Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all!

It's January 1st, and I'm so excited that I get to break out my brand new planner and start jotting down all the important frugal information and listing my organization goals for the next month. (Here are some easy guidelines to follow when it comes to organizing any area of your home with frugality in mind.)

A calendar is a frugal girl's friend.

First, I will check the newspaper and the web for upcoming estate and garage sales, free or low cost community events and restaurant promotions and get those recorded in my planner. Then I will write down the errands I'll need to run so I can combine them into the best fuel-saving route. 

My next organization goal is to go through my daughter's clothes (she's growing like a weed!) and pull the items that no longer fit her to bring to the resale shop. 

Check out my related article: Getting the Most out of Your Resale Shopping Experience

The frugal house renovation project I have on tap is to change out the old knobs on my laundry room cabinets and place the "new" ones on. I was thinking of a way I could spruce up my laundry room on a budget and decided that changing the knobs was the way to go. I searched for good prices on knobs, and because I needed a total of 18-I eventually found the best deal at my local Habitat for Humanity ReStore. I paid about 50 cents per knob and that beat out the lowest price I found for knobs I liked. The knobs are neutral and they look new, so I feel like I got a great deal and it will change the look of my laundry room for under $10. I am still in search of a good deal on curtains or coordinating home decor fabric so I can change the curtains that were there when I moved in, and from the looks of them...have been there since the dawn of time.

On a side note, I also have some over-ripe bananas that I need to find a way to use up so they don't go to waste. This is what happens when you buy bananas right before the holidays...you leave town and come back to some very desperate looking bananas. 

That's okay, I've been checking out recipes and this one for Molasses Banana Bread looks like the winner.