Frugal, Not Cheap

Jeans for 86 cents

2010-04-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

And they are cute, trendy ones.

The secret?

10 dollars Kohl's cash coupon and shopping the clearance aisles.

I received my 10$ Kohl's cash last week in the mail, and those jeans cost 36 bucks regular price, but were marked down since it's end of the winter season.

Let me tell you, I was very tempted to buy a few other things while I was there, especially some shorts and capris since things are quickly warming up here. But I had already spent our budgeted clothes money this month, and I knew that's why Kohl's sent me the Kohl's cash in the first place - to get me in store so I would spend money I otherwise would not have.

I was set on beating the system. I demonstrated self-control and kept my purchases to 86 cents.

Frugal Success:)

Thanks Dad

2010-04-12T11:22:00.000-07:00

In case you're wondering where I got my obsession with frugality, it started at home as a little girl. My parents were both frugal in good times and in bad. They started out their marriage with very little, worked their way through their early years of schooling, my mom stayed home to care for us full time, scrimped and saved, and stayed consistent in saving, paying off their home early, and making smart choices with their money. Sure, they definitely knew how to have fun and the occasional dinner and a movie, fun vacation, or new toy happened too - they eventually had the money for those things and never went into consumer debt for any of the extras. But I still remember my mom clipping coupons and my dad caring for our lawn himself when I was in high school, after my dad had a high-level corporate job and their house was paid off. That was just how they lived, and because of it they were able to be extremely generous in helping family members, neighbors, and friends in need.

Well, we got to visit my parents last month and being their usual generous selves, they treated us to a delicious lunch out one day. My dad's true colors came through as we caught him making this:

My dad's homemade "Restaurant Lemonade" made with lemons and sugar packets from the sidebar provided by the restaurant. I immediately called that cheap since I felt it was infringing on the restaurant's providing "complimentary" lemon slices and sugar. But I had to agree with my dad after tasting that real, fresh lemonade is much better than the overly sweetened kind you usually purchase... quality is an important thing to consider when deciding if something's frugal or cheap!

I had to laugh about the incident, and while I still think it leans towards the cheap, not frugal, side of things it brought back some fun memories from growing up and made me appreciate my frugal upbringing:). Hey - I guess the cost saved on my dad's lemonade bought mine!

Bountiful Baskets

2010-04-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

I've been using the produce co-op Bountiful Baskets for a while now. You sign up online and pay 15 bucks, choose a pick up site near you, and then take your own container to pick up your produce. I use my cooler but you could use a cardboard box if you wanted. Each week they also have extra things available to purchase in addition to your regular basket (which is pre-requisite) like delicious breads, flats of strawberries, boxes of citrus, etc. Except for a couple of not-so-fresh produce items I've received in the past couple months (perhaps because it's winter/out of season for a lot of staple items) everything else I have purchased has been delicious, fresh, and high-quality fruits and veggies. Of course, you never know what you're going to get, but for me that's half the fun - trying new things I would never have bought at the grocery store. Check it out if it's offered in your state:

Bountiful Baskets

Addendum (in hopes of answering at least one reader's question!):

Comment: Literally last night I was looking up Bountiful Baskets. Any advice...perhaps I'm overthinking it, but it seems a little complicated.

My Response: Once you've tried it, it won't seem complicated. When you go to the website you have to click either yes or no through a few choices on the right hand side. For your first time I would recommend sticking to the basics and not adding any extra food items until you're a little more familiar. I would choose "Conventional" first, choose the pick-up site closest to where you live, and then "No thanks" for the rest and follow the online instructions from there to check out. After that you'll receive a confirmation email, as well as a reminder email the day before with your location and pick-up time. When you go to pick up there are volunteers that can answer any questions you have and walk you through getting your produce from their baskets into whatever you're taking yours home in. Once you've seen how it's done it'll be easy the next time. Also, FYI, I do this every 2 weeks and am usually able to stretch that produce the full 2 weeks for our small family with the exception of a few items I may need for a specific meal. However, I've also heard of families splitting each week. Happy, healthy eating!

My New Favorite Quote

2010-03-03T19:30:00.000-08:00

This comes from my brother in law, who serves as leader (bishop) of his LDS church congregation, and is advice he shared with the teenagers in his ward:

If you don't have money to buy something, don't buy it.

Amen, Brother (in law)

"You can act rich or be rich - but not both"

2010-02-09T12:19:00.000-08:00

Loved this article. We may never act rich or truly be rich anyways, but I'm all for living a sensible, frugal lifestyle, whatever the case.

Canned Chicken Results

2010-01-26T13:24:00.001-08:00

I canned chicken (boneless, skinless breasts) for the first time back in November and recently tried consuming some for the first time (in soup and on BBQ chicken pizza...not plain!). I'll admit, I was a bit nervous. I'm not about to try and pretend I'm a professional canner or anything, so I wasn't sure I could trust myself. But since I had followed a professional's directions to the "t" I figured we were safe to try it.

VERDICT:

Yummy.
Tender.
Juicy.
Cheaper than store bought.
Less salt than store bought.

I'm converted and will happily drag my kids to the store again to purchase cases of it the next time it's on sale.

Frugal Success :)

Free Movie Tickets

2009-12-12T12:18:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I bought some boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios for under $1 a box (on sale + coupons = cheap cereal). To my pleasant surprise, this morning I noticed on the back of a cereal box that General Mills was running a promotion where if you enter the codes from the inside of 2 boxes into this website, you get a free movie ticket for up to 12 bucks. Since I always buy lots of boxes of cereal when it's cheap I had four promotion codes (2 codes from 2 boxes + 2 codes from the other 2 boxes = 2 free movie tickets).

So not only did I get cereal for super cheap, I now got myself a free date night.

Score!

I Can't Believe I Did It...

2009-11-18T19:03:00.000-08:00

I canned chicken. Yup. Boneless skinless chicken breasts were on sale for $1.57 a pound last week. This was a first for me - I usually get my chicken breasts at Costco for $1.99 a pound or more, but I figured this was the time for me to jump into the world of "Meat Canning." It sounds disgusting, but I've heard over time it saves you copious amounts of cash, and that it's actually very tender and delicious, particularly in soups and casseroles. Plus, it would help me add one more notch to my Canning Belt. So I did it.

So my 2 kids (ages 1 and 2) and I went back to the butcher's corner at Albertsons, and I asked the lady how much of it I could buy. She said a case. I asked how much that was. 40 lbs. I did some quick mental calculations and wasn't sure I had the freezer space nor stamina to freeze and can that much chicken, so I asked for half a case. 30 minutes, 2 eye pokes for my youngest child from my oldest, and a few other grocery items later I was back at home with more chicken breasts than I had ever owned in my life.

After cutting away the fat I froze half, and then used these instructions to can the rest. Much to my surprise, canning chicken is the easiest thing I've canned so far. Except for applesauce maybe. But honestly, there's not a whole lot of prep and the hardest part for me was making sure I sterilized my kitchen afterward. But that's an issue any time I cook chicken.

Now my freezer and pantry are stocked with plenty of chicken for anything I need, and it makes me sooooooo happy to know I spent 3/4 or less on a staple food for us!

*FYI - 10 lbs. of chicken breasts gave me enough chicken for 7 pint size jars, plus enough leftover for our dinner that night :)

Nothin' Beats Free

2009-10-28T15:12:00.000-07:00

Spent: $5.28
Saved: $18.69
% Saved: %79

Since my local Fry's was doubling/tripling/and even quadrupling coupons up to $1.00 this week, some of the above items were free. Which made all of the above cost me $5.28. I needed something to get me out of my recent coupon slump. I just haven't had the motivation, and this was a nice little jump start. Plus, it made me feel a little better about my splurge at Kohl's last week (at least I got Kohl's cash for my purchases.... right???)

AZ Cereal Lovers

2009-10-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

Just a tip - Albertsons has some great deals on cereal and snacks this week, combining a promotion (buy 6 boxes, get $3 off) with coupons (printable and from the newspaper).

Directions for Grocerysmarts Website:
Check out the AZ Grocerysmarts link on my sidebar and choose Albertsons from the drop down menu. Then click "Start" in the upper right corner, and then click the star by "Stock up scale" and you'll find the great deals already highlighted for you.

Reflections on Canning

2009-10-07T20:12:00.000-07:00

I've just finished my first "Canning Season." I played sports competitively through high school and into college, and I'm not sure which takes more sweat, work, and dedication - sports, or canning??? Actually, I'm pretty sure it's sports, but while canning I wondered a few times. Here are my thoughts so far on the topic:

Higher Quality? Most definitely... a major motivating factor for me, actually. Store bought peaches don't come even close to these babies:

Sense of Accomplishment? Unbeatable. At least for me. When I now look into my cupboards and see pretty rows of yummy peaches, pears, applesauce, jam, apple butter, tomatoes, and salsa, all done by me (with some help of course) I am dang proud. Plain old store bought cans don't give me that feeling (unless I got some amazing deal on them), and they sure don't look this pretty.

Cheaper? Maybe, but probably not when you take into account the cost of equipment (jars, canner, jar lifter, etc.), energy (gas/electricity/your physical stamina!) or time (time is money, right?). And while I'd like to think that growing my own produce in my garden would make the cost even cheaper, I've realized that growing a garden requires a ton of time, energy, and money to water/upkeep too.

Final Analysis:

While probably not cheaper (unless you already have the equipment and happen to get your produce for free from a neighbor or something), if you enjoy a challenge, and get a thrill out of seeing pretty jars of food that you know were deliciously prepared by you, canning may be a frugal success for you. If not, grab a few extra cans at the store :)

Homemade Produce Wash

2009-09-10T13:44:00.000-07:00

Today's Frugal Success: Homemade Produce Wash

Store bought: $6.99/bottle
Homemade: Pennies, literally

I don't buy organic produce. As much as I would like to I still can't justify the cost. So until I get our garden going (in the planning phase right now) I buy produce at the grocery store, and then rinse it myself, hoping to at least cut back on some of the pesticides.

Well, the other day I was in the produce section at my local Fry's and saw a display of produce wash for this very reason. I was excited until I saw the cost... $6.99 for a bottle. So I did a little research today, and lo and behold, Passionate Homemaking, a blog on my sidebar with lots of frugal and natural ideas, had a recipe! So I made it today and thought I'd share my frugal success with any readers who may still check occasionally after my sporadic blogging lately!

Recipe (from Passionate Homemaking)

3 cups filtered water
3 Tbsp white distilled vinegar or apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp baking soda

Mix ingredients together in a spray bottle. Spray it on fruits and vegetables. Rinse well with cold water. You may also combine in the sink to dunk your produce if you desire to wash in large batches. This tonic is not recommended on mushrooms as they will absorb the flavor.

Adding a bit of lemon juice or 3-4 drops of grapefruit seed extract can give it an extra boost!

One other tip: I labeled my spray bottle "Produce Wash" and then wrote the recipe right under so I don't have to look it up next time I refill.

Financial Plan Pro

2009-09-02T17:34:00.000-07:00

My good friend just developed a new program for managing personal finances. We got to serve as "beta testers" for the program and were highly impressed. So much so that we've adopted his system for managing our own personal finances.

To get the word out he is allowing people to download it for free. So check it out:

Financial Plan Pro

Potty Training

2009-08-28T19:58:00.000-07:00

(Not my kid, by the way. Although I would be very happy if he was doing more of this)

We started potty training this week. I have to be honest. I didn't think it would take this much out of me, and I figured all my current frugal ideas would somehow get blogged about. But really, my brain has turned to mush. So you will have to bear with me and be patient (as I'm learning to be....) for any new frugal successes or frugal ideas or anything else semi-coherent.

Preview

2009-08-25T08:54:00.000-07:00

As a little preview to a post I've been formulating for a while, check out this Sams Club Membership give away. Not only could you win a free membership, but their new electronic coupon program is a nice segway into what I've been trying out the past few months and will be blogging about shortly. Good luck!

Sams Club Give Away

Can't Contain Myself

2009-08-19T12:36:00.000-07:00

This shopping trip rocked. $142 worth of groceries for $32. Lovin' it.

Spent: $32
Saved: $112
Savings: 78% Baby

Redeemed

2009-08-10T12:55:00.000-07:00

Myself, and coupons I mean.

After my trip to the store gone bad last week I made a trip to Fry's to get a few things we needed this week, plus stock up on Tyson chicken tenders for $1.67 a pound. I also needed Cheerios since my baby is addicted to them and we were out. After using a coupon for the Cheerios and a $5 off your total purchase at Fry's coupon we received by mail when we moved into the neighborhood, the following cost me $15.30:

Spent: $15.30
Saved: $18.56
% Savings: %55 Savings

The plastic bag is full of chicken tenders. I hadn't sterilized the packages yet and didn't want to spread germs by taking them out of the bag :).

Feeling lots better today!

Promotion Trip Gone Bad

2009-08-06T08:29:00.001-07:00

I just had one of those store promotion/coupon trips gone bad at Albertson's. I don't know whether it was the store's fault, my fault, or the grocerysmarts list's fault (probably a little of each), but I didn't grab the correct combination of items for the promotion so I didn't get the savings I had planned. I hate it when that happens! I felt like an idiot at the register, but thankfully the lady checking me out was helpful and nice.

Here are my 3 tips for avoiding a promotion/coupon trip gone bad:

1. Use the store's ad as your ultimate guide... don't just go off a grocerysmarts list or what you think. If you don't have the ad, pick one up right when you get to the store and double check (I did this, but apparently I misread!!!)

2. Make sure the items you pick up are the same ones in the promotion. Oftentimes stores will set up an area with all of their promotion items together, plus they will have tags on them on the shelves. Make sure the items you grab are either in that promotion section (today mine were all in a cardboard schoolbus thing since it was a back to school promotion) or have the tag on the shelf.

3. If you're planning a trip just to shop a promotion because it's such a good deal, go early in the morning or late at night! Oh, and without your kids if that applies! I went this morning without my kids and I felt a lot less dumb at the register when I had to run and swap a couple of items because there weren't a ton of people waiting behind me, and I didn't have my kids screaming at me!

Here's to more successful trips in the future...

AZ Store Policies

2009-08-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

This online forum is dated January of 2009, so I'm not sure if any store policies have changed since then, but here's a link to general store policies regarding coupons, sales, etc. at many of the AZ grocery store chains.

AZ Store Policies

Not Sure Where to Start?

2009-08-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

If you're interested in getting your feet wet with couponing, but aren't sure where to start, I recommend checking out the printable coupon sites on my sidebar. They reset at the beginning of each month (I just printed some of my favorites) and you can print most coupons twice from your printer.

One little tip on printables.... when you go back to print again after the first time through, start your second browse through at the end of the list... usually all the ones I just printed are reset at the end of the lists and it saves me time the second round :).

AZ Grocerysmarts

2009-07-30T07:38:00.000-07:00

I could not contain my excitement when I found out that AZ now has its own grocerysmarts lists. We moved from Nevada last week and I thought my grocerysmarts days were over. But no! Now anyone living in AZ can access free lists that rate sales and match coupons for you. Yippee!!! Here's the link (it's on my sidebar now as well).

AZ Grocerysmarts

Not Feeling So Frugal Today

2009-07-28T13:16:00.000-07:00

We just moved into our new house and that always comes with inherent expenses... our bank account is saying "Ouch!" right about now. However, even though I don't feel especially frugal right now, I do have two pieces of good frugal advice for anyone else moving in the near future:

1. Don't throw away all your food when you move! This may not apply if you have to pay to move your stuff by weight. But if not, move anything non-perishable with you! Since we moved food with us, we already had a few stocked shelves after we unpacked our kitchen. This made a nice dent in our initial grocery trip. Plus, I froze a few of the perishable items that I could and moved them with us in a cooler. I loved walking down the chicken nugget aisle at Costco today and not having to buy any because I already had half a bag in my freezer at home.

2. Plan, plan, plan! The first thing I did after moving in was make a menu for the next week. Then I ran to the store and got what we needed. We avoided "multiple-meals-out-while-we-are-unpacking" syndrome (we've had that many times in the past) and saved a bundle of cash.

There, now I feel a little more frugal today... hoping it continues.

Frugal, Or Not?

2009-07-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

In the past I would have considered hiring a moving company completely un-frugal. I mean, paying someone to pack up and load and then drive my stuff when I could do it all myself (or make my husband and maybe some other close family friends help... :) seems like a waste... right???

Well, we've got movers this time around, paid for by the company we'll be working for, and there was no option of taking the moving allowance and doing the work ourselves so they're doing everything. My frugality is waning on this issue because this has been the easiest, smoothest process (so far, we're not done yet) in our 6 moves of marriage. That with more children than we've had any other move before.

So going back to the article, Frugality's Sacred Cows, I'm now trying to figure out what my core importances (not a word, by the way) on moving are now. Do convenience and less stress outweigh the money saved in doing it myself?

Hmmmm, I'm thinking it's much easier to think this way when other people are footing the bill.

I'll probably still do the work myself next time.

Any thoughts?

Great Article

2009-07-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

In case you don't follow the frugal blogs on my blogroll, one of them had a great article on frugality that I thought was right on. Check it out:

Frugality's Sacred Cows

Pressure Canning and Cooking

2009-07-14T07:56:00.000-07:00

One of my frugal goals is to start a garden after our upcoming move. Aside from the long term savings in purchasing produce, I really like the idea of having fruits and veggies to eat that are high quality (if I can figure the gardening thing out) and much more delicious than store bought. Not to mention organic. I haven't been able to justify paying so much more for organic produce yet, and probably never will. I guess that could be considered a cheap, not frugal, choice. But having my own garden will solve that problem for me.

Well, I received a pressure canner/cooker for my birthday and it will add to my frugality in the future when I can take that produce (or meat I buy on sale) and can it myself. I don't have exact figures since I haven't actually done this yet, but one of the sources I listed below talks a little bit about how much she thinks she saves by canning, and I am looking forward to doing a little myself and sharing what I learn.

Check out these sources if you're interested:
Make Stuff - Canning

Patchwork Times

Pressure Canning Recipes

Two New Financial Links

2009-07-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

Consumerism Commentary and Get Rich Slowly, as suggested by a friend in the financial market. Check 'em out!

And yes, I got tired of the flowers... maybe one of these days I'll get a little more professional and use wordpress or something too, but this will have to do for now:)

Birthday Fun

2009-07-08T13:44:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a tip by one of my lovely blog friends (who is a frugal diva herself) I have a great link to a whole list of free birthday treats for anyone out there looking for some good frugal birthday fun...

Freebies 4 Mom Birthday Freebies

Free Burger, Anyone?

2009-07-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

We're fans of Red Robin, and heard that if you sign up for their eclub you get a free burger on your birthday. Mine's coming up, so I signed up today and should have my free burger email within 24 hours so I can use it on my upcoming birthday. Mmmmmmmmmm...

New Links

2009-06-30T10:26:00.000-07:00

I've added a couple of new links to my "Frugal Links" side bar. Prepared LDS Family focuses on family preparedness, mostly since I'm really into that right now and I do think it's a very frugal way of living. The other, The Simple Dollar, my sister in law introduced to me and is basically a great resource for finances in general. I especially loved today's post on Financial Advice in less than 10 words - worth the read!

I also added a link to 1001 Uses For Vinegar. I am slowly turning to the "green/more frugal cleaning products" side and I think white distilled vinegar is a great place for me to start!

Do You Love It?...

2009-06-29T07:10:00.000-07:00

...I love it. I got it at Ross.

Yes, very cheesy, but their little song held true on Saturday at the Ross near us. I don't know if it's because outlet stores aren't getting much business so their merchandise is getting passed on to stores like Ross, but we got a ton of high quality/upscale brand clothing, plus home decor, for super cheap this weekend. We were pretty excited about the multiple frugal successes in one shopping trip.

According to our mental calculations, we saved about 65% on normal retail price name brands.

No, I won't be chanting that ditty around the house, but I will definitely be checking Ross out again in the future before paying full price for nice stuff at a department store...

Stretching It

2009-06-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

Today's Frugal Success:

I added a little water to the bottom of my bathroom soap dispenser. You know how the straw thing oftentimes can't reach the last few squirts of soap? Well this soap is one of my favorite kinds from Bath and Body Works and I love the smell. Not wanting to waste any I just added a little water, swished it around, and I've got sweet smelling hand soap for at least a few more days!

Now I need to find out when the next big Bath and Body Works sale is so I can stock up again :).

New Look

2009-06-23T06:47:00.000-07:00

In honor of my good friend, who is one of the most frugal people I know, and whose birthday is today, I changed my layout. She told me I needed something a little less drab, so I figured her birthday was a great day to make the change! Who knows, I may change it again soon since the cutsie stuff sometimes gets old for me, but I'll just go with the flow!

Happy Birthday!

Craigslist

2009-06-18T07:47:00.000-07:00

I have not been utilizing craigslist near enough! We've been looking for some new appliances and furniture and checked out craiglist.com. Some things I don't mind buying used, but others I prefer new. The great thing I realized is you can find both on craigslist! Not only do people sell stuff directly, but many dealerships advertise their products and sales as well (I know, I know, many of you probably think I'm dumb for just now figuring all this out).

The deal I am most excited about was finding a black GE Profile, bottom freezer refrigerator that is only 7 months old for $450! Brand new retail price is $1850. The seller just bought it and didn't like how it fit with her decor so wanted to get rid of it before purchasing a new one. We acted fast and got it!

I love frugal successes - what a rush!

More Ways to Be Frugal

2009-06-16T08:06:00.001-07:00

I'm definitely not here yet, and probably won't ever be 100% either, but found this blog post on ways to save money (either for food storage or not) a great motivator. Check it out!

It Worked!

2009-06-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

So I guess this whole 3 month supply/food storage thing really works. We ended up going out of town last minute this weekend and got home right at dinner time on Sunday. The meal I had originally planned for Sunday required cooking in the crockpot for 4-6 hours, which was no longer an option for our hungry tummies. But instead of having to eat PB sandwiches or spend money getting fast food on the drive home I instead made a quick meal from our "almost 3 month supply" that was yummy, nutritious, plus much cheaper than eating out... frugal success!

Not Bad

2009-06-08T14:05:00.001-07:00

Total Value: $79.01
I Spent: $29.51
Savings: 63%

This trip didn't include any fresh produce or anything else I needed for the month since I was planning another trip to Walmart this week. But Vons had such a great "Save $5 instantly for every 10 items you buy," plus I had coupons on many of the items in their promotion, so I couldn't pass up a trip to stock up on things I know we love and will need at some point. And for under 30 bucks, this shopping trip left plenty in my budget for everything else.

This is why I take the time to coupon!

Whole Chicken

2009-06-05T07:18:00.000-07:00

I've cooked a whole chicken in the crockpot, used the meat, and then made my own stock from the yucky leftover stuff before, but my husband has always done the before and after yucky parts (you know, removing the giblets before, picking the meat off the bones after).

So I felt this time was worthy of blogging about because not only was it a frugal success, but I did everything myself this time and survived to tell the tale...

For about $4.00 (I lost the receipt so can't remember the exact price) I got a chicken that fed us a yummy chicken and rice dinner, plus the following:

3 more meals' worth of chicken

Chicken Stock, which we used for chicken noodle soup that's way better than store bought, or even homemade with store bought chicken broth

FRUGAL SUCCESS, indeed :)

In case you're feeling brave too:

How to Cook a Chicken in the Oven

How to Cook a Chicken in the Crockpot

How to Make Chicken Stock

For Better or For Worse

2009-06-01T19:57:00.000-07:00

I just planned my dinner menu for the entire month of June. I usually do weekly menus, but have deemed this month the experimental-3-month-supply-dinners-month and I have 16 different meals I am going to try out and see if they make the cut for our official 3 month supply dinner menu. Add in our usual Friday night homemade pizza, eating out on Saturday nights, and a decent Sunday meal (no experimentation for me - I like yummy Sunday dinners :) and our month is planned. I'm going to use ingredients and make from scratch as if I were living off of food storage only - we probably won't have too many guests over for dinner this month :).

* I forgot to mention that most of my meal ideas came from this girl - she sent me a copy of her 3 month supply plan and I was amazed! I have permission to share her document here but don't think I can make a link to a PDF document - any suggestions???

Frugal Realization

2009-06-01T08:26:00.000-07:00

The cheapest, most cost effective way to eat a heart healthy breakfast (and lower my cholesterol) is plain old oatmeal. Yuck! I just don't like it and would much rather eat Cheerios or this new Kashi Heart Healthy cereal I got for pretty cheap. But the frugal part of me keeps calling out how much I could save in both money and extra junk in my body (since box cereals - even Kashi- usually have lots more junk in them). Maybe if I go on a 2 week plain oatmeal breakfast trial run (perhaps with honey or brown sugar and cinnamon or something else to make it more bearable) my taste buds will adjust and I'll be more healthy and frugal. Still not wanting to do it.

I thought I'd share my realization for anyone who needs a healthy breakfast and doesn't want to pay more for cereal. Maybe I'll run specific cost comparisons and that will give me the motivation :).

All the Rage

2009-05-27T16:14:00.000-07:00

HOMEMADE YOGURT

I can't eat it myself (dairy allergies for my nursing baby) but apparently homemade yogurt is all the rage right now because I'm seeing it pop up on blogs every where. Here are a couple of links to get you started on this homemade frugal success, since it's supposed to be much cheaper than store bought and oh, so yummy...

Yogurt in the Crockpot

Jen's Recipes

Something Else Homemade

2009-05-25T17:21:00.000-07:00

I haven't tried this one yet, but my sister in law has and she said it saves money and works great (truly frugal, if you ask me...). I've heard of a few other people making this homemade as well:

HOMEMADE LAUNDRY DETERGENT (I just copied and pasted her email)

Here are the supplies you need:

One 5 gallon bucket and lid (like from Home Depot or wherever)
One cup of Borax laundry booster (found at pretty much any grocery store)
One cup of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (also found at grocery stores, in the laundry isle, in a yellow box)
One bar of Fels Naptha soap (I ordered on-line, but you may be able to find it other places)

You grate the bar of soap with a knife (it seemed to work best to do thin slices as though slicing cheese, rather than chopping it up). Put the grated soap in a large pot with one cup of the borax and washing soda. Cover with just enough water to dissolve it all as you cook it on high. I just kept stirring until it was dissolved so it didn't boil over. (If it does, it should just clean your stove top and not do any harm!)

Pour the mixture into your bucket, then fill the rest of the bucket up with luke-warm water, stirring it in a little. Let it cool, and it forms a gel (there were a few pieces of soap that didn't dissolve that rose to the top and I skimmed them off). I use a cup to a cup and a half of the gel in a large load of laundry. It cost me $4 to make a batch, and I'll let you know how long it lasts me. (It's looking like about a month, but that is for a family of 7 with 3 kids playing soccer right now...) I think you can get at least 4 batches from the boxes of borax and washing soda, so I ordered 4 or 5 bars of soap to match.

I have had no trouble with different temperatures or color-fastness. I still pre-treat stains with Shout like I used to, and so far thing have come out fine!

Homemade Deodorant Update

2009-05-21T08:11:00.000-07:00

Someone asked if you need the essential oil when making homemade deodorant. The answer is, "No," it just makes it smell nice when you're putting it on. So if you don't have any on hand and don't want to bother purchasing any, your homemade deodorant dreams may still be realized!!!

3 Month Supply

2009-05-19T13:41:00.000-07:00

I've been working on gathering a 3 month supply of food and other necessities for some time now. I think it's a great idea to have on hand in case of job loss, natural disasters, or other emergencies, and the recent swine flu scare has spurred me forward even more.

However, this task has been daunting, and even though I've been able to stock up a lot without breaking our budget by sale shopping and using coupons, I still haven't had an organized approach. Basically, I know we have extra food now - all things we could eat in case of an emergency and not being able to go to the store - but I still don't know exactly how long we could live on our food storage, or how much we still need to have an official 3 month supply.

Even if I had the money up front, I don't think just going out and buying a ton of food, water, and other necessities at once is very frugal, especially since I'm learning that I can get so many things very cheap if I'm a smart shopper. So, I've been doing a little research and have found a few blogs/websites devoted to doing this gradually and I'm going to keep myself accountable the next few months by documenting my progress here!

I've decided to devote 10 minutes each night to planning/organizing/doing whatever I need to. There are so many different approaches out there, but my first task is to plan a menu. I'm going to do something similar to this approach and maybe tweak it to fit our needs. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Here are a few other places I've found ideas in case you're interested:

Food Storage Made Easy (this is already a link on my sidebar)

3 Month Supply in 12 Weeks

Food Storage Lady

Printables

2009-05-18T08:11:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Hawaii (and I must say it was amazing), so I'm back to catching up on life. One thing on my list was checking for new printable coupons (yes, I must be addicted if that was one of my priorities) and I have a nice stack of newly printed coupons - either a lot of new ones came out while I was away or I was too busy getting ready for my trip that I didn't see them before I left! I added a sidebar with places to print coupons and will add more websites as a I find them. Some sites may have the same coupons - I'm still figuring all this out myself. But remember... you can print each twice per computer (IP address). Take a look!

Check Back Later...

2009-05-09T11:01:00.000-07:00

One more reason I try live a more frugal lifestyle:

So I have a little more to spend making memories!

I'll be in Hawaii for the next week, so I'm taking a little break! Check back later!

Coconut Oil

2009-05-08T12:26:00.000-07:00

I had a few inquiries about coconut oil since my homemade deodorant post, so here's a little more information if you're interested.

I get mine at Walmart on the aisle with all of their other oils/shortenings. There are more fancy, pricey kinds, but I use LouAna Coconut Oil, which costs $5.76 for just under a quart.

I use coconut oil as a butter substitute since we have dairy allergy issues around here. Substitute 3/4 cup coconut oil for every cup of butter. However coconut oil has tons of other uses (like deodorant :), so here are a few websites I've found with more uses/recipes:

Natural Body Products

Coconutoil.com

Butter Substitute Forum

More Research

What Exactly...

2009-05-07T19:55:00.000-07:00

... is that, you may be asking yourself right now. I'll tell you:

HOMEMADE DEODORANT

My good friend made this for me and let me tell you... it is a total frugal success! Remember, the difference between being frugal and cheap is caring about value, not just cost, and this homemade deodorant is not only natural and cost-effective, it works better than any deodorant I've ever tried. Honestly.

I'll never go back to store bought (unless I run out, then I'll definitely use something until I make more...)

Here's the recipe (from Passionate Homemaking)

1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup cornstarch
2-4 T coconut oil (can be found at Walmart)
10 drops essential oil (can be found at many health stores)

*use pea size amount and just apply with fingers

Cost Analysis:

1/4 cup cornstarch...20 cents
1/4 cup baking soda...8 cents
3T coconut oil...27 cents
Essential oil is a few more pennies (depending on where you buy it)

Total Cost... approx. 60 cents (and this will last a few months)

And in case you don't know what to do with your leftover coconut oil (I use it a lot, but it's relatively not well known), I'll be sharing some of my favorite recipes and substitutes...

Costco Research

2009-05-05T20:05:00.000-07:00

So I made a trip to Costco this week and did a little research while I was there for anyone else interested in buying in bulk. As I do more couponing I'm finding I can get most non-food items (and even lots of food items too) for cheaper at the regular grocery store if I buy them on sale and with coupons. However, it seems like for baking and food storage stuff in bulk it's cheaper at Costco.

Here's what I found out. Of course, this information only applies to my Costco, but I'm guessing you might find similar products and prices at your local Costco (or Sam's Club).

Products I'm interested in buying in bulk:

50 lbs. Baker's Flour*................$13.59
50 lbs. Sugar.........................$23.99
2 lbs. Dry-packed Yeast...............$3.95
5 Quarts Canola Oil...................$8.89
5 Liters Extra Virgin Olive Oil.......$19.99
25 lbs. Dried Pinto Beans.............$13.99
169 oz. White Distilled Vinegar.......$3.29

*My Costco doesn't sell unbleached flour, nor does it sell whole wheat flour (probably because of it going rancid)

Double/Triple Coupons & Stacking

2009-05-04T20:48:00.000-07:00

First things first...

Today's Frugal Vocabulary:

Manufacturer's Coupons: Coupons produced by the manufacturer that are usually found in Sunday paper inserts or online (printables)

Store Coupons: Coupons produced by the store you are shopping at which are usually found in their weekly ads

And moving on...

DOUBLE AND TRIPLE COUPONS

I had to do a little research on this one since where I currently live (Nevada) there is only one grocery store chain I know of that doubles coupons, and I don't shop there. Here's what I know:

Some stores will double or even triple your coupons. This means a coupon for 40 cents off of a box of cereal, if doubled, would now be 80 cents off. Not all stores do this, and it seems to usually happen in areas where there is a lot of competition for "coupon business."

Also, some stores have a limit, meaning they might only double or triple coupons up to a dollar. So that coupon for 40 cents off a box of cereal, tripled, could only get you $1.00 off because of that store's limit.

So, ASK AT YOUR LOCAL STORE!

More information-
Grocery Coupon Guide (I'm not sure how current these lists are)

STACKING COUPONS

This is when you use multiple coupons on one item. Again, this depends on the store's policy, but from everything I've read/experienced, you may only stack a manufacturer coupon with a store coupon for the exact same item.

More information-
Stacking from Freebies4Mom

One more thing...

Costco does not accept manufacturer's coupons (dang it, but makes sense since everything there is in bulk so a coupon for one item wouldn't really work...)

Coupons My Way 2

2009-05-04T07:42:00.000-07:00

Printable Coupons

Here's where I get a lot of my printable coupons online:

Coupons.com Group A

Coupons.com Group B

Coupons.Com Group C

These are put out by smartsource.com, which sends out a lot of the national manufactured coupon inserts in newspapers as well. I'm not sure why the place I get them divides them into three groups (A,B,C), but I do know these two important pieces of information:

1. You can print each coupon twice from one computer. So if you have multiple computers you can print them twice at each since it tracks the IP address.

2. The coupons at each site reset at the beginning of each month, so check each month.

More to come...

Coupons My Way

2009-05-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

Post #1

OK, I thought I'd start my "Coupons My Way" series of posts with this week's shopping trip to whet your appetite :).I'll answer a few of the questions I've been asked below. Post a comment with any other questions you have and I'll get to them in upcoming "Coupons My Way" posts!

This Week's Calculations:

Total Value: $261.09
Total Spent: $152.93
Total Saved: $108.16, or 41%

This Week's Goods (My grocery budget includes food, paper goods, toiletries, cleaning supplies, diapers & wipes, anything we need on a regular basis)

I'll share details in my next post.

A few thoughts and answers to questions:

1. I shopped at 2 grocery stores this week to take advantage of their promotions - I have a personal "2 store limit." If I don't think I'll save enough to make it worth my time of going to 2 stores one week I will usually just go to Walmart that week and ad-match or use my coupons there instead.

2. The stores I shop at are within 2 miles of my house, except Walmart - that's about 5 miles away - so I actually prefer avoiding the trip to Walmart, if I can save enough.

3. I am completely aware that if I just shopped at Walmart the "Total Value" number above would be lower because their prices are lower than normal grocery stores. But by shopping other stores "promotions" and using coupons my cost is always lower than even using coupons at Walmart.

4. I use a website called Grocerysmarts, which rates prices for me, matches sales to coupons for me, and tells me which coupon insert to find the coupon in so I don't have to clip until I know I want to use that coupon. It's free in Nevada and Utah, but very similar to "Coupon Sense" in AZ where you pay a small fee each month for the service. The catch here is they get you to order multiple copies of the Sunday paper (I get 2 - 1 for each of the major consumers in my family so I can have multiple copies of the coupons I use). I would say that I made up the $65.00 I spent on Sunday paper subscriptions within the first month I started doing this, but I really had to spend some time learning and planning. My mom never had a website like this and saved thousands of dollars over the years, so if you can't find one in your area all is not lost! The key is to use your coupons when those items are on sale.

5. If you're LDS and you don't shop on Sundays, here are my thoughts for you. I personally had never thought about the whole "Sunday paper on the sabbath day" delivery issue. This is probably because growing up I frequently helped my cousins (who delivered the Sunday papers to earn extra money to supplement their family's income) when I would sleepover at their place on the weekends. However, I could definitely see how this may not feel right for some people. I've heard that it's possible to purchase the Sunday paper with all of its ads and inserts on Monday in some stores, so I would recommend checking into that if you'd rather not have a Sunday paper delivered to your home. Also, between one-half and two-thirds of the coupons I use are printable coupons I find online, so even if you don't want to deal with newspapers you can find plenty of coupons other places. I've even heard of people selling coupons on Ebay :)!

6. I have definitely been tempted to buy things I won't use a few times (because they were so stinking cheap!), but I would say that in general I just remind myself that if I buy it, even if it's cheap, and never end up using it I'm wasting money and not doing our family any favors by having extra junk around.

7.I also try to have the mindset of looking for things I will use eventually when they are extremely cheap, so I don't have to pay more for them when I run out and have to pay full price. Two perfect examples this week were diapers and cleaning products. I use cloth diapers most of the time, but we will be traveling quite a bit this summer and I'll need disposables. Pull-ups were on sale at CVS, part of a promotion, and I had a coupons, as were Huggies at Vons, so I stocked up. Cleaning products were part of promotion (spend $30, get a $10 voucher) and I was getting low on a few of the ones I had coupons for, so I stocked up. I did end up spending more this week than a normal week, but I won't have to pay full price for diapers or cleaning products when I run out in a few weeks or months.

Phew! That's way too much for one post already so I'll be sharing more of what I've learned in upcoming posts!

More Wheat Grinding Information

2009-05-01T07:50:00.000-07:00

I found a little more information on other reasons/uses for grinding your own wheat, rather than buying whole wheat flour at the store. These were my favorite reasons:

1. Fresh ground wheat is more nutritional, though some sites said it starts going rancid after 3 days (then I would just freeze it)
2. Apparently some store bought whole wheat flours contain additives to keep the flour from going rancid too quickly (but why is the only ingredient on my package wheat, then...)
3. Fresh ground wheat is supposed to taste so much better and be easier to cook with (however, I absolutely love the taste of my bread anyways...)
4. If you were in an emergency and needed to live solely on your food storage (which consisted of lots of whole grains) and your body was not used to it, you could experience "gastrointestinal stress" (hmmmm... are they talking about what I think they're talking about?)

Wheat, More Than Just Bread

Grinding Wheat Message Board (these are just random people's thoughts)

I currently live in an apartment, I'm moving soon, and I'm perfectly satisfied with store bought whole wheat flour for now. However, I do plan to purchase whole wheat and begin a system of grinding and rotating in a few months. Evaluate your situation and do what works for you. Store bought or ground, I am a huge advocate of using more whole wheat (and other grains) in my family's diet because of the health benefits, and as I found out it does still save money!

Anyone else have experience or information on this topic?

Buying in Bulk - Grinding Your Own Wheat

2009-04-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

Today's Frugal Discovery: Grinding Your Own Wheat

After my posts on making homemade whole wheat bread and buying in bulk I got to researching the cost difference between just buying store bought whole wheat flour in bulk and grinding it myself. A few different factors weigh into this, but here's what I found:

25 lbs. of Gold Medal Brand Whole Wheat Flour from Walmart: $14.40

25 lbs. of pre-ground whole wheat: $7.40

I got my pre-ground wheat price from the LDS Family Home Storage Center since I'm more familiar with purchasing there, and so far I've found it to be cheaper there than the online stores I've found that sell grains (you may have a different experience)

At first glance it seems you could save almost %50 by grinding it yourself, but you also have to consider these factors:

1. Cost of Wheat Grinder itself
2. Time for grinding (it doesn't take too much, especially if you do a whole bunch at once)
3. Emergency Preparedness

I was given a wheat grinder as a gift a few years ago, but if you don't have one here's what I found out for you:

If you were to purchase the WonderMill for approximately $260.00 (you may find a different price or different mill) it would take you 37 cycles of grinding 25 lbs. of wheat to break even. It may not be worth it to you.

But....if you're into the whole "emergency preparedness" and "rotate your food storage" thing, you will eventually make that cost up, not to mention you'll be prepared if there ever is an emergency and you need to grind your own wheat.

There's some frugal food for thought...

Q & A - Coupons

2009-04-28T12:02:00.000-07:00

Alright Readers (all of 5 of you - j/k :). I have a few coupon posts in the making. I'm actually going to do a series of posts on coupons since there is so much to learn. Since I'm fairly new to them myself (but have had great success so far nonetheless) I will be doing some more research and then sharing what I learn, so...

Send me your questions and I'll do my best to get answers for you!

Leave them as a comment and I'll get on 'em as fast as I can :)

Whole Wheat Bread

2009-04-27T12:08:00.001-07:00

Today's (Actually, Last Week's But I'm Just Getting to Posting It...) Frugal Success: Whole Wheat Bread
It's so yummy, I couldn't keep my 2 year old's hands off it!

Story:
My husband comes from a very large family - 8 kids and 2 adults. At one point they had kids ranging from elementary school to high school, and teenage boys involved in athletics with voracious appetites smack dab in the middle. My mother in law said they would go through 20+ loaves of store-bought white bread a week! She decided to start making her own whole wheat bread in hopes of upping the nutritional content and "full factor," thus decreasing the number of loaves they went through each week. It worked - the weekly consumption rate dropped to 9-10 loaves instead.

I don't have 8 children (just 2 itty-bitty ones), but we are still definite bread lovers around here. And I'm not talking the fluffy store-bought white bread. We love hearty, wholesome, whole wheat bread. I do still buy the fluffy store bought bread to have on hand for sandwiches (since I sometimes think the hearty stuff overpowers the sandwich), but for our morning toast, bread with soup, and for delicious and wholesome snacking, we prefer the "good stuff".

We go through about 2 loaves a week and I wanted to see the cost difference between just buying the "good stuff" vs. making it myself.

I bought these ingredients at Walmart (except the homemade applesauce), and here's what I found out:

2 loaves homemade: $2.50
2 loaves store bought: $7.00-$10.00 (depending on the brand)

This is using store bought whole wheat. I know it would be even less expensive if I ground my own wheat (that will have to be another post...) With our rate of consumption, I'm thinking the effort I take to make my own each week, which has gone down considerably since I make it so often and have a "system" now, is absolutely a frugal success!

Here's the recipe I use - I found it on this blog, so I can't take credit for it!

Holly's Famous Bread Recipe (I used the ground flax seed)

1 1/2 cup Warm Water
1/3 cup Brown Sugar
1 TBSP & 1 tsp Yeast
1 cup Bread White Flour
4-6 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/2 cup Warm Unsweetened Applesauce
2 tsp Salt
1/4 cup Oil or 1 cup Ground Flax Seed

Grease two loaf pans. Put yeast, water and brown sugar in mixing bowl. Let stand until bubbly and doubled. Add remaining ingredients. Mix and let rise until doubled in size. Knead down and divide into loaf pans. Let rise again. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. **Splenda brown sugar may be substituted, use half of the amount called for. \

Here are a couple of other great bread recipes from people I trust!

Mom's Wheat Bread (as in my husband's mom)

6 cups hot water
2 T dry yeast
1/4 cup oil
3/4 cup honey
2 T salt
2 T lecithin* - granule or liquid
12-15 cups whole wheat flour
3 vitamin C tablets (grind with the wheat)

*Liquid lecithin is the color and consistency of dark honey and is a mess to measure. If you use it, just eyeball the measurement.

Pre-heat oven to lowest setting and then turn off. Sprinkle yeast in water. Pour oil in bottom of 1 cup measuring cup and fill rest of way with honey, then pour into yeast and water. Let sit a few minutes. Add salt and lecithin and half of wheat with vitamin C in it. Mix well and add remaining flour just until dough isn’t sticky anymore. Remove to counter lightly coated with oil. Knead into a rounded mound. Let rest 10-15 minutes while you oil the pans and clean up a little. Divide bread into 3 large loaves. Shape and put into pans. Put pans in warm oven and let rise 20-30minutes. Leave dough in oven, turn on to 350 and bake for ½ hour (including preheating time). Remove and let cool in pans about 10 minutes. Remove from pans, cool completely and wrap in plastic.

Homemade Bread - Lindsay’s Way (from Passionate Homemaking)

Makes 4 loaves
I make this recipe once a month, and freeze them, and we are set!

4 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 Tablespoons active dry yeast (or 2 packages)
1 tsp honey (for activating yeast)
1 ½ Tbls. Salt
¾ cup coconut oil, butter or olive oil (melted)
1 cup honey
11-12 cups whole wheat flour or combination (I will occasionally throw in some kamut, barley, etc., but I mainly use hard white winter grain and/or hard red winter grain) - You can replace 1-2 cups with unbleached white flour for an even lighter texture, if desired.
2 1/2 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup flax seeds, optional
1/3 cup raw millet, optional
1/4 cup sunflower seeds, optional
2-4 Tbsp dough enhancer (4 Tbsp works best for me!) ---I didn't use this and mine turns out delicious :)

Combine yeast, 1 tsp of honey, and 1/2 cup of the total water required. Let sit for 5 minutes or so, until fully proofed. Combine the yeast mixture, remaining 4 cups of water, and all the rest of the ingredients in your mixer. Only add as much flour until it cleans the sides of the bowl. Knead the dough for 10 minutes until the gluten is fully developed. Remove to a greased bowl and cover with a towel. Let sit until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down and divide into 4 loaves. Roll out with a rolling pin into a rectangle and roll up into a loaf (this makes the perfectly shaped loaves). Place in greased bread bans and rise again until doubled, about 30-45 minutes minutes (the best place is the oven! Just turn it on low 150-170 degrees till heated and then turn it off, prior to putting the loaves in). Turn the oven on to 350 degrees and bake for 30-45 minutes. Bread is done when it is fully browned on all sides! Remove from oven, rest in pans for 10 minutes before removing from pans.

Deep Thoughts

2009-04-23T21:39:00.000-07:00

I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka, Mormons or LDS Church) and twice a year we have something called, "General Conference." This is when the general leaders of our church share their testimonies of Jesus Christ, teach, and give counsel on different spiritual and temporal topics.

The most recent General Conference was held at the beginning of April, and one of the talks shared by a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles had a profound effect on me and my "frugality," if you will :). In fact, this talk was one of the motivating factors for me starting this blog. You can read the talk here:

Becoming Provident Providers Temporally and Spiritually by Elder Robert D. Hales

The following statement from the talk applies to many things, but for me it hit hard from a financial/frugal perspective:

When faced with the choice to buy, consume, or engage in worldly things and activities, we all need to learn to say to one another, “We can’t afford it, even though we want it!” or “We can afford it, but we don’t need it—and we really don’t even want it!”

I wonder how much better off our country and world would be economically if we each learned to say those things more often. I hope that by being more frugal in my everyday life I will apply those lessons personally.

I also check this website often: "Passionate Homemaking," which is authored by a devout Christian woman. In reading her blog I've found many things I have in common with her, but I love the caption under her blog title, because it echoes another motivation for me to live a more frugal life: Living simply in order to give generously.

To me living a frugal life is a blessing no matter how wealthy or how poor we may be. Being smarter with our money can bless us when we don't have much to spend, and it can bless others when we have plenty because we are then able to give even more to those in need.

Those are my deep thoughts for today :)

Just Say, "No Thanks"

2009-04-23T16:04:00.000-07:00

Today's Frugal Success: Just Saying, "No Thanks"

I needed to get a few summer clothing items for me and my kids. Kohl's is having a sale this week (see online ad) so I thought I'd head over there and check it out. In the past if I knew I needed something I would try to buy it on sale or at least get a good deal, and then there was always a good chance I'd see a few other things that were also a good deal, and by the end of my trip I would end up spending more than I had originally planned. I usually rationalized it by saying everything I had bought was a good deal (which is almost always true), but then I would feel guilty for spending more than I had planned after getting home and realizing how much over budget I was.

So my solution to that ongoing problem was to check my budget before shopping and have a set limit of how much I could spend that day. Sounds simple, but it hasn't always been for me.

Today I found all of the items I needed, and thought I still had a little money leftover so I picked up one more thing for myself. However, when I got to the register it rang up more than I had expected it to. In the past I would have either blown it off and just bought that extra item (which I didn't really need) and regretted it when I got home and checked my books, or I would have gone back and forth in my mind the whole time they were running my credit card, rationalizing why I really needed this item, and then regretting it later as well.

But today I had already set a limit, and there was no room for me to rationalize when I found out I was actually over. I just politely said, "Oh, I misunderstood that price. No thanks on that item..." and the person running the cash register just credited that money back to my card.

I didn't expect this, but the whole way home I was beaming because I was so proud of myself! There's something about using self-control with your money that makes you feel in control of other areas of your life too. I don't think it would have mattered whether my limit was $5.00 or $500.00, it was following the principle of sticking to my budget and using self-control that made me feel so empowered, and an added bonus was that I had another frugal success!

Homemade Applesauce

2009-04-22T15:14:00.000-07:00

Today's Frugal Success: Homemade Applesauce

***Addendum: See comments for more tips! Not pictured here are 4 cups of applesauce that I had made in the same batch and stored in the fridge, but after doing some calculations I found that I can get about 10 cups of unsweetened applesauce at Walmart for $2.08. Still cheaper than 8 cups homemade for $1.99. But for me it's still worth it to make homemade since Walmart is far from my house (I only go about once a month) and I know the peels are included in mine. However, it may not be worth the hassle for you if you shop at Walmart regularly unless you can get a smoking deal on the apples!

I know this is one that many people already do, but I thought I'd share my easy method for making homemade applesauce:

1. Buy a whole bunch of apples when they're cheap (I got a 3 lb. bag last week for $1.99 - not the cheapest I've seen, but still a good deal)
2. Wash, core, and cut the apples into chunks (I cut each apple in fourths, and then cut the fourths in half)
3. Place in pot and cover with water
4. Boil apples until fork tender
5. Blend apples, using some of the cooking water to thin out if necessary
6. Store in fridge or freezer (I keep some in the fridge in a tupperware for baking, and then freeze some in a ziplock for later)

I make my own applesauce primarily to use in baking so I don't sweeten it or add anything else to it, but occasionally my two year old eats some as a snack too. As a personal preference, I don't peel my apples because I like the added nutrition from the peels. If you want a few variations on yummy homemade applesauce, check these sites out:

Cooks.com Homemade Applesauce

Simply Recipes Homemade Applesauce

Make and Takes Homemade Applesauce

Buying in Bulk

2009-04-21T15:24:00.000-07:00

Today's frugal success: Buying in Bulk

I've started doing a lot of my own baking the past few months, which means I use a lot of flour. I thought I was being smart by getting my flour at the cheapest grocery store I know of: Walmart. Until a light went on in my head and I thought, "Hey, I bet I can buy this in bulk at Costco for a lot less..." I had been paying around $2 for a 5 lbs. bag of the generic Walmart all-purpose flour. Buying in bulk, I could get a 25 lbs. bag at Costco for $6.59. My only dilemma: I'm moving in 3 months... will I use it all??? I figured if not I could freeze and move the extra. But an even better solution was splitting it with a friend. I used a normal measuring cup to divide the flour by cups into plastic ziplocks (took me about 15 minutes start to finish), labeled them with the date and amount, and voila: a frugal success for both of us. As an added bonus... the plastic ziplocks I used were on sale super cheap last week :).

A few articles on the topic:

Bulk Buying 101

How Long Will It Last?

Buying in Bulk - Pioneer Thinking

I Took the Quiz

2009-04-20T12:34:00.000-07:00

I found out I'm frugal, not cheap. Whew! That was a relief. Especially since I feel I need to be a valid blog author of "Frugal, Not Cheap"

Thought I'd share the quiz in case anyone else out there is wondering the same thing about themselves, as well as a few articles on the topic:

I Will Teach You to Be Rich

Crossing the Line

Frugal vs. Cheap

So if you want my personal opinion, you stop being frugal and become cheap when:

1. Others are at a detriment because of your money decisions
2. You only care about cost, not value