Here’s a few things that I’ve found to be helpful.

In my opinion, most zippers are a bit pricey. I don’t mind so much if I’m buying a specific zipper to match fabric to make a piece of clothing, special projects or home decor type stuff, however,  there’s some craft projects that need a zipper and I’d rather not sink a lot of money in them.  After thinking about the problem awhile, I figured out an inexpensive way to buy zippers . I buy the really cheap zipper bags and take the zippers out of them. When I want to use the zippers, I can cut them to whatever length I need. The bags in the photo were a dollar each. The smaller one has 2 in it, so I got two 16 inch zippers for a dollar. The other 2 bags are of really long and extra long lengths, I don’t know their exact lengths, I haven’t disassembled the bags yet to  measure them. These zippers probably won’t last in a heavy duty project like jeans or sleeping bags… and then again I could be wrong and they might hold up well. This is a relatively new idea of mine and I haven’t used them yet. But even so, I think it’s a good idea anyway. (as for the plastic part of the bags, I fold it neatly and store it away because I hope to find some uses for it too someday)

Here’s an idea for an inexpensive and small heavy duty hand-fan (duel duty if you want). It’s a small cutting board. lol I discovered what a great fan it made, when a hot-flash hit and it was the smallest lightest weight thing in my reach that I could use to wave in the air and help cool me off. lol Seriously, though, you can’t tell it from the photo, but it’s not very big. The handle is a nice advantage; it’s light weight enough to tote around the house or take outside or most anywhere.

I bought these ‘Incredible Hooks’ at a dollar store. You may have seen commercials for hooks like them. You may have wondered if they’re as easy to use and handy as the commercials say. I’m here to tell you that they most definitely work for me in drywall (Sheetrock). I love the ease of putting them where I want and removing them if I want too. I was truly surprised these work. These are great. There’s 20 in the pack and I haven’t needed to buy anymore, but I won’t hesitate to buy more if/when I run out.

I usually have several projects going at the same time. I find it’s handy to keep them in 2 gallon Ziploc bags with their supplies. This makes them easy to pick up and take with me to work on them most anywhere. I use much bigger plastic bags for my crochet blanket projects. Keeping the projects in plastic bags helps keep them cleaner too.

I hope one of these ideas may be helpful to you or may spark an idea for you to build on.

Wishing you all a great rest of the week!
🙂