I still remember a conversation I had with a sister-in-law several years ago.  She was sharing with me her latest efforts in trying to get better at baking her own homemade bread.  Homemade bread is something I haven’t mastered either and so I asked her, “Has it been hard bakingRead More

Have you heard of a “No Spend” month?  Or have you perhaps participated in a No Spend month?  Most frugal folks who spend any amount of time on the internet have likely read a blogger article or two about taking a No Spend month challenge and are then left intriguedRead More

It’s the Fourth of July holiday as I’m writing this — the day that’s the birthday of the country where I make my home — the United States of America.  But whenever the Fourth of July holiday rolls around I always celebrate another “birthday” of sorts. It’s my blogging birthdayRead More

The past few weeks I’ve been browsing through a book called “Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House“.  It’s author, Cheryl Mendelson, set out to write a modern day handbook for homemakers covering all areas of keeping a house including making and storing food, cleaning your home, andRead More

I have a love-hate relationship with labeling my homemade products.  On the one hand, I very much understand the importance of labeling.  Homemade spice blends, homemade sauces, and especially homemade cleaners, can be really hard to identify if you don’t mark on the jar or bottle what’s inside as soon asRead More

If you’re a regular reader of this blog and you stopped by and visited last week, you may have noticed that things looked just a little bit different.  You may have spotted the new logo, the new colors, and a couple of the new helpful pages that have been added.Read More

For years I’ve been a person who has used coupons.  For me it usually wasn’t a bother to spend a little extra time clipping and organizing coupons and reading through grocery ads so I could use coupons on sale items.  In fact I’ve always kept my wallet-sized coupon organizer inRead More

Today’s subject is somewhat of a follow up to my last post about my Updated Chocolate Pudding Dessert.  Once again when I had to update an old recipe, I was reminded that having the ability to adapt and reinvent a recipe is a very handy skill for the homemade lifestyle.Read More

Perhaps like me you’ve heard a news story about the importance of washing your reusable cloth grocery bags.  Those news stories remind us of the danger of possible germs that might grow from meat juices or bad fruit or vegetables that can leak onto the bag and that’s not good!Read More

If I fall a little behind on the blogging in the next couple of weeks please forgive me . . . but I think I have a good excuse. Last week I became a grandma for the first time and I’ve been floating around on cloud nine.  It seems I’veRead More

For most of the DIY projects I test and write about here at The Make Your Own Zone, I try to use common ingredients that can be found at places like the grocery store, the drug store, or the dollar store.  This is in part because I want the recipes toRead More

I’ve always loved having the option of a homemade alternative.  For me, it’s always provided a sense of self-sufficiency and well being by knowing I can improvise and create and use things in different ways to provide the solutions I need. I often find that the homemade choice is alsoRead More