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Tonight I am working on a very large sewing project. But do not let me lead you to believe I am a sewer! I am an “I can make it last until the next time we go to Grandma’s house” sewer. This particular project is Monkey #2’s blankie.

This blanket is 6 ½ years old and is beginning to fall apart. When all my children were born, Grandma Howie sewed them each two flannel blankets.

Why two? If you have to wash blankie #1, monkey still has blankie #2. The woman is a genius.

My other two kids love their blankies, but not like Monkey #2. She will tear her bed apart at 4 a.m. if she can’t find it. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to make repairs, but as I was stitching I noticed the flannel starting to pull away from the binding on almost the entire blanket. It is well-loved, like the Velveteen Rabbit.

Before we started having kids, we really didn’t think to much about saving or making things last. When the children started coming, our attitude changed. Some days it feels like we are on a mission to save a penny.

We had to replace our television last spring and we laughed with each other that “it didn’t owe us anything.” We had been watching it for 18 years!

When you have a young family, you are always looking for ways to economize. Flattening the toothpaste tube to get the very last drop; balancing an old ketchup bottle on top of the new one to get the very last drop; not wasting any of that pot of coffee you made, because it’s “good to last drop” and you need it to keep up!

With all the expenses that go with having kids, we try to save where we can. There are school costs, clothing costs, food costs, medical and dental costs and, in our house, extracurricular activities costs. If I can keep a little more green in my wallet, I want to know how.

Not too long ago, I told Monkey #3 she needed a new pair of jeans. All of hers were either too short or had holes in the knees. Her little face lit up and she said “Can we go shopping in the boxes?” I was so proud!

I keep all of the old clothes in boxes in our basement. Some of them are labeled correctly as to content and size. Mostly it’s a crap shoot and you just hope find what you want quickly by accident.

There were some jeans hiding down there and I found some of her brother’s sweatpants as well. Shopping in the boxes saved me a trip to store and probably $30.

We have also started trying to use grocery coupons more efficiently at Russ’s, Allen’s, Walmart and Walgreens, with a great deal of help from Renee Thomsen.

Thomsen’s Thrifty Thursday here on The H Word is a great tool for keeping that grocery bill under control. Why pay more for your food when the manufacturer is giving you money? All it takes is a few minutes with a scissors. I say good trade.

The one thing I have been unable to do is meal planning. I try my hardest, well let’s be honest, not my hardest, to plan what we’re going to eat. It is hard, and don’t let anybody tell you it isn’t. It takes time and effort and you have to eat what you planned!

Also, as you can see, my sewing isn’t that great either.

I told you at the beginning that my skill level was low.

If you have any money saving suggestions to share with your fellow readers, please post them. I’m sure we all have unique ways of saving a buck or two and I need a few new tricks.

Now, do I keep patching this blanket or do we make an emergency trip to Lincoln?

About the author: Denise Howie

Denise Howie is a wife, mother and preschool teacher. She spent her formative years in Minnesota and Iowa, graduating from Iowa State University. After working in the publishing industry for 6 years she became a stay-at-home mom who rarely stayed home! Denise moved to Hastings in 2006 with her husband and three children and dove head first into life in Nebraska.