intentional Purchasing

When I start to get low on a staple item I put it on my list and keep an eye out for the next few weeks. I look for the item to go on sale or for an opportunity to use a coupon/sale combo. Sometimes when I come across a deal on a staple item I buy it right then even if I’m not running out. I only do this with items I use all the time and that have no opportunity to expire. For instance, I would not do this with ground coffee as I do no like the taste when it’s stale.

Ease of Shopping

Menu planning is a lot, LOT easier when I have all the staples in the house. It means that I usually only need a few items from the store to finish off the meal. If I had to walk around my kitchen and check to be sure I had enough salt, flour, cumin or bread crumbs for every meal I’m planning then I would really detest menu planning.

Every once in a while I goof up and assume I have something that I ran out of and never wrote down, but for the most part I’m usually on top of it. Doing this has made my life in the kitchen a whole lot more pleasant, easier and even less expensive. So what’s your experience? Do you only buy what you need each week? Do you keep certain things on hand at all times?

Why I do what I do ~ Chloe is 4 now. Can you believe that? I can’t believe how much different 4 years old is than 3 years old. 4 years old means she notices things now – lots of things. She notices when I’m mad or upset. She notices when I’m annoyed, when I don’t feel good or I’m just having a bad day. She also notices when there’s something stuck in my teeth or if a pimple appears on my nose. She always notices when something smells badly – which has created more than one embarrassing situation. And the best part of her noticing everything – is that she always has the follow up question of …. “Why?” A 4 year old daughter has given me a whole lot of cause to self-examine and I guess that’s really not such a bad thing.

Photo by CedarBendDrive

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Today’s post is from Kyle at Rather Be Shopping. His site features online coupons and discounts. If you enjoy this post I hope you’ll consider subscribing to his RSS Feed. ~Nicki

photo credit: caseywest

A few weeks ago, my 3-year old daughter decided to see how much toilet paper she could stuff down our toilet. I plunged and snaked the commode for what seemed like hours, all to no avail. But I was not about to call a plumber! Instead, I researched the problem and was able to pull the toilet, remove the HUGE softball sized blockage, and put the toilet back with a new wax ring all by myself. Toilet is now good as new!

A plumber would have charged $65 just for the service call, then factor in labor costs, and I probably saved close to $100 fixing the problem myself. I am a big proponent of learning, and doing, small home repairs and maintenance yourself in order to save money. Here are a few tips for those do-it-yourselfers out there.

Seek Free Advice

While many employees at your ‘big box’ home improvement stores know very little more than how to tie an orange apron around their waist, there is always at least one expert in each department. Find out who they are and get to know them by name. They will be a great ally! Invite them to dinner, buy them a hot dog, whatever it takes. They have always given my great free advice.

Find A Great Resource Book

I have one book for the do-it-yourselfer that I carry around like a bible. It is the Readers Digest Complete Do-It-Yourself manual and it is fantastic. It has big ol’ pictures and great diagrams for those out there like me, who would prefer to look at a picture than actually have to read. Worth a look, and not very expensive.

Be A Good Neighbor

In every apartment or home that I have lived in over the years, I have always had at least one very handy neighbor. I immediately be-friend him or her and give them a cold beer! I have learned more from handy neighbors than from any book. I typically reciprocate his/her help by offering my brawn for any projects he or she may be working on at their home. Works out great, their brain for my brawn.

Please add your suggestion or tip. I look forward to any new ideas. Now in keeping with tradition, here are some of the better online coupons on my site that can hopefully help you save some money. See you next month!

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Hello Faithful Readers … I got an email this week from Pamela. She noticed I hadn’t been posting much and wondered if everything was ok. Her thoughtfulness touched me and it occurred to me that others may be wondering the same thing. So here’s what’s up.

Our family is in a transitional phase. My husband was recently blessed with an excellent job the next state over – about 2 hours away. It’s near family and where my husband grew up. On top of that, I’ve jumped right into heading up a children’s program at the new church we’ll be attending. We could not be more thrilled. However, we have a home to sell. We have it priced low and we’re planning to take a loss in hopes that we’ll sell quickly. In the meantime, there is lots and LOTS of commuting going on in our family. I am tired – oh SO tired.

The little down time I have I try best to occupy with normal things for Chloe’s sake – bike rides, going to the playground, etc. This blog has been around for going on 2 years now. I love it and I don’t want to give it up – so I’m not going to. If 300 people unsubscribe – then I’ll go down to 200 readers I guess. That’s ok by me (alright … I will be sad). If you know me a little from reading my words then you know that having the right priorities is important to me. Right now – working on blog things doesn’t fit. Once we’ve moved things will be different for me and I’ll have a little more free time than before – I am dreaming of that time when I can dive back into things.

Until then … I’ll post when I can. As always, I’m humbled and grateful that you’ve chosen to stick around.

Why I do what I do ~ At bedtime prayers last night Chloe prayed ” … and keep Daddy safe in his trabels.” We’ve had lots of time apart and I almost started crying. Her caring and sensitive personality is so pure. No one makes her say those things or tells her she should – she just picks up on it. I’m just the one that’s blessed to witness it.

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