One of the best ways to save money is to make minor clothing repairs yourself rather than paying someone else to do them for you. And one of the easiest repairs of all is to replace missing buttons on shirts, coats or pants. You can buy cards of buttons at any fabric store. My local fabric store has an entire wall of buttons in various sizes, shapes and colours.
But what if you only need one or maybe two buttons?
That’s where having a button box comes in handy. I’ve been collecting buttons since I first started sewing. But if you don’t already have a button box, it’s super easy to start one.
In fact, just this past Christmas, I made each of our daughters their own button box as one of their gifts.
I started out with a big pile of buttons.
A pile of assorted buttons
Some came from my own button box. Some I got after placing an ad on Freecycle. And then, since I wanted our girls to have a really nice selection of buttons, I bought two bags of buttons at Michaels.
I filled these Christmas tins with the buttons I had gathered.
Tin boxes filled with buttons
But you can use whatever container you may have around the house that has a lid that fits securely.
Then the next time you discover one of your or your spouse’s or your children’s clothing is missing a button, you can search through your button box for a match and make the repair.
And while you’re making one for yourself, make some to give away as small gifts to friends or family who are just starting their own households. Or if you’re needing a bigger gift, you could add one to a basket filled with thread, scissors and other sewing accessories to give as a wedding or house warming gift.
For more frugal ideas, head on over to BeingFrugal.net and check out:
Super Mom - No Cape! 