Make It. P.S - I Made This.

I don't generally make New Year's resolutions, but in perpetually trying to save money and attempting creativity, I've gotten inspired by the site P.S. - I Made This.

The site is an avid fashion follower, and aims at trying to keep up with trends while also reimagining, reusing and reinventing -- something we should all try and do in all sorts of aspects of life. But in terms of fashion, it could also be really fun.

Take the site's version of the ever-festive feather skirt. The idea seems at first a bad one, but their method of using feather trim layer by layer makes it seem easy enough -- and their result looks great!

I also really dug their knit circle scarf -- such a great way to reuse an old sweater you don't wear anymore! -- and their iPad case. Got any other great DIY sites? Pass them on! And show us your results.

-- Chau Tu

Make It. A capelet.

For those who appreciate homemade, handcrafted clothes, here is the easy/short/adorable version of how to make a capelet courtesy of Etsy, a site where you can buy lovely vintage and homemade things.

This short explains where felt comes from (something that's been stumping me for years), and includes a very sweet sidenote about memories and buttons.

-- Lauren Williams

Make It. Sun tea.

The above photo perfect captures everything that is wonderful about sun tea. You make it outdoors, with little effort, and you have a tasty and refreshing alternative to plain water (without sugar added, this tea is calorie free).

Grab two black tea bags (Lipton's is nice), and add to a large, glass pitcher of water. Leave in outdoors or in a sunny part of the house for a few hours. Before you know it, you have a pitcher of sun-brewed tea. I feel like you can taste the difference when it sits in the sun, versus first boiling water then letting the tea cool, but that may just be me.

I sometimes will add fresh mint and a few slices of orange, which I leave in the pitcher while it chills in the fridge.

Happy Friday!

-- Lauren Williams

Photo credit: Amazon.

Make It. Laundry tips [A clean house on the cheap].

It's Friday, which for many people means it's almost laundry day.

One way to keep your clothes fitting just right even after several washes is to always undo the buttons, zippers, Velcro and any other thing that binds one part of your clothes to another. Even if it's a button you don't use often, the agitating washing machine pulls at button holes and zippers making them weaker and less likely to hold up over time.

In order to keep your pants, shirts, and dresses from embarrassing oops-that-wasn't-supposed-to-come-undone moments, undo the buttons before a load of wash. It takes an extra minute, but is definitely worth it.

-- Lauren Williams

Eat In. An Italian breakfast.

I remember, as a kid, living across the street from an Italian family and for breakfast some Saturdays, they'd eat yesterday's leftovers scrambled in a pan with an egg over a bed of noodles with some parmesan.

Later, exploring my culinary adulthood, I'd remember trying this dish and making my own modifications. Instead of using last night's leftovers, I would sautee various vegetables in a pan with some olive oil or butter, scrambled with an egg and parmesan.

It's an easy breakfast, but still fancier than a weekday morning meal. Almost any vegetable will do, but broccoli, bell peppers, spinach, tomato, and onion lend themselves to this dish nicely. Also, other cheeses work well if you're short on fresh parmesan.

Basically, this dish works well with just about anything over noodles; it's hard to screw up. I top mine with avocado, which is just icing on an already tasty cake.

But if you're not in a cooking mood, Hugo's Pasta Mama or Pasta Emilia has an excellent rendition of this classic Italian dish.

Hugo's even has a handy video to recreate this amazing dish, as well as a recipe for those of you who want more carefully outlined parameters.

Hugo's is located at 8401 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood OR 12851 Riverside Drive in Studio City.

-- Lauren Williams

Make It. Using a register [A budget].

So maybe I'm stuck in the Dark Ages where people read books by candlelight and only lived until they're 35, but I have begun to use a check register. Or, more appropriately, I have begun to record all my transactions in my Moleskine. (I love my Moleskine. That should be a post itself).

But keeping a register has really helped me keep track of my finances. Being one of the last remaining human beings to not use online checking, I need to keep track of my daily transactions, and keeping a running tally of my checking amount has helped tremendously.

It is a bit cumbersome to whip out a notebook each time you buy something, but if you make a mental note and write it down later, it gives you a more exact figure to be able to budget for.

And, when you're not near a computer it's kind of nice to have a written record of what you have spent and exactly how much you have. If you use a notebook or Moleskine you can keep important receipts in it too.

-- Lauren Williams

Photo credit: Amazon.com

Make It. Without health insurance.

Through a series of unfortunate events--even though I've paid my $2 for my DMO the last few months--I can't go to a dentist until February. Problem is, I have a dental issue NOW. I'm going to fight with Aetna until it gets resolved (I have, after all, paid them $6), but while I sit hear with a tea bag packed in my mouth, I am reminded of that time not too long ago when I didn't have health insurance at all (because Tribune is a GREAT employer and this country is AWESOME). It's rough and you feel helpless. It makes you want to karate chop Scott Brown in the face. But there are ways to get by if you're done with googling "home remedies for..."

Planned Parenthood. Thank God for this place. They offer services for all reproductive health needs for both women AND men. They charge on a sliding scale and will have no problem loading you up with free birth control. I have had nothing but pleasant experiences here. However, they are in demand. Even with an appointment you often have to wait an hour or more to be seen.

While you're in your Planned Parenthood, you may hear people talking about their "teal card." They are actually talking about "Health Access Cards" which are issued by Family PACT (usually out of PPs). If you're uninsured and low income, you qualify for one and with it, the state of California will pay for a bunch of your health needs. The website refers specifically to "family planning," but when I had the card, I was able to get antibiotics for free, so I think the definition is loose. I'm pretty sure California covers other things as well, but just like all government websites, their site is atrocious. If you are able to navigate or extract any clear information from it though, I’d love to hear about it.

And finally, Urgent Care. Yes, they are scary and will still run you $40, but at least they will take care of you. And they will do it right now. I am lucky enough to have one right in my building and if you live near the Echo Park area, I would totally reccommend Sunmoon Urgent Care. The Yelp reviews are pretty accurate. It won't be the doctor's office of your dreams, but it will be efficient and painless. I was seen immediately on a Saturday morning, had my prescription filled in-house, and was back in bed within thirty minutes. Be warned that these places are usually CASH ONLY.

Since 46 million of us don't have health insurance, I'm interested to know: how do you receive medical care?

-- Heather Robertson

Photo credit: Kaiser Foundation

Make It. Saving [A budget].

Although this post is going up today, Wednesday, Jan. 20, today I am headed down to South America to travel, live, and work.

Working a part-time job, though, can make saving for such a trip a bit rough.

The thing that made this trip doable was tiny, incremental saving. One tip I was taught was to set aside a small amount of money each week, and at the end of the year, you will have enough money for a nice trip.

Last year, near the beginning of the year, I began setting aside $20 each week. I was paid in cash, and it felt good putting the physical money away in a coffee can in the kitchen, but you can do this with automatic deposit, too.

If you were to start doing this today at the end of the year there would be $1,000 sitting in your coffee jar/piggy bank/empty planter/savings account or wherever.

Really, it doesn't take too many shortcuts to be able to scrape $20 out of a weekly budget, which makes this savings plan pretty tangible. The hard part, however, is not breaking into your savings before the year is over. Once I had saved enough for a plane ticket, I stopped saving -- bad idea. But hey, it got me this far.

-- Lauren Williams

Make It. Online banking [A budget].

Lauren Williams: I'm not going to lie. I have some really strong feelings about online banking, leaning toward the I-hate-it attitude. I had one bad experience, but really that's all it takes for me. I had a brief stint as an online banker, but got locked out of my account and forgot my passwords (why do we have to have so many passwords in life, anyway?). I have never used it again.

Heather, I know you are a sworn online banker. Why do you like it so much?

Heather Robertson: I guess I'm just a product of the modern age. Every aspect of my life has some internet integration--socially, professionally, academically, and it just seems natural that it would extend to my finances. I totally don't even think about it. What seems more ridiculous to me is balancing a checkbook. Just like with everything else, if I weren't able to instantly connect to my bank account, I would feel out of the loop with what was happening with my money. No matter how well I keep track of it mentally or on paper, the proof of what is actually in there is a few secure clicks away.

Make It. Decorating with wrapping paper.

I really would like my apartment to be well-designed and covered in unique art pieces, but even framing $35 prints that take up about thismuch wall space is simply not in my budget. At Kelly Green the other day though (check it out in person, the website is terrible), I found a solution. Above the cash register they had displayed some beautiful wrapping paper in a frame. Brilliant! So I bought some for myself and 3 dollars--plus a cheap-o ikea frame--later, I had a wintry birch tree scene decorating nearly 2.5 feet of bare wall. Look at this Peacock I found on Amazon:

It just goes to show how relative price is. Designer gift wrap is super expensive if you're using it only to pretty-up presents. But if you're wrapping your home with it? Well, then it's a steal. Look for high quality papers with non-repeating patterns and come in manageable sheet sizes (you don't want to measure and cut off a roll). Check out some examples I found at the Paper Studio below.

-- Heather Robertson

Photo credits: Amazon and The Paper Studio

Eat In. Mini casseroles.

I love casseroles. Maybe that makes me trashy. But mostly, it just makes me my mother's daughter. We ate quite a few meals from a baking pan. Never had green bean casserole, but there was plenty of Mexican lasagna, chicken and biscuits (I requested my mother make this for me when I go home to Massachusetts for X-Mas), and chicken divan.

The thing about casseroles though is that they are usually way too much food and preparation for a single girl. I don't have time to cook up pounds of chicken and veggies and there is no way I'm going to eat it all. I freak out when leftovers have been in my fridge longer than a day.

But I've discovered a quick, economical solution: mini loaf pans. They are disposable (I don't like dishes so much, but I have no doubt they make glass or metal ones), come in packs of 5 at the dollar store, and are perfectly portioned for one. It allows me to have fresh comfort food for a couple days. Here's my recipe for a veggie casserole that is incredibly inexact, takes whatever you have on hand, and pretty much the best thing I've ever made up.

Ingredients:

• About 3/4 cup frozen veggies or enough to fill the pan to the top. Whatever you have handy. I like to keep lots of options hanging out (they're frozen, why not?), so I usually include peas, green beans, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and potatoes.
• Around 1/3 can of any condensed cream soup. I'm big on plain ol' Cream of Mushroom, but I will also use Cheddar Cheese soup, Cream of Potato, and I'm sure Cream of Celery or even Cream of Asparagus would be delish.
• Roughly 2 tablespoons of sour cream.
• A palmful of cheddar cheese.
• A generous sprinkling of parmesean. No canned powder stuff. At least get the pre-shredded kind that resembles the actual hard cheese. Why? Because we may be broke, but we still care about ourselves just a little bit.
• Breadcrumbs. Or crushed up crackers. Hell, even Cheez-Its. Whatever you got, baby.
• Pepper and oregano or your favorite herbs and spices to taste. No salt though, that soup contains more than enough sodium!

Directions:

• Thaw the veggies in the microwave or in a pot of water (no need to heat all the way, the idea is to keep the finished product a little crisp).
• Combine the soup, sour cream, and cheddar in a bowl. Season with pepper and oregano.
• Stir in the veggies.
• Pile it into the pan and top with bread crumbs, parm, and more oregano and pepper.
• Bake at 350 for 30 minutes-ish.

Now you can take that anywhere. Subtract and add until you've got dinner.

Also, don't you love how the flash makes the pan gleam in the photo? The holy grail of Heather's kitchen. For real.

-- Heather Robertson

Make It. Cork trivet [Gift Guide].

Looking for something for a friend who loves to cook? This project is one that has been in the making for quite a while. At first, I was trying to save up corks from bottles that I've drank, but I can't go through them quite as fast as I wanted to make the trivet, so I dropped in to the local wine bar and asked if they had any extra corks there.

What you'll need for this project is a power drill, a coil of small-gauge wire, wire cutter, and about 24 wine corks. I also used beer and champagne corks and the mushroom-shaped lip at the top actually made kind of nice feet at the ends of the trivet. Make sure not to use plastic corks, as they might melt when in contact with a hot surface.

I also used a portable vice to hold the corks steady when I drilled through them (I definitely wouldn't recommend using your hands to hold the corks while you're drilling). Although you may not own a portable vice or power drill there are a few sites where you can borrow them from neighbors for free and there are a few rental sites out there, where you can rent power tools easily enough.

One of the problems with using cork is that it flakes and is unbelievably messy. Also, drilling a perfect hole that is straight is going to be tough because of how cork is. You'll want to have the vice positioned low so that you can get a good handle on it; it just makes drilling a bit easier.

Drill a hole through the corks the long way (come to think of it, I guess you could drill them through the short way and string them together sideways). For those who haven't used a power drill before, never stop drilling half way through. Continue drilling even while pulling the drill out. Otherwise, you will go through a few drill bits. I found this out the hard way when making a clothespin doormat.

When all the corks are drilled, string them together on a thin or medium-gauge wire. You will have to twist the wire to get through the cork because the stoppers flake when the drill goes through them and obscures the hole.

I strung four corks together and made six rows. I used three beer stoppers and one champagne plug at the ends to make feet; it actually came out pretty nice.

Connect the different lines of cork together with more wire, wrapping the wire around the middle parts. This is where the thin gauge wire comes in. It's a bit less conspicuous.

It is a little time consuming, and certainly messy, but you have a nice trivet in the end.

-- Lauren Williams

Make It. A budget -- using cash?

Lauren Williams: Hey, Heather. So I read this article in the Atlantic Monthly about using cash to better budget your money (the whole "spend what you have" thing). My mom, who manages budgets for research projects, has always used cash herself to better balance her money. Have you heard the same thing? Have you ever tried using cash instead of card?

Heather Robertson: I tried this week, actually, in preparation for this post. It was hard and I had to cheat a couple times. I think for it to work, I'd have to really think about what purchases I need to make and take out a chunk of cash to last the week. That would help me monitor how I'm spending and keep me from going over budget. Removing the ability to make lots of impulse purchases would smart, but not be nearly as painful as looking at my bank account and trying to figure out where all my money went.

LW: I know that when I do have cash, I am more reluctant to spend. Watching it leave my hands is so different from swiping a card. It's harder for me to let go of money when I see a $20 bill turn into a few dollars and cents. Do you have the same experience?

HR: I definitely spent less this week. But this was mostly because I had no idea how much money I actually spend in a day and simply didn't have the cash (or a nearby bank to replenish) to make purchases. I took out $20 yesterday, thinking it would be enough for a day where I was at my desk job for 8 hours, but by 7pm that night I had to really consider how much a coffee at Starbucks costs--and how much it was worth to me--because I was down to spare change.

LW: One definite downside to having cash is the chance that you get robbed and someone winds up with all your cash. With a debit card, you can call the bank, and have your money protected. This one time I was biking to the work and someone took my satchel with all my life's possessions from my bike. All my cards were no problem to replace, and my balances stayed the same, but whatever cash I had was just gone.

Sometimes, if you are a homeowner, your home owner's insurance will cover a robbery, but if you're like me and what you have on you is less than the deductible, you're just out of luck.

That's really my only hesitation to having cash. That and the prospect of me losing it. Again, a lost card is easy enough to replace. Lost cash however, is just gone.

-- Lauren Williams & Heather Robertson

Make It. Clean shoes [A Clean House on the Cheap].

Windex. Once relegated to just cleaning glass surfaces, is actually amazing at whitening tennis shoes. Spray a little on the rubber part of your tennies and rub with a clean, dry paper towel. Instantly, they are whiter. Be sure not to get any of it on the canvas part of the shoe because it will bleach your shoe, doing more harm than good.

The Dryer. Or, as I call it, "the iron." I can't iron. I can do basically any household task, but when it comes to ironing I put more wrinkles into clothes than I take out. And I hurt myself. It's quite a sight actually. But, for those like me, who don't want to wear wrinkly clothes, but are useless with those dastardly irons, throwing an article of clothing in the dryer with a very moist (but not dripping wet) rag will do wonders for your clothes. And, unlike time consuming ironing, you don't have to stand there and work at it. You can just go about your business and voila! Your clothes are ready. Thank you, Mr. Dryer.

A clean microwave seems to be something relegated to the land of unicorns, pixies, and Santa Claus. At times, it feels like they just don't exist. Quite often you can go to the cleanest person's house and still find a raunchy microwave. And reasonably so. Food gets cooked on there, and after a few uses, they can get plain filthy. But, put a half glass of water in the microwave and cook for a minute. All the gross food is steamed away, or easy enough to clean off and the steam reaches the less visible parts of the microwave, like in the holes in the side area.

Send me your tips and I will try them out and post the results!

-- Lauren Williams

Make It. Ripple Afghan.

Following through on yesterday’s promise, here’s how to make a “Ripple Afghan.” I found this in a pattern book from the late 70s called “Keeping You In Stitches”—a cute, kitschy find that outlines all manner of berets and ponchos. However, I really do like this blanket. It’s basic enough for a crochet novice, but the result doesn’t necessarily look simple.

What you’ll need:
1) J size crochet hook
2) About 36 ounces of different colored yarn*

Directions:
If you’re completely new to crochet, I would suggest checking out one of the many video tutorials out there on the internet to help you get a better understanding of what each of these steps looks like.

Make It. A clean house on the cheap.

A few of the things my mother taught me before I left the nest were different techniques on how to clean the house using everyday things to save money.

Lemons, for instance, can whiten a sink that is worn down with little enamel. They can also whiten your nails and be used as a disinfectant.

The only reason I own ketchup is to polish my only copper-bottom pot. I don’t know what it is in ketchup that makes it brighten copper (I’ve heard it’s the vinegar, but other things like mustard don’t work).

Regardless, this technique works very well and without too much elbow grease. Just spread the ketchup on the surface of whatever needs polishing, let it sit a minute, then just wipe it away with a dry paper towel.

WARNING: It makes your

kitchen stink something awful. I try to burn a few scented candles when I do this.

Another tip: Microwave your dish sponge. They

harbor bacteria, a quick zap in the microwave can kill any bacteria you may spread to your dishes.

-- Lauren Williams

Pleased to meet you ...

Welcome! Thanks so much for stopping by.

The world runs on beats: the beat of the clock, the beat of the music, the beat of your heart. From the latest book release, the best dish on a restaurant’s menu, or the dingiest dive bar, Los Angeles is always moving to the next, newest, coolest beat. We are four young journalists hoping to capture those beats for you, and to make every one of those beats of your heart completely worthwhile.

We're here to report on the best of what Los Angeles has to offer—broken down into these categories: Eat Out, Eat In, Do It, Check It, Make It, Advance Notice & Etc. We'll tirelessly cover these beats and report to you.

Contact us: thebeatofyounglosangeles@gmail.com

— Chau, Heather, Lauren & Leslie