Did you know?

How easy it is to make some items from scratch?  I make home made granola now.  EASY.  TASTY.  Try it!  If you want the recipe or source, just comment to let me know.  It came from a Home Made Simple booklet in my All You magazine.

Another easy item, iced tea, iced coffee, homemade drinks.  Iced coffee is easy.  Whenever we make a pot of coffee, we have a cup or two left over.  We rarely have the luxury of finishing the pot these days.  I take that cup, that has sat all day in the pot, mind you, and put it into a mason jar, add lots of milk, add sugar and vanilla extract to taste.  Place in refrigerator overnight, and voila!  Iced coffee for the a.m. or whenever.  Another idea: add sweetened condensed milk instead of the milk and vanilla (or in addition? LOL)  That's the beauty of your own coffee bar.  Make it how you like it.  Add pumpkin spice, whatever floats your boat!

Pancakes shouldn't come from a box, they are SO easy.  There are tons of recipes out there.  The simplest, plainest one is this: 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of milk, 1 egg.  That's IT!  Others involve oats, which is hearty and filling.  Others still involve pumpkin, yum!  EASY.

Dryer sheets are disposable, but making your own is cheaper and so easy.  Mix a small part fabric softener and water, place in a plastic dish with a cover.  The mixture is customizable.  I've seen up to a 1/2 and 1/2 recipe mixture of softener and water.  I've even seen hair conditioner mixed with water (but I've not tried that).  Each time you need a sheet, soak a sponge in the mixture and put it in the dryer with the wet clothes.
This is an all natural idea from the site Live Renewed:  http://www.liverenewed.com/2011/06/how-make-homemade-dryer-sheets.html
Or, how about tearing that dryer sheet in 1/2 or 1/3 before adding it to the machine?  I find that even that small piece still keeps static at bay.  The smell is less overwhelming, too.

Three new sites I found interesting:
Money Saving Mom
Live Renewed
Northern Cheapskate


Making items is fun and can be rewarding.  I'll try to chronicle some of the items that I try to make from scratch periodically.  Feel free to comment, discuss and exchange ideas!