Holes in Jeans

Back in a previous post about mending socks, Rachel asked about fixing holes in jeans.  Since I asked for your ideas I thought I would feature this question as well.

Yes, I end up mending quite a few pants too. If your hole is quite small you can loop it shut. Be sure to get the stitches back far enough so they are grabbing "solid" material. If it is a larger hole you'll need to reinforce the hole with extra material. You can put the material on the inside of your pants and stitch around it. Just be sure to give allowance for bending in the knee.


If it is a large hole or you just don't have the time to mend it, get out your 40% coupon for JoAnns or Michael's (or if you get their mailings, your 50% coupon) and buy one of their iron on patches.  This is in the section near the zippers and snaps.  It is a large jean colored patch (not the small decorative ones although if the hole is small enough you could use these, I find they can be itchy on the skin).  You iron on over the hole and "ta da" the hole is mended.

Free Samples

I love free samples.  I bet you love free samples too.  I love signing up for free samples and getting them mailed to me.  I love getting mail that isn't a bill and isn't asking me for money.  It's free, it's fun, it's stuff I can use.  And it is easy.

Go to the manufacture's website and you can sign up there.  If you're on Facebook, like the product or manufacture and they periodically run coupons or promotions.  And the best part is, you can usually sign up for more free samples in a couple of months.

Free Pillow

My son recently earned new bed sheets for making a successful transition to his "big boy bed."  The sheets were on sale of course and came in a cloth bag.  This bag was so exciting that I had to do something with it.  I made a pillow out of it.  I stuffed it full of fluff and stitched it shut.  No paying big bucks for the coordinating one that they want you to buy, I made my own.  And he loves it!

Automatic Savings

Perhaps you or your spouse get direct deposit on pay day.  Perhaps you're already set up with online banking as talked about here in one of my previous posts.  Did you know that with online banking you can set it up to automatically transfer money into your savings account on payday?! Assuming of course that you 1) have a savings account with the same bank 2) have direct deposit 3) use online banking and 4) the online banking program offers such a function (which many do by the way).

This works so nicely because you budget for it, it's automatic, and it's money you don't miss.  It doesn't somehow become part of your spending budget and is there for emergencies when you've blown your budget for whatever reason (like I did this month with three unexpected medical expenses).  Hey life happens, that's why we have an emergency savings and why automatic transfer into savings is a great idea.  If you can't set it up to transfer automatically or you're uncomfortable with the idea you can set manual do this transfer on payday.